Social Delusions Part 2

Social Hierarchy

     Perhaps one of the biggest delusion formed starts at a very early age. In fact, it actually can be observed more clearly at an early age – schooling age that is. Social hierarchy can be spotted in just about any school where students trample over each other to get to the cool kids hangout. It is probable that this is a simple resurfacing of people's innate primitive inclination to group into hunting parties or colonies but only it is more perverted than it already is. Hunting packs of the popular start thinking like real animal hunters – everything they can do is allowed and anything they can get their paws on is prey. Some even start behaving like real animals – despising those who fail to meet their standards like the idiots, the nerds, the nonathletic, the unfashionable to the ugly, the too pretty to be to be intimidating among others. Nevertheless when these cool kids fail to meet their own standards, it's all about artificial delusions. Failure is a part of growing up, a large component of adolescence, they say. But then others who fail to meet their standards, can make use of that same excuse – that failure is alright. Things like growing up and changing begin to arise. Change then becomes ideal for those aspiring to be recognized. An ideal is characteristic of being an embodiment of conformed standards and is then taken as a model for imitation. In this context, change is therefore indirectly coerced into an individual by the hierarchs. But one can reach the hierarchs' standards and still not be accepted. An ideal of change gives an individual hope but the ideal of hierarchy prevents him or her from being accepted. When a peasant changes and becomes as rich and influential as royalty, royalty will still not accept him but instead rivals and outdoes him. They will not accept to treat a peasant as an equal even when they already stand on equal footing. Though seemingly illogical, that is the existing case. It's all about double standards. Glory preservation maintains the popular be popular and the nots be not. Only when an individual outdoes the hierarchs will he be recognized by them but only to pull him back down again to their level. This whole scheme develops socially competitive individuals from the cool kids club and people not even competent enough to stand and talk up from the remaining unaccepted population.