teejay	Re: Victims of Groupthink
	Larc, I wanted to comment, and maybe you'll comment further, about this thread. I find this sort of stuff extremely interesting. I will confine my thoughts to the reactions we have seen from fellow Americans as they have found new enthusiasm for openly demonstrating their patriotism. Overall, I get the impression that groupthink is surrounded by a lot of negatives. Are there positives? Personally, I don't think there's ever a time when groupthink is the best alternative. I understand the need to have unity of purpose and therefore unity of action, but what if the chosen action is wrong. In the case of the eight points you mention, I think it is fairly obvious that the average American is guilty of all eight. They have indeed acted as if one person. I think it's a dangerous trend, the "we" are right, "they" are wrong mentality. Bin Laden, and by extension the Taliban is the enemy, although prior to this crisis 98% of the viewing public didn't know what a taliban was. Neither was the average citizen aware of the plight of Afghan women any more than they are aware of women and children in other countries who are being brutalized as we speak. The Afghan women are the damsels of distress of the moment, is all, and the U.S. of A. is going to be their savior, GOD WILLING. The 'god' part makes us 'right.' Those who have the nerve to override the inner mechanism to censor self and voice their reservations, no matter how well-meaning and sincere they are, are subsequently ridiculed, said to be unpatriotic or worse. You may have heard about the uproar over a comment Bill Mauer made on his TV show last week, how advertisers pulled their adds. I like him AND his show. I don't always agree, but many of his comments on various topics are those that I would make. What he said last week was true. The problem, at times like this, is that there was little interest in either his words or his intent in what he said. The idea was to quiet any thought (even if it meant taking him off the air) that was peculiar and not in lockstep with the norm. I got mad for him. Now that you have highlighted the characteristics of groupthink will you also let us know what the cure is? I, for one, have mastered the dissenting part -- I think I was born with two dominant genes for it. What if I was ate up with a major case of groupthink? How would I get over it? tj
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