Gullible:

Napoleon was gifted with the ability to stir up the common man to great heights of patriotism. He often told the story,. with effective results, about an old soldier he met while visiting the troops. On his uniform the proud fighter displayed the coveted
Legion of Honor. One arm was missing.

“Where did you lose your arm?” Napoleon asked.

“At Austerlitz. sir,” came the soldier’s brisk reply.

“And for that you received the Legion of Honor?”

“Yes, sir. It is but a small token to pay for the decoration.”

“You must be,” the emperor said. “the kind of man who regrets he did not lose both arms for his country.”

”What then would have been my reward?” asked the one-armed man.

‘Then,” Napoleon replied. “I would have awarded you a double Legion of Honor.”

With that the proud old fighter drew his sword and immediately cut off his other arm.

The story was circulating for years and believed without question until one day someone said, “How?”

We often accept without question what people tell us about things. A great example are those in power. In New Zealand many years ago we had this big drive for the public to buy dairy products. The public were informed that eating cheese, milk, and the like were very good for us and to have a regular intake of them for our own good etc. There were many advertisements on the subject – and always followed by the famous words, “Eat Kiwi Made!” A few years after that, I heard on the radio that this drive was because the Dairy industry was struggling at the time and the government of the time was doing its part by getting the public to buy, buy, and buy diary products. So we did. Another example that amazes me is this book that claims that planes fly over cities and spray poisons over the public so that they will become sick and use the medical services, to my amazement I have met people who really believe this. There are many other amazing stories that people will believe that have no common sense or fact attached to them, but they are believed. They are especially believed when they come from some form of authority. So while the story about the old man and Napoleon may seem crazy (and even more crazy that people believed it) that a one armed man was able to cut off his other arm with an arm which he didn’t have, we here today are being told some crazy stories by book writers, television, scientists, teachers, and we are being gullible. Even people we know tell us these types of stories to get us to do things that we wouldn’t do unless we were convinced through deception.

If you are told something and you have a feeling to doubt it then research your doubts. You will often be amazed at the results. When I was a child I knew an adult and I believed everything she told me because I loved her so much. She didn’t deserve this faith and trust and abused that love. But I was gullible and took what she said as the truth, sometimes regardless of what she said. Because of who she was I didn’t question the value of the things she told me. If she was accused of something I stood up for her, if she told me this and that, I believed it. God has taught me that I was gullible – being like I was is a kind of slavery. I prefer freedom and am not gullible like that anymore. We should live with our eyes open and question everything until we are satisfied that it is the truth or not the truth.

Written by James M Sandbrook.
First Published – 21st of October, 2011.