Before we join a movement, let’s get our moral concepts straight

Katie van Schaijik | Jun 6, 2020

Yesterday, there was a small, peaceful protest going on in the center of our college town. As I drove by, I saw a very-morally-earnest-looking young man holding a sign:

We can be smart together 

or dumb as individuals.

I should have taken a picture. I felt annoyed, amused, and embarrassed for him all at the same time, plus really mad at the way today's media and schools combine to indoctrinate youth with toxic asininity disguised as righteousness.

What's the difference between a community and a mob? One thing: the individuality of its members. A community has it; a mob doesn't.

A community is a group of responsible persons who freely associate with each other because they hold something in common, like a heritage or a cause. A mob is a group of people whose individuality gets swept up and swept away in an amorphous blob of mindless, irresponsible collectivity. 

Without individuality, there is no communion. Also, without critical thinking skills, there is no "smart."