Lemmings, they have a bad reputation for creating and participating in mass suicide cults. Like most people’s bad reputation it was given to them by the media.
In 1958 Disney produce a documentary called “White Wilderness” that depicted these rodents following each other off a cliff to their death. (They were trying to capture their migratory behavior)
After disney won multiple awards for their so called documentary people discovered that the lemmings filmed were in fact pushed of off the cliff by the camera men. Although the lemmings mass suicide film was fake people continue to use these furry creatures as a metaphor or insult. When someone calls someone else a lemming they are saying that they are dimwitted and tend to follow the crowd even if it means self harm. I see “White Wilderness” ‘s version of lemming behavior no less than real, although it does not apply to the lemmings, I tend to see it elsewhere. I see it in people all day every day no matter their race, gender, or IQ, everyone is a lemming to a certain degree. We all like to “fit in”and abide by the same rules, wear similar clothes, do similar things, and act the same. We tend to throw our well being out the window when we do this. Although some of these norms we tend to follow benefit us positively like going to school, wearing clothes, getting a job, and eventually moving out of our parents house. Whether or not our lemming behavior affects us positively depends on the people we tend to be around, that's why people need to pick their friends wisely especially if you have more lemming like frequencies than others.
The truth behind lemmings is that as they overpopulate an area they must migrate elsewhere to find more food, while doing this they usually attempt sketchy swims and pathways to find new land. They are misunderstood and in a way stereotyped much like people. Everyone knows that white people shoot up schools and are rich. Everyone knows that all black people love their watermelon, kool aid, and fried chicken. And everyone knows that all the middle eastern people are going to terrorize our country with guns and explosives. Much like how everyone knows that lemmings are stupid hamsters that commit suicide all the time. Lemmings are a perfect example of how much of our knowledge is media based, some people still believe that lemmings are rodents that always commit mass suicide. I believe that our lemming behavior is unchangeable but our media based knowledge is not and it needs to be changed.