People are remarkably easy to lead when they’re taught that obedience is more important than curiosity.
Field Notes
No one is born believing they should stop asking questions.
We learn it.
We learn that authority must know better. That fitting in is safer than speaking up. That following the crowd is less risky than stopping to wonder where everyone is going.
Most of the time, the people giving directions aren’t malicious. They’re simply repeating what they were taught.
And so each generation inherits the same assumptions, the same rules, and the same unquestioned beliefs.
The greatest danger isn’t that someone tells us which way to go.
It’s that we stop asking whether the direction still makes sense.