Most of us spend a great deal of time thinking about what other people think of us. While we do this, we also try to improve their opinion of us.
The clothing we select is designed to provide a favorable impression. We also try to arrange our hair, our homes, our offices, our yards, nearly everything we buy, our reading, our writing, and nearly everything else we think, do, and say to try make ourselves more acceptable to, and admired by, others.
The name of this idol is Other People’s Opinions. Many of us work so desperately to improve Other People’s Opinions of us that we have little time left for thinking and doing things for ourselves. OPOs will take up as much of our time and energy as we allow.
When we consider how important Other People’s Opinions are to us, it quickly becomes apparent that OPOs is/are the most powerful idol of all. All earthly success comes from raising Other People’s Opinions of us. All earthly failures come from lowering Other People’s Opinions of us.
It’s interesting to explore, for example, how a woman selects her china. She may be influenced by Martha Stewart, or another famed Opinion Giver. “If Martha stopped by, she would approve of my china.”, she may say to herself as she’s buying it. “My china was recommended by Martha Stewart.”, she will tell any friends who don’t mention it first. Martha gave so many opinions about so many things, and had them taken so seriously, that she had to be put in jail, just to keep her quiet.
The same thing happens when men buy cars. “I’m buying (I bought) this hybrid car because its selectively rotational carburetor gives the best gas mileage and its battery pack only weighs seven thousand pounds. It was recommended by Ed Begley, Jr., Road and Track, and Cars Today.”
We often let famed Opinion Givers become idols, in and of themselves. Some will have imaginary conversations with and about such idols, helping to guide themselves toward the belief that their particular idol(s) will help them.
If such idols become so rich and powerful that they get “uppity”, they end up, like Martha, behind bars.
Where do Opinions come from? Some come from Marketing 101. A perfect example: A few weeks ago, at the beginning of the season for watermelon, an Opinion that “watermelon has the same chemicals (therefore, it was meant to be concluded, the same effect) as Viagra.” Another series of press releases at the same time extolled the virtues of blueberries, also coming into season, as “improvers of memory”.
Other Opinions are put in place by rich, powerful people who know they need a favorable image to keep from guillotined in some way or another.
The Queen of England has one of the most powerful organizations of Opinion Givers. All associated extol her virtues. Pro-Monarchy Opinions pop up like mushrooms as soon as negative opinions of the Queen or her family need to be countered.
Sometimes, Opinions, themselves, crystallize and are turned into an idol. One such Opinion has taken a particularly powerful form in Global Warming. One of the most prevailing of all Opinions is that “climate is changing because dangerous amounts of carbon dioxide are being produced by selfish, greedy human beings. We must get rid of carbon dioxide to save the planet. The only way we can do this is to highly regulate all human activity. ”
On the face of it, this is insane. Carbon dioxide is necessary for life. Fluctuations are common. This idol was brought into existence to increase the power of government, provide vast tax revenues, and reduce people to slavery. That’s why their idol speaks this great command: “All must believe our Opinion about carbon dioxide, for their own good and for the good of the planet”.
