Sheeple
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sheeple is a term of disparagement, a play on the words "sheep" and "people."
It is often used to denote persons who voluntarily acquiesce to a perceived authority, or suggestion without sufficient research to understand fully the scope of the ramifications involved in that decision, and thus undermine their own human individuality or in other cases give up certain rights. The implication of sheeple is that as a collective, people believe whatever they are told, especially if told so by a perceived authority figure believed to be trustworthy, without processing it or doing adequate research to be sure that it is an accurate representation of the real world around them. The term is generally used in a political and sometimes in a religious sense.
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[edit] Usage
The label seems to have originated in the United States and refers to people who tend to accept and follow everything at face value, especially if it is cited in mainstream media. Shortwave radio host Milton William Cooper used it commonly during his Hour of the Time radio show during the late 80s and early 90s. There is documented print usage of this word as early as 1950, in the form, "We, the Sheeple", in the Emory University Quarterly, v.6-7 1950-1951, page 64. [1]. "The Wall Street Journal first reported the label in print in 1984; the reporter heard the word used by the proprietor of an American Opinion bookstore affiliated with the John Birch Society. [2] In this usage, taxpayers were derided for their blind conformity as opposed to those who thought independently. [3]
The term is also used more broadly to describe any person a speaker feels is exceedingly conformist.
[edit] Governance
The term is also used for those who are inordinately tolerant, or welcome government intrusion and regulation. In a column entitled "A Nation of Sheeple," columnist Walter E. Williams writes, "Americans sheepishly accepted all sorts of Transportation Security Administration nonsense. In the name of security, we've allowed fingernail clippers, eyeglass screwdrivers and toy soldiers to be taken from us prior to boarding a plane." [4] This usage emphasizing that Americans sheepishly accepted all sorts of nonsense, those in favor of globalization, or those affected with consumerism. It is also used to describe those who blindly submit to their public servants and venerate them as authority figures and leaders, or likewise a political party as opposed to thoroughly analyzing their motivations with the realization that the people of the body politic are the government.
[edit] Popular culture
- In the South Park episode "Mystery of the Urinal Deuce", a satire of 9/11 conspiracy theories, George W. Bush refers to the American people as "sheeple".
- Former Canadian MP Garth Turner authored a book called Sheeple, about his second time in Commons.
- Radio host Michael Savage claimed on his radio show The Savage Nation that he had coined the term sheeple.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Emory University Quarterly v.6-7 1950-1951, page 64, By Emory University Published by Emory University., 1950
- ^ Bob Davis, "In New Hampshire, 'Live Free or Die' Is More Than a Motto," The Wall Street Journal, February 27, 1984, quoted online at Word Spy
- ^ "Word of the Week: Sheeple" at Macmillan Dictionary.
- ^ "A Nation of Sheeple", Capitalism Magazine, October 19, 2005.
[edit] External links
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Look up sheeple in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
