Racism 101: Are you a Racist?

In recent weeks there has been an ever present accusation of the “Hive mind.” It’s interesting to see this sort of comment because often times, it seems to be being used in reference to a specific group disagreeing with another specific group. Which, is hive thinking. 

Hive mind is a very real thing. For those that aren’t familiar with the term, it basically means that you believe what you are told to believe without question or concern. This isn’t new. We see this in the political field daily.

Here on Tumblr, it seems that this word is a new form of insult that is used, more often than not, to accuse someone of not liking you because of who you associate with. It’s the “Nanny nanny boo boo” of the internet. Ridiculous. 

The last four times I’ve seen this used, it was being thrown at someone who associated with [Name redacted]. Why is this remarkable? Well, in at least two of the four times, [Name redacted] was no were near either conversation. [Name redacted] hadn’t replied or commented. For all I know, [Name redacted] never even saw the conversation. Yet, when going back through it myself, there were names thrown out. The last one stated that the definition of “Hive mind” was QUOTE “Anyone who disagreed with [Name redacted].” To which this person proudly proclaimed that they were of hive mind. 

This is moronic. 

I say this for two reasons. First, blaming an entire phenomena on one person pretty much means that you believe that this one person is powerful beyond measure. Second and more importantly, saying that hive mind is ANYONE who disagrees with a single person IS HIVE MIND. Think about it, if that were the true definition, wouldn’t that place everyone that disagreed with this person into this group? What are you thinking? 

We see true hive mind here all the time. It’s when someone has been falsely accused of something and then everyone jumps on that person without first looking for the facts. It’s when someone intentionally tries to poison people against a person or even against an entire group in order to maintain some sort of control. These are things that happen within a hive mind. 

Here’s the good news. Hive mind is easy to avoid. You simply have to think for yourself.