Mass Formation | Brainwashed by Ideology

If you were at all objective during the past few years, you couldn’t help notice that millions of people lost their ability to think critically during the coronavirus crisis. We started with “two weeks to flatten the curve” and ended up having to show a QR code to enter a pub. But no matter how absurd the COVID response measures became, there was a certain portion of the population that went blindly along with the insanity and were triggered if anyone dared question whether there was any method to the madness.

What happened to these people that made them so compliant? How does such a large population arrive at a place where they are willing to give up so many individual freedoms without questioning or reasoning? It would be one thing if they were only concerned with sacrificing their own privileges, but in this case, they called for limits on other people’s rights and began to belittle, ostracize, and even persecute those who questioned the response measures.

In this article we explore an explanation for this phenomenon as put forth in a new book titled The Psychology of Totalitarianism, by Mattias Desmet, professor of psychology at the University of Ghent in Belgium. We will show that defective ideology is the enemy. We are oppressed by an empty, mechanistic ideology that devalues the essence of life and disconnects us from human relationships. It enthrones the idea of science and evangelizes state-administered technology as the salvation of a ruined world.

Remembering the Unthinkable

In 2020 we began to realize that there was something seriously wrong with a large percentage of people in society. From very early in the coronavirus crisis, despite the images of sickness and death persisted in the mainstream media, there was official data available to suggest that the number of deaths attributable to the virus hardly differed from regular influenza. Nevertheless, we watched as leaders across the globe triggered the most non-sensical countermeasures imaginable without so much as a whimper of protest from the masses.

It began with the decimation of the airline industry in a vain attempt to stop viruses from catching flights overseas. Shortly thereafter, entire populations were placed under draconian “lockdowns.” People were forbidden from going to work and from seeking entertainment outside the home. Streets emptied out and businesses closed permanently by the thousands, forced out of the economy by arbitrary mandates, while those with workers who were deemed “essential” continued business as usual.

Many people embraced the “time off,” and the United States government furthered the crisis by delivering trillions of dollars in relief funds to citizens who then became even more reluctant to work for money.

Medical experts who were on television a short time before saying masks were ineffective for stopping respiratory infection came back on contradicting themselves with instructions to double- or triple-mask. People were kicked out of restaurants for not wearing a mask or, more insanely, told they only had to wear one from the door to their table.

The absurd idea of “social distancing” was implemented worldwide, with arrows popping up on grocery store floors turning them into one-way aisles, as if a virus couldn’t travel more than 6 feet in an aerosol cloud. Skate parks were filled with sand from closed beaches and people were arrested for swimming in the ocean or taking their kids to neighborhood parks.

We were forbidden from seeing our loved ones in hospitals before they died. Children were banned from school despite all data showing they were at near zero risk. High school graduations and senior proms were cancelled, leaving a hole in place of life’s most cherished memories for millions of teenagers. Marriage gatherings were forbidden, erasing the lifelong dreams of young women.

Mandate after mandate and decree after decree failed to make any kind of measurable difference. Yet no matter how heavily we were burdened, how many rights were taken away, how many lives were ruined, or what kind of economic havoc was wreaked, there was still a large group of people that embraced every inconvenience, restriction, and infringement that could be cooked up.

Nations across the world, almost without exception, as if following some invisible script, led us to ponder the paradox of a global conspiracy. How could government entities, which, taken individually, were generally so inept as to barely be able to balance a checkbook, successfully coordinate with each other on a massive scale to deprive citizens of their most basic rights of movement, work, and assembly?

To some, none of these capricious interventions made any sense. The costs were too high, yet we had to endure people saying that every measure of destruction was worth it if “one life” could be saved. Never mind the huge number of people who died from loneliness or committed suicide from depression. Or the women and children who suffered violence and death after being forced into close quarters with their abusers. These victims are never mentioned even though their pain and deaths were completely avoidable.

This mismanagement went on for months, and then years. The goalposts kept moving. “Two weeks to slow the spread” turned into “two months to flatten the curve” and then two years to “crush the curve.” Signs popped up in buildings entitled “Stop the Spread,” ridiculously suggesting that we could somehow prevent a virus from circulating. We may as well have been attempting to stop the wind from blowing.

The absurdity of all this, no matter how illogical or irrational, was embraced by politicians and defended by millions of people including celebrities, those who control the mass media, professors at universities, and influencers on social media. Those who objected were censored or banned from social media platforms for posting what amounted to basic common sense.

And from the beginning, there was never an exit strategy. We shut everything down without the slightest inkling what it would take to open it all back up. It is still beyond comprehension. Just recounting this small portion of the insanity we witnessed with our own eyes, it seems impossible that it could have ever happened. If a person could travel back in time 5 years and explain what was coming, no one would believe them.

Through all these observations and conversations, we could not help but conclude that there was something severely wrong with the population at a global level. We could no longer have rational discourse about the pros and cons of these topics. There were not two sides to consider. There was only an accepted narrative that could not be questioned. Even the smallest deviation from the preferred story line was treated with horror, contempt, and persecution.

Questioning the doctrine would be an invitation to be treated like a heartless murderer. You could be disowned by your family, shunned, or called a “grandma killer.” Detracting from the fairy tale was considered more taboo than discussing politics or religion at work.

Were all these people brainwashed or hypnotized into repeating the mass media talking points without question?

We noted some of the characteristics they had in common: loss of objectivity; loss of critical thinking skills regarding the topic of the COVID response; wholesale acceptance of every new restriction without complaint; willingness to sacrifice individual rights; intolerance of contrary viewpoints.

For those not under the spell, considerable frustration and anger welled up against the wannabe tyrants, and against their enablers who wouldn’t listen to reason. Ultimately, the object of frustration became humorous as events turned from ridiculous to utter absurdity.

When we saw people driving alone in their cars wearing masks, it was at that point we began to realize that there was more to this than meets the eye. These people were not merely compliant, they were victims. It appeared as though some powerful force had taken over their minds and robbed otherwise intelligent people of the ability to discern and judge between reality and fantasy, between truth and fiction.

Introduction to Mass Formation

The idea occurred that maybe there was some kind of “MK-Ultra” mind control going on. However, if you investigate the idea of “brainwashing,” you quickly see that many people do not take the topic seriously. For example, Timothy Melley, professor of English at Miami University and author of The Covert Sphere: Secrecy, Fiction, and the National Security State, believes that “brainwashing is a story that we tell to explain something we can’t otherwise explain.”

The idea of mass hypnosis doesn’t really seem to explain the phenomenon either. According to the Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential, “Groups of people may be hypnotized to a greater or lesser extent en masse, whether deliberately or unintentionally, by a variety of means adopted by a speaker and/or by the playing of loud, rhythmic music.”

While we did witness many people who were willing to “accept unconditionally the content of what is being said,” there wasn’t a single speaker or loud/rhythmic music.

Thankfully, in 2021 Mattias Desmet, a well-known and controversial European professor of psychology was noticing the same problem. He published a psychological explanation for what was happening in The Psychology of Totalitarianism, and began to popularize the concept of “mass formation.” Desmet gives a brief overview of the idea in an interview that Tucker Carlson called one of the most interesting and important interviews he’s ever done. It is a must-watch for those interested in an explanation for the bizarre behaviors we witnessed.

“Mass formation,” Desmet explains in his book, “is, in essence, a kind of group hypnosis that destroys individuals’ ethical self-awareness and robs them of their ability to think critically.” (p. 2)

This definition is very attractive because it combines the three essential elements observed throughout the coronavirus crisis: masses of people, hypnosis, and loss of critical thinking. Desmet’s explanation is extensive, nuanced, and, obviously, tied closely to the phenomenon of totalitarianism.

In The Psychology of Totalitarianism, Desmet endeavors to show mass formation accounted for the condition of the German and Russian populations under the rule of Hitler and Stalin. These populations were marked by an unusual compliance with extremely unethical and criminal directives that deprived millions of people of freedom and cost millions more their lives. This is what we began to see during the coronavirus crisis, taken to an extreme.

Desmet doesn’t explain exactly where the term “mass formation” comes from. So, consider that a “mass” can be defined as a large body of persons in a group, and a “formation” can be the arrangement of a group of persons in a prescribed manner, as when a band marches in formation.

What we’re about to describe is the arrangement of about 30% of the population into a formation that takes on a sort of religious, near ritualistic, group behavior. You will see how our society has been conditioned by ideology and is be manipulated to accept ever-increasing limits on our speech, movement, and choices. Many of the following ideas are from Desmet’s book and are explored here with the hope that it will encourage you to read his book.

The Characteristics of Mass Formation

It is well known that people in a group act out in ways that are different than they would individually. There is plenty of research on crowd behavior. In 1895, French sociologist and psychologist Gustav Le Bon in his work The Psychology of Crowds, made the point that, “the individual soul in the masses is completely taken over by the group soul.” (p. 92)

We commonly witness this with peer pressure when young people are coerced to act in a way they wouldn’t normally behave to receive the affirmation of their friends. We’ve also seen individuals voluntarily commit atrocious crimes as part of their initiation into a gang.

Desmet describes a conformity experiment by Solomon Asch that is well known in the field of psychology. In the experiment, a group of eight people were placed around a table. One of the people was the test subject and the other 7 were Asch’s employees. The group was shown a piece of paper with 4 lines drawn on it. The first line was about 2 inches long and the participants were asked to look at the other 3 lines and say which line they thought was the same length as the first line. One line was the same length, one was clearly shorter, and one was clearly longer than the first line. On your own, it would be simple to identify which line was the same length.

What the test subject didn’t know is that the other 7 people in the experiment were instructed to give the same answer: that a line that was obviously a different length was the same length as the first line. The test was to see what the subject would do when faced with 7 other people who agreed and contradicted their opinion.

As the test was repeated, they found only 25% of people would stick to their guns in the face of group pressure and insist that they were correct. After the test, some test subjects confided that they knew the correct answer but didn’t dare go against the group. Others admitted that the group pressure caused them to even doubt their own judgement and accept the group’s incorrect answer as true.

Asch performed this experiment soon after World War II to understand how so many people in Germany and Russia could accept so much of the absurd propaganda of Hitler and Stalin. Fortunately for the rest of the world, the effects of the ideologies of Nazism and Stalinism were largely confined to Europe. But as Desmet points out, “with the Coronavirus crisis, we have, for the first time in history, reached a point where the entire world population is in the grip of a mass formation over a prolonged period of time.” (p. 93)

Desmet identifies “three groups that form when a mass rises: the masses themselves, who truly go along with the story and are “hypnotized” (usually about 30%); a group that is not hypnotized but chooses to not go against the grain (usually about 40% to 60%); and a group that has not been hypnotized and actively resists the masses (ranging from 10% to 30%).” (p. 140)

The science of mass formation shows the truth behind the meme below that says, “Everyone thinks they would be Oscar Schindler if they lived in Nazi Germany. COVID has shown that most people would support the Nazis.”

The dangers of mass formation are highlighted by Desmet as he shows how closely linked it is to the emergence of totalitarianism. We saw this during the coronavirus crisis as the population split into two camps: those who favored injecting everyone with a new, mostly untested mRNA technology and those who opposed it.

These groups diverged even farther as the pro-injection side sought to force their “solution” on the other group and denied them every kind of basic human right, from travel and education to employment and medical treatment, if they refused to go along with the story. “Something caused society,” Desmet observes, “to collectively continue reacting in the same frenetic way, as if it were acting out a pressing psychological need.” (p. 55)

One cannot help but wonder, if the injection technology hadn’t so rapidly proven to be not only ineffective at preventing sickness, hospitalization, and death, but also to be, in fact, dangerous and, in some cases, deadly, how far would the pro-injection group have progressed with their persecutions?

We know that in some cases, “quarantine” camps were being erected. There is little doubt those camps had the potential to mutate into concentration/prison camps very quickly. The QR codes required to enter the pub could easily be turned on to purchase food and other necessities. Following this same line of thinking to its logical conclusion leads to the destruction of those who attempted to maintain their freedom to choose their own medical treatments. All in an attempt to keep the injected (compliant) population “safe.”

The following sections lean heavily on Desmet’s book, The Psychology of Totalitarianism, because we feel it is extremely important for the future of civilization that as many people as possible understand this phenomenon. We need to settle on a language and defined terms to facilitate communication and discussion about this dangerous condition that has been gripping the masses with accelerating frequency.

The Conditions Leading to Mass Formation

How is this type of behavior explained? Is there some “pressing psychological need” being acted out? Desmet explains there are four conditions that must be present in a society for mass formation to occur.

The first condition is a “generalized loneliness, social isolation, and a lack of social bonds in the population.” The second is “lack of meaning in life.” The third is the “widespread presence of free-floating anxiety and psychological unease within a population.” And finally, “a lot of free-floating frustration and aggression.” (p. 94-96)

We do not need much convincing to agree that loneliness and social isolation is on the rise in Western society. Human interaction is methodically being replaced by asynchronous communication through social media. With the coronavirus response, isolation took a giant leap forward as kids began attending school remotely and business meetings went virtual. It appears these two social arenas will never fully return to their former state.

As Desmet sets up his argument, he notes, “much of the population is trapped in almost complete social isolation. We see a remarkable increase in absenteeism due to mental suffering; an unprecedented proliferation in the use of psychotropic drugs; a burnout epidemic that paralyzes entire companies and government institutions.” (p. 3)

Like a credentialed psychologist, Desmet spends a great deal of time explaining why there is a lot of loneliness and social isolation in our society. His convincing theory is that these conditions are a result of the dominant narrative of mechanistic ideology that has persuaded the minds of most people in the West.

In a nutshell, the mechanistic ideology is the offspring of the Great Enlightenment which began in the 1500s. Great thinkers in the last several centuries have take the virtues of the human mind and rational thought to the extreme. They have pushed aside the dogmas of religion by positing that man made up God and no longer needs Him because we can accomplish anything through the sciences.

The universe has become a giant soulless machine. From the Big Bang all the way down to the present, everything we see and know is the consequence of physics and chemistry. On page 17, Desmet artistically sums up the mechanistic ideology this way:

It seems impossible to subscribe to the mechanistic/materialistic creed without exasperating condition number two necessary to mass formation: lack of meaning in life.

All meaning in life flows from human relationships, or what Desmet refers to as “the Other.” No matter what you achieve in life, without someone you care for who appreciates your accomplishments, they don’t really matter. Without someone to love and sacrifice for, life truly seems meaningless.

Currently, about 30% of people in countries that have adopted the mechanistic ideology report chronic experiences of loneliness and isolation. And this percentage is increasing every year. (p. 94) If you aren’t involved in a meaningful relationship, you’re most likely feeling lonely and isolated at times. When you feel this way, life begins to lose its meaning.

Living a life without meaning is not natural for humans and doing so causes anxiety. It’s like that feeling you are forgetting something, but persistent and more intense. John Mayer wrote a song about it: “How come everything I think I need always comes with batteries? What do you think it means?” (Something’s Missing, 2003)

Feelings of loneliness and not understanding life’s purpose leads to anxiety and depression. Self-reported anxiety in adult Americans increased 30% from 2008 to 2018. Broken down by age group, the numbers are even more alarming. In youth ages 18 to 25 it increased 84% during that decade. Desmet instructs, “in classical psychoanalytic theory, depression is associated with the frustrating experience of helplessness, induced by the passivity or absence of a loved one (usually a parent, in childhood).” (p. 42)

He also characterizes this anxiety as “free-floating,” meaning it is not “image-bound,” as opposed to, e.g., a fear of snakes. (p. 95) It is a type of anxiety that is not attached to an object and is therefore frustrating because the source cannot be identified, and the root cause cannot be treated.

And here is the key condition that leads to mass formation. Free-floating anxiety is “mentally difficult to manage and presents the constant risk of turning into panic, which is perhaps the most aversive psychological state for human beings. A person in that state seeks to link their anxiety to an object. What accelerates mass formation is the potential of unvented aggression present in the population, aggression that is still looking for an object.” (p. 95-96)

Sidebar: Once you understand the mechanics of mass formation, it becomes easier to spot, and helps explain the bizarre behavior of those trapped in its power. For example, there is little doubt that President Donald J. Trump served as an object for the masses to vent their irritability and aggression on for years. Trump Derangement Syndrome was the term devised by Trump supporters to describe persons caught in this mass formation who lost their ability to think critically regarding the President. For observers, it was difficult to have a normal conversation with such a victim without any topic of discussion being twisted into an aggressive Trump-venting session.

The Defective Ideology

The environment that prepares the ground for mass formation and, ultimately, totalitarianism can be traced back to an ideology. This ideology has two tenets that combine to betray us about our relationship with God and others.

The first tenet places the idea of “science” on a pedestal and turns it into a system of faith based on the maxim that man can change the surrounding environment whenever he is faced with an adverse situation. The word that is preached is that through technology, education, medicine, and innovation there is a man-made solution for every ill in society or within man himself.

This way of thinking replaces the religions and philosophies of the past that turned man inward for solutions. For centuries we were taught to change ourselves and become more aligned with the Divine and, by extension, more resonant in our relationships with those around us. But arrogance led us to believe that the problem was not within, but that we were victims of our environment, which therefore must be tamed and changed.

We’ve thrown out the teachings of sages and philosophers who admonished people for thousands of years to seek first within for the answers to the vexing problems of life. The Ancient Greek aphorism "Know Thyself” is inscribed in the forecourt of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi dating back to the 20th century BC.

The second tenet requires man, having been cut loose from the moorings of faith, to trust in every sort of man-made solution to remedy life’s ills. For example, rather than following the simple, ancient advice of “eat right and exercise” to stay healthy, we studiously avoid effort, adopt every vice and unhealthy habit, abhor the view in the mirror, seek a miracle pill to cover every ailment, and ultimately contract with a shaman to free us from depression and loneliness. (Apologies to Mattias).

All the discord in modern society is brought on by the dissonance we have created in our environment that has cut our communication line with the Divine, and poisons our relationships with those around us. The emptiness we feel comes from being cut off from the inward solutions. And the outward solutions we seek leave us feeling empty.

Triggering a Mass Formation

Unfortunately, the conditions that prepare a population for mass formation are so prevalent in our society, we are ripe to be led from one mass formation to the next. And it seems there are people who understand this and are taking advantage of it.

Consider how Desmet describes the trigger for mass formation:

“The catalyst for mass formation is a suggestion in the public sphere. If a suggestive story is spread through the mass media that indicates an object of anxiety—for example the aristocracy under Stalinism, the Jews under Nazism, the virus, and, later, the anti-vaxxers during the coronavirus crisis—and at the same time offers a strategy to deal with that object of anxiety, there is a real chance that all the free-floating anxiety will attach itself to that object and there will be broad social support for the implementation of the strategy to control that object of anxiety.” (p. 96)

This is why mass formation is so dangerous and why people willingly accept “solutions” that under normal circumstances would be considered unthinkable.

Remember back in the early 2000s when the U.S. government used the mass media to suggest that “terrorism” was the thing we should be most afraid of? In response to this object of anxiety, under the Patriot Act, we set up an entirely new federal department practically overnight that is capable of violating at scale the Fourth Amendment which guards our rights against unreasonable searches and seizures.

Prior to 9/11, if you were asked if you had a problem with the government collecting and querying all the metadata about every phone call, text message, and internet search you perform, would you have been OK with that? Twenty years later this is a common practice to keep us “safe” and most people just shrug and say it’s necessary. This is exactly what was hoped for.

Here’s how it works. The mass media makes a suggestion such as “terrorism threatens our way of life,” and at the same time offers a solution such as “let us monitor all phone calls,” and the power of mass formation returns the desired results: society is OK with their civil liberties being eroded.

Or, suggest “the virus is killing millions of people,” and offer the solution “force everyone to accept an experimental injection,” and boom: billions of PCR tests and injections are sold.

We can see how essential mass media is to provoke mass formation, and what an important role society’s trust in the talking heads and experts on television plays in suggesting to millions what the object of their anxiety should be next.

The coronavirus crisis was kickstarted by images of people keeling over in the streets in China, overcrowded emergency rooms in Italy, reports of deaths by the thousands in retirement homes, and renowned scientists predicting deaths in the millions if we don’t accept the most draconian countermeasures that were previously unimaginable in a free society.

What we are witnessing is that psychological power over the masses via mass media has fallen into the hands of an ever-decreasing number of people. This shift is noticeable in the amount of marketing dollars being spent by pharmaceutical giants and governments seeking to persuade us to purchase a long series of technological injections to assuage our fear of getting sick. And we can be sure the forces wielding this power are not benign.

Solidarity of the Masses

Once the masses have latched onto an object of anxiety, a new phenomenon occurs that helps them in an unexpected way: the free-floating anxiety, frustration, and aggression that has been brewing in the population can now be released. The tension can be mentally controlled and focused on the object which typically becomes the group that doesn’t go along with the story.

Since the masses now have a common goal of eliminating “the enemy,” the isolated and lonely population comes together with a new energy. From a psychological perspective, Desmet argues, “this brings an enormous release and satisfaction to the masses which they will not let go of easily. [It] creates a kind of intoxication, which is the actual impetus to go along with the mass forming narrative.”

“Through this process, an individual pivots from a highly aversive and painful psychological state of social isolation to the maximum interconnectedness that exists among the masses. A society saturated with individualism and rationalism suddenly tilts toward the radically opposite condition, toward a radically irrational collectivism.”

“In all major mass formations, the main argument for joining in is solidarity with the collective. And those who refuse to participate are typically accused of lacking solidarity and civic responsibility.” (p. 97)

This solidarity is genuine and leads to criticism and persecution, in unison, of those who are not part of the collective, a “radical intolerance of other opinions and a strong tendency toward authoritarianism.” (p. 103) The power of propaganda is so strong, and the grip of the narrative on the minds of those under the influence of the mass formation is so complete, they become convinced that the facts justify social discrimination against those who do not conform.

Desmet makes this important observation about the power of the hold mass formation has over the minds of its victims and why it is so difficult to break through the solidarity of the collective:

“To the masses, dissident voices appear (1) anti-social and devoid of solidarity because they refuse to participate in the solidarity that the mass formation creates; (2) completely unfounded, as critical arguments are not assigned any cognitive or emotional weight within the narrow circle of attention of the masses; (3) extremely aversive because they threatened to break the intoxication, and in this way confront the masses again with the negative situation that preceded the mass formation; and (4) extremely frustrating because they threaten to remove the venting of latent aggression.” (p. 103)

Desmet accurately describes what life is like for outsiders. “People who are not in the grip of mass formation initially find themselves in an extremely diffuse situation that they do not understand—the phenomenon of mass formation appears absurd and bewildering to those who are not in its grip—and they feel threatened by its controlling appearance and its typical intolerance toward those who refuse to partake.” (p. 127)

For those of us who remained on the outside of the mass formation, we know what it feels like to have our opinions treated as if they were “completely unfounded as critical arguments.” We were treated as science-deniers, even murderers, and were subject to all manner of ad-hominem attacks and censorship, and the most zealous vitriol for expressing our views.

This extreme intolerance of outsiders’ views is accompanied by a strong belief in their own correctness and moral superiority. Coupled with the idea that the non-conformists are dangerous and almost sub-human, those in mass formation eventually turn to ratting out their neighbors to authorities.

Mass Formation Leads to Ethical Violations

“The most astonishing observation for the chroniclers of the twentieth-century totalitarianism,” Desmet observed, “[was] the almost limitless tolerance for the enormous personal damage the population endured.” And this was not just tolerance for the personal damages others endured (although that in itself was horrific), but also a willingness to subject one’s own person to humiliation, injustice, torture, and death.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn paints a grim picture in Gulag Archipelago of the millions of Russian victims, many of whom never made so much as a protest when arrested by Stalin’s Chekists, even though they knew they were innocent and were heading to a labor camp or death. Adolf Eichmann set up “Jewish councils” in Nazi Germany who were placed in charge of arranging the demise of their own people.

Both groups of people were, to some degree, willing participants in their own destruction.

During the coronavirus crisis, we witnessed governments across the world adopt China’s authoritarian style of dealing with their people and place huge populations of free people under unlawful, unconstitutional, and previously inconceivable restrictions without their consent. “The technological ‘tracking and tracing’ of populations became increasingly acceptable,” Desmet notes, “and was even deemed necessary.” (p. 2)

If allowed to continue in this state, the masses are “inclined to commit atrocities against those who resist them and typically execute them as if it were an ethical sacred duty.” (p. 104)

“The whole mechanization, industrialization, ‘technologization,’ and ‘mediaization’ of the world has indeed led to the centralization of power, and no sane person can deny that this power is pursued in a relentless way, with a radical lack of ethical and moral awareness.” (p. 135)

Can we free society from a mass formation?

Something must be done to break this cycle. It’s easy to see the next mass formation welling up with the climate change narrative. The story is that humans are causing global warming and the object of anxiety is the disintegration of the environment through the overheating of the planet’s surface.

We are once again placed in the untenable position of “trusting the science” and relying on the “experts” to inform us of our pending doom. No one in the world, excepting a handful of people, can make any kind of critical evaluation of the story we are being fed. We are completely reliant on the good faith of the “experts” and are already feeling threatened for being science-deniers and ignorant fools for not believing the narrative.

Yet all the same groups that brought us the terrorist scare, Iraqi WMD, Trump-Russian collusion, and the coronavirus yarn are aligned on climate change. Scientists, experts, universities, governments, corporations, and the media are combining to suggest an object for the masses to attach their free-floating anxiety and frustration to. Unfortunately, the enemy in this story is “humanity,” and it won’t have a happy ending.

For example, on January 13th, 2023, NASA posted this ominous warning on Twitter: “NASA has powerful supercomputers that we use to recreate Earth’s climate and run simulations of different scenarios that could impact Earth’s climate. And what we’ve seen is . . . it’s us. Human activities are responsible for climate change.”

Implied is that we must end human activities. Almost anything we do now increases our “carbon footprint.” Driving our car, heating our homes, eating meat, hell, even cooking our meat needs to stop.

Accompanying NASA’s tweet is a video with terrifying images of raging wildfires, exploding volcanos, animations showing the Earth turning red, asteroids hurtling toward Earth, the sun exploding, animated charts showing temperatures skyrocketing, and a clip of an expert saying, “it’s us.”

How are we supposed to argue with a NASA supercomputer that makes “6.7 trillion” calculations per second? The implication is obvious: anyone who tries to dispute their claim will be labeled the most utter fool. Evidence: we were blocked by @NASAClimate on Twitter for a polite comment expressing doubt about the conclusions in their post. Even if you have your own powerful computer running climate simulations, NASA’s computer is bigger than your computer so they must be right.

It will take courage to stand against the powers driving this narrative. While Desmet insists that “truth-telling” is the course to follow to break down the mass formation, gaining credibility in the global warming debate is going to be very difficult.

“Truth-telling is a way of speaking that breaks through an established, if implicit, social consensus. Whoever speaks the truth breaks open the solidified story in which the group seeks refuge, ease, and security. This makes speaking the truth a dangerous endeavor. It strikes fear in the group and results in anger and aggression.” (p. 13)

While the alternative data and voices are hard to find, they are out there. We need to find them and amplify them to counter the mass forming narrative in as professional and logical way as possible. By doing so, we will not be able to awaken those who are prone to mass formation, but we will create enough doubt to prevent those who just go along with the narrative from also becoming victims.

“Eventually, it is in this act of truth-telling that the absurdity of totalitarianism becomes meaningful: those who do not join in the collective madness and quietly and sincerely continue to assert their opposing voice are, by doing so, steadily elevated in their humanity.” (p. 142)

There Long-term Solution

“The mechanistic ideology has put more and more individuals into a state of social isolation, unsettled by a lack of meaning, free-floating anxiety and uneasiness, as well as latent frustration and aggression. These conditions lead to large scale and long-lasting mass formation. And this mass formation in turn led to the emergence of totalitarian state systems. Mass formation and totalitarianism are in fact symptoms of the mechanistic ideology. [They] signal an underlying problem: a large portion of the population feels socially isolated and suffers from intense experiences of anxiety and meaninglessness.” (p. 147)

So, according to Desmet, the ultimate battle is against the ideology, which, of course, makes sense. The leaders who are followed by those under the spell of mass formation are also slaves to the ideology. Desmet contends that the leaders themselves are under the influence of the mass formation, unwitting victims of the all-consuming ideology.

Despite what appears to be a multi-national criminal organization driving humanity to destruction, Desmet downplays the thought of a global conspiracy in favor of the idea that blind adherence to the vision of a utopian future promised by the mechanistic ideology is the coordinating factor. Victory will not come without discrediting or destroying the ideology.

It’s no coincidence that the more resistant portion of the population tends to be more religious. Belief in God and seeking within for the source of and, more importantly, the solution to our problems, opposes the mechanistic ideology. Those who are in tune with the Creator and believe in a spiritual purpose of existence do not trust as easily in man or his unnatural inventions.

It is also not a coincidence that, as the percentage of the population who no longer believes in God has been increasing, the rise in totalitarianism and the frequency and ease with which the population is subject to mass formation is also accelerating.

“Ultimately, totalitarianism is the symptom of a naïve belief in the omnipotence of human rationality. Therefore, the antidote to totalitarianism lies in an attitude to life that is not blinded by a rational understanding of superficial manifestations of life and that seeks to be connected with the principles and figures that are hidden beneath those manifestations.” (p. 158)

The most surprising and gratifying theme of The Psychology of Totalitarianism is our need to return to our connection with God or, as Desmet calls it, the Other. Surprising because it is so rare to hear this call come from the seat of atheism, aka, the university system. Gratifying because it adds a deeper dimension to Desmet’s proposed solution.

Aside from writing this book, Desmet is also notorious for calling out the sloppiness and outright fraud of modern science. Needless to say, this has tarnished his image among the elite. It is interesting to read how, as the scientific community has itself become a faith system with a paid priesthood and excommunication, the greatest scientific minds such as Planck, Bohr, and others, who have dedicated their lives to the search for truth through observation of the physical world, have come to similar conclusions: science ends where religion begins. Their insight is that there is an order to the universe and a Designer behind this grand experience.

Desmet outlines how physics has led to quantum theory and chaos theory. “Perhaps the most revolutionary aspect of chaos theory,” Desmet believes, “is that it's observations allow us to see that there is indeed a final and formal cause at work in nature.”

“Chaos theory,” he poetically concludes, “shows us that the mountain landscape that transports us in breathless admiration is not simply the effect of a lifeless mechanistic process, accidental mechanistic processes between tectonic plates, erosion, and eruptions of lava, but that a timeless and sublime idea, coordinated the myriad of mechanical processes involved in its formation.” (p. 159)

As expected, the answer to the ills of society is unplugging from a godless existence and acknowledging our true place in the universe. Rather than criticizing the religious for being simple and superstitious, join with them in the effort to bring good into the world. Rather than giving children over to become wards of the state, work with the religious to strengthen family relationships, root out abuse, and guard against human trafficking. Rather than devaluing the lives of the unborn, welcome them into the world, even when they are inconvenient, and place them in a loving home. Rather than only seeking out virtual friends online, strive to connect to, and strengthen your relationships with, the flesh and blood people in your life.

For those who are anxious because of broken families or feeling lonely and isolated in a world without meaning, we invite you to re-connect with the Divine and discover who you really are. There is a personal, Living Force in the universe who will connect with you and comfort you and strengthen you. This Power will pour into your soul the answers to every question and teach you the proper way to live, eat, and create. It will invite you out of darkness and into the Light.

Sometimes the light will be uncomfortable because you will be able to see areas of your life that are out of tune with the Plan of Happiness of the Great Creator. You will be invited to change (or dare we say, repent) and conform your life in a manner that will resonate with all creation. And in exchange for what you sacrifice you will be rewarded with the most rich, life-giving experiences. You will connect with real people who are with you in your struggle to find meaning and purpose in life.

The alternative to connecting with others and the Divine is to remain stuck in the cycle of anxiety and anger that characterizes mass formation and be led through crisis after crisis seeking a release of the negative emotions that have their root in a godless ideology.

No one needs remain victim to the hypnotic effects of mass media propaganda. Once you break free, you will no longer remain a subject of those seeking to control you through fear.

We must resist the constant temptation to censor. There are always two sides to every story, and both deserve to be heard. Seek out alternative explanations for the prevailing narrative. Use critical thinking and demand open debate. Question the motives behind the “experts” when they align with the prevailing story.

You’ll be amazed at how easy it is to sidestep the brainwashing effects of mass formation and enjoy how often you end up being right.