Dingbats "r" US

Some have objected when I say that most people are "sheeple." Followers of the status quo. Hiding within the herd for protection. Only knowing enough to keep going. Although not a scientific statistically random sampling I believe that it is representative of the result of basic American educational culture. Especially considering that this is the best (probably the funniest) taken from over a decade's worth of video. This is also why the status quo is able to maintain its inertia towards a strong central controlling government system. Without breaking up the mass (public ignorance, stupidity, lethargy), there is little chance of any reform to the public's general aquiecence to the status quo structure. The "patriot" movement must do a better job of marketing liberty as a lifestyle rather than as a nebulous political idea.



For more scientific studies that support my premise see:

OUTBREAK!
The Encyclopedia of
Extraordinary Social Behavior
by Hilary Evans and Robert E. Bartholomew

From fads, crazes, and manias to collective delusions, scares, panics, and mass hysterias, history is replete with examples of remarkable social behavior. Many are fueled by fear and uncertainty; others are driven by hope and expectation. For others still, the causes are more obscure. This massive collection of extraordinary social behaviors spans more than two millennia, and attempts to place many of the episodes within their greater historical and cultural context.


The Authoritarians

By Dr. Robert Altemeyer

The greatest threat to American democracy today arises from a militant authoritarianism that has become a cancer upon the nation.

Obedienc e to Authority
By Stanley Milgram
Half a century ago, social scientist Stanley Milgram carried out a series of experiments. The "teacher" is told to administer electroshocks in progressively more painful degrees to the "learner." The teacher -- unaware that the learner is an actor receiving no shocks at all -- is the real focus of the study. These controversial and criticized experiments illustrate how people will obey authority regardless of consequences.

The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil
By Philip Zimbardo

Social psychologist Zimbardo is best known as the father of the 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment, which used a simulated prison populated with student volunteers to illustrate the extent to which identity is situated within a social setting; student volunteers randomly chosen to play guards became cruel and authoritarian, while those playing inmates became rebellious and depressed. With this book, Zimbardo couples a thorough narrative of the Stanford Prison Experiment with an analysis of the social dynamics of the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, arguing that the "experimental dehumanization" of the former is instructive in understanding the abusive conduct of guards at the latter.