The Mob

I only desire the approval of a relatively small number of people who I respect
If they said to me, “I think you're totally wrong on this, Douglas.”, then I'd listen
But when it's people who don't want me to do well, then of course I don't listen to them
It's one of the tools we all have to hone in our lives, to work out who wants us to do well
Who wishes us well, and to listen to them, even if they're critical of us, and they will be at times
And to separate out those people from the people who just, of course they don't want you to do well
They hate you, they hate everything about you, and whatever
But I don't have much sympathy with public figures who say, I can't say what I think, I can't speak up, and all this sort of thing
If you're not going to now, when are you going to?
If you're not going to in this life, what life are you expecting to come where you'll do it?

[Chorus]
The person who doesn't stand with the mob
The person who doesn't go along with the mob
The person who refuses to walk with the crowd
Will feel better
The person who doesn't stand with the mob
The person who doesn't go along with the mob
Will achieve more in their lives, whatever that is because they will have self-respect

I'm comfortable, as comfortable as you can be in the end times
As everything's burning down, and there's plagues of locusts coming our way
And I have the satisfaction of knowing that I'm not lying
The problem with going along is that it demoralizes you
It makes you a smaller person, inside
You will be demoralized, because you'll know that you shouldn't have done that
And at some level, you will think badly of yourself for having done it
You'll feel regretful, you'll feel cowardly, and it will affect your life in other ways
And the opposite is also true

[Chorus]
The person who doesn't stand with the mob
The person who doesn't go along with the mob
The person who refuses to walk with the crowd
Will feel better
The person who doesn't stand with the mob
The person who doesn't go along with the mob
Will achieve more in their lives, whatever that is because they will have self-respect

That's what totalitarian movements across history always knew, was that you grind people down and make them agree to the lies because you will then be able to make them do anything
Vaclav Havel, great late Czech leader, cites the example of a greengrocer in Prague in the Communist era in Eastern Europe
Who has to put up in his window, like everyone else, the notice that says, "Workers of the world, unite!"
And it's sent by party headquarters to all greengrocers, and you all have to hang it
And Vaclav Havel says a number of things happened from this
The first thing is that, of course, that the greengrocer is showing to everyone that he is a party loyalist, and he wouldn't be able to operate as a business if he didn't do this thing
But it also hangs there every day as a sign of his subjugation
It's a little thing, but it hangs there as a sign of his subjugation
And it reminds him that he's not the man he could be
You think you're doing a little thing, but you're not
You are diminishing your soul by doing this
Because you know that you could be something more than the person who just has to hang whatever party headquarters tells you to hang this week

[Chorus]
The person who doesn't stand with the mob
The person who doesn't go along with the mob
The person who refuses to walk with the crowd
Will feel better
The person who doesn't stand with the mob
The person who doesn't go along with the mob
Will achieve more in their lives, whatever that is because they will have self-respect

The person who doesn't stand with the mob The person who doesn't go along with the mob, The person who refuses to walk with the crowd Will feel better The person who doesn't stand with the mob The person who doesn't go along with the mob Will achieve more in their lives, whatever that is Because they will have self-respect