Lock Step

Amy Farrah Fowler, Sheldon's "girlfriend" in " The Big Bang Theory," once made an interesting observation ... that a group of women in close proximity for a while will synchronize their periods. Now I don't know if this is true, but a parallel idea struck me today while watching the ruling class's reaction to Donald Trump's proposal that we stop all Muslim immigration for a while.

Without taking a position on this statement, I have been amazed by the degree of spontaneous congruence in the opinions of politicians and the press (the ruling class) being voiced about Trump's comment. These lock-step denouncements had about as much space between them as the stonework at Machu Picchu.

I suppose that, taking a step back, that this is not surprising. Man, being a social animal, normally does not want to be an opinion outlier ... and so will modify true feelings to conform to what the group-think seems to be forming. This is kind of like how flocks of birds or schools of fish often seem to form one undulating mass ... swooping and turning in remarkable unison.

Again, not taking sides in this Muslim immigration cage match, one of Donald Trump's appealing qualities is that he doesn't swim with the schools or fly with the flocks. But I think that I, and a whole lot of other people, would like to figure out to the beat of what drummer he is marching.