It is possible to derive this from observation. Creativity and individual expression are pretty much suppressed from the time one first enters into the educational system right through their career. The great thing about retirement is that it becomes less so a challenge to experiment with self-expression and creativity - as long as one isn't seeking admiration or acceptance. — Rich

This is all true, but it is also true that certain velcro-coated ideas are floating around just waiting to glom onto a receptive surface. That "people are a herd and don't think" is one of them and is neither entirely true nor entirely false.

Yes, yes, yes, I know all too well how much creativity, or even slight innovation, is guarded against in most schools and work places. #Itoowasscrewedoutofadecenteducation.

The thing is though, that even the creativity-suppressed, thinking-discouraged masses have to account for their individual existences one way or another. Some people don't need any help; some people are too stupid to benefit from help; but the masses can benefit from all the help and encouragement thinking people can give them. That's why it is a bad idea to dismiss them as dull-witted cud-chewing bovines. (I don't mean to disparage cud-chewing bovines, of course. I have the utmost respect for cattle. Of course, we don't know what they are thinking about while they lie in the shade chewing away. Maybe they have exquisitely perceptive thoughts. Probably not, but who knows?)