The Grasshopper is rarely as pejorative as he was yesterday when he chirped: “If you’re too stupid to recognize pander, you’ll always be led.”

A panderer according to my online dictionary is a person who assists the baser urges or evil designs of others to their own advantage while purporting to be on the side of those pandered to.

A panderer has one goal in mind: Theirs not yours.

Look no further than the “race card” played in the first O.J. Simpson trial. The defense pandered to the jury’s experience with racism to acquit their guilty client.

Like a lobster in a slow simmering pot, some people don’t recognize they’re being pandered to until they have been cooked and have satiated the needs of the panderer.

Ask yourself this the next time you suspect you’re being pandered to: Does this person really care about me and my plight or are they just enlisting me in their fight?

Panders don’t care about you. You are being used as a means to an end.

People who are easily led lean heavily on their emotions, not on the factual data at hand. The panderer knows this and targets those folks because they’re easy prey.

I am constantly amused and saddened about the constant misinformation that people on social media spread without checking the data for facts. Frankly, they are stupid and easily led.

If you don’t recognize that you’re being used, get used to a steady diet of pander that will just fatten your brain, and the panderer will continue to use you for their personal gain.

All the best,

John