Social psychologist Irving Janis coined the term ‘groupthink’ in 1971. So, let’s see if I can break that down, and make it all a bit clearer. To begin with, the ‘group’ part of ‘groupthink’ can be quite large. So while it can apply to a small, cohesive group of people, it often (perhaps most often?) applies to a large group who make up a corporation or an institution of some kind. It is possible for a whole university to simply lean in the direction of being pro-Palestine and anti-Israel. There may still be a minority (the Jews and the Christians at the university, for example) who disagree. But on the whole the vast majority are uncritically swept along by an assumption that ‘of course’ all the Palestinian protestors must be right, and ‘of course’ no critical analysis is ever applied. It is simply an unexamined assumption.

The brain is turned off, and is replaced by a kind of ‘group mind’ that just thinks the same thoughts inside everyone’s head. That is ‘groupthink.’ Or take the case of the ABC. During the referendum on establishing an Indigenous ‘Voice’ to parliament the ABC was dominated by a ‘groupthink’ that just assumed (without any deep thought or critical analysis) that this must be a good thing. Consequently, ABC programs were made by people who just assumed that opposition to the Voice was evil. And this ‘groupthink’ (I believe) dominates almost all the thinking (or non-thinking) among ABC staff almost all the time. Former ABC chairman Maurice Newman has said that it is ‘groupthink’ by ABC staff that dominates that organisation. And the bottom line? Never take your ideas from others! Not even the group around you! Accept no ‘unexamined assumptions’. Every assumption, every opinion, should be critically examined. (Including mine!)