Chapter 2: The Mechanism of Bandwagoning

2.1 Safety in Numbers: The Zebra Strategy

2.1.1 The Biological Drive to Herd

In a society with no family safety net and no “Dharma,” the individual is a gazelle on an open plain. The predators (the Mob, HR, the Algorithm) are always watching.

The only way to survive is to be part of the herd.

This is the Zebra Strategy. You don’t try to be invisible; you try to look exactly like every other zebra. If you stand out—if you are “too smart,” “too honest,” or “too traditional”—you are the one the lion picks off.

Conformity in the West is not about “belief.” It is about Camouflage. When you see 10,000 people on LinkedIn posting the same slogan, don’t assume they all believe it. Assume they are all terrified of being the only one who didn’t post it.

2.2 The Totem of the Moment

2.2.1 Synchronized Moral Panics

Because the “Sovereign Self” is empty, it craves Meaning. And since it has no eternal meaning (God/Tradition), it must find meaning in The Current Thing.

This is the Totem of the Moment.

These are not “movements.” They are Viral Moral Panics. They are data points in a system that requires a constant “High” of moral superiority. They pick up a cause, squeeze it for all the “Virtue Signals” they can get, and then drop it as soon as the next Totem appears.

2.2.2 The Memory Hole (Part 2)

The most fascinating part of the Bandwagon is how quickly it disappears. Where are the Kony 2012 activists now? Where are the people who posted the Black Squares? They have moved on. They have deleted the old “Update” and installed the new one.

This Lack of Continuity is a massive structural weakness. It means the West cannot solve long-term problems because it has the attention span of a goldfish. They can “save the world” for a weekend, but they can’t maintain a bridge for a decade.

2.3 The Feedback Loop of Outrage

2.3.1 The Algorithm as Shepherd

The Bandwagon is no longer organic. It is Algorithmic.

The social media platforms are designed to maximize “Engagement,” and nothing engages the “un-Anchored” mind like Outrage. The system identifies a “Bug” (a person who said the wrong thing) and broadcasts it to the entire herd. The herd then swarms the bug to prove their own loyalty to the Totem.

The Builder sees this as a Positive Feedback Loop. In engineering, a positive feedback loop without a “Governor” (a limiter) always leads to System Failure. The West has no Governor. There is no “Adult in the room” who can say, “Stop, this is irrational.” The “Adults” are all too busy trying to get to the front of the Bandwagon so they don’t get run over by it.