The Unsheepables? What are They?

[West Seattle Blog? Not even close. Proud to be a West Seattle outlier and mostly unsheepable (it’s only human to want to “belong”). My hope is to make this a destination for mindful thinkers and writers and, especially, for my fellow “daylighters.”] I repeat myself for a reason . . .

Unsheepable:  A person who cannot be sheeped.  The opposite of sheepable.  A person who is mindful, rational, and able to analyze and make independent decisions and take independent actions not based on peer pressure, trends, fads, or superficialities. The opposite of conformist, fadist, trendist, trendidiot, trendling, or trendbot. Unsheeps are the opposite of sheep.

One who does not follow any particular crowd but is an equal-opportunity critic. A person with a high need for cognition (look it up).  A person who, for the most part, cannot be brainwashed.  Such unsheepables are also “propaganda resistant” due their need to fact check and look deeper.  Misinformation and the withholding of data by any person or entity to bring about a foreordained result or outcome is often picked up by unsheepables and they will attempt to correct the “record” so that they and their community can make sound, rational, truth-based decisions without the corrupting and biasing influences of the propaganda.

The unsheep theme song is “What the world needs now is no more sheep, no sheep! It’s the kind of human that there’s just too many of . . .”

“Unsheepable” derives from World of Warcraft’s use of the term “sheepable.” Use example: “I can’t believe how unsheepable you are! Aren’t you ever going to buy an iPad?” Or, “You are so unsheepable — aren’t you ever going to rejoin the Democratic Party ever again?”

What is a “daylighter”?

Not all unsheeps are daylighters.  A daylighter is a subset of unsheeps who not only diligently attempt to understand and analyze and not just automatically accept so-called conventional wisdom or purported truth but they also talk or write about what they discover.  This is especially true in situations where health, safety, equality, justice, truth, and education and self-development are threatened or potentially compromised.

In other words, they shed daylight on data that is being hidden or skewed as part of a person or entity’s attempt to bring about a pre-ordained outcome.  This is the essence of propaganda — misinformation, biased analysis, and withheld information to try to enhance the chances of achieving a certain outcome.  Aggressive consumer marketing often uses such a technique for manipulating potential buyers and investors.  All governmental agencies have become extremely adept at such aggressive marketing and no longer have to “threaten” to get desired foreordained results — they have all the tools of the corporate marketing world, and even more resources.

A daylighter is a person who shines a light on data or facts that have not seen the “light of day” due to misinformation or withheld information by journalists, government officials, individuals, or corporations. When information is withheld or hidden or when misinformation is used to obtain a certain result, such as enhancing an image, avoiding negative consequences or appropriate punishment, or to produce a certain kind of behavior (spending money, voting a certain way, not questioning “accepted truth,” or to induce fear or otherwise unearned trust), it can be said to be “propaganda.”

Daylighters are deep thinkers and analytical, and don’t accept data without documentation (footnotes) or doing significant investigation and fact-checking. Healthy skepticism is a necessary characteristic to be significantly qualified for daylighting. Not all daylighters are whistleblowers, but all whistleblowers are daylighters. Some daylighters could be called full-time daylighters.  Others are less able to spend the kind of time that it might take to shine a light on a particular set of propaganda, but they have a solid daylighter attitude and value system.   They clearly qualify as members of the Daylighter Club!  Hallleeeellluuujaaahhhhhh! and Amen.

Sample usage: “My friend, John, is a true daylighter. He just documented on his blog how many lies our county executive has been using to justify spending taxpayer money on unnecessary upgrades to computer systems to be done by a company owned by a close family member of the executive.”

Thank you for visiting this very early version of The Unsheepables.  We have only just begun, and that ain’t no Carpenters’ song!