Nietzsche's word for humanity-as-received: borrowed values, borrowed fears, a morality built by the many for the comfort of the many.
Documented
The Genealogy's accusation
On the Genealogy of Morality (1887) argues that 'good and evil' replaced 'good and bad' through a slave revolt in morals: the weak, unable to act, revalued their weakness as virtue and strength as sin. Herd morality is the victory's enduring institution.
Assessment: Documented: the first essay of the Genealogy is the primary text.
Stories
The awakened individual
The motivational reading: spot the herd, exit the herd, become yourself. Entire channels run on this script. The irony, that 'reject the herd' is itself a herd signal with merch, is noticed less often than it is monetized.
Assessment: Stories: the individualism is Nietzsche's; the congregation of individuals is the internet's.
Interesting claims
The Zhuangzi parallel
Laozi's tradition filed the same diagnosis without the contempt: the sage does not despise the crowd, he simply declines its games, and goes out through the gate on an ox, unconcerned with whether anyone notices. The herd can be opposed, or merely left.
Assessment: Interesting: two cures for the same fever, and the patient chooses by temperament, which neither philosopher would accept as a reason.
Sources and further reading
Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morality (1887), First Essay
Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil (1886), sections 199-203
Zhuangzi, Inner Chapters (Daoist parallel)
Worth asking
If your values were installed, which of your thoughts are yours?