Break Out of Sheepledom

America's sheeple: Driven by emotion

This commentary speaks to the mentality of those who do not understand either the necessity of self-defense or the roles that prudent preparation and self-defense technology should play in the lives of free citizens. It is fundamentally an attitude ascribed to what some call "sheeple" – subjects rather than citizens, the Great Undecided Middle who comprise a plurality of Americans (and a majority of citizens and subjects abroad). To the sheeple, armed citizens are the enemy, not criminals or societal predators. To sheeple, the very notion that danger could exist within society, or that it is only reasonably responsible to be prepared for that danger, is paranoia. Armed citizens are not and cannot be responsible men and women exercising their constitutionally protected rights to self-defense; they are, in the minds of sheeple, vigilantes. Notions of self-reliance and self-preservation are lost on sheeple; they believe that either you will never need to preserve yourself, or that if you experience an emergency you will (and you must) call on the recognized authorities to come and save you.

To sheeple, what they feel supersedes reality. Sheeple's emotions, their wishful thinking, has been substituted for an objective recognition of what truly is. Sheeple will speak loudly and proudly about how they've never felt the need to be armed, or never felt the need to prepare or train for self-defense, or perhaps how they've never felt "unsafe" even in dangerous areas. What's more, they'll project their wishful thinking onto others, concluding that armed citizens (those wacky conservatives and libertarians especially) are "fearful." You see, sheeple are what firearms guru Jeff Cooper characterized as non-copers. They resent and fear copers, those who are more capable and better prepared than the sheeple. Considering someone else's superior preparation makes the sheeple confront the conflict between what they wish to believe and what truly is – producing the uncomfortable sensation that is cognitive dissonance.

The fact that law enforcement and emergency personnel can rarely be where you need them exactly when you need them is lost on sheeple. Recordings of calls to 911 centers, in which victims scream for help as they are assaulted and murdered by societal predators, make no impression on sheeple. The very idea that you are responsible for yourself and your family – not your government or anyone else – is anathema to the utopian fantasy world in which sheeple live.

It's not easy waking up to reality, but it's so worth it.