[Pack Mentality Defined]
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[Witness Pack Mentality] [Pack Mentality Defined] [Pack Mentality In Our Age]
Witness Pack Mentality
Welcome to my site...It's been a strange few twists and turns this site has gone through in terms of theme and layout since I first signed up for that Angelfire account back in 1999. And since then one of the toughest aspects of maintaining this site has always been the balance between personal page and therianthropy resource. Pack Mentality aims to combine the best qualities of a personal page with those of an actual resource for learning about therianthropy. I already have my own artwork and writings on display here, but my hope is that in time it will be other people's works here getting attention instead of just my own, whether it be art work, poetry, essays, rants, recipes, pretty much anything! I beleive in order for any resource to be valuable, it must incorperate input from various sources so that a wide variety of styles and points of view are expressed. One of the problems with individual weres' personal sites that discuss spiritual therianthropy is that every point brought up is from a
single point of view. Some ask "well what's the harm in that?". The answer is none, until that site becomes well-known and more people visit. If the individual writing the material is charismatic because of their writing style, or popular from another site/chat/BBS, their point of view is valued more than someone elses. This is not a positive thing, because usually in cases like this the individual will be taken seriously regardless of the reasoning/logic, or lack thereof employed in the thinking behind their words, or whether or not their opinions are informed. It can get to the point where it is the individual themselves who has the fan-base, while their site remains to serve as an electronic monument/soap-box to them.
When we're dealing with something like therianthropy, it's important not to have one individual or small group of people dictating what "is" and "isn't". Some have been bold enough to call therianthropy a religion, and while I have my reasons for disagreeing with
that notion, I do beleive that like religion one of the major problems in it is the amount of people trying to develop a doctrine to apply therianthropy to, though the problems that result are on a far lesser scale. It doesn't work. Unlike religion, therianthropy isn't something a person can be born into and told from childhood onward "this is what you are". It is something the individual finds out on their own. But humans want answers, and often are impatient. At the risk of coming across as the type of person previously mentioned, I will say that in reality there is little that anyone or anything can do for you in order to "speed up" the lifelong process of determining who and what you are. Reading about other peoples experiences and beleifs at best is just a way to satisfy your curiosity about what being a therianthrope, or were, is like for other people, and what values and philosophy you might share with other people.
A rule of thumb is to take everything you read with a grain of salt, my own material included.
Pack Mentality Defined
What is defined as being "Pack Mentality"? It is the state of mind in humanity that dictates a large part of its functions. In humans it is often called "group mentality","gang mentality", or "mob mentality". It all means the same thing, the same state of mind. Essentially, the Mentality of the Pack is formed at the individual level, as a number of individuals joining for a common purpose. In both humanity and in the animal kingdom, the common purpose is survival, both of the individuals and the species itself. In humanity, however, there are other purposes other than survival ,which stem from human ambition..."Ambition: 1) a strong desire for fame or honor; a seeking after a high position or great power. 2) something strongly desired or sought after"...In other words, the Pack is formed because of what individuals desire, not necessarily what they need in order to survive.
Another human root of Pack Mentality is fear. That may be fear of persecution, fear of rejection, or fear of opposition from other packs and how that power might endanger other individuals, or even fear for no logical reason at all; e.i paranoia. In theriantrhopy, the mentality of the pack is just as much a "human thing" as it is an "animal thing". Losing sight of reality is far less a danger to the "animal side" as it is to the human core. That is Pack Mentality.
Pack Mentality In Our Age
Perhaps the most recognizable form of pack mentality in our age and society can be summed up by one simple, almost cliched term: "peer pressure"...
It is a term well-known to most people, and blamed on many things society deems "wrong" or "bad", especially when dealing with younger people, from drug/alcohol use, to gang activity, to premarital sex, to school violence. While often associated with the youth of society as stated previously, peer pressure is experienced by virtually everyone at some time in their lives. For many people it is almost constant. Humans are generally a social animal. They want to be tolerated, at the very least. When someone is not accepted, they are not tolerated. Rejection is the lack of toleration of an individual by the group. When an individual is rejected to a large enough extent, it becomes persecution. Rejection happens for many reasons. Somtimes it is physical appearance...More often it comes down to a lack of willingness to conform, or basically,
a difference between the ideals of the individual with that of the group...The group does not want their pack structure threatened...
In reality it has only been quite recently that the concept of peer pressure has been closely examined, studied, and been looked upon as a negative force. There is no doubt that peer pressure does indeed bring out the worst in people. Children are now taught from a young age to resist peer pressure, but these efforts do little to change most people. To essentially alter a fundamental component of human nature is a task far too complicated to expect outstanding results.
[Witness Pack Mentality] [Pack Mentality Defined] [Pack Mentality In Our Age]
[Pack Mentality Defined]
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