George Carlin on the common good

People are wonderful. I love individuals. I hate groups of people. I hate a group of people with a 'common purpose'. 'Cause pretty soon they have little hats. And armbands. And fight songs. And a list of people they're going to visit at 3am. So, I dislike and despise groups of people but I love individuals. Every person you look at; you can see the universe in their eyes, if you're really looking.

~ George Carlin

Jeff Harris on scientific consensus

Maybe you’ve heard of Ignaz Semmelweis, an Austrian-Hungarian obstetrician with a prickly personality. If not, you will quickly recognize his contribution to the medical profession with the three words he made famous:

“Wash your hands.”

This was way back in 1847.

Dr. Semmelweis provided hard data clearly demonstrating that once he and his staff began washing their hands and disinfecting equipment between patients the number of infections and deaths dropped dramatically. Unfortunately, the scientific “consensus” at the time held that there was no benefit to these measures and his advice was almost completely ignored by the learned medical community. In fact, many of his medical peers were incensed with his suggestion that they could be responsible for transmitting illness and disease!

At the time doctors took pride in their soiled gowns as a mark of their industrious work! It was commonplace for doctors who had just completed an autopsy to go to the maternity ward and deliver babies without ever washing up! After all it was the “consensus” and with so many doctors in agreement how could they be wrong?

Dr. Semmelweis died in an insane asylum in 1865 knowing that untold numbers of patients had needlessly suffered and died because the medical community refused to accept his findings and instead chose to follow the "consensus."

~ Jeff Harris, The Ron Paul Institute for Peace &scie Prosperity, "Science Is Not About Consensus," ZeroHedge.com, August 27, 2020

Kevin Duffy on diversity and Big Tech

The greatest long-term threat to Silicon Valley in general and the tech behemoths in particular may be the corrupting influence of egalitarian groupthink, all in the name of "diversity."

~ Kevin Duffy, The Coffee Can Portfolio, August 11, 2020

Bill Bonner on groupthink

Group-think is popular because it is easier than private thinking and the stakes are lower.  A man's public attitudes are buttressed by others, held up by the media, and reinforced by constant repetition.  His private thoughts, on the other hand, are fragile, lonely and often desolate.  He cannot even get his own children to clean up their rooms or his wife to agree to his family budget; who can blame him for wanting to tell others what to do?

~ Bill Bonner, Financial Reckoning Day, p. 170

Humphrey Neill on groupthink

When everybody thinks alike, everyone is likely to be wrong.

~ Humphrey Neill, pioneer of modern contrarian theory