The Psychology of Totalitarianism
From our rationalist view on man and the world to mass-formation
Dr. Mattias Desmet
https://rwmalonemd.substack.com/p/th...otalitarianismAt the end of February 2020, the global village began to shake on its foundations. The world was presented with a foreboding crisis, the consequences of which were incalculable. In a matter of weeks, everyone was gripped by the story of a virus—a story that was undoubtedly based on facts. But on which ones? We caught a first glimpse of “the facts” via footage from China. A virus forced the Chinese government to take the most draconian measures. Entire cities were quarantined, new hospitals were built hastily, and individuals in white suits disinfected public spaces. Here and there, rumors emerged that the totalitarian Chinese government was overreacting and that the new virus was no worse than the flu. Opposite opinions were also floating around: that it must be much worse than it looked, because otherwise no government would take such radical measures. At that point, everything still felt far removed from our shores and we assumed that the story did not allow us to gauge the full extent of the facts.
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It is not my aim with the book to focus on that which is usually associated with totalitarianism—concentration camps, indoctrination, propaganda—but rather the broader cultural–historical processes from which totalitarianism emerges. This approach allows us to focus on what matters most: the conditions that surround us in our daily lives, from which totalitarianism takes root, grows, and thrives.
Ultimately, my book explores the possibilities of finding a way out of the current cultural impasse in which we appear to be stuck. The escalating social crises of the early twenty-first century are the manifestation of an underlying psychological and ideological upheaval—a shift of the tectonic plates on which a worldview rests. We are experiencing the moment in which an old ideology rears up in power, one last time, before collapsing. Each attempt to remediate the current social problems, whatever they may be, on the basis of the old ideology will only make things worse. One cannot solve a problem using the same mindset that created it. The solution to our fear and uncertainty does not lie in the increase of (technological) control. The real task facing us as individuals and as a society is to envision a new view of humankind and the world, to find a new foundation for our identity, to formulate new principles for living together with others, and to reclaim a timely human capacity—Truth Speech.
The bottom line is that conservatives cant admit to themselves the Evil they have allowed to romp on their watch.
This is going to hurt.
The bottom line is that conservatives cant admit to themselves the Evil they have allowed to romp on their watch.
This is going to hurt.
One of the main drivers of Mass Formation.
The bottom line is that conservatives cant admit to themselves the Evil they have allowed to romp on their watch.
This is going to hurt.
I agree that the uber-woke on the left are not the shiniest pennies in the roll, but just about everybody on the right makes them seem like it.
The dead-center American is horrifically and shamefully regressive, so anybody to the right of the American center doesn't come close to rising to the most basic human intellect level.
Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. Samuel Johnson, 1775
Religion....is the opiate of the people. Karl Marx, 1848
Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose. Kris Kristofferson, 1969
Guno צְבִי (11-27-2022)
I heard COnservatives all the way back in then 70's claim that the left was working to destroy the family structure.....they turned up right.....but sadly they never did anything about it.
The bottom line is that conservatives cant admit to themselves the Evil they have allowed to romp on their watch.
This is going to hurt.
Mass formation, a term the rightwing echo chamber uses that sounds scientific to rile up their rubes. Throw in the word woke and its like ringing the bell for pavlov's dogs
“If we have to have a choice between being dead and pitied, and being alive with a bad image, we’d rather be alive and have the bad image.”
— Golda Meir
Zionism is the movement for the self-determination and statehood for the Jewish people in their ancestral homeland, the land of Israel.
“If Hamas put down their weapons, there would be no more violence. If the Jews put down their weapons, there would be no Israel."
ברוך השם
Continuing to allow the Revolution to control language and conversations is a sure path to your enslavement.
Which is why ELON is such a threat, and must be eliminated.
The bottom line is that conservatives cant admit to themselves the Evil they have allowed to romp on their watch.
This is going to hurt.
America has always had its share of cowards like anywhere else.
With our lack of commitment to education, the ignorance factor is and always has been baked into the cake.
All the anti-education rhetoric, by the way, comes from the right.
Typical Joe Sixpack rank-and-file republicans who are interviewed on location by TV field reporters cannot put together a simple, grammatically correct declarative sentence.
This is fact, not hyperbole. They just drool tobacco juice on their overall bibs, the vulgarian troglodytes. And these mental deficients have guns.
Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. Samuel Johnson, 1775
Religion....is the opiate of the people. Karl Marx, 1848
Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose. Kris Kristofferson, 1969
Guno צְבִי (11-27-2022)
The bottom line is that conservatives cant admit to themselves the Evil they have allowed to romp on their watch.
This is going to hurt.
In the end, it isn't about right and wrong. It's about sincerely wanting completely different things.
Domestic peace never comes to a nation of genuinely incompatible people, and that's what we obviously are.
It's true that there are lots of conservatives in blue states and lots of liberals in red states; these are people who must accept not getting their way or can move out.
The real problem is that red states have far more political power in our system than their population numbers warrant, and it's enough to impact how blue states live.
As long as we remain a republic in the current configuration, America will always be a tinderbox ready to explode...until it eventually actually does explode.
If it gets much worse, nobody will give a shit. Let's see what we do picking up the pieces, unless someone comes in and picks them up for us. If it's NATO, I'm OK with it.
Most NATO nations are more modern and civilized than we. If it's somebody else, then we have a problem.
Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. Samuel Johnson, 1775
Religion....is the opiate of the people. Karl Marx, 1848
Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose. Kris Kristofferson, 1969
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