The Manufacturing of a Mass Psychosis - Can Sanity Return to an Insane World?

Summary

The script delves into the concept of mass psychosis, focusing on how fear, propaganda, and isolation can be used by totalitarian regimes to manipulate and control populations. Drawing from historical examples and thinkers like Gustav Le Bon, Hannah Arendt, and Joost Meerloo, it explores the transformation of societies under totalitarian rule. It discusses the psychological conditioning of both rulers and the masses, the dangers of modern technology in spreading delusions, and offers strategies, such as spreading truth, humor, and building 'parallel structures,' to resist and reverse the destructive impact of totalitarianism.

Takeaways

• 🔍 The masses tend to avoid uncomfortable truths and prefer comforting illusions, making them vulnerable to manipulation.
• 💥 Mass psychosis is a dangerous social phenomenon, where delusion becomes the norm and spreads like a contagion.
• ⏳ The modern form of mass psychosis is totalitarianism, which creates a society where rulers hold centralized power and strip away individual rights.
• 👑 Rulers in a totalitarian system often attain god-like status, while the masses are reduced to psychologically regressed subjects.
• 🌪️ Totalitarianism leads to a pathological transformation of society, creating suffering and stagnation as blind obedience replaces individuality.
• 🧠 Totalitarian rulers use 'menticide'—the systematic killing of the mind through fear, misinformation, and isolation—to maintain control over the masses.
• 🎭 Fear, confusion, and propaganda are powerful tools used to manipulate the public into accepting totalitarian rule.
• 🔒 Isolation from others makes people more vulnerable to conditioning, increasing their susceptibility to delusions and authoritarian control.
• 💡 To prevent totalitarianism, individuals must spread truthful information, use humor to delegitimize authoritarian figures, and create 'parallel structures' that exist outside of the totalitarian system.
• 🕊️ Action and resistance are key to preserving freedom and preventing the full descent into a totalitarian psychosis.

Q & A

What is mass psychosis according to the script?

Mass psychosis is a phenomenon where madness becomes the norm in a society, spreading delusional beliefs like a contagion. It manifests differently based on historical and cultural contexts.

What are some historical examples of mass psychosis provided in the script?

The script mentions witch hunts, genocides, and dancing manias as examples of mass psychoses in the past.

What is totalitarianism, as described in the video?

Totalitarianism is described as the modern phenomenon of centralized state power that obliterates individual human rights, dividing society into rulers and ruled, with both groups undergoing pathological transformation.

How does mass psychosis typically begin in a society?

Mass psychosis often begins within the ruling class, where politicians, bureaucrats, or crony capitalists become deluded by the idea that they can and should control society. They then induce the population to accept their rule by spreading delusions.

What role does fear play in inducing a mass psychosis?

Fear is used to prime a population for mass psychosis. By flooding individuals with negative emotions like fear and anxiety, they become more susceptible to descending into delusions, often through waves of terror.

What is menticide, and how is it used by totalitarian rulers?

Menticide is described as the systematic killing of the mind. Totalitarian rulers use psychological manipulation, propaganda, and fear to imprint their thoughts on the masses and maintain control over them.

How does isolation contribute to the effectiveness of menticide?

Isolation makes individuals more susceptible to delusions because they lose contact with the corrective influence of others and become easier to condition into new patterns of thought and behavior, as demonstrated in Pavlov’s behavioral conditioning experiments.

What is the relationship between propaganda and confusion in the context of mass psychosis?

Propaganda spreads misinformation and confusion about the source of threats and the nature of crises, making it harder for people to think rationally. This confusion increases susceptibility to totalitarian delusions.

How does technology amplify the ability to manipulate a society?

Technology like smartphones, social media, and the internet, combined with algorithms that censor unwanted information, makes it easier for totalitarian rulers to control and manipulate the masses. Its addictive nature means people often voluntarily subject themselves to propaganda.

What steps can individuals take to counter totalitarianism and mass psychosis?

Individuals can help by spreading truthful information, using humor to ridicule and delegitimize the ruling elite, creating parallel structures that function morally outside the totalitarian system, and actively resisting the ruling class's attempts to increase power.

Outlines

00:00

😲 The Danger of Mass Psychosis

The first paragraph discusses how the masses often reject truth and embrace comforting illusions, making them vulnerable to manipulation. Historical examples of mass psychosis, like witch hunts and genocides, are compared to modern threats, such as totalitarianism. Totalitarianism involves the concentration of power and the reduction of individual rights. The rulers become god-like figures, while the masses are reduced to childlike, dependent subjects, resulting in widespread social and psychological ruin.

05:03

😨 Sowing Fear and Confusion

This paragraph explores the process of 'menticide,' where the ruling elite systematically break down a population's mental resilience. The first step in this process is creating fear through 'waves of terror'—alternating periods of calm and intensified fear. By keeping people in a state of emotional turmoil, the masses become more susceptible to propaganda, misinformation, and confusion, which further weakens their ability to think critically and resist control.

10:07

😔 The Offer of Order in Chaos

When fear and confusion overwhelm the masses, totalitarian rulers present themselves as the solution to the chaos. However, this comes at the cost of individual freedoms, as people are asked to submit fully to the ruling class. The promise of order masks the reality of a totalitarian regime, where strict conformity leads to societal stagnation, loss of creativity, and mass suffering. The psychological manipulation drives people to relinquish their autonomy in exchange for a false sense of security.

15:07

🚨 Preventing Totalitarianism

The final paragraph outlines potential solutions for preventing or reversing totalitarianism. It emphasizes the importance of individual action, spreading truthful information, and using humor to delegitimize authoritarian rulers. It also suggests building 'parallel structures'—alternative organizations or societies that exist morally outside the totalitarian system. Ultimately, widespread action and a concerted effort toward freedom are necessary to combat the threat of totalitarianism.

Keywords

💡Mass Psychosis

Mass psychosis refers to a widespread condition where a large segment of the population descends into a state of collective delusion. In the video, this concept is central to the idea that societies can be manipulated into madness, as witnessed in historical events such as witch hunts, genocides, or dancing manias. The video argues that in modern times, totalitarian regimes exploit this phenomenon to control populations.

💡Totalitarianism

Totalitarianism is a system of government where a centralized state holds absolute power and individual freedoms are obliterated. The video presents this concept as the ultimate form of mass psychosis in modern society, where the ruling class imposes their will on a psychologically regressed population. It is described as the greatest threat today, with historical examples like communism, fascism, and technocracy used to illustrate its dangers.

💡Menticide

Menticide is the systematic 'killing of the mind' through psychological manipulation, propaganda, and fear. The video explains how ruling elites use menticide to control populations, breaking down rational thought and replacing it with delusions. Fear, confusion, and isolation are key tools in this process, leading to a population that is easier to dominate and manipulate.

💡Waves of Terror

Waves of terror refer to the repeated and staggered use of fear to subdue and control a population. The video explains that this technique involves alternating periods of fear and calm, with each subsequent wave of terror becoming more intense, further weakening the public's resistance and preparing them for submission to totalitarian rule. The fear primes people for the acceptance of total control.

💡Delusions

Delusions are false beliefs that are maintained despite clear evidence to the contrary. In the video, delusions are seen as the foundation of totalitarian control, with both rulers and the ruled succumbing to them. The ruling class believes they have the right and ability to control society entirely, while the masses are deluded into accepting their role as submissive subjects. These delusions can take many forms, depending on the historical and cultural context.

💡Isolation

Isolation is the deliberate separation of individuals from normal social interactions, which increases their vulnerability to psychological manipulation. The video highlights isolation as a key strategy used by totalitarian regimes to break down resistance and foster conformity. Without the corrective influence of others, individuals are more easily conditioned into new patterns of behavior and thought, making them susceptible to the ruling elite’s delusions.

💡Propaganda

Propaganda is the dissemination of misleading or false information to manipulate public perception and opinion. In the video, it is described as a critical tool for totalitarian regimes, used to create confusion and foster delusions among the masses. The video explains how contradictory reports and lies weaken a population's ability to think critically and diminish their capacity to respond to crises rationally.

💡Parallel Structures

Parallel structures are alternative forms of organization or community that exist within a totalitarian society but operate outside its control. The video mentions Vaclav Havel's idea of parallel structures as a method to resist totalitarianism by creating pockets of freedom and sanity within an oppressive regime. These structures allow individuals to live in accordance with their values, apart from the dominant system.

💡Fear

Fear is an emotional response to threats, both real and imagined, that can be manipulated to control populations. In the video, fear is described as a primary tool used by totalitarian rulers to induce mass psychosis. By constantly bombarding people with threats and fear, rulers weaken their ability to think rationally and prepare them for submission. Fear is spread through propaganda, isolation, and waves of terror.

💡Spontaneity

Spontaneity refers to the natural and unplanned actions and creativity that arise in a free society. The video argues that totalitarianism destroys spontaneity by enforcing strict conformity and obedience, leading to stagnation. The loss of spontaneity in a totalitarian regime stifles innovation, joy, and the creative forces that drive society forward, ultimately leading to destruction and death on a large scale.

Highlights

The masses have never thirsted after truth and prefer illusions over evidence, making them easily manipulated.

Mass psychosis is the most dangerous form of mental contagion, spreading madness as the norm in society.

Totalitarianism is the modern threat where state power obliterates individual rights, dividing society into rulers and ruled.

The rulers in totalitarian systems undergo pathological transformation, elevating themselves to god-like status.

The masses under totalitarian rule regress to a childlike state, becoming dependent and submissive.

Joost Meerloo compared the mental state of citizens in totalitarian societies to that of schizophrenics.

Delusions sustain totalitarian systems, where rulers believe they can control society top-down, and the masses submit to authority.

The mass psychosis of totalitarianism starts with delusions in the ruling class, which infect the population through fear and propaganda.

Menticide, or the killing of the mind, is an organized psychological manipulation to control and destroy a population.

Waves of terror, alternating fear and calm, weaken the population’s resistance to totalitarian control.

Propaganda confuses the population, making them more susceptible to the delusions of totalitarianism.

Modern technology like smartphones and social media enhance the efficiency of totalitarian propaganda.

Isolation and the disruption of normal social interactions increase susceptibility to totalitarian delusions.

The final step of totalitarian control is offering order in exchange for complete submission, as the masses crave stability.

Action is necessary to prevent totalitarianism, from spreading counter-information to creating parallel structures of freedom.

Transcripts

“The masses have never thirsted after truth.

They turn aside from evidence that is not to their taste, preferring to deify error,

if error seduce them.

Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their master; whoever attempts to destroy

their illusions is always their victim.”

Gustav Le Bon, The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind

Diseases of the body can spread through a population and reach epidemic proportions,

but so too can diseases of the mind.

And of these epidemics of the latter variety, the mass psychosis is the most dangerous.

During a mass psychosis madness becomes the norm in a society and delusionary beliefs

spread like a contagion.

But as delusions can take many forms, and as madness can manifest in countless ways,

the specific manner in which a mass psychosis unfolds will differ based on the historical

and cultural context of the infected society.

In the past, mass psychoses have led to witch hunts, genocides and even dancing manias,

but in the modern era it is the mass psychosis of totalitarianism that is the greatest threat:

“Totalitarianism is the modern phenomenon of total centralized state power coupled with

the obliteration of individual human rights: in the totalized state, there are those in

power, and there are the objectified masses, the victims.”

Arthur Versluis, The New Inquisitions In a totalitarian society the population is

divided into two groups, the rulers and the ruled, and both groups undergo a pathological

transformation.

The rulers are elevated to an almost god-like status which is diametrically opposed to our

nature as imperfect beings who are easily corrupted by power.

The masses, on the other hand, are transformed into the dependent subjects of these pathological

rulers and take on a psychologically regressed and childlike status.

Hannah Arendt, one of the 20th century’s preeminent scholars of this form of rule,

called totalitarianism an attempted transformation of “human nature itself”.

But this attempted transformation only turns sound minds into sick minds for as the Dutch

medical doctor who studied the mental effects of living under totalitarianism wrote:

“… there is in fact much that is comparable between the strange reactions of the citizens

of [totalitarianism] and their culture as a whole on the one hand and the reactions

of the…sick schizophrenic on the other.”

Joost Meerloo, The Rape of the Mind The social transformation that unfolds under

totalitarianism is built upon, and sustained by, delusions.

For only deluded men and women regress to the childlike status of obedient and submissive

subjects and hand over complete control of their lives to politicians and bureaucrats.

Only a deluded ruling class will believe that they possess the knowledge, wisdom, and acumen

to completely control society in a top-down manner.

And only when under the spell of delusions would anyone believe that a society composed

of power-hungry rulers, on the one hand, and a psychological regressed population, on the

other, will lead to anything other than mass suffering and social ruin.

But what triggers the psychosis of totalitarianism?

As was explored in the previous video of this series, the mass psychosis of totalitarianism

begins in a society’s ruling class.

The individuals that make up this class, be it politicians, bureaucrats, or crony capitalists,

are very prone to delusions that augment their power, and no delusion is more attractive

to the power-hungry, than the delusion that they can, and should, control and dominate

a society.

When a ruling elite becomes possessed by a political ideology of this sort, be it communism,

fascism or technocracy, the next step is to induce a population into accepting their rule

by infecting them with the mass psychosis of totalitarianism.

This psychosis has been induced many times throughout history, and as Meerloo explains:

“It is simply a question of reorganizing and manipulating collective feelings in the

proper way.”

Joost Meerloo, The Rape of the Mind The general method by which the members of

a ruling elite can accomplish this end is called menticide, with the etymology of this

word being ‘a killing of the mind’, and as Meerloo further explains:

“Menticide is an old crime against the human mind and spirit but systematized anew.

It is an organized system of psychological intervention and judicial perversion through

which a [ruling class] can imprint [their] own opportunistic thoughts upon the minds

of those [they] plan to use and destroy.”

Joost Meerloo, The Rape of the Mind Priming a population for the crime of menticide

begins with the sowing of fear.

For as was explored in the first video of this series, when an individual is flooded

with negative emotions, such as fear or anxiety, he or she is very susceptible to a descent

into the delusions of madness.

Threats real, imagined, or fabricated can be used to sow fear, but a particularly effective

technique is to use waves of terror.

Under this technique the sowing of fear is staggered with periods of calm, but each of

these periods of calm is followed by the manufacturing of an even more intense spell of fear, and

on and on the process goes, or as Meerloo writes:

“Each wave of terrorizing . . . creates its effects more easily – after a breathing

spell – than the one that preceded it because people are still disturbed by their previous

experience.

Morality becomes lower and lower, and the psychological effects of each new propaganda

campaign become stronger; it reaches a public already softened up.”

Joost Meerloo, The Rape of the Mind While fear primes a population for menticide,

the use of propaganda to spread misinformation and to promote confusion with respect to the

source of the threats, and the nature of the crisis, helps to break down the minds of the

masses.

Government officials, and their lackies in the media, can use contradictory reports,

non-sensical information and even blatant lies, as the more they confuse the less capable

will a population be to cope with the crisis, and diminish their fear, in a rational and

adaptive manner.

Confusion, in other words, heightens the susceptibility of a descent into the delusions of totalitarianism,

or as Meerloo explains:

“Logic can be met with logic, while illogic cannot—it confuses those who think straight.

The Big Lie and monotonously repeated nonsense have more emotional appeal … than logic

and reason.

While the [people are] still searching for a reasonable counter-argument to the first

lie, the totalitarians can assault [them] with another.”

Joost Meerloo, The Rape of the Mind Never before in history have such effective

means existed to manipulate a society into the psychosis of totalitarianism.

Smart phones and social media, television and the internet, all in conjunction with

algorithms that quickly censor the flow of unwanted information, allow those in power

to easily assault the minds of the masses.

What is more the addictive nature of these technologies means that many people voluntarily

subject themselves to the ruling elite’s propaganda with a remarkable frequency:

“Modern technology teaches man to take for granted the world he is looking at; he takes

no time to retreat and reflect.

Technology lures him on, dropping him into its wheels and movements.

No rest, no meditation, no reflection, no conversation – the senses are continually

overloaded with stimuli.

[Man] doesn’t learn to question his world anymore; the screen offers him answers-ready-made.”

Joost Meerloo, The Rape of the Mind But there is a further step the would-be totalitarian

rulers can take to increase the chance of a totalitarian psychosis, and this is to isolate

the victims and to disrupt normal social interactions.

When alone and lacking normal interactions with friends, family and coworkers, an individual

becomes far more susceptible to delusions for several reasons: Firstly, they lose contact

with the corrective force of the positive example.

For not everyone is tricked by the machinations of the ruling elite and the individuals who

see through the propaganda, can help free others from the menticidal assault.

If, however, isolation is enforced the power of these positive examples greatly diminishes.

But another reason that isolation increases the efficacy of menticide is because like

many other species, human beings, are more easily conditioned into new patterns of thought

and behaviour when isolated, or as Meerloo explains with regards to the physiologist

Ivan Pavlov’s work on behavioural conditioning:

“Pavlov made another significant discovery: the conditioned reflex could be developed

most easily in a quiet laboratory with a minimum of disturbing stimuli.

Every trainer of animals knows this from his own experience; isolation and the patient

repetition of stimuli are required to tame wild animals.

. . .The totalitarians have followed this rule.

They know that they can condition their political victims most quickly if they are kept in isolation.”

Joost Meerloo, The Rape of the Mind Alone, confused and battered by waves of terror,

a population under an attack of menticide descends into a hopeless and vulnerable state.

The never-ending stream of propaganda turns minds once capable of rational thought into

playhouses of irrational forces and with chaos swirling around them, and within them, the

masses crave a return to a more ordered world.

The would-be totalitarians can now take the decisive step, they can offer a way out and

a return to order in a world that seems to be moving rapidly in the opposite direction.

But all this come at a price: The masses must give up their freedom and cede control of

all aspects of life to the ruling elite.

They must relinquish their capacity to be self-reliant individuals who are responsible

for their own lives, and become submissive and obedient subjects.

The masses, in other words, must descend into the delusions of the totalitarian psychosis.

“Totalitarianism is man’s escape from the fearful realities of life into the virtual

womb of the leaders.

The individual’s actions are directed from this womb – from the inner sanctum.

. .man need no longer assume responsibility for his own life.

The order and logic of the prenatal world reign.

There is peace and silence, the peace of utter submission.”

Joost Meerloo, The Rape of the Mind But the order of a totalitarian world is a

pathological order.

By enforcing a strict conformity, and requiring a blind obedience from the citizenry, totalitarianism

rids the world of the spontaneity that produces many of life’s joys and the creativity that

drives society forward.

The total control of this form of rule, no matter under what name it is branded, be it

rule by scientists and doctors, politicians and bureaucrats, or a dictator, breeds stagnation,

destruction and death on a mass scale.

And so perhaps the most important question facing the world is how can totalitarianism

be prevented?

And if a society has been induced into the early stages of this mass psychosis, can the

effects be reversed?

While one can never be sure of the prognosis of a collective madness, there are steps that

can be taken to help effectuate a cure.

This task, however, necessitates many different approaches, from many different people.

For just as the menticidal attack is multi-pronged, so too must be the counter-attack.

According to Carl Jung, for those of us who wish to help return sanity to an insane world,

the first step is to bring order to our own minds, and to live in a way that provides

inspiration for others to follow:

“It is not for nothing that our age cries out for the redeemer personality, for the

one who can emancipate himself from the grip of the collective [psychosis] and save at

least his own soul, who lights a beacon of hope for others, proclaiming that here is

at least one man who has succeeded in extricating himself from the fatal identity with the group

psyche.”

Carl Jung, Civilization in Transition But assuming one is living in a manner free

of the grip of the psychosis there are further steps that can be taken: firstly, information

that counters the propaganda should be spread as far, and as wide, as possible.

For the truth is more powerful than the fiction and falsities peddled by the would-be totalitarian

rulers and so their success is in part contingent on their ability to censor the free flow of

information.

Another tactic is to use humour and ridicule to delegitimize the ruling elite or as Meerloo

explains:

“We must learn to treat the demagogue and aspirant dictators in our midst.

. .with the weapon of ridicule.

The demagogue himself is almost incapable of humor of any sort, and if we treat him

with humor, he will begin to collapse.”

Joost Meerloo, The Rape of the Mind A tactic recommended by Vaclav Havel, a political

dissident under Soviet communist rule who later became president of Czechoslovakia,

is the construction of what are called “parallel structures”.

A parallel structure is any form of organization, business, institution, technology, or creative

pursuit that exists physically within a totalitarian society, yet morally outside of it.

In communist Czechoslovakia, Havel noted that these parallel structures were more effective

at combating totalitarianism than political action.

Furthermore, when enough parallel structures are created, a “second culture” or “parallel

society” spontaneously forms and functions as an enclave of freedom and sanity within

a totalitarian world.

Or as Havel explains in his book The Power of the Powerless:

“….what else are parallel structures than an area where a different life can be lived,

a life that is in harmony with its own aims and which in turn structures itself in harmony

with those aims?

. . .What else are those initial attempts at social self-organization than the efforts

of a certain part of society…to rid itself of the self-sustaining aspects of totalitarianism

and, thus, to extricate itself radically from its involvement in the…totalitarian system?”

Vaclav Havel, The Power of the Powerless But above all else what is required to prevent

a full descent into the madness of totalitarianism is action by as many people as possible.

For just as the ruling elite do not sit around passively, but instead take deliberate steps

to increase their power, so too an active and concerted effort must be made to move

the world back in the direction of freedom.

This can be an immense challenge in a world falling prey to the delusions of totalitarianism,

but as Thomas Paine noted:

“Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that

the harder the conflict the more glorious the triumph.”

Thomas Paine, American Crisis