Learned Helplessness

So, combing through a couple of informative videos I learnt about something called learned helplessness. It's essentially a condition in which an individual learns that there is nothing he/she can do to stop an uncomfortable stimuli, and therefore he stops trying to escape said stimuli altogether.

They actually performed some experiments on this with dogs. It was quite cruel, but portrayed a grim reality:

They had 2 groups of dogs; the first group was placed in an enclosed space, and then repeatedly shocked through external stimuli. There was nothing they could do to escape the shocks. After an unrelenting, systematic barrage of shocks, the dogs simply gave up on trying to escape altogether. They accepted the shocks as part of their life.

The second group was placed in a space where they could jump over a small fence to escape the shocks. Obviously, after the first couple of shocks, they figured it out. Soon afterwards, every time they tried to shock the dogs, they jumped over the fence towards safety. It even came to the point where they jumped out of the enclosure as soon as they were placed in it, regardless of the experimenter's intention to shock them.

Afterwards, the experimenters placed ALL of the dogs in the same enclosure, from which they could escape. As the shock stimuli approached, the dogs that had jumped over the fence before did so without hesitation. On the other hand, the dogs that were unable to escape the shocks didn't even flinch. They were shocked, they yelped, and sat down again. Even though these dogs could clearly see how the others were escaping, relatively effortlessly, they could not be bothered to do the same. Countless repetitions yielded the same results.

Eventually, it was found that by physically moving the dogs across to the fence, and forcing them to jump, that they started to change their behavior. Nonetheless, they had to repeat this process 2 to 3 times for the dogs to fully grasp this concept and start jumping over the fence on their own.

I believe that this may just be one of the biggest reasons behind the prevalence of blue pill in society. Individuals often believe that there is nothing they can do to avoid the pain, misery, and confusion of their lives. Why? Because they think it's normal. They don't even realize that there is a fence they CAN jump.

But that is not the case. You can choose to jump that fence. You can choose to escape that mediocrity you've lived in so long, but only if you understand that you have the ability to do so. The only difference is that nobody is going to move you, or babysit you through the process until you learn. That is completely up to you.

You aren't helpless. You just think you are.

TL;DR: We grow so accustomed to taking shit and being mediocre, we internalize it and think there is no other way to live. This is an actual psychological phenomenon, and can only be changed by real, tangible action.