I was just speaking to an acquaintance recently who was involved in psychological testing.
They subjected an individual to hours of self-esteem building in a group setting. By lunch, he thought that he was the smartest guy in the room. After lunch, they had someone raise three fingers and then everyone in the room answered that four fingers were raised. The subject went last, or course, and over 70% agreed that there were four fingers. Group think, or even the appearance of consensus is a very powerful tool.
“Group think, or even the appearance of consensus is a very powerful tool.”
Of course it is.
Isn’t that why we Freep polls.
Quite right.
However, we should recognize that the past unpopularity of homosexuality and the general acceptance of a great many other conservative positions were based, for most people, on the same group think.
IOW, most people always have and always will, tend to go along with what they think is popular, without even realizing it.
The perception of what is popular or cool is the defining issue in society, especially in a democratic society. That perception is largely created by popular culture: TV, movies, music.
Conservatives largely abandoned work in these fields 50 years ago and concentrated on politics.
We are now seeing the fruit of 50 years of largely unopposed liberal propaganda in popular culture.