Propaganda & Mind Control

"Only the mob and the elite
can be attracted by the
momentum of totalitarianism itself.
The masses have to be
won by propaganda."
~ Hannah Arendt

Video
Herding Behavior
How following the crowd leads us astray
Feb. 19, 2019

Whether or not we're aware of it, our reliance upon "the herd" plants the seeds which will influence the stores we shop at, the restaurants we try out, and even the universities we choose to attend.

Mass Formation (Herd Mentality) in brief

In the summer of 2021, Prof. Mattias Desmet rose to prominence as he discussed his theory of "mass formation", especially in regard to the government reaction (and overreaction) to the Covid pandemic. Most interesting to Desmet was how many government officials, bureaucrats, and much of the public got swept up in an authoritative narrative (very consciously by some, unconsciously by others), and the psychological juggernaut gathered its own momentum as it steamrolled over the world (and especially developed countries), regardless of what reasonably sound scientific data was revealing through the noise.

In his book, The Psychology of Totalitarianism, Prof. Desmet outlines the four preconditions that must be in place before a totalitarian leader or message can captivate the masses: (1) a lack of social bonds; (2) a lack of meaning in life; (3) free-floating anxiety; and (4) free-floating aggression. Atomized into alienated, lonely, and frustrated individuals, the masses are then ready to hear the unifying message of an ascendant totalitarian, who is practically summoned into existence by the miserable masses. The leader, through a voice amplified by mass media, transmits to the crowd the galvanizing message it had been yearning to hear: (a) an identification of the source of its discontent (i.e., the enemy, or scapegoat); and (b) a strategy for dealing with that enemy or problem.

At that point, when the roiling masses snap into some sort of coherent whole, "mass formation" occurs, and in its more extreme expressions, it can become a truly hypnotic state. Up to a third of the population might be mesmerized and unreachable by any logic or argument, another third spans the middle watching and waiting, and a final third is awake; some portion of this last group speaks up and continues to speak up, and this vocal fraction is the only hope for a society to not destroy itself in the atrocities invariably accompanying totalitarian madness when it grips a society completely. The voices of dissidents break the hypnotic spell and make possible a return to consciousness and sanity.

Historically, such mind-capture is typical of societies as they are alienated from themselves and at the cusp of totalitarian despotism, but unlike the worlds of Hitler and Stalin of the 1930s and 40s, or of Mao in the 1950s and 60s, there is no charismatic single leader at the head of today's authoritarian regimes; rather there's an alliance of elites, bureaucrats, scientists, and media employed by government, universities, and corporations, including Big Pharma - all insisting upon the same unprecedented coercive strategies.

As Desmet has done in his research, Truman Verdun also draws upon authors including Gustav Le Bon, George Orwell, Eric Hoffer, Joost Meerloo, Jacques Ellul, and Hannah Arendt to help frame and interpret Desmet's message.

Source: the Amazon description of Truman Verdun's book Mass Formation (Psychosis): In Brief: Gustave Le Bon to Mattias Desmet.

"The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country."
~ Edward Bernays, Propaganda

Video
Jason Christoff
Presentation at ICS 6
in Tokyo, Japan
Sep. 26, 2024

The ABCs of Propaganda & Mind Control by Jason Christoff at the International Crisis Summit 6.

Video
"The Wave"
Within one week, a teacher
was able to indoctrinate
teenagers into fascism
and authoritarianism
Nov. 25, 2023

This is a dramatization of a true story. "The Wave" was the name given by history teacher Ron Jones to an experimental re-creation of Nazi Germany which he conducted with high school students. The experiment took place at Cubberley High School in Palo Alto, California, during one week in 1969. Jones, unable to explain to his students why the German citizens (particularly non-Nazis) allowed the Nazi Party to exterminate millions of Jews and other so-called 'undesirables', decided to show them instead. Jones writes that he started with simple things like classroom discipline, and managed to meld his history class into a group with a supreme sense of purpose and no small amount of cliquishness. Jones named the movement "The Wave" and claimed its members would revolutionize the world. The experiment allegedly took on a life of its own, with students from all over the school joining in.

Video
Mark Crispin Miller
July 12, 2023

NYU professor, Mark Crispin Miller, teaches students how to recognize propaganda, using Mask studies as an example.

Video
Mattias Desmet
What is Mass Formation?
Oct. 17, 2024

Professor of psychology and author Mattias Desmet is the world expert on mass formation, a condition he observed during the pandemic years. He joins UnHerd's Florence Read to unpack the links between herd mentality and totalitarianism. "The only resistance against Mass Formation and totalitarianism, against this radical dehumanization of society, is to stay loyal to ethical principles and to humanity yourself."

Video
July 12, 2023

Joe Biden and the US government can not use social media companies to quell free speech. Then the New York Times lies about the ruling.

"The point of modern propaganda
isn't only to misinform
or push an agenda.
It is to exhaust
your critical thinking,
to annihilate truth."
~ Garry Kasparov