--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I think it's a myth that American public…" description: "\"I think it's a myth that American public or any other public is so stupid that they need to be constantly pricked.\" — Brian Eno" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1bd/brian-eno-776_american-public_i-think-it-s-a-myth-that-american-public_2568767.jpg" --- # I think it's a myth that American public or any other… ![“I think it's a myth that American public or any other public is so stupid that they need to be constantly pricked.” quote by Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1bd/brian-eno-776_american-public_i-think-it-s-a-myth-that-american-public_2568767.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1bd/brian-eno-776_american-public_i-think-it-s-a-myth-that-american-public_2568767.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1bd/brian-eno-776_american-public_i-think-it-s-a-myth-that-american-public_2568767.jpg) > “I think it's a myth that American public or any other public is so stupid that they need to be constantly pricked.” [Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. People often underestimate the public's capacity for critical thought, assuming they need constant provocation to stay engaged. **In simple terms:** Publics are not inherently stupid; they can think deeply. Key Takeaway Challenge assumptions about audience intelligence. Themes media criticism public perception critical thinking Mood skeptical reflective Type analytical critical When to use this quote - political discourse - advertising - education - social media Key Concepts cognitive bias media influence Questions to Reflect On - How do you gauge the intelligence of an audience? - What evidence supports your view on public engagement? A Different Perspective Assuming stupidity can lead to condescension and disengagement. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [American public](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-public/) [Constantly Pricked](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/constantly-pricked-1672606/) [Myth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/myth/) [Myth American](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/myth-american-1672607/) [Needs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/needs/) [Public Stupid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/public-stupid-689681/) [Stupid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stupid/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) ## Related quotes > [If you're working on better conditions for prisoners, if you make that a popular issue and you invite mainstream media to weigh in on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-maddow/if-you-re-working-on-better-conditions-for-prisoners-if-you-make-that/) [Rachel Maddow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-maddow/) > [We have had a long held myth of American exceptionalism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-ling/we-have-had-a-long-held-myth-of-american-exceptionalism/) [Lisa Ling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-ling/) > [“WOW DID I JUST SEE LIL B? THE MYTH ?? THE AMERICAN HERO AND LEGEND? WORLD WIDE LEGEND! I MEAN I DIDNT EVEN THINK…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brandon-mccartney/wow-did-i-just-see-lil-b-the-myth-the-american-hero-and-legend-world/) [Brandon McCartney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brandon-mccartney/) > [“It is these conceptual categories of incorporatior gunji{~/iterc and resister gunfighters and not the mythical categories of' hero and villain that are the keys…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-maxwell-brown/it-is-these-conceptual-categories-of-incorporatior-gunji-iterc-and/) [Richard Maxwell Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-maxwell-brown/) > [The public's not stupid.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rita-ora/the-public-s-not-stupid/) [Rita Ora](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rita-ora/) > [A lot of times the mainstream public loves something, critics will hate it and then they'll think the public is stupid and they're above…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-norton/a-lot-of-times-the-mainstream-public-loves-something-critics-will/) [Jim Norton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-norton/) > [The public are not stupid.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-waterman/the-public-are-not-stupid/) [Pete Waterman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-waterman/) > [58% of the American public are with us. We're preaching to the choir, but the choir's not singing, if all of the 58% started…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cindy-sheehan/58-of-the-american-public-are-with-us-we-re-preaching-to-the-choir/) [Cindy Sheehan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cindy-sheehan/) > [The American Public is who I'm interested in. Ultimately, if they think I'm good and they think I'm entertaining that's all that matters.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/criss-angel/the-american-public-is-who-i-m-interested-in-ultimately-if-they-think/) [Criss Angel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/criss-angel/) > [You know for many elected officials they all started in the same place. You know marriage is between a man and a woman, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-mcgreevey/you-know-for-many-elected-officials-they-all-started-in-the-same/) [James McGreevey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-mcgreevey/) > [Because of a mass media more interested in gossip and sensationalism than real issues, I would say a vast majority of the American public…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernie-sanders/because-of-a-mass-media-more-interested-in-gossip-and-sensationalism/) [Bernie Sanders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernie-sanders/) > [Presidents going live from the Oval Office have used that platform to inform the American public, and also to do one of the most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-buttigieg/presidents-going-live-from-the-oval-office-have-used-that-platform-to/) [Pete Buttigieg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-buttigieg/) > [Americans need to educate themselves, from elementary school onward, about what their country has done abroad. And they need to play a more active…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohsin-hamid/americans-need-to-educate-themselves-from-elementary-school-onward/) [Mohsin Hamid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohsin-hamid/) > [Let's focus on how we can take someone who is being poorly educated in an American public school and how they are poorly trained…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-steele/let-s-focus-on-how-we-can-take-someone-who-is-being-poorly-educated/) [Michael Steele](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-steele/) > [It used to be that whenever I introduced myself to people and told them I was a psychologist, they would shrink away from me.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-seligman/it-used-to-be-that-whenever-i-introduced-myself-to-people-and-told/) [Martin Seligman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-seligman/) ## More by Brian Eno > [I have lived in countries that were coming out of conflict: Ireland, South Africa, the Czech republic. People there are overflowing with energy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/i-have-lived-in-countries-that-were-coming-out-of-conflict-ireland/) [Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/) > [The lyrics are constructed as empirically as the music. I don't set out to say anything very important.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/the-lyrics-are-constructed-as-empirically-as-the-music-i-don-t-set/) [Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/) > [Admirers can be a tremendous force for conservatism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/admirers-can-be-a-tremendous-force-for-conservatism/) [Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/) > [The whole history of pop music had rested on the first person singular, with occasional intrusions of the second person singular.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/the-whole-history-of-pop-music-had-rested-on-the-first-person/) [Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/) > [You can't really imagine music without technology.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/you-can-t-really-imagine-music-without-technology/) [Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/) > [Robert Fripp and I will be recording another LP very soon. It should be even more monotonous than the first one!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/robert-fripp-and-i-will-be-recording-another-lp-very-soon-it-should/) [Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/) > [I despise computers in many ways. I think they’re hopelessly underevolved and overrated.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/i-despise-computers-in-many-ways-i-think-they-re-hopelessly/) [Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/) > [I think very often producers are really trying to repeat things. When they hear something in the new songs that they recognize as being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/i-think-very-often-producers-are-really-trying-to-repeat-things-when/) [Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/) > [I think that's very significant that we're so attached to the idea now of - it was something I advocated for years, that you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/i-think-that-s-very-significant-that-we-re-so-attached-to-the-idea/) [Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/) > [If you watch any good player, they're using different parts of their body and working with instruments that respond to those movements. They're moving…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/if-you-watch-any-good-player-they-re-using-different-parts-of-their/) [Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/) > [Songs that don't depend on composition depend instead on performance - so the fire has to be there in the playing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/songs-that-don-t-depend-on-composition-depend-instead-on-performance/) [Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/) > [I can see the use and value of religion, just as I can see the use of mud wrestling, yoga, astronomy and sadomasochism. but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/i-can-see-the-use-and-value-of-religion-just-as-i-can-see-the-use-of/) [Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/) > [I wanted to get rid of the element that had been considered essential in pop music: the voice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/i-wanted-to-get-rid-of-the-element-that-had-been-considered-essential/) [Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/) > [At the beginning of the 20th century, the ambition of the great painters was to make paintings that were like music, which was then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/at-the-beginning-of-the-20th-century-the-ambition-of-the-great/) [Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/) > [I had an interesting day. I was in the studio with a group of musicians, who shall remain nameless, and I said to them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/i-had-an-interesting-day-i-was-in-the-studio-with-a-group-of/) [Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/) [Explore all 373 Brian Eno quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/) ## More American public quotes > [It used to be that whenever I introduced myself to people and told them I was a psychologist, they would shrink away from me.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-seligman/it-used-to-be-that-whenever-i-introduced-myself-to-people-and-told/) [Martin Seligman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-seligman/) > [Let's focus on how we can take someone who is being poorly educated in an American public school and how they are poorly trained…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-steele/let-s-focus-on-how-we-can-take-someone-who-is-being-poorly-educated/) [Michael Steele](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-steele/) > [Americans need to educate themselves, from elementary school onward, about what their country has done abroad. And they need to play a more active…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohsin-hamid/americans-need-to-educate-themselves-from-elementary-school-onward/) [Mohsin Hamid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohsin-hamid/) > [Presidents going live from the Oval Office have used that platform to inform the American public, and also to do one of the most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-buttigieg/presidents-going-live-from-the-oval-office-have-used-that-platform-to/) [Pete Buttigieg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-buttigieg/) > [Because of a mass media more interested in gossip and sensationalism than real issues, I would say a vast majority of the American public…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernie-sanders/because-of-a-mass-media-more-interested-in-gossip-and-sensationalism/) [Bernie Sanders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernie-sanders/) > [You know for many elected officials they all started in the same place. You know marriage is between a man and a woman, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-mcgreevey/you-know-for-many-elected-officials-they-all-started-in-the-same/) [James McGreevey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-mcgreevey/) > [The American Public is who I'm interested in. Ultimately, if they think I'm good and they think I'm entertaining that's all that matters.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/criss-angel/the-american-public-is-who-i-m-interested-in-ultimately-if-they-think/) [Criss Angel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/criss-angel/) > [58% of the American public are with us. We're preaching to the choir, but the choir's not singing, if all of the 58% started…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cindy-sheehan/58-of-the-american-public-are-with-us-we-re-preaching-to-the-choir/) [Cindy Sheehan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cindy-sheehan/) > [Today enormous effort goes into convincing the American public that we're just consumers of media manipulation and sound-bites and spin doctors. That we care…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernardine-dohrn/today-enormous-effort-goes-into-convincing-the-american-public-that/) [Bernardine Dohrn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernardine-dohrn/) > [We of the soft-crooning radio type of singer are giving the people what they want. The American public as a whole does not care…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rudy-vallee/we-of-the-soft-crooning-radio-type-of-singer-are-giving-the-people/) [Rudy Vallee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rudy-vallee/) > [I wanted the American public to know that not everyone in Iraq and Afghanistan were targets that needed to be neutralized, but rather people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chelsea-manning/i-wanted-the-american-public-to-know-that-not-everyone-in-iraq-and/) [Chelsea Manning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chelsea-manning/) > [There’s nothing more embarrassing than a person who tries to guess what the great American public would like, makes a compromise for the first…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/there-s-nothing-more-embarrassing-than-a-person-who-tries-to-guess/) [Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/) > [The American public's a lot more sophisticated than we all give them credit for. And on complicated issues, I'm going to give them straight…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-biden/the-american-public-s-a-lot-more-sophisticated-than-we-all-give-them/) [Joe Biden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-biden/) > [The attitude of the American public toward the external projection of American power has been much more ambivalent. The public supported America's engagement in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zbigniew-brzezinski/the-attitude-of-the-american-public-toward-the-external-projection-of/) [Zbigniew Brzezinski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zbigniew-brzezinski/) > [I think the American public can accept the fact if you tell them that every time you pick up the phone it's going to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-kelly/i-think-the-american-public-can-accept-the-fact-if-you-tell-them-that/) [Raymond Kelly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-kelly/) [Browse all 121 American public quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-public/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I think it's a myth that American public or any other public is so stupid that they need to be constantly pricked.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Brian Eno" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/i-think-it-s-a-myth-that-american-public-or-any-other-public-is-so/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "American public" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/i-think-it-s-a-myth-that-american-public-or-any-other-public-is-so/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1bd/brian-eno-776_american-public_i-think-it-s-a-myth-that-american-public_2568767.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1bd/brian-eno-776_american-public_i-think-it-s-a-myth-that-american-public_2568767.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1bd/brian-eno-776_american-public_i-think-it-s-a-myth-that-american-public_2568767.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I think it's a myth that American public or any other public is so stupid that they need to be constantly…” — Brian Eno", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Brian Eno", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "I think it's a myth that...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/i-think-it-s-a-myth-that-american-public-or-any-other-public-is-so/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/i-think-it-s-a-myth-that-american-public-or-any-other-public-is-so/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```