By Timothy T. Tater
There’s a delicious irony in the modern phenomenon of people crying “sheeple!” at their fellow humans. Picture, if you will, the scene: Someone discovers that others hold popular opinions, follow trending topics, or—heaven forbid—trust mainstream sources. Their response? They reach into their mental toolbox and pull out that most original of insults: “sheeple.”
What they fail to notice is the thundering hoofbeats of their own herd galloping right behind them.
The “sheeple” caller has stumbled upon what they believe to be a devastating linguistic weapon, unaware that millions of other free-thinking individualists have made the exact same discovery. They’ve joined a vast flock of people who pride themselves on not being sheep, all bleating the same four-syllable battle cry in perfect unison. The irony is so thick you could knit a sweater from it.
Watch them congregate in comment sections and forums, these champions of independent thought, all parroting identical talking points about “mainstream media manipulation” and “wake up, America!” They share the same memes, frequent the same websites, and nod along to the same podcasts—but somehow, they’re the enlightened ones. Everyone else is just following the crowd.
The sheeple-spotter has typically graduated from the University of YouTube with a doctorate in Connect-the-Dots, specializing in seeing patterns that those poor, brainwashed masses are too stupid to recognize. They’ve done their “research”—which is to say, they’ve found information that confirms what they already believed and called it a day. But unlike those mindless followers who get their news from boring old newspapers or established institutions, our hero gets theirs from TruthEagle1776’s blog and that one guy on Twitter who REALLY gets it.
The beautiful thing about calling others “sheeple” is how it instantly elevates the caller above the fray. They’re not part of any group—oh no, they’re rugged individualists who just happen to think exactly like thousands of other rugged individualists. They don’t follow trends; they’re just part of a counter-trend, which is completely different because it has the word “counter” in it.
These shepherds of awareness love to point out how easily manipulated everyone else is, blind to the fact that they’re often the most manipulated of all. They’ve simply chosen a different shepherd—one who whispers sweet nothings about their superior intelligence and special ability to see through lies. Their new shepherd might be a conspiracy theorist, a political extremist, or just someone selling supplements, but at least it’s not the mainstream shepherd, and that makes all the difference.
The tragedy is that in their rush to avoid being sheep, they’ve become something arguably worse: sheep who think they’re shepherds. They’re so busy congratulating themselves on their independence that they never notice they’re all congratulating themselves in exactly the same way, using exactly the same words, reaching exactly the same conclusions.
Perhaps the most sheeplike behavior of all is the reflexive bleating of “sheeple!” whenever confronted with disagreement. It’s become a thought-terminating cliché, a way to dismiss any opposition without having to engage with it. Can’t argue with the substance? Just call them sheep and walk away, secure in your intellectual superiority.
So the next time you hear someone smugly dismiss others as “sheeple,” take a moment to appreciate the spectacle. You’re witnessing a member of the herd calling out other members of the herd for being members of the herd, all while following their own shepherd toward an entirely different cliff.
After all, there’s nothing quite as sheeplike as mindlessly repeating the word “sheeple.”