The lemmings were pushed

The small rodent known as the lemming is often used as a metaphor to represent someone who mindlessly follows a crowd toward catastrophe. This is because it is commonly believed that lemmings commit mass suicide every few years by jumping off a cliff and drowning.

The metaphor is useful because there are, indeed, people who seem to mindlessly follow crowds toward catastrophe. The problem is that the metaphor is based on a falsehood. Lemmings do not commit suicide.

This myth arose from three facts: 1. Lemmings have large population booms every 3 or 4 years, 2. When an area becomes too crowded, a large group will break off and migrate, 3. Lemmings can swim, but during these mass migrations, the group sometimes misjudges the width of a river or a lake and many drown.

The Lie

The myth of suicidal lemmings is cemented in the public consciousness because of a deliberate fraud.

In 1958, The Academy Award for Best Documentary went to the Disney nature film “White Wilderness.” The film highlighted several animals, including polar bears, Beluga whales, the musk ox, and lemmings. It is now known that the coverage of lemmings, at least, was completely staged.

Here is a list of the lies in this so-called “True-Life Adventure:”

1. The scene where the lemmings jump into the ocean was filmed in Alberta, which is land-locked. The “ocean” in the film was the Bow River, near downtown Calgary.
2. The lemmings in the film were purchased, rather than filmed in the wild.
3. The particular species of lemming shown in the film are not known to migrate.
4. The filmmakers used tricks, such as carefully planned camera angles, to make it appear that there were more lemmings than were actually present.

Then, when it was time to show the lemming “suicide,” the filmmakers actually herded the lemmings off the cliff into the water.

The Victims

As I noted above, there are people who mindlessly follow crowds toward catastrophe. This can be clearly seen at any Trump rally. The disastrous results of such blind loyalty include the death of Heather Heyer during the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, the armed incursion of Comet Ping Pong in Washington, DC by Edgar Madison Welch who believed there was a child trafficking ring in the non-existent basement of the pizzaria, and the violent mob attack on the US Capitol Building on January 6, 2021.

These violent, deluded people are dangerous. In addition to their angry threats, they damage property, and seriously hurt people. Somehow, they believe their despicable actions are patriotic.

It is difficult to view these crazed people with charity. They rant and rave and wave their guns around and absolutely refuse to listen to reason. We need to remember that these vigilantes and insurrectionists are also victims. Their false, misguided, and hate-filled beliefs were carefully fed to them by skilled propagandists in the employ of wealthy men.

Like the lemmings, they were pushed.

The Perpetrators

… In consequence of evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days, I have warned you, and forewarn you, …

Doctrine and Covenants 89:4

The oligarchs and plutocrats who run this world with blood and horror use their power aggressively to protect their wealth and position. They have always been masters at lying, cheating, and stealing, but the relatively new social media technologies have given them the tools to manipulate and brainwash people even more deeply and on a much broader scale.

They control no less than three television networks (FoxNews, Newsmax, and OANN) which spew lies, conspiracy, and propaganda 24 hours a day. They loved the presidency of Donald J. Trump, not because he gave them a huge tax cut (they own Mitch McConnell for those kind of favors), but because Trump’s buffoonish ineptitude kept the people and the media distracted from what the billionaires were doing to further expand their wealth at the expense of human misery.

And whatsoever nation shall uphold such secret combinations, to get power and gain, until they shall spread over the nation, behold, they shall be destroyed;

Ether 8:22

The Warning

Many sources of information are unreliable and do not edify. Some sources seek to promote anger, contention, fear, or baseless conspiracy theories (see 3 Nephi 11:30; Mosiah 2:32). Therefore, it is important that Church members be wise as they seek truth.

“Seeking Information from Reliable Sources,” General Handbook

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has warned its members clearly and repeatedly to beware of evil and designing men — from the pulpit, in news releases, online, in lesson manuals, and in the scriptures. The members of the Church, however, continue to deny, twist, ignore, and deliberately misinterpret the advice of the prophets.

A demagogue gains popularity by telling people what they want to hear. He will always flatter people and pander to their lowest instincts. A professional propagandist will churn out a continuous stream of lies, exaggerations, and conspiracies, with a straight face, in service to the demagogue.

A prophet, on the other hand, will tell the truth even when it is not popular. A prophet will encourage and challenge people to be their best selves. A prophet will call the people to repentance. Because of these characteristics, prophets have historically been ridiculed, persecuted, and sometimes killed.

Developing one’s skill of discernment is very important. If a politician or a media personality, or a friend, is stoking your fear, your anger, or your resentments, if you listen to fringe media and not mainstream media, if you get your information only from the internet and do not trust experts, you are being led toward a cliff and need to quickly get out of that crowd.

Don’t let the demagogues and their propagandists push you, and our nation, any further toward catastrophe. Don’t follow them blindly off the cliff.

… and thus we see that the devil will not support his children at the last day, but doth speedily drag them down to hell.

Alma 30:60

Sources

“Do Lemmings Really Commit Mass Suicide?,” Encyclopedia Britannica, (Online).
“Lemming,” Wikipedia.
“White Wilderness (film),” Wikipedia.
David Mikkelson, “Did Disney Fake Lemming Suicide for the Nature Documentary ‘White Wilderness’?,” Snopes, February 27, 1996.
Diana Ploss, “James Alex Fields found guilty of killing Heather Heyer during violent Charlottesville white nationalist rally.” NBC News, December 7, 2018.
Michael E. Miller, “Pizzagate’s violent legacy,” The Washington Post, February 16, 2021.
“Seeking Information from Reliable Sources,” General Handbook, Section 38.8.40, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.