You’re very quick. And you’re right, plenty of people throughout human history have believed they were wiser than others, and the little people needed to be guided and taken care of (i.e. told what to do, i.e. forced into doing “the right thing” because they do not know what is best for themselves, but the elite do.) Even those being ordered around believed it was the best arrangement for them. And I do not doubt this is where your Chinese friends are coming from…Like I was saying earlier, never underestimate the power of indoctrination. When you grow up being told you need something, you tend to believe it. Hell, you tend to believe anything you were told in your formative years…even after you later find out it isn’t and was never true.
I remember hearing a story about a group of circus elephants, all raised in captivity. From the moment they were born, most of their day was spent tied to a gate. They learned from a very early age, jerking at their leash never got them free, but did usually result in a beating or an electric shock. As the elephants grew, the trainers were able to use the elephant’s conditioning such that they didn’t even need to secure them to anything substantial. A full-sized elephant could be kept in one place simply by putting on a leash and tying it to anything…even a tent pole. During a show one evening all 6 fully grown elephants were secured to a simple guardrail, the movable kind used to designate how people should line up for a carnival ride, or to show that certain areas were off limits. A horrible accident occured, and one of the torches used by the jugglers caught the tent on fire…everything erupted so quickly, and there was such panic that everyone basically moved as quickly as possible to get out from the tent. All six elephants burned…still tied to the single rail…that one man carried into place.
Humans are not so different. Indoctrination is incredibly powerful. People remain tied down to things they could easily break free from, simply because of what they believe. They were always afraid something, so they remain afraid of it. They always needed something, so they think they still need it.
As for the elites, Thomas Sowell has written extensively about them. He calls them “the anointed.” I highly recommend his works. His trilogy of books The Quest for Cosmic Justice, The Vision of the Anointed, and A Conflict of Visions deal with this very phenomenon, and tackle the very issue why humans maintain the ideological positions they do. And excellent intro to the latter installment is this video: A Tale of Two Revolutions.
Hehe. There’s plenty available for you.
Here was my suggestions to another beginner.
…but before you get to that, I have a feeling you might actually want to start with this paper by John Hasnas. I think it will help clarify a lot on the topic we’re currently discussing. Then you might start with those 3 videos at the bottom of that beginner link.