Blind loyalty

I have been openly critical of people who show blind loyalty to various things. These people typically develop some form of belief before the reasoning for that belief. Once a belief is set, they will not stray. They reject all evidence against their beliefs and embrace anything flimsy to back them up. Sometimes, they will contradict themselves.


Sony and Apple are businesses that have established blindly loyal fan bases. In both cases, fans believe that their company produces the best product and absolutely refuse to acknowledge any advantages seen in their competition. What their buyers want changes based off of what these companies offer.

An example of this can be found with how Sony fans are currently pointing to hardware performance of the PlayStation 4 as the only factor that gamers should look at when choosing a console to buy this generation. Two generations ago, when the Xbox had a far more significant performance advantage, these same fans insisted that performance was completely irrelevant. Whether or not performance is irrelevant depends on whether or not performance can be viewed as an advantage for Sony.

Apple fans are probably even crazier. They have similar changes in opinions, but their arguments for selling points can reach absurd levels. If someone talks about getting more for less by buying the competition, Apple fans insist that Apple products cost more so they must be better. They even criticize anyone who buys the more functional competition for being poor. For those of us who view financial status as an invalid representation of personality, I find it embarrassing that Apple fans rub it in that people are going through hardships.

Political parties are another good example of blind loyalty. Most Americans, even independents and non-voters, pick one of our two political parties. Then they change their opinions to match the side they want to support. Government surveillance of American citizens is a great example of how people change to fit their preferred party. When Bush pushed the idea, Republicans supported it while Democrats insisted that it was among the worst policies in our country's history. Once Obama pushed similar policies, Democrats started supporting the policies while Republicans became critical.

I'm going to throw in one more example of blind loyalty. This one can be classified as blind patriotism. With all of the propaganda in America, most people fear being viewed as un-American. Many people accept values associated with America as their own. Not all of these values are beneficial to our country's general population. Ultimately, blind patriotism benefits the government and harms the people.

Since I have brought up both blind loyalty and blind patriotism, perhaps I should come up with a more all-encompassing term for people who are blind to reason that contradicts their desired beliefs. Let's think of this as being mentally blind.