part 2: drooling dogs and eager surgeons
Merlyn C. Faris III
Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, a Russian scientist from the late 1800’s that studied behaviorism, specifically, he is the ”Father of Classical Conditioning.” His most famous experiment is one in which he surmised and ended up successfully causing dogs to salivate at the sound of a bell without any food present. The process was quite simple, at every feeding a bell was rung with the delivery of the food. Over quite a period of time and repetition the dogs began to associate the ringing of the bell with the food they would receive. Eventually, when the food was removed and only the bell remained, the reaction to the audible stimulus remained the same; drooling. This may seem silly and elementary to you, but trust me, it is quite profound.
With this study Dr. Pavlov was able to show that you could take one of a creature’s most basic drivers, and the natural reaction of it, then condition the same instinctually passionate response to be the outcome of a completely separate, and possibly an entirely unrelated and unnatural, stimulus. He created a correlation that over time in the mind of the subject became an instinctual causation-relationship.
Humans are not dogs, I understand that; but many of our base drivers are the same, or are they not? Our drivers include: food, survival (ie. fight or flight), sex and procreation, worship, knowledge, and social connection among others. Fast forward 100 years post Pavlov. Now we possess documented research, staggering financial interests, unfathomable advances in technology and we still possess the same base drivers as we always have. The drivers are now understood in a far more intimate fashion, and are exponentially exploited. This exploitation has become so vast and efficiently effective that it almost seems effortless, and at times, is just that; effortless. It’s seemingly as simple as the ringing of a bell (or at least that’s what the notification chime icon is shaped like). The subjects now walk on two feet and begin to mentally salivate when they hear the chime of the evening news, their phone, or favorite app. It has become so effectively efficient that we are drooling and searching before the bell even rings, looking for our next hit, searching for the next dose of fear porn.
Inflation, school shootings, viruses, natural disasters, perversion, wars, elections and more are all various fetishes of fear porn being used. Then, the even more interesting part is when the “solutions” to these fear porn issues become another bell with no meat; another correlated stimulus with no sustenance. The “solutions”, comparatively, are just another click-bait site for us to get the drool and blood flowing with no proper release in sight. These “click-bait solutions” put us in a different state of mind. Reason and logic are out the window, and like clearing the shelves at the grocery store “we have to do something.” Medical mandates or laws against said mandates, gun/anti-gun legislation, safe zones (name your type), conventions, term limits, forced curriculums, social programs, and more put us into a frenzy, and like the forecast…people lose their minds. Taking to social media with our pictures, fears, and tears; a profile pic is changed, a banner or flag added, and the box is checked because the bell was rung; and now we can dance happy circles in our kennel waiting for our masters to say good job and ring the bell again. But what about when our frenzy leads to something more than something so basic? What happens when it is akin to the grocery store shelves and we go in to take everything we can take? Or even go in with a plan (that we just put together due to the purveyors of fear porn) then find ourselves caught up in the frenzy? I’m told It’s ok…”we have to do something!”
The human body is much akin to our society and politics. It is a vast amount of diverse parts, great and small, working in harmony with each other, with the common goal of keeping the whole alive. When this harmony is disrupted we try to find out why and fix it. In trying to “fix it” a question to ask is: are we actually trying to do that very thing, “fix the problem” or are we simply trying to cover symptoms or, even scarier, are we just checking boxes in the name of “doing something”? Questions must be asked for proper diagnosis. Side effects must be considered. What are the side effects of the prescribed action? Maybe the current issue is actually a side effect of previous intervention, not a problem with the system. Appropriate action and preventive care are paramount to the longevity and viability of the life of the patient ( “a republic if you can keep it” ).
The next time I find my body not functioning properly and I go to the doctor for possible strep throat; my sincerest hope is for my doctor to thoroughly assess the situation and give a proper diagnosis of the “diss-ease” and then prescribe a proper and appropriately effective solution. I don’t want to explain my symptoms to a doctor with a smile on his face and scalpel in hand while he reassures me “I’m with the government and I’m here to help.” I do not want to walk in with a sore throat and leave a eunuch all in the name of “doing something.”
Just because a bell is rung, doesn’t mean we need to drool. And even when it is rung exceedingly loudly, and the rest of the dogs are on their feet whining and drooling, that doesn’t mean it is the appropriate response to a conditioned stimulus. Castration is the wrong prescription to a sore throat no matter how many “doctors” are willing to do it or how many dogs circle, salivate, and whine, “we have to do something.”
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