One thing I’ve noticed about people I meet on the internet is the sense of “team ideology.” People generally seem to have agendas they are working on projects together, and if a person comes in and questions that agenda or shines a different light on the subject, the people get angry and they are at best dismissive towards the person, and often downright antagonistic towards the person.

The funny thing is that thinker/writers who seek to encourage social trends in direction a b c or d… are by definition not team players. They are seeking to catalyze change, and seeking to show their society another way forward for itself. These people are independent thinkers. If a person is sitting behind the wheel of a car, when that car is going in the right direction, does it need to be steered? Of course not. The driver doesn’t have to do anything with the wheel on a straight highway, until she or he sees the she is drifting into the next lane over; then she needs to make a correction. The same thing is true with philosophical thinkers. If one these types of folks is listening to a discussion, chances are she or he will not pipe up, until she sees the consensus going in a direction which seems unwise to the deep thinker’s sensibilities. And in this way we find ourselves always as single people out there, opposing the wishes and agendas of different teams.

This way of interacting with people makes for a very bumpy life course.