# Who came up with the term "Sheeple"?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-came-up-with-the-term-sheeple/799132
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 17, 2017, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-came-up-with-the-term-sheeple/799132 "2017-10-17T16:14:19Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2017, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-came-up-with-the-term-sheeple/799132/1 "2017-10-17T16:14:19Z")
Just as the title says.
---
### Author:  [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2017, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-came-up-with-the-term-sheeple/799132/2 "2017-10-17T16:18:05Z")
[Ahem.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheeple)
> [@](#):
>
> While its origins are unclear, the word was used by W. R. Anderson in his column Round About Radio, published in London 1945, where he wrote:
>
> ```
> "The simple truth is that you can get away with anything, in government. That covers almost all the evils of the time. Once in, nobody, apparently, can turn you out. The People, as ever (I spell it 'Sheeple'), will stand anything.[3]
>
> ```
>
> Another early use was from Ernest Rogers, whose 1949 book The Old Hokum Bucket contained a chapter entitled “We the Sheeple”.[4] The Wall Street Journal first reported the label in print in 1984; the reporter heard the word used by the proprietor of the American Opinion bookstore.[5]The term was first popularized in the late 1980s and early 1990s by conspiracy theorist and broadcaster Milton William Cooper on his radio program The Hour of the Time which was broadcast internationally via shortwave radio stations. The program gained a cult following inspiring many individuals who would later broadcast their own radio programs critical of the American government. This then led to its regular use on the radio program Coast to Coast AM by Art Bell throughout the 1990s and early 2000s.
---
### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2017, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-came-up-with-the-term-sheeple/799132/3 "2017-10-17T16:25:16Z")
Interesting. Somewhat surprised it goes that far back, but, then again, the concept of people being sheep and going with the herd doesn’t necessarily sounds like a unique idea, and combining the two words into one, isn’t that much a clever stretch.
Still, it functions as a wonderful shibboleth marking someone I have no desire to engage in any debate with.
---
### Author:  [@The\_Plutonium\_Kid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Plutonium_Kid)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2017, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-came-up-with-the-term-sheeple/799132/4 "2017-10-17T18:24:17Z")
I’m also surprised it goes back that far. However, the word was clearly coined to show disdain or contempt for those with whom one disagrees. In any case, no one is completely immune to peer pressure. I’ve been called one of the “sheeple” a number of times for disagreeing with conspiracy theorists, Holocaust deniers and the like. It’s why I don’t use the term and tend to tune out people who do.
---
### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2017, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-came-up-with-the-term-sheeple/799132/5 "2017-10-17T18:35:03Z")
As usual, [XKCD](https://xkcd.com/1013/)
---
### Author:  [@The\_Plutonium\_Kid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Plutonium_Kid)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2017, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-came-up-with-the-term-sheeple/799132/6 "2017-10-17T18:43:24Z")
Thank you for that link. I need every laugh I can get. 😃
---
### Author:  [@snoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snoe)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2017, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-came-up-with-the-term-sheeple/799132/7 "2017-10-17T19:04:05Z")
> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> Interesting. Somewhat surprised it goes that far back, but, then again, the concept of people being sheep and going with the herd doesn’t necessarily sounds like a unique idea, and combining the two words into one, isn’t that much a clever stretch.
I just showed a high school class Chaplin’s _Modern Times_ from 1936; it opens with a shot of a herd of white sheep moving along (with a lone black sheep – representing Chaplin, I assume), then cuts to a shot of workers streaming into a factory. One of my students commented: "Oh, they’re _sheeple."_