How do we behave in the face of uncertainty? Sometimes, we take the information we have (or what we think is information), and we form assumptions about what has already happened. Then, we jump on the bandwagon we thought we saw.
It’s a way of rationalizing the statement, “I have no choice.”
“If we speak up, we’ll be targeted.”
How might we circumvent this unfortunately learned helplessness? Can we rediscover our own agency? I find Oliver Burkeman’s take on this refreshing, or perhaps better put, bracing. He quotes Sheldon B. Kopp: “You are free to do whatever you like. You need only face the consequences.”
If the bandwagon isn’t there, the willingness to make a choice can lead in a whole new, positive direction, rather than amplifying our most dire assumptions.
This pulling out of the rug from “I have no choice” does not guarantee we achieve desirable results. But it gives us a chance to be humans in the best sense.