Post by makarya on Sept 6, 2015 21:45:17 GMT
Patternicity, or better known as Apophenia, is a human tendency to find patterns or connections in random or meaningless information, such as seeing the number thirteen before a impactful event and from that day forward unconsciously associating that number with a negative outcome. As a way of surviving, that number now becomes a warning that one should avoid to save from the pattern repeating and otherwise ruining a day. For example, I had noted the number thirteen throughout my morning one day but paid no mind to it as numbers are quite literally everywhere in this day and age, but, once I had arrived at my destination, the mall, I ran into a string of unlucky situations until I finally left home. Even though I went the exact same route I took to get to the mall, returning, I did not see the number thirteen anymore and the rest of the day returned to normal without anything out of the ordinary happening. When I saw the number again on a receipt, the plans I had made later for that day were immediately cancelled, recalling the events that had happened before because of that number and a fear for a pattern repeating itself.
However random patterns can be, that is not always the case when it comes to history and not a day-to-day event like I had the misfortune of experiencing. More often than we as a society are willing to admit, learning from the past actually does prevent events from happening again in the future. Despite believing that we all have out grown out of the hate and prejudice from the past, that we have evolved into kinder, more accepting individuals, another pattern is getting ready to repeat itself. Throughout history there has always been a certain pattern that would lead to anger, tension, and before a compromise can be made, a war would break out. I would like to bring to attention the most recent pattern by first addressing Republican Donald Trump and his speech on Mexicans. I do not need to go into detail that he has a problem with illegal immigrants, claiming that all that Mexico is sending “not the right people” and drugs and crime and that his solution is to build a wall all across the southern boarder and have Mexico pay for it. Donald Trump has managed to gain the support of white supremacists, many of which believe that the decline of America is due to the immigrant policy. A man making speeches and blaming a certain group for the decline of the nation with the only solution is to kick them all out with said speech gaining incredible amount of supports that feel directly affected by the ones being scapegoated sounds awfully familiar to me and is, by far, the least random pattern that could ever occur.
The problem with patternicity is that the theory is both acknowledged but, at the same time, it is ignored and claimed to be merely be a coincidence with no significant meaning. When someone like Donald Trump is scapegoating an entire group for reasons of the nation’s decline, that pattern should not be ignored or even be claimed as a coincidence, not like associating a number with negative events.
However random patterns can be, that is not always the case when it comes to history and not a day-to-day event like I had the misfortune of experiencing. More often than we as a society are willing to admit, learning from the past actually does prevent events from happening again in the future. Despite believing that we all have out grown out of the hate and prejudice from the past, that we have evolved into kinder, more accepting individuals, another pattern is getting ready to repeat itself. Throughout history there has always been a certain pattern that would lead to anger, tension, and before a compromise can be made, a war would break out. I would like to bring to attention the most recent pattern by first addressing Republican Donald Trump and his speech on Mexicans. I do not need to go into detail that he has a problem with illegal immigrants, claiming that all that Mexico is sending “not the right people” and drugs and crime and that his solution is to build a wall all across the southern boarder and have Mexico pay for it. Donald Trump has managed to gain the support of white supremacists, many of which believe that the decline of America is due to the immigrant policy. A man making speeches and blaming a certain group for the decline of the nation with the only solution is to kick them all out with said speech gaining incredible amount of supports that feel directly affected by the ones being scapegoated sounds awfully familiar to me and is, by far, the least random pattern that could ever occur.
The problem with patternicity is that the theory is both acknowledged but, at the same time, it is ignored and claimed to be merely be a coincidence with no significant meaning. When someone like Donald Trump is scapegoating an entire group for reasons of the nation’s decline, that pattern should not be ignored or even be claimed as a coincidence, not like associating a number with negative events.