BEYOND THE TRIBE Public Opinion as Social power

is there a greater EVIL that Thoughtlessness?

Thoughtlessness, Group Identity, Manufactured Reality, and the Decline of Independent Judgment

Ostracize (verb)

Definition: To ostracize someone is to deliberately exclude, reject, ignore, isolate, or banish them from a social group, community, organization, or society, often as a form of punishment, disapproval, or social control.

Etymology

The word comes from the ancient Greek practice of ostracism.

In ancient Athens, citizens could vote to exile a person from the city-state for ten years. Votes were written on broken pieces of pottery called ostraka. A person receiving enough votes would be expelled, not necessarily for a crime, but because they were considered a threat to social stability.

Thus, ostracize originally meant:

"To expel from the community."

Over time the meaning evolved into social exclusion rather than physical exile.

Ostracism is social exile. It is the punishment imposed by a group upon an indivi