Mass Psychosis: Too many Americans are losing their mind.

[Nevilledog]

https://newsletters.theatlantic.com/peacefield/61900b460b037b00207258e5/mass-psychosis/


This week, I was going to reflect a bit on public service and how a man like former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper could be pushed out of his job by a gofer like Johnny McEntee. But I’ll leave that—along with my own experiences as a public servant—for later.

Instead, I want to talk about the fact that a fair number of people in the United States have lost their damn mind. And I don’t mean someone walking the streets wearing a sandwich board warning you that “THE END IS NEAR.” I mean an entire assortment of our fellow citizens, ranging from elected officials to the neighbor who seems perfectly nice and keeps his lawn tidy but who also believes in things that are full-goose-bozo crazy.

Some of these folks are easy to spot, from Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene to retired Lieutenant General Mike “Jack D. Ripper” Flynn to the “Kraken Queen” herself, Sidney Powell. These are people whose break with reality has been ongoing and public for months, even years.

I do not mean that these are people whose politics are different from mine. I mean that these are people who took off from Spaceport Earth and then ripped up their return visa. It’s bad enough to support a coup against the U.S. government. It’s even worse to do it because you believe (as Powell did) that the CIA director is being held in secret custody in Germany or because you think (as Flynn did) that so many ballots were falsified that the military should impound them.

*snip*

[bottomofthehill]

1. File under History repeats itself

It is like the Salem Which trials and The Inquisition. A couple nuts come up with a half crazy side story that becomes the “truth” to some causing many innocents to get hurt.

Sad that we can not break this cycle.

[kimbutgar]

2. I have personally seen in the last few weeks out of control people

One man attacked an Asian man over a parking space and was screaming at the tops of his lungs about it. He went on for a while. I finally started shouting “leave him alone” and a bunch of people started chanting with me.

Then a couple of days ago in a parking lot of a fruit farm this woman went on for a good fifteen minutes yelling at this man about the man cutting her off on the freeway. She was screaming at the top of her lungs, the guy kept apologizing but she wouldn’t back off. Even her husband couldn’t calm her down. I started chanting ”Calm down Karen “ and I got people chanting along with me!

I would bet both these people are assolini supporters and we’re listening to right wing radio.

[certainot]

17. RW radio is right. that is the main problem and the dittoheads are grieving, without a 'head'

limbaugh, their moral and intellectual leader is dead. he was their guide through complicated times the last 30 years. when something happened that confused or angered the authoritarians he showed them how to 'own the libs' without shooting them. he rationalized their absolutisms - their ignorance, racism, sexism, etc. whether they got it from him or from one of the other few hundred limbaugh parrots they are now lost

the rw blowhards are now all over the place trying to outdo each other

and easily fixed if liberals just stopped ignoring it. it's time to destroy it. instead we still let, without complaint, at least 87 universities support 260+ x-limbaugh stations

[Trueblue Texan]

21. I really hate it when you blame liberals...

I don't like the RW radio crap either, but when you assign blame to "liberals" you're talking about a whole lot of folks like me. Thanks, but we get enough of that shit from RW radio. If I knew a damn way to get RW radio to stick an effing cork in it, believe me, I would jump on that remedy right away. If the problem is so easily fixed as you claim, please be specific about actions we can take. Believe me, most of us are not ignoring it.

[betsuni]

28. Thank you.

These "Why don't/didn't liberals/Democrats stop _____?" based on the populist belief that there are easy answers for everything and the only reason for not doing them is that the elites/establishment are corrupt or out-of-touch are really annoying. It was stupid years ago and even more stupid in 2021.

[certainot]

33. i'm not talking about individuals.

sure i'm generalizing but media an liberal blogs are full of analysis that make it clear it's ignored and not factored.

whatever activism is going on is not getting any attention. for eg rachel maddow recently did 2 segments on the giuliani/powell press conference and her research dept had no clue that it was timed to start with the limbaugh show to reach a much larger live audience, and limbaugh already knew what they were going to say - he echoed them in real time. ari mellber just had x-trump guy sam nunberg on again. he's been on msnbc dozens of times, and again no questions about trump paying him to listen to "1000s of hours of talk radio" in 2014, the same year the russians mueller indicted were touring swing states.

most media and political analysts and progressive orgs are likely based in cities.

i don't think there have been any organized efforts to do anything about it since the stoprush effort about a decade ago.

as far as new activism, AI makes it much easier and cheaper to record, transcribe, and analyze talk radio. MIT and the UN have prototyped ways of doing it. it would also make for a stoprush x100 - much easier to list advertisers - without listening. the ad industry would freak out.

those 87 RW radio station-supporting universities should be considered good places to protest. it's ridiculous but those schools will be full of dedicated democrats and progressive activists who will once again fall into the russian social media traps mirroring local rw radio and complain biden, like obama, isn't getting anything done, so why vote? while their own unis undermine all their activism.....

non-famous individuals probably can't do much, but the progressive and dem orgs constantly playing catch up to a few hundred racist liars on the radio are pitiful and are wasting our donations of time and money

every advertiser, ad co, university and pro sports team on rw radio share responsibility for this disaster and it looks so far like liberal orgs and the dem party will let it slide for another election, even though it's clear limbaugh's death has the GOP in meltdown and this would be a great time to destroy RW radio

[Trueblue Texan]

37. You seem to know a lot more about how to deal with the issue than I do.

So why not direct your efforts at dealing with it instead of preaching to the choir and attacking those who are in your corner? Liberals are bad mouthed at every turn. It is not helpful. At. All. Please stop. You should focus your energy where it will it will help instead of demoralizing us further. Leadership is yours if you don't think what's happening is adequate. Take the reins and lead. Thank you.

[certainot]

39. that's bs. most folks on liberal blogs have no clue rw radio is what's kicking their ass. how

many times do liberals follow the lead coming from the 'liberal' sources and blame fox instead? it's constant, even though fox cannot be locally coordinated like rw radio. msnbc just had a black FORMER mayor of stockton callifornia (stubbs?) who mentioned something about losing because he was getting trashed/swiftboated with lies. that wasn't fox. and i wouldn't be surprised if some of those radio stations trashing the black mayor all day were supported by local schools and businesses that would have benefited from his policies

who the fuck am i to lead anything? we have liberal orgs getting donations and blasting emails and GOTV and they get their asses kicked all year by a few hundred lying assholes on the radio...

i don't donate to these rw radio deficit idiots and long ago gave up explaining why in those useless emails

your whole state, which i carried hod in for $4hr, is dominated by rw radio

[Trueblue Texan]

43. I can see your frustration, but don't blame the ones who are trying to make things better.

You think it's easy living in this effing state? Can you help instead of tearing us down? Why are you screaming about liberals in a liberal site? What do you hope to accomplish? If there is something constructive we can do, please say so. I'm tired of getting beat up by the media. And I'm particularly tired of getting beat up by those who are supposed to be allies. I'm simply saying, give something constructive instead of just tearing us up. We already get that from enough sources.

[certainot]

46. if you go to fakenewsradio.org you'll see a number of texas universities supporting rw radio

that includes texas in austin

is there a way to get the student debate teams to debate the topic?

[Trueblue Texan]

47. You won't find them here.

So why don't you be more specific in your complaints instead of lumping all Liberals together in your criticism? Even better, complain to the specific liberals who are the problem. When you group all Liberals in your complaint, the implication is that Conservatives wouldn't create such problems. It's inaccurate and unfair and we've had enough. Call those universities, talk to the students there. Don't lump all of Liberals in with the assholes who support rw radio. It's just not accurate and there are enough lies we have to fight. Besides, you're doing EXACTLY what right wing radio does when you make such sweeping generalizations. ENOUGH!

[certainot]

49. i can't help you ----from my comment way up this thread

every advertiser, ad co, university and pro sports team on rw radio share responsibility for this disaster and it looks so far like liberal orgs and the dem party will let it slide for another election,

you say

the implication is that Conservatives wouldn't create such problems.

the republicans creating these problems aren't conservatives. many are radicals with a bad case of sex on the wrong brain, getting up there with nazis and the taliban

[ForgedCrank]

3. People can be real odd creatures for sure.

I see this all as an orchestrated money game, from the top, all the way down.
Media has played into the standard human tribalism and competitive nature that so many people fall into, be in on purpose, or unknowingly. Media outlets know that conflict is popular, and they latch onto it for? Money.
Politicians are now brazenly adopting the blood sport mentality as well. Why? It riles people up, they pick a team, and spend all their time generating free propaganda for them on social media, and again, it all traces back to money (well, and power which also comes with money).
I feel like we as a nation have lost our collective purpose of making this place better, and instead, fallen for the switcharoo. We are at each others throats for various reasons. Some are angry and this is their outlet. Some are despondent, and they look for someone to be the boogey-man. There are as many reasons as their are people. Hell, I fall for it too sometimes even though I know it's right there in front of me. I just try to reel myself back in and make an attempt to think things through. That is why at this place for example, most of my posts are contrary. I don't see the benefit of be responding to every post that I agree with, it is redundant. I like to spark thought if I can, and exercise the old lessons taught in college, and the ones pushed by my parents and grandparents. All of those boil down to the simple concept of "question everything, and do it honestly".
So, I don't think your "mass psychosis" idea is too far off from reality. People are odd animals, we do irrational stuff because of our emotions. That is difficult to overcome sometimes. I just find it disheartening that so few people can have their outburst (to which they are entitled), but then step back and reassess with logic and respond in a reasonable manner.
Instead, we have bands of roving proud boys and antifa clashing with clubs and fists. None of this is necessary. Like I said before, it's a blood sport promoted, endorsed, and paid for by media and outrageous politicians who have no damned business representing civilized people.

[yonder]

12. +1.

[flamingdem]

19. Well said. Relevant reading: Steven Pinker's Better Angels of our Nature

The central thesis of “Better Angels” is that our era is less violent, less cruel and more peaceful than any previous period of human existence. The decline in violence holds for violence in the family, in neighborhoods, between tribes and between states. People living now are less likely to meet a violent death, or to suffer from violence or cruelty at the hands of others, than people living in any previous century.

[Fiendish Thingy]

4. I think the next edition of the DSM should have a new category

Delusional Disorder - Social Media induced.

[PatSeg]

5. Yes, I've used "mass psychosis" or "mass insanity"

many times to describe what is going on today and it appears to be global. It is like we are living in some bizarre science fiction movie, beyond anything I could have anticipated in real life.

[KPN]

11. I think it's mother nature at work. The human species is so far out of balance with the rest of

the natural world. Mother nature always wins. Yes, it's a very simplistic view, but there's plenty of evidence that populations become self-regulating when they reach a certain limit of imbalance.

[certainot]

20. authoritarianism is a heritable mostly 'old world' susceptabillity to sex on the wrong brain

the human brain evolved for millions of years in small groups cooperating to survive in nature

a few thousands of years ago we got more crowded and began selecting for greed and authoritarian symptoms of sowb, caused by associating sex with the side of the brain more suited to logic than orgasm. it makes humans afraid of uncertainty - and those with it the worst have to create certainty or shit in their pants

basically the taliban, nazis, proud boys etc are part of a world-wide thousands year old masturbation cult, worse from 'developed' 'old world' gene pools that began delaying the age of reproduction earlier in their histories

it's a sex on the wrong brain paradigm

[ymetca]

34. I always get a kick

when you add your sowb theory to the mix!

Sex, or the lack thereof, is at the bottom of everything wrong with the world today, no doubt. And we're all quite mad because of it, to varying degrees, of course.

Ranks right up there with Crowley's identification that all the monotheistic, hierarchical, religions of the West are basically slave religions --of, by and for the slave-classes, evidencing a sado-masochistic desire to either force sex or have sex forced upon them, or some combination of both.

I can imagine, for instance, TFG, when confronted with the scandal of the "pee-tape", merely smiling and saying "Of course I did it --and it was exquisite!" And all of his minions out there chuckling with vicarious delight. But notice he insisted that he was a germaphobe, which actually only makes it more likely that he would have enjoyed the experience. Pee-porn defilement of the man he most envied and hated.

When we start feeling nauseous at the sexual perversions of the most powerful among us, and begin to turn away --no! That's when we should be paying the most attention. It's what controls them, and how they most can be controlled.

Kompromat.

For politics remains, as always, the art of airing dirty laundry.

[PatSeg]

31. That has dawned on me as well

We truly have over populated the planet and in a relatively short period of time. We are no evolved enough to deal with such a population explosion adquately.

[GoCubsGo]

6. It's not a psychosis, it's maniuplation of the ignorant.

These people have never been taught critical thinking skills. Or, anything else. That makes them especially vulnerable to the propaganda that's being shoved down their throats. Uneducated, ignorant people are easily manipulated, especially by these fear-mongers like Trump, Flynn, Hannity, and the rest of their ilk. Sidney Powell IS nuts. I'll give you that. The rest of them know damn well what they're doing.

[housecat]

15. When will the Dems come up with an antidote?

[Trueblue Texan]

23. But you have to put some blame on the willfully ignorant...

If you're willing to be manipulated, can you actually be manipulated?

[triron]

30. It's the 'dumbing down' of America that has been going on.

And seducing the population through religion and false promises.

[Hortensis]

38. Maybe both? Researchers say some people tend to be naturally poor

at critical thinking, often rejecting both thinking and the information it requires, along with the unacceptable conclusions it leads to. Instead they have lifelong patterns of accepting input that supports their preferred notions. It often fails to make sense upon examination, but they don't examine.

The brain's a marvelous thing. Ben Carson really can believe in carbon dating prehistoric organics and that god created the earth in 6 days @6000 years ago at the same time without conflict. He's a normal type, far from uncommon. tRumpists are the good people who would always protect children from bad and would also torment children for political purposes if their leader said to.

These enormous weaknesses are, as you say, exploited to lead them where the manpulators choose.

Education used to be always at the top of my list for fixes for everything. Better education has to stll be on the list, of course.

But turns out traditional education runs contrary to the nature of many students and, even when seemingly successful in school, tends to be discarded as adults. Fox is so successful because it studies what its audience wants to hear and feeds it back to them, fully loaded.

A big political reality is that most of tRump's followers are unsuited by nature to both the ideology and practice of representative government of, by and for the people. Teaching authoritarian types about the duties of citizenry doesn't make them proud or want the burden. It just lets them sound smarter when reciting claims that they and their great leader are freedom-loving patriots protecting the constitution from "liberal fascists." (Yeah, some things can't sound smarter.)

[Thunderbeast]

7. Anger and rage release endorphins in the brain

This chemical response creates a powerful drug. They are every bit as addictive as other drugs in stimulating a false sense of power.

Whether responding to Hannity or Maddow, this physiological response (the product of millions of years of evolution to trigger survival) is a powerful tool that distorts our civil behaviors. Propagandists and tyrants know how to use it for their own ends.

[appalachiablue]

26. There's a lot to that process, and the personal and social effects.

[ancianita]

8. I don't buy that psychotic leaders reflect an underlying mass psychosis.

This writer is using the batshit crazy history, and sure, current leaders might represent some batshit Americans, but to use them as the standard for how most troubled Americans are feeling is wrong. It's a distortion.

There is mass mental anxiety and depression because Americans spent two whole freakin' years being sad, frightened, worried, helpless, stressed and lonely because of the mess caused by this past two year pandemic. But those are proportional and appropriate. That's certainly not mass psychosis, for chrissake. And even when a beat down people make some collective error, that's still not mass psychosis.




A larger timeline look



https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/03/16/many-americans-continue-to-experience-mental-health-difficulties-as-pandemic-enters-second-year/

Overall, people are reacting normally to abnormal treatment like austerity economics and enforced poverty, the high pricing of necessities of life, the forced scarcity of those same necessities by design of cruel corporate policies acting through sellout politicians.

[DashOneBravo]

42. I was going to say that

But your post is much better.

[bloom]

9. In my experience

I am related to quite a few right-wing-nuts. Some nuttier than others. But most have college degrees. None live in poverty.

For one, it started by reading "None Dare Call it Conspiracy" (written 50 years ago).

For others, it was FOX along with Rush Limbaugh and such that laid the groundwork to make them self-righteous and also fearful of liberals, feminists, immigrants, etc.

Many of them, maybe all of them, depend on a skewed version of Christianity (the white, male God variety) as their 'rock' that keeps them sane, and they feel like liberals (and science) are destroying their rock.

So yes. I think they are losing their minds. They think that Democrats are demonic. They are afraid of losing influence. They probably fear that their religion could become illegal if they do not prevail. And, of course, they think that 'God' is on their side.

[appalachiablue]

27. 'The Turner Diaries' book (1978) influenced many as well.

The Turner Diaries is a 1978 novel by William Luther Pierce, published under the pseudonym Andrew Macdonald. It depicts a violent revolution in the United States which leads to the overthrow of the federal government, a nuclear war, and, ultimately, a race war which leads to the systematic extermination of non-whites. All groups opposed by the novel's protagonist, Earl Turner—including Jews, non-whites, "liberal actors", and politicians—are exterminated.

The Turner Diaries was described as "explicitly racist and anti-Semitic" by The New York Times and has been labeled the "bible of the racist right" by the FBI. The book was greatly influential in shaping white nationalism and the later development of the white genocide theory. It has also inspired numerous hate crimes and acts of terrorism, including the 1984 assassination of Alan Berg, the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, and the 1999 London nail bombings...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Turner_Diaries

[rickyhall]

10. Problem is: there's about 70 million of them.

[Initech]

13. Bill Maher was right. The more time you spend in the virtual world...

The harder it gets to interact with the real one. I swear we were a lot better before social media. Now it's made me realize just how many truly awful people walk among us.

[OMGWTF]

14. I have a meme of Traitor Tot and underneath his fugly face, it states:

"They're going to name a mental illness after me."

[housecat]

16. We've described this poison eloquently, but we're running out of time for an antidote.

[Celerity]

50. +10000000000000000

[Kablooie]

18. And their vote is as good as yours.

Perhaps even better because Republicans are working to decrease Democratic votes

[Joinfortmill]

22. Yup, but I doubt Flynn is crazy unless

He's crazy mad with rage that Obama had the temerity to fire his ass. First rage and then greed overtook him, not to mention racism and misogyny. In a nutshell, Flynn is a flaming asshole.

[roamer65]

24. Been chatting with a social worker lately.

About how to deal with my elderly parent effectively.

She says it’s the worst she’s ever seen it.

[LiberatedUSA]

25. We have a Walking Dead problem mixed with...

…a mindless Zombie problem.

They won’t get vaxxed and they can’t think for themselves.

I guess that makes Q a necromancer.

[moondust]

29. "Future Shock"

a 1970 book by American futurist Alvin Toffler.

~
He argues that the accelerated rate of technological and social change leaves people disconnected and suffering from "shattering stress and disorientation"—future shocked. Toffler stated that the majority of social problems are symptoms of future shock. In his discussion of the components of such shock he popularized the term "information overload."
~
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_Shock#Future_shock

Today--51 years later--he would likely be horrified by the widespread lack of critical thinking skills and insane conspiracy theories contributing to an epidemic of "information overload" in the age of Internet and smartphones.

[hunter]

32. I posted something very, very mild about the Rittenhouse trial on another internet forum...

... and you'd have thunk I'd posted Sweet Mary Mother of Jesus Rule 34 fucked by God graphic porn.

Who are these snowflakes?

I'll be wearing my thirty day suspension with some kind of pride.

[hfojvt]

40. What did you post?

[bluestarone]

35. The closest thing i've seen that could be compared to the way people are acting today is,

The fucking movie, The INVASION Of the BODY SNATCHERS! (I'm not kidding)

[Septua]

36. As has been said...

..they were always there, just never had the proper accelerant to embolden them.

[hfojvt]

41. not sure I can say it here

but more and more I feel like the Democratic Party, especially the left wing - has lost its mind. And can not be reasoned with.

[Hortensis]

48. Well, surprising, but I guess we Dems would be the last to

realilze that offering univeral pre-K, creating a million skilled, good-paying jobs (just to start!), and resuming our battle against climate change was losing our mind. Or, of course, electing Biden. I thought he at least was supposed to be kind of the all-American non-crazy good guy.

As for the 6 house members in the 'sabotage squad' who oppose? Yes, the label 'Progressive' might seem a little oxymoronic about now, but to be fair...6. Out of 224? Doesn't that kind of indicate they at least should not be tarred by what the rest of us are doing? They certainly want it taken that way.

[Raine]

44. EVERYBODY needs to calm down and stop antagonizing each other! nt

[ck4829]

45. K&R