“In the United States, the majority undertakes to supply a multitude of ready-made opinions for the use of individuals, who are thus relieved from the necessity of forming opinions of their own.”

Book One, Chapter II.
Democracy in America, Volume II (1840), Book One

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Alexis De Tocqueville photo
Alexis De Tocqueville 135
French political thinker and historian 1805–1859

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“It is rare that the public sentiment decides immorally or unwisely, and the individual who differs from it ought to distrust and examine well his own opinion.”

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“Education aims at independence of judgment. Propaganda offers ready-made opinions for the unthinking herd.”

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