Charles Mackay was a Scottish poet who lived from 1818 to 1889. He was the author of the book Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, in 1841.
“Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.”
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This is a poetic expression of my dictum, repeated here frequently: enlightenment is an individual project. You will never understand or appreciate the reality of the world by following whatever crowds believe. Or what your community, even your family, believes. Those beliefs are at least incomplete, and usually flat-out wrong, for understandable reasons. Avoid political rallies, church congregations, sports stadiums, rock concerts. Read books about the things none of those groups talk about, and discover those reasons.
It was the message of this post in May 2020.
The quote was cited in this week’s edition of the magazine The Week.
