the paralysis of GROUP THINK

why are people so afraid?

I don't even know what to say about this one. I feel people are simply afraid and that is the bottom line, that is why:
they can't defend others,
they don't want to talk,
they rather watch an injustice,
they rather follow "the crowd",
they can not handle being wrong,

People are afraid of the insults, the labeling, the talk of the town, being different, etc.

That's why instead of meeting a group I rather meet a single individual because the group might , together, label you and dismiss you while you can find common "ground" with one on one meetings.

The group tends to work as a group and forgets that each person is an individual and what comes in place is "group think"...
After participating in group think, you don't come home and ask yourself "how come we didn't give the person a fair chance, how come we, as a team, labeled the person and moved as one toward our goal. That's how people are generally trained.
They are not trained individually, they are trained in a classroom and they are trained to learn to deal with things in a group setting.

You can't blame people, this is what they know and what has worked for them.
Doing anything OUTSIDE OF THE BOX is really a no-no and it's dangerous.

So even if you see an injustice and you see there is no need to label someone but your group feels its' right, you will go with the flow to avoid the greater harm (being disliked by your own group!).

What is more important? to be liked by one or to be liked by a group?

It all depends on your core values and majority of people will LOVE being liked by more than one, no matter what it takes and no matter who gets hurt.


My advice.
Before following a group and being so AFRAID of speaking out and saying how you feel and not being afraid of rejection, stand out, do it for God's sake, DO NOT BE AFRAID!
Your goal is to speak the truth if you can and that is the least you can do.
If you are afraid and decide to go with the group, without thinking for yourself, ultimately YOU WILL GET HURT, no one else.