I'm going to post an essay I wrote, it's difficult on Twitler due to the character restrictions. It's about the formation of totalitarianism and group think.
Mass Formation, the Psychology of Crowds, and the Covidian Cult
Army of Shadows - 10 October 2021
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The American Psychological Association defines mass psychology as “the mental and emotional states and processes that occur in a large body of individuals who, although they may not have any common characteristics, are considered as a whole.”
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Crowd psychology & its formation delivers a fertile petri-dish for the emergence of totalitarianism & the implementation of ideological Utopian dreams. Mass formation is a hive mindset which responds to psychological needs, a form of hypnosis adopted by or imposed on a crowd.
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Mattias Desmet, Prof of Clinical Psychology at Ghent University, has formulated a theory of mass formation as it relates to the Covid crisis. According to Desmet, there are specific conditions which prime a population for mass formation & consequent totalitarian thinking.
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The four conditions necessary for mass formation in individuals & society are:
1/ Isolation & lack of social bonds
2/ Lack of meaning-making & sense-making
3/ Free-floating anxiety
4/ Consequent free-floating psychological discontent, frustration, & undirected aggression.
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