You can choose to be a sheep or a shepherd.

[Iti oj]

i might be the wolf?

 

[uberrobonomicon4000]

I guess you could be a wolf if you really wanted too, but depending on the shepherd you might be in for a rude awakening if you try to attack his or her flock. I tend to think a more modern day shepherd would be kind of like a cowboy.

However, if the shepherd isn’t very fond of the flock, then you could very easily determine the bad shepherds from the good shepherds perhaps. I think wolves tend to be skittish unless they are with a pack, so are you going to be a loner wolf, be with a pack or be an alpha?

 

[Gjallarhorn]

I would like to know what you think about this statement when it comes to religion, non-religion and society in general.

Seems like a false dichotomy. Just because I don't want to be led doesn't mean I must lead others. Let them be their own light.

 

[Alceste]

Seems like a false dichotomy. Just because I don't want to be led doesn't mean I must lead others. Let them be their own light.

Exactly. In total honesty, I have always felt like a skeptical lemming standing on a hillside watching all the other lemmings stampede off the cliffs. Who cares who is leading and who is following if they are all racing to their own destruction? All I care about is that I'm not in the race.

 

[Sunstone]

Being a good shepherd is a chore. Being a bad one is dishonorable. Being either a good or bad sheep is too often fool's work. I'd rather be none of those things.

 

[Alceste]

Being a good shepherd is a chore. Being a bad one is dishonorable. Being either a good or bad sheep is too often fool's work. I'd rather be none of those things.

Then come join me on my hilltop to observe the stampede. I have a bottle of pinot noir, and I'm willing to share it as long as you don't complain that it came from a kit. :beach:

 

[Sunstone]

Then come join me on my hilltop to observe the stampede. I have a bottle of pinot noir, and I'm willing to share it as long as you don't complain that it came from a kit. :beach:

Delighted! I'll bring the cheese.

 

[uberrobonomicon4000]

This actually came from an advertisement (in a magazine - Muscle and Performance) by Purus Labs. The statement was actually phrased as a question. “Do YOU want to be a sheep or a shepherd?” Maybe it is just poor marketing like most marketing, but it did make me think about the statement the other day for a few minutes.

I thought it would be interesting to relate this to religion, non-religion and society. I wanted to know what other people thought about it and after getting everyone’s feedback it makes me think of “The jungle”, by Upton Sinclair that took place in or around 1905 America.

Sinclair compares immigrants to cattle being sent down the assembly line to be butchered and slaughtered, yet they’re so eager and willing not to resists, because they don’ know what awaits them at the end of the long train ride to Packingtown. Like the cattle, immigrants are herded up and when they arrive in America they are oblivious to the corruption that awaits them due to capitalism. They are treated like meat, with no respect for the individual. People are bought, sold and used up until they are no longer capable of working and thrown out like the entrails of cattle to die.

If you haven’t read the book you can read the chapter I’m talking about here. But I warn you it can be very nauseating and disturbing.

 

[Sunstone]

Sinclair compares immigrants to cattle being sent down the assembly line to be butchered and slaughtered, yet they’re so eager and willing not to resists, because they don’ know what awaits them at the end of the long train ride to Packingtown. Like the cattle, immigrants are herded up and when they arrive in America they are oblivious to the corruption that awaits them due to capitalism. They are treated like meat, with no respect for the individual. People are bought, sold and used up until they are no longer capable of working and thrown out like the entrails of cattle to die.

If you haven’t read the book you can read the chapter I’m talking about here. But I warn you it can be very nauseating and disturbing.

It seems to me that it's hope that keeps the immigrants in line long enough to be used up by the system.

 

[uberrobonomicon4000]

It seems to me that it's hope that keeps the immigrants in line long enough to be used up by the system.

Yeah it is pretty much. It was also a time of where social darwinism was prevalent throughout capitalism. I would tell you the rest of the story, but there is no point. You can probably figure it out how it ends for the family based on the tad bit of information I already gave.

 

[Sunstone]

Yeah it is pretty much. It was also a time of where social darwinism was prevalent throughout capitalism. I would tell you the rest of the story, but there is no point. You can probably figure it out how it ends for the family based on the tad bit of information I already gave.

I read the book. It was assigned reading in high school. That was back before the conservatives got hold of the high school reading list and deleted it from the curriculum because of its promotion of socialism.

 

[uberrobonomicon4000]

I read the book. It was assigned reading in high school. That was back before the conservatives got hold of the high school reading list and deleted it from the curriculum because of its promotion of socialism.

Maybe conservatives should do some research or be given a brief history lesson on Theodore Roosevelt, but it probably won’t do them any good.

 

[ChristineES]

Some people are born leaders, some people are born followers, and some people are born loners. And then there are those who are made into leaders, followers, and loners by various reasons.

 

[atanu]

You cant choose. You are both a sheep and a shepard. The only thing you can do is know yourself enough to know what you follow and what you teach, and to that, you may choose wisely.

It is said that if enough is known no one (who can lead or who can be lead) will be found.

 

[The Sum of Awe]

Can we choose to be a Shepard but follow/worship the sheep?

 

[InformedIgnorance]

I would prefer to be a tree; that Shepard and sheep alike might come to me for shade should they so choose - I shall neither follow nor corral, instead merely advertise that which I hold to be true, the shade of my branches and allow others to determine for themselves the merits of that which I offer as I seek nutrients from the earth and listen to the wind as it blows through my leaves, granting succor to those that come to call 'home' my branches (the metaphor makes it seem more grandiose than I intended).

 

[Revoltingest]

I'm a shepherd, but not a very ambitious one.
(My flocks have been smallish.)

 

[WyattDerp]

False dichotomy. Both options are two sides of the same problem.

 

[sojourner]

Go around.

I'm reminded of "Blazing Saddles," where they're all in line at the fake toll booth, waiting for a dime...

 

[Kilgore Trout]

I just find it funny to watch the sheep and shepherds circling over and over inside the same penned area.