On Wednesday 13 June 2007 20:14:47 Neil Brown wrote:
> On Wednesday June 13, [email protected] wrote:
> > 1: Sheeple (n): People that act like sheep - ie: they cannot think or
> > form opinions for themselves and always look to someone else for their
> > thoughts and parrot the opinions of some "trusted" figure.
>
> I recommend that you avoid definitions like this. Using them simply
> makes you appear to have a very poor understanding of your fellow
> humans.
>
> "cannot" and "always" are absolutes that never apply (well, hardly
> ever).
In this case I gave a very hasty definition of the term, though it does fit
very well.
> In my experience, most people do think for themselves and do form
> opinions about areas where they have an interest/ability, and tend to
> follow trusted others in areas where they have less interest or
> ability.
Agreed. But those *aren't* "Sheeple".
> The problem that I think you see is particularly the "parrot the
> opinions" bit. When a person tries to argue a case based largely on
> the opinion of someone else with little personal understanding, they
> are in very risky territory. This is akin to 'fundamentalism' that
> you also mentioned in your post.
>
> Accusing people of arguing opinions that are not their own may well be
> appropriate. Accusing them of not be able to think is not.
I never accused any specific person of either. I was making an observation
about the general nature of humanity as I've observed it. A better definition
of "Sheeple" would be "Someone who continually parrots some "trusted" figures
opinion even when presented with proof that that opinion is in error. They
also, generally, do not "think deeply" on any topic."
And while I won't apologize to anyone that may have felt the "Sheeple" remark
was directed at them, I will apologize for not taking more time to choose a
better definition for the term originally.
DRH
> NeilBrown
> -
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
> the body of a message to [email protected]
> More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
> Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
--
Dialup is like pissing through a pipette. Slow and excruciatingly painful.
-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [email protected]
More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
[Index of Archives]
[Kernel Newbies]
[Netfilter]
[Bugtraq]
[Photo]
[Stuff]
[Gimp]
[Yosemite News]
[MIPS Linux]
[ARM Linux]
[Linux Security]
[Linux RAID]
[Video 4 Linux]
[Linux for the blind]
[Linux Resources]
