But I would argue that the average man is now more uneducated that ever to learn for themselves, and in fact less in charge of his own free will and conscious decision that ever before in todays world. Outside inference and the desire to conform will always restrict human freedom and ability to learn for oneself.
With mass marketing, mass culture, and a global worldspace, the individual has less rights to express their individuality than ever before. Without taking heavy cues from outside stimuli, the presentation of that stimuli is cleverly wrapped in modern euphenisms and brandism presented through mass media, the individual has lost the ability to think for their own without looking to outside cues. Even these 'unconscious' thoughts that we all have are in fact filtered through multiple streams and traffic light systems enforced by todays society.
What is truly my thought? what is truly your thought? or what has really been prepackaged and wrapped up into how we should think, how we should act and how we should behave given certain circumstance?