Do
you know that in any given population 90% of the people will be mute spectators
to most events around them? These people can also be called the silent
majority. They just carry on with their lives. They generally tend to be
followers. We can also call them the changers. They change according to the
situation. They are the people who buy what others want them to buy. They see
what others want them to see. They read what others want them to read. In other
words they do what others are doing or not doing. They either like or wait to
be told what to do or what not to do.
Now
comes the questions who are the ‘others’ I spoke of in the earlier paragraph.
Well they are 10% of the people who the 90% follow. They are the leaders or in
other words the change makers. These are the people who bring about change.
In
most cases 90% among these 10% are people who bring about negative changes to
the society. These are the people who we like to call the negative elements of
the society. These are people who make a lot of money either through corrupt
means or by cheating the majority of the people. These people are mainly
concerned in increasing their own wealth and power by any means and without any
respect to others well being. The silent majority even though disapproves of
their ways are in reality envious of their wealth and are in awe of their
power.
We
are now left with only 10% of the 10% change makers. In other words we now have
only 1% of the whole population. This 1% of the people are the ones who bring
in positive change in the society. These people may or may not have lot of
money or power but they do have a lot of respect. These people work for their
self as well as other’s betterment. These people are completely opposite of the
people in the above paragraph.
Since
change is the only constant thing around us and it takes place all the time it
is the change makers who bring in the change in the society. All the change
makers are doing their work and they tend to attract the attention of the
silent majority by various means. The direction of development depends on which
change maker is able to attract more loyal supporters towards their way of
life.
All
kinds of people are required in a society. Without the bad we will never
understand the value of good. If everyone is either good or bad then the
society will cease to develop. The culture and knowledge base of a people with
the same thought process becomes stagnant.
Even
though it is futile to argue which percentage of the population is required or
not required the more important question that you need to ask yourself is which
percentage of the population you want to be part of.
This post is inspired by Tim Ferriss's take on the Pareto Principle also called the 80/20 principle.
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