I get this feeling that there's been more and more messages from society at large telling us "Ultimately, you're not in control. You are shaped by forces that are beyond your control and if you succeed in anything, you should not be proud of your accomplishments as you were basically given everything needed to do what you did and if you fail, then cheer up because it's not your fault and there's nothing you can do to change it."
A good example of what I'm talking about would be this whole fat acceptance movement. An idea that this movement pushes over and over again is how it's impossible to lose weight and keep it off so you might as well not even try. In other words, no matter how much willpower and work you put into improving this aspect of yourself, you are ultimately trapped by biological forces beyond your control so you might as well enjoy chomping down all the Doritos.
The idea of free will has taken a lot of hits from a lot of intellectuals and in my more paranoid moments I wonder if there's a plan behind this. I'm the type that tends to get annoyed by conspiracy theories in general but in my more paranoid moments I can't but wonder if the pushing of such ideas is part of a bigger movement to help create an environment more open to a Brave New World society. After all, if there's no free will and we ultimately are just molded by outside circumstances with no possibility to add our own input then who's to say we shouldn't just give up any agency and allow people who "know better" to make us into responsible, moral, productive, citizens? If you are someone who tends to have more of a collectivist rather then a individualistic mentality, the idea that you ultimately don't have any responsibility for anything that happens to you or how you react to it would seem to make you more attracted to such a society.
Any thoughts on this or am I just being paranoid?
A good example of what I'm talking about would be this whole fat acceptance movement. An idea that this movement pushes over and over again is how it's impossible to lose weight and keep it off so you might as well not even try. In other words, no matter how much willpower and work you put into improving this aspect of yourself, you are ultimately trapped by biological forces beyond your control so you might as well enjoy chomping down all the Doritos.
The idea of free will has taken a lot of hits from a lot of intellectuals and in my more paranoid moments I wonder if there's a plan behind this. I'm the type that tends to get annoyed by conspiracy theories in general but in my more paranoid moments I can't but wonder if the pushing of such ideas is part of a bigger movement to help create an environment more open to a Brave New World society. After all, if there's no free will and we ultimately are just molded by outside circumstances with no possibility to add our own input then who's to say we shouldn't just give up any agency and allow people who "know better" to make us into responsible, moral, productive, citizens? If you are someone who tends to have more of a collectivist rather then a individualistic mentality, the idea that you ultimately don't have any responsibility for anything that happens to you or how you react to it would seem to make you more attracted to such a society.
Any thoughts on this or am I just being paranoid?