Sheeple: Another Look At A Sad Breed
February 5, 2013 by Brandon Smith
Some phrases are steeped in immediately recognizable symbolism. When we hear them, we instantly know to whom and to what the phrases refer; we can even gain a greater depth of understanding to a particular situation because of them. They cause us to step outside our environment and look at it in an entirely different way. They might make us laugh. They might make us cry. But we are not indifferent to these affecting words.
The term “sheeple” has quickly become a word that defines an era. It is not just a tool for ridicule, though it does indeed seem to hurt the feelings of the ignorant and unaware (which, to my mind, is a good thing; if they can feel shame about their factual inadequacies, then perhaps one day they can be redeemed). No, there is much more going on here.
When one is surrounded by blatant absurdity and total loss of freedom, compassion and humanity, he needs a way to describe the horror, to shed light on the dark insanity of it, to remove the barriers of confusion and to build a clear path to reason. He needs to quantify the threat so that he can move beyond it and toward understanding.
In our modern age, we are absolutely stricken with an epidemic of willful idiocy that bears no rational excuse. A century ago, such behavior in a culture could have been chocked up to a bottleneck in the flow of concrete information. But today, mankind has a veritable buffet of data at his fingertips at any given moment. Facts and truth can be found with a mere modicum of effort and a remedial passion for learning. We can plead “lack of access” no longer.
Yes, our government and our society have become corrupt to the core. Yes, the traditional sources of information in the mainstream media are utterly useless and dishonest. Yes, our public educational system is completely Federalized, and our schools have been warped into lemming factories where young minds are bled dry of all creative power and individuality. Yes, the system we are born into is designed to make us stupid. However, the establishment has not yet been able to extinguish our ability to walk away. We all have a choice: to be taught by others or to learn for ourselves.
At the end of the day, sheeple are sheeple not because they have to be, but because they want to be.
It is the greatest and most exploitable weakness of man: our willingness to sacrifice anything in order to avoid admitting we know nothing. This is the philosophical slum of the common “sheeple.” It is pathetic and ugly, and it is a rampant plague upon the world.
The time is coming (very soon, I believe) when the subpopulation of sheeple will be used as cannon fodder to institute change in America on an unprecedented scale. It has happened many times throughout history. The establishment, seeking unlimited power, brandishes the dimmer subsections of the populous like a political baseball bat, swinging them about wildly in an attempt to smash the ideological enemies of the state. Often, the sheeple are oblivious to the fact that they are being used as a weapon against liberty and truth. They know only that they must participate to survive, even if that survival ends up being a hollow and meaningless life.
Now more than ever it is important for the liberty movement to understand and identify who these people are and what makes them tick. Time grows short, and it is easy for us to become mired in the haze of a glassy-eyed herd. Sheeple can be saved from themselves, but only if they can be made to recognize these particular behaviors as part and parcel of their own folly.
Institutionalized Laziness
Some sheeple are not ignorant because they are unintelligent. Rather, they are ignorant because they refuse to expend any energy in discovering the facts of their world. They have become used to the idea of being taught, rather than going out to learn for themselves. It is easier to be told what to think than it is to develop one’s own worldview. Sheeple often state that they “just want to be left alone” and “don’t want to think about the troubles of the world,” yet nearly all of them at the same time want to feel as though they have an effect on the future. They want the benefits of a sound and balanced society, but they don’t want to put in the work to make such a society possible. They want “other people” to make the system work, and “other people” are certainly willing to take advantage of sheeple inaction.
Arrogance Without Merit
I have met many people in my life who are not fully aware of how their world works or why terrible things happen to them. This by itself is not necessarily bad. If one is able to accept that he needs to learn more, then he has far surpassed most of society in the strength of his character. Unfortunately, sheeple do not share this attitude. They not only lack remedial knowledge on most issues, but they are also unwilling to admit it. They even viciously attack those who do have substantial information.
Is this due to an inferiority complex? Possibly. They are so invested in the mainstream worldview as presented by media entities and government that they take it as gospel. They live the mainstream ideal; but, secretly, they harbor doubts. They know that they do not have the capacity to defend the system if confronted by an intelligent and well-versed opponent, so they develop a demeanor of arrogance and contempt for those who question it. This uppity manner is a defense mechanism meant to hide the weakness of their arguments. Combined with ad hominem attacks and physical threats, sheeple try to ward off critics so they do not have to engage in a legitimate debate they know they will lose.
Always Worried What The ‘Majority’ Thinks
Sheeple are steeped in the realm of the mainstream, so much so that they have become nothing but a cog in the machine of the collective mind. Their entire existence is predicated on blind faith in the system. If the system is proven to be flawed, then they are proven to be flawed by extension. They will ignore all reason and defend the system wildly, as if trapped by some cult, because their fragile identity is dependent upon the continued prosperity of the establishment.
In most cases, sheeple are motivated by nothing but fear. In their early years, they likely either caved to the force of peer pressure and learned to diminish their personal pain by constantly conforming to the majority view or sought inclusion in the majority very early on and became addicted to the power that the collective is able to wield over others. In either case, they never actually questioned whether or not the “majority” was right in its behavior. Instead, they decided at some point in their life that the majority is always right simply because it is the majority.
Never Questions The Professional Class
Sheeple are easily impressed by anyone with a nice suit, uniform, lab coat or an embossed diploma or title. They see and revere the costume, regardless of the man inside it. For sheeple, titles and positions of arbitrary authority make the opinions of a man more than opinion; his opinions suddenly become law.
While a liberty movement activist looks for the legitimacy within the individual professional, the sheeple place all faith within the institution that professional represents. His personal character is of no consequence to them, and the idea that he may have no clue what he is talking about does not occur to them.
Obsession With The State
Because the average sheeple hasn’t the slightest inkling of how to be independent or self-sufficient, they attach their survival to the success of the state. They see the word of the state as sacrosanct, and they have no concept of government by the people. They will sing the praises of democratic elections and the will of the public in general participation; but when the state goes against that will and does what it pleases, they will seek to rationalize this criminality.
For them, government might be fallible (or not), but this fallibility does not change the finality of state authority. The government is not to be interfered with and certainly not to be opposed. To stand against the state is to stand against law; and the law, in their minds, is god. Questions of morality are irrelevant. They have become so far detached from their consciences that there is nothing left but a pitch-black void, waiting to be filled with the demands of oligarchy.
When confronted by men who are willing to fight and die to interfere with the abuse of state authority, they respond with shock and revulsion. How could anyone possibly stand against the will of the mainstream and its government champions? How dare they defy the establishment?
Predictable Responses
Sheeple are highly predictable, two-dimensional creatures. When confronted with their own failings, they will follow a pre-programmed list of responses meant to divert and confuse discussion.
They will claim that “everyone thinks they are smarter than everyone else” and that the “truth is relative.” History does not support this twisted view, however. There are always moments in which some people are morally and intellectually correct, while many others are dangerously misguided. Some people make decisions that lead to chaos and destruction while others make decisions that lead to prosperity and creation. The truth — the cold, hard truth — is not relative. It is unyielding, uncompromising and final. To be successful as human beings requires us to be on the right side of truth more often than we are not. To assume that the truth is malleable to our particular desires of the moment is to always be on the wrong side.
Sheeple rely primarily on character assassination and belligerent disregard for logic in order to derail debate. They do not attack your position so much as they attack you personally. They scoff, giggle and taunt like children; but when it’s all over, they usually say very little of any substance.
Finally, they will use the weapon of majority opinion as a get-out-of-jail-free card; and, in most cases, this is not a ploy. They really do believe that if the larger percentage of the public accepts a conviction, then that conviction automatically becomes fact. Their goal, therefore, is to constantly ride the wave of majority opinion so that they will always be in a position of righteousness. Of course, this way of thinking has in the past led to some of the worst atrocities in history. The collective mind has no concern for individual freedom, including the freedom to live in peace. Violence in the name of conformity is very common in such cultures.
Sheeple are puppets in the game of political reconstruction, and it’s their job to cheerlead the establishment and to drown out all honest voices. They are generally remorseless as long as they never have to face tangible consequences for their blind support of the system. They seek to strengthen the bars of the prison because the outside world of free thought and expression intimidates and paralyzes them. In an environment where survival is dependent on individual merit and principle, sheeple hold no currency, no capital. This might explain their overt hatred of individualists. When we in the liberty movement seek to unchain and decentralize the world, we indirectly cut the umbilical cord to them. They see our fight for freedom as a threat to their very lives. Sadly, their comfort is derived entirely from our enslavement.
–Brandon Smith
You can opt-out at any time. We protect your information like a mother hen. We will not sell or rent your email address to anyone for any reason.
