Are You a Sheeple?
I'll bet most of you haven't heard the term "Sheeple". The term is used to describe people who are guilty of herd mentality. They blindly follow politicians, Madison Avenue, the news media, and other thought and opinion leaders blindly-- even right over the cliff like a bunch of lemmings.
Many Sheeple fall into the trap of believing and buying into certain myths . . .
- Buying too much car is okay
- Buying too much house a good investment
- Buying too much crap and clutter
- Spending more than you make is the American way
- Believing that bottled water is better for you
- Believing that voting for a politician will benefit you
- That the politicians know what is good for you, even if they don't do it themselves
- Believing big government is good
- Believing that the news media reports the news in an unbiased fashion
- That thinking for yourself and/or expressing a dissenting opinion is bad or crazy
What do you think (or have you given into the "group think" already)?
How can you avoid being a Sheeple?
- Think for yourself
- Learn to help yourself
- Rely on yourself
- Don't be afraid to speak up
- Don't be ashamed to spend your money wisely
In a nutshell, start adopting an attitude of self reliance and self sufficiency! Fly in the face of "conventional" wisdom. Start today!
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My Affluenza Quiz
Views on Consumerism Revisited
My Recent Visit to a Cathedral of Consumerism
When Did Going Out to Dinner Go From Being a Special Event to Being a Way of Life?
The New "Necessities" of Modern Life
Bottled Water and Extreme Wastefulness
Are You Un-American?
The Keepin' Up With the Jones' Quiz
Do You Ever Feel Like a Slave?
Do You Have "Mad Money"?
What Happened to Self-Sufficiency?
Self Reliance and America . . .
Feeling Helpless? Knowledge will Empower You (and Save You a Small Fortune)
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Categories: Self Improvement, Consumerism, Personal Finance, Self Sufficiency, Self Reliance, Frugality, Personal Philosophy
Tags: Personal Finance Consumerism Self Sufficiency Frugality Self Improvement Sheeple Frugal Self Reliance How to ideas Personal Philosophy
A neighbor of mine from years ago served in the Army in WWII, stationed in Italy. He told me that near the end of the war the soldiers in his camp were all told to get lined up in front of this table because they had some papers to sign. It was something they regularly did on various occasions.
He said that he didn't need to sign any more papers, so he didn't get in the line. A stubborn individual he was.
As it turned out, the line was to have the soldiers sign up for another 6 months duty after the war ended. At the end of the war a few months later, he was one of the few that headed home because he hadn't signed the papers.
The rest of the sheeple stayed behind and played "clean up" in Italy.
As I recall, he and his wife lived in a nice home situated on two lots next to my parent's home. They used the entire backyard of one of their lots to grow their own vegetables. It was a huge garden. I remember him smoking fish and meat on a small homemade brick smoker back there too.
Paul and Joy were their names. They were very self sufficient people. The lesson here for all of us is if we simply follow others, then we get exactly what they have in store for us. You would think we would have learned that by now. History is full of such lessons.
I believe the first written use of the word "sheeple" is in the book Savage Nation, written by Michael Savage.
If you've never seen sheep behavior firsthand, then you just can't appreciate just what kind of a herd behavior this animal exhibits. By themselves they are completely lost and bewildered, but with at least one other, they feel better, calm down, and immediately stay shoulder to shoulder. In a corral, a small flock of sheep will trot in circles, constantly going nowhere, but seemingly satisfied to be doing it with other like-minded animals.
This is no way for any animal to be, much less the people of a nation that have the purest form of freedom ever known on this planet.
Clair
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The most obvious example of sheeple I can think of are the legions who head out to church on Sunday morning. To put that in a "frugal" context, consider the people who tithe - taking it literally, it's giving a tenth of your income to the church.
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My issue is with any organized group or groups of people who blindly follow their "leaders". The "leaders" rarely practice what they preach. Instead operating under a code of conduct that says, "Do as I say not as I do . . . " You can apply this idea to almost any situation these days.
People need to starting thinking for themselves about what is best for themselves, their families, friends, and neighbors. We seemed to have lost that somewhere along the way. A dose of common sense would do us some good!
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