What is herd morality?
Herd morality is a value system that is gained or defined by common social norms.
It's social group programming that defines what is good and bad - It's a desire, by the herd, to conform.
(https://peakd.com/hive-122315/@lucylin/conformity-non-conformity-and-being-authentic)
In the desire for social conformity - to be a good (moral) person according to the herd , the persona - the social mask becomes an important aspect within the individual.
Jungian psychology says that the persona is the conformity archetype.
The desire for conformity and herd morality can be incredibly powerful - to those belonging to 'the herd'.
The problem with herd morality is that the value systems employed are rarely questioned.
They are always in the majority, by definition - so an unthinking acceptance is conformity itself.
Unthinking acceptance is rewarded.
If anyone from outside of the herd morality (the 'higher man', as Nietzsche put it) question these unthinking values, they run the risk of being attacked by the herd, cast out, ostracized.
Most sheep people have a huge fear of being cast out or alienated by the herd.
Most people are conformists, and not rebels.
They don’t question the moral values in society, or go against the majority.
As Nietzsche would say, they choose comfort and contentment.
To question these values requires effort, and most people are either too lazy, or scared (or unable) to do so.
(and, at the same time, these same people are bitterly resentful to those who are capable of seeing things from outside of the herd mentality).
...all they can do, is to reiterate the current cultural zeitgeist in the weak guise of 'wisdom' and 'virtue signalling'.
People on the far or radical left of the political spectrum, the social justice warriors, BLM, antifa - all fall into the realms of herd morality.
Believing they are moral and good in their beliefs, without ever questioning these very beliefs.
People on the far left can mask their intellectual weakness, as morality.
This is self deception - delusion.
It brings them psychological comfort and a faux sense of superiority.
The desire for conformity and the fear of alienation sets certain beliefs, no matter how illogical, in stone.
This sense of morality then makes up part of their intrinsic identity, which then becomes extremely difficult to change.
It's all based in the psychological motivation of fear and the desire for conformity.
Herd morality is very real and obvious. And dangerous.
It caters to the mediocre the average, the normal. The utterly boring (as seen by the people not in the herd mentality paradigm).
The herd want to make everyone else like them.
To conform.
Herd morality and conformity can help to create a stable society, for sure , but if the common beliefs of the herd are misguided it can take us down a very dangerous path.
The herd are very hostile to those that challenge the common beliefs, or criticize the direction that the herd is going in.
Sometimes the herd can be heading straight towards a cliff edge, and will berate anyone that tries to point it out to them...
“Herd morality is a powerful beast, with the force of the majority behind it.” Nietzsche.
Why can the herd so self destructive?
Envy.
Of 'the higher man'
'Higher man' does not denote superiority, but an 'intellectual partitioning' between the two states of being.
Herd or Higher.
(paraphrasing lots of Nietzsche, from here on in)...
The dominant morality in the west, according to Nietzsche, has been an 'anti natural' morality - it runs against, and not in sympathy with, the instincts of life.(sexual, security, and social, drives).
He thought that this 'anti natural' morality as being predominant over the western world for the foreseeable future. (Born 1844, died 1900).
Hindsight show us us that he wasn't wrong.
Those with the potential to rise above the mediocre mass are pressured into becoming a smaller version of themselves - an almost ridiculous version of themselves..
When the desire for conformity is greater than the desire for authenticity, this is what will happen.
They become a herd animal , something eager-to-please, dull
and mediocre.
Why has this 'anti natural' morality spread throughout the western civilizations this last century?
Nietzsche's categorization of individuals into the two distinct types - the 'higher human' beings and 'the herd' human being , illustrates why.
There are the men of great creativity who through a combination of nature ,and nurture, are able to craft out new perspectives of the world.
There are also the more numerous 'higher humans' types, who do not scale the heights of genius, and are hidden from the public eye.
These higher humans are not any different from the life of
the creative genius.
Both share similar character traits -Ones which separate them
from the herd.
The higher man requires his solitude and freedom from the herd, being noble wanting to be by oneself, being able to be different and standing alone.
Choosing to live independently.
In stark contrast to these 'higher humans', there exists the many.
The herd.
The herd is composed of two types, essentially...
The 'last man' and 'the slave'.
The last man is the quintessential mediocre man.
He strives solely for comfort and contentment, which is an end which makes him lazy - and also dangerous.
The last man is devoid of any creative urge within and blind to higher values.
The desire to conform always blinds.
'The slave', in contrast is a 'weak and sickly', a human being who suffers from himself , because of himself..
Nietzsche on 'the slave' :
A resentment within (envy) - a festering hatred of life , generated by feelings of impotence in the face of an external reality. (leftist ideology, anyone?)
Nietzsche wrote:
" as within every other animal species, an excess of failures of the sick, degenerating, infirm , who must suffer.
The presence of resentment conjures feelings of envy within the slave - towards all those who do not suffer as they do.
(leftist ideology and collectivism)
Namely the 'higher human being'. of course.
This envy motivates the slave to take vengeance on the higher
humans, banding together to obtain a communal feeling of power.
The only type of power available to the slave (under the pretext of calls for 'equality') is to bring down to a more mediocre level, all those higher than him.
(Socialism is a race to the bottom..)
A faux morality that would unselfishly, and (in their eyes) morally and righteously - destroy those that they deem to not be of the herd...
A herd morality inverts the 'natural values' of life - the individual who is strong and independent.
One who attains feelings of power through their
creative endeavors.
Great psychological (and physical )health is deemed by herd morality to be an 'evil'.
The current herd mentality of obesity and junk food consumption - and the resistance to be healthy in the light of cultural norms and approvals, bears this perspective out.
It has no basis in logic and reason.
(quick plug: Coming soonish - researching at the moment - the connections of physical ill health, and mental health - and how they can manifest themselves. Dis-ease. Fascinating stuff).
Where were we?
Oh yeah....
...In the herd, the weak and impotent slaves are the vengeful, hateful individuals, which by the consensus of the mob, become disguised as legitimate moral judges.
The evil attributes of hate, envy and resentment - are now deemed to be good.
(echo's of 'lies are truth', 'up is down'...)
Nietzsche:
"the proud and well turned out human being who says 'yes' (the optimist) who is sure of the future, who guarantees the future - is now called evil by the herd.."
Herd morality is the danger of all dangers.
It has an ability to seduce those who are psychologically anxious and fearful in the face of striving and of being optimistic for the future..
Herd morality acts as a seducers voice, - a voice which offers the potential higher man a way of escape.
His burdensome fate of individuality can be consumed into the comfort of mediocrity and conformity.
Immersing oneself into the mass of heard morality is effective in bringing down all that is higher and extraordinary.
(From my own perspective, I myself partied and 'immersed myself' into the herd mentality for far, far, too many years).
Nihilism will, inevitably - creep over the world without the higher values embodied by the higher man.
The capacity to strive will be eroded . (the socialist cancer)
Ideals will become absent, and instead, values of comfort and contentment (conformity), will become cherished by the herd.
(the dumbing down of critical thinking skills in the ideological left of education camps - schools and universities - only reinforcing this decent into the view that 'the average' is something to be proud of)
As a result of this, the herds cancerous , resentfully motivated seductions, will engulf all.
Mankind itself will be deprived of its great characters.
Nietzsche's fears of such a world came true, as we can now see.
I can see nothing today that counters this vision that he had from over 120 years ago.
From the turn of the 20th century onwards, thing have been allowed to spiral down - to become more fearful, more prudent more comfortable, more mediocre...The cost of materialism and decadence.
In an attempt to prevent future generations from succumbing to this all-engulfing, dire, collectivist thinking - the ultimate 'leveling effect', a revaluation of values, is required.
To lessen the effect of herd morality on the development of higher men - of the best of mankind , a revaluation of values is dependent upon one thing...
...the realization that herd morality is not an objective and universal morality.
It is one type of human morality. The lowest common denominator type.
While herd morality says stubbornly stagnant, the higher man individual, must realize that the ideas of the herd can rule in the herd ...BUT not reach out beyond it.
The herd moralities claims of 'universality' and 'equality' in it's values are motivated by fears and anxiety of not conforming.
The 'higher man' has to realize that, as an individual with a vision of life that is his own, he must not - can not - preach or impose his higher morality on others.
There exists a plethora of individuals who desire to persecute and bring down those who rise above the mediocre (yes, HIVE, are you reading this?)
Masking resentful envy with calls for 'equality', of attaining average, these ideas of nonconforming, of striving, will seem elitist and distasteful.
To the great majority of people, in fact - for that is the herd.
Nietzsche:
The highest insights must sound like follies when they are heard by those who are not predisposed, or predestined, for them
Nietzsche was gravely concerned with ensuring the world would remain fertile for the growth of human excellence.
'... to overcome the temptations of herd morality and instead to proceed on his own , heroic, life's path - and in doing so provide inspiration for future generations'.
Nietzsche was not optimistic that the future would be kind to the existence of the higher human.
Herd morality underpins all socialist ideologies.
The proponents of such ideologies wish to bring about the
degeneration of man into the perfect herd animal.
The numerous social justice movements threaten the western world with a new wave of fanatical herd morality.
Herd morality is alive and well must be a cause of concern, not only for 'the higher man', but for the whole of mankind, itself..
The slave, despite the innocent facade he displays with his herd morality and calls for equality, does not desire to change the world for the better.
Instead, driven by resentment and envy, he seeks to gain social and political power for the purpose of provoking destruction, as compensation for his own personal impotence and failures.
They want the whole world to perish because of their own failure.
This repulsive emotional perspective is the pinnacle of envy, one whose implication is...
Put a wolf among some sheep and he will be fine , even help the sheep .(become a herd-dog)
Put a wolf among a million sheep and he will be forced to act like a sheep to .
It's something about population size .
Don't know , this just crossed my mind while preparing some lamb-chops for diner ;-)