The documentary Sir No Sir outlines how just a handful of people can overturn something as big as a war. It doesn't take organizing, it doesn't take a mass of people to all yell the same slogan for their leader or even for their idealizations, it takes a handful of enlisted/deserters to do real change, and sometimes in certain organizations like the officers it only takes a couple, all else is susceptible to manipulation and controlled opposition. Let me utter some phrases that make the sheeple moniker very understandable:
heard mentality, group think, occupy wallstreet.

 Mob mentality has been studied for a very long time. The question is: can you adapt that to work on a handful of people, strangers even that are all in the same situation and have the conviction to say "No thank you, I'd rather die behind the chemical sheds" look at the GI movement and how many it took to "support" those few individuals, it wasn't the herd that made it happen, it wasn't the masses dropping flyers and putting themselves into the shepards hands to be portrayed as senseless masses, it was the handful of Eve's saying No, I won't, in spite of the multitudes people who had no skin in the game. 

Real conviction isn't found in a group, in a group you find identification through compromise of your convictions, you lose your identity in order to conform, you sell your self for the approval of everyone, and so then real change happens from within, hence why the axiom of change yourself first, physicians heal yourself first is still true and will never be overturned into "conform". Why is that a point, that conformity was sold to the public, why not mention this along side 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hbq4eWds_8, 
Why not mention how classism was never the problem in independence times america, why the people were all happy to band behind "no more kings" but not behind "no more hierarchy ". Even wallstreet failed at addressing the timeless war of class and focused entirely on the perceived controllers, but not on the structures that allow these controllers to manifest in the first place.
Yes, grouping people is polarizing and generalizing, and ultimately alienating the individuals from joining you on the same ground,yes ok, thats one point, but that doesn't mean that groups are what creates change, groups are always stupid, indifferent, us vs them, easy to control, easy to spook and impress, endlessly more predictable and susceptible to the tactics which have been explored for a long time.
How easy is it to force/coerce a handful of individuals as opposed to a multitude? One gets spooked all get spooked, but real change comes from conviction and that leads to connection to actual real solidarity, it starts in your family, in your friends and  even your coworkers, not in your neighborhood, not in your town halls, there you are targets of the mechanism of peers, of "we are all for this, we are all against this".

Hopefully I am in another group of non-sheeple who get lumped in with sheeple. I marched for racial equality in the late 60s, I worked for sexual equality (the pre-feminism term) in the early 70s, I worked in health food co-ops, grew my own organic food and started a worker owned business or three. I organized against the huge corporations, voted and supported libertarian politicians, advocated for distributed food and energy production, and buttonholed people about the unelected state.  

But then I retired. That fight is for the young. I brought it from the 60s to the 90s and now it's someone else's turn. I passed it on, taught when there was a student, and still conform my life to the principles, but I'm doing something else now. 

I do occasionally write a scathing reply or a sarcastic comment on current affairs, and sometimes I will lecture a kid on the city bus, but for the most part I am done. My individual efforts, as you point out, are unnecessary and ineffective, while the young folks can organize much more effectively without me.  It's time for me to sit down and rest, but damn, it burns when someone calls me a sheeple. I was woke before their daddy rolled over and went to sleep.

Hi! I am a robot. I just upvoted you! I found similar content that readers might be interested in:
http://www.everything2.com/title/sheeple

The problem is that there are only two kinds of people in the world: Those who divide the world into two kinds of people, and everyone else. ;)

Now that I've gotten that joke out of the way, I have to admit that I've "classified" the fellow of your writeup into a class that has not as yet given up what Larken Rose calls "The myth of authority." I am fully in agreement with his premise that we must form communities to effect massive change. I fear the underlying implication that such communities must force such change on others. *That* is the form of "sheeple mentality" that frightens me, the sheep that go along with a group to coerce me.

I will continue to strive to do "individual good" in the world. I will gladly participate in communities with which I resonate. Just don't ever try, individually or corporately, to *force* me to do anything as long as I am not harming you. 😄😇😄
<a href="https://goo.gl/dIZCsm" target="_blank">
  <img src="https://i.imgsafe.org/b68e74b386.gif" alt="@creatr" style="border:0;">
</a>

Supposed to be denied payment, sorry

One of the problems here is that about half the world's population is demonstrably, measurably imbecile. Organization of the unintelligent is so difficult, it almost always degenerates to the level of manipulation.

I have tried, and continue to try, to interest intelligent people in education of themselves and others about the ways to improve the capabilities of the less intelligent, through diet, sanitation, and learning systematic methods to approach problem solving. It is the best I've been able to achieve, so far, to interest a handful of people in considering the idea of the Trivium for a moment, and then it's off to the news cycle again. There appears to be no hope for it, and I'm beginning to understand why people who wish to govern invariably turn to manipulation of the masses. Some fear the power of organized people. I fear the power of ignorant and unintelligent organized people. If we can somehow solve the intellectual capacity problem, the rest, I think, will solve itself.

It seems to me these days more than ever we are divided in every possible was. Referring to people as 'sheeple' is just another way to divide us.  Even music and art, which in the 60's was uniting people to create change and challenge the status quo, is as divisive as race, class, and nationality.

Yes, smart people argue a lot, but so do ignorant people who argue about issues highlighted in the media by those institutions that profit from the way things currently are and fear the power of organized people. Keeping us fighting about things of no real consequence has been a very effective distraction historically and as obvious as their tactics seem to many, there are still those who seem oblivious. Sheeple, if you will. They shouldn't be discounted though and are needed to create a new future.

Brilliant post! Thank you for sharing.  ☆☆☆☆☆😎

I agree. 🆙  💯    The term lacks compassion and makes the mistake of presuming the opposition is stupid.

Best part:

> I don't like it when people compare other people to sheep, because it implies that they're just a bunch of dumb conformists. Maybe they aren't! Maybe they're all as smart as you are, and still don't want to change anything, because everything is satisfactory for them. Maybe they understand how the world works and are looking to manipulate it for themselves. Maybe they're not as learned as you, but they're proud and determined and well worth having in any group of people dedicated to change. How are you going to know unless you get down off your mountaintop and ask them?

I read this in a [recent post](https://steemit.com/anarchy/@badquakerdotcom/evil-or-stupid):

> Never attribute to Evil what can be explained by Stupid.

I would adjust to

> Never attribute to Stupid what can be explained by Understanding

The older I get, the truer this is 👴🏻

nice.

I'd been stuck in the conspiracy theory camp for a long time, where such talk of "sheeple" run rampant - just another offshoot of the "awakened," "truthers," "conscious," etc. At the end of the day, all that was merely stated is self-righteousness. Glad to have disassociated myself from such views since, as for all the noble intentions there might be in those sub-cultures, the approach is flawed.

Great share.

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> individual choices can change the world for the better in the absence of organised effort.

The problem is we've had organized efforts and those end up devolving into people trying to control others, and when they can't they resort to trying to coerce them by making them believe unless they conform and act as they are told, then they are causing the problem for everyone else.

We can't agree on a problem, how are we going to agree to the same solution?