Go Forth and Propagate

When people have a view or a preference that is subjective in nature, it seems that rather often people will have a tendency to want to propagate those views.

"This song is really nice. You should listen to it!"
"I believe that this religion is progressive and suitable for the 21st century."
"Man Utd sucks!"

and so on.

Of course there will be a group of people who keep their views to themselves and choose not to propagate. However, I am purporting that the group of people who do propagate is nevertheless significant. The examples of such propagatory statements listed above should be familiar to most of us.

What seems to motivate people to propagate? Some views may be propagated without much hassle, ie. a casual remark to a friend may suffice. However in other instances, the propagation can be quite a hassle, ie. for some forms of proselytisation, some people can go to great pains to make their views known; some people with ardent views that they want aired may take pains to build websites to propagate those views, and so on. To these people, despite the possibly daunting amount of trouble, it is still worth going through all of that trouble in order to get the views propagated.

The first possibility (not listed in order of plausibility) could be that when people subscribe to a certain view or preference, they see (subjectively) in it its inherent goodness. A desire to share the goodness provides the motivation to propagate. This possibility assumes a certain generosity in humans, a certain keeness or willingness to do or spread (subjective) goodness.

A subjective belief in the correctness of an idea may also fall under this category. A desire to spread what one subjectively believes to be correct may arise. Hence, a gruff sergeant who barks orders to a subordinate in the belief that his orders are sensible, falls too in this category. Likewise for a concerned mother who nags at her child to study hard for the exams.

The second possibility is somewhat more cynical- propagation is done to boost the esteem of the propagator.

It may be said that propagating certain ideas or views to other people seem to serve no tangible benefit for the propagator. After all, so what if A tells B a song is brilliant, and B decides to listen to it? Will B's enjoyment of the same song enhance the enjoyment A derives from the song? Arguably no.

But there is a benefit to A after all. A enjoys the benefit of affirmation- an endorsement of his subjective view. A gets to enjoy the knowledge that his subjective view has objective reach (assuming we see objectivity as, regrettably very crudely for the purpose and limited scope of this rudimentary discussion, the scale of receptivity to an idea, or in other words, the sheer number of people who subscribe to an idea). Such knowledge could provide a boost to the ego of the propagator. (For instance, if B and subsequently C and D all tell A that the song he has recommended to them is nice, A might start to think that the song is truly nice and that he has really good musical taste.)

This, again, assumes that people want, or at least prefer, to be correct; people would rather than not be regarded as barometers of culture, or to be deemed rational and in line with the thinking of the majority of other rational people. Some people, for whom the above is more of a strong want than a mere passing preference, would go to greater hassles to see that their views are propagated and subsequently verified in order to enjoy the esteem boost. For others for whom the desire to be correct or esteemed is weaker, they may think the hassle and troubles unworthy and decide against propagation.

The third possibility paints a more favourable impression of the human once more. The propagation of a view or preference may be the catalyst for a fruitful discussion. The propagator puts out his view to all in the hope of collecting responses, whether receptive or contradicting, so as to allow for the exchange of a variety of ideas that may lead to a better final idea or view. The propagator in this case is past the need for his view to be verified, he sees his ego as secondary to the pursuit of knowledge. He is willing to have his original view examined critically, beaten up into shape and he will modify it if the responses he gathers seem more plausible to him. Hence he does not primarily seek affirmation but instead, if it is possible, a better, more plausible final view. He is the veritable truthseeker. However, at the end of the day he may not be much closer to objectivity. It will be better to describe him as being more satisfied with his modified subjective view which he now subjectively deems more plausible.

"The crazy old man of our local market - he would pull people out from the crowd for a spirited debate, purporting his own, rather (,if I may, ) extreme views to bemused passers-by who would in turn offer their own in response. Happily, the ideas would clash but new and better alloys of ideas were forged from the fire of heated debate. Eventually, the old man emerged from those daily discussions with a much more moderate ideological position, albeit one he felt much happier with given its increased subjective plausibility. It seemed that no one in the market had anything else to offer to him in terms of exchanging ideas, so he packed and set off for a nearby town where the process would be repeated.."

Despite racking my brains I am unable to think of more possibilities. As is evident, I have clearly decided that my particular propagation of this very view reproduced here was worth the hassle of some time spent mulling at the computer. To be honest my motivation for propagating this particular view here seems to have stemmed from an eclectic mix of three possibilities, however strange and unseemly that may appear...