(no subject)

[randomness]

"I believe that the public wants to be lead, to be instructed, to be told what to do. They want reassurance. They will always move en masse, a mob, a herd, a group, because people want the safety of human company. They are afraid to stand alone because the pressure is to be safely included in the herd, not to be the lone calf standing on the desolate, dangerous wolf-patrolled prairie of contrary opinion." --Jesse Livermore, 1877-1940

Comments

[achinhibitor.livejournal.com]

It makes sense, though. It's difficult to judge accurately whether a particular course of action has a good cost/benefit tradeoff. But if you see that a lot of people like you have done the same thing and that on the whole, it's turned out well, then it's probably a good choice. Especially if the people who have done it are much like you, but on the average, noticeably better off, meaning that they got some significant benefit from it. We outsource evaluating choices by looking at what's happened to others who've made that choice.

Added: Machiavelli had it about right: "It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things. For the reformer has enemies in all those who profit by the old order, and only lukewarm defenders in all those who would profit by the new order, this lukewarmness arising partly from fear of their adversaries, who have the laws in their favour; and partly from the incredulity of mankind, who do not truly believe in anything new until they have had the actual experience of it.'"

OTOH, I've never seen people be backward or cowardly when it comes to embracing an idea that somehow lets them grab substantially more money or status.