As explained by psychology professor Mattias Desmet in the interview above, the reason so many have bought into what are clearly illogical pandemic measures is because enough of us were psychologically weakened to begin with.
This in turn allowed for a psychological condition known as “mass formation” to occur. It can be likened to a form of mass hypnosis, as it eliminates people’s critical thinking ability en masse. This also just so happens to be a prerequisite for totalitarianism. Four base conditions must be met by a large portion of society in order for mass formation to occur:
1.Lack of social bonding — Social isolation was a widespread problem long before the pandemic. In one survey, 25% of respondents said they didn’t have a single close friend.
2.Seeing life as meaningless and purposeless — Desmet cites research showing that half of all adults feel their jobs are completely meaningless, providing no value to either themselves or others.
In another poll, done in 2012, 63% of respondents said they were “sleepwalking” through their workdays, putting no passion into their work whatsoever. So, condition No. 2 for mass formation hypnosis was also fulfilled, even before the pandemic hit.
3.Widespread free-floating anxiety and free-floating discontent — Free-floating anxiety refers to anxiety that has no apparent or distinct cause. Judging by the popularity of antidepressants and other psychiatric drugs, condition No. 3 was also fulfilled long before the pandemic.
4.Widespread free-floating frustration and aggression — This tends to naturally follow the previous three. Here, again, the frustration and aggression have no discernible cause.
Mass Formation Gives Rise to Totalitarianism
When these four conditions are fulfilled by a large enough portion of society, they are ripe for mass formation hypnosis — and the rise of totalitarianism. All that’s needed is a story in which the cause of the anxiety is identified, while simultaneously providing a strategy for neutralizing that cause.
By accepting and participating in whatever that strategy is, people with free-floating anxiety feel equipped with the means to control their anxiety and avoid panic. They also suddenly feel reconnected with others, because they’ve all identified the same nemesis.
They’re joined together in a heroic struggle against the mental representation of their anxiety, and this new-found solidarity gives their lives the meaning and purpose they lacked before. This explains why so many have bought into a clearly illogical narrative, and why they are willing to participate in the prescribed strategy — “even if it’s utterly absurd,” Desmet says.
Mass formation is a very dangerous condition, especially for those under its spell, but also for everyone who isn’t. The “mental intoxication” that results makes people willing to do things that are clearly wrong and utterly immoral, up to and including voluntarily killing their own families and themselves, if told it’s for the greater good. In short, masses of people become profoundly gullible and self-destructive, which is not a good combination.
Since self-destructiveness is built into the totalitarian system from the ground up, totalitarian regimes cannot be sustained forever. They fall apart as they’re destroyed from within. But it can be hell while it lasts, as totalitarianism built on mass formation almost always leads to heinous atrocities being committed in the name of doing good.
Action Plan
The good news is that understanding the psychology that led us here also gives us the answer for getting out of it. The key strategy, Desmet insists, is to dissent, and to do so loudly. Not violently, but persistently and frequently. We must join together and speak against totalitarianism for two reasons:
- To give the cowardly majority a sound alternative — Typically, only 30% of people in a totalitarian society are actually under the hypnotic spell of mass formation. Another 40% simply go along because they fear sticking out or going against the grain.
The remaining 30% are not hypnotized and want to wake the others up. By grouping together, the dissenters give the 40% majority an alternative to simply going along for fear of being ostracized.
Once the vocal dissenters and the acquiescing majority are joined together, the mass formation falls apart and the totalitarian state is finished, because it’s those who go along with what they know to be wrong that allow mass formation to take root and grow. Once they’re no longer participating in and feeding that process, the totalitarian takeover cannot succeed.
2. Speaking out limits the atrocities a totalitarian regime commits — In a traditional dictatorship, the dictator usually softens his grip once dissenters are silenced, but in a totalitarian system, the opposite occurs. Once dissenting voices are silenced, that’s when the real atrocities are rolled out, against friend and foe alike.
We can see signs of this already. The more people comply, the worse it gets. “Get the shot and you won’t need to wear a mask” became “you have to wear a mask even if vaccinated, and, by the way, you’re not fully vaccinated unless you get all the boosters, oh, and even if everyone’s vaccinated, we may still need to lock down if the caseload goes up, oh, and you can’t work unless you’re fully jabbed or access medical care” — it has just gone from bad to worse.
In what ungodly universe do people condemn other people to die from treatable medical conditions or bar them from buying food “in order to save lives”? I can think of only one right now, and we’re in it.
If for no other reason than to limit the devaluation and destruction of life that is guaranteed to occur in any totalitarian system, we must never, ever, become silent. What they’re doing is wrong, and it must be stopped.
Once we’re free and clear of the totalitarian threat, we need to address the four base conditions for mass formation, to prevent this condition from appearing again. But for now, we need to focus on uniting and speaking out against tyranny and the stripping away of our God-given rights and freedoms.
Sources and References
- 1, 3, 7 Euronews November 15, 2021
- 2 The Pulse November 13, 2021
- 4 Unherd November 15, 2021
- 5, 6, 8, 9 The Vaccine Reaction November 30, 2021
- 10 The Defender November 17, 2021
- 11 OSHA November 12, 2021
- 12, 13 NYT January 23, 2021 (Archived)
- 14 Daily Wire October 24, 2021
- 15, 16, 17 Brownstone November 15, 2021
The post The Power To Imprison — Life in Pandemicland appeared first on LewRockwell.
The daily news and opinion site LewRockwell.com was founded in 1999 by anarcho-capitalists Lew Rockwell and Burt Blumert to help carry on the anti-war, anti-state, pro-market work of Murray N. Rothbard. Visit https://www.lewrockwell.com