I can’t help but think of this passage from my second essay (https://margaretannaalice.substack.com/p/covid-is-over-if-you-want-it):
Concentration Camp 2.0
Are we living in Concentration Camp 2.0? In the updated version, psychologically battered inmates amble around in a state of permanent learned helplessness, a brigade of Karens standin…
Are we living in Concentration Camp 2.0? In the updated version, psychologically battered inmates amble around in a state of permanent learned helplessness, a brigade of Karens standing guard, eager to inform on anyone who demonstrates a faint alertness.
When they reach the invisible boundaries of their self-constructed walls, they stop. When the atmosphere grants permission to proceed, they tiptoe tentatively forward, cringing in anticipation of the thunderclap order to halt and reverse. And it comes. It almost always comes—but at random intervals, nerves fraying as they remain suspended in a state of perpetual tension, anxiety, and terror until the next shock.
After enough waves of dread, they forget. They forget what it was like before, and they forget what it was like ahead. They forget there is an outside. They forget they have the capacity to stride through those phantom walls. They forget they have agency over their own lives. They forget they possess the power of a collective, resounding “NO!”
this is such a common human situation. Think about others lives and what is their normal, or new normal, perhaps living with a severe chronic condition. They do look back often on what life was like before, and it is normal to feel hopeless, or even doubtful that your life will ever be like that, or perhaps!! many do not even remember their "old life"
This situation for each individual could be something like soft terrorism. It is wearing on the heart.
I think “soft terrorism” is a good description of what’s occurring. They are following Biderman’s Chart of Coercion (https://margaretannaalice.substack.com/p/letter-to-a-tyrant) to a T, but the torture is entirely psychological, thus making it impossible to point to direct forms of assault. If the torture were physical in nature, people wouldn’t be able to deny it, but the psychological scars take longer to become evident.
I can’t help but think of this passage from my second essay (https://margaretannaalice.substack.com/p/covid-is-over-if-you-want-it):
Concentration Camp 2.0
Are we living in Concentration Camp 2.0? In the updated version, psychologically battered inmates amble around in a state of permanent learned helplessness, a brigade of Karens standing guard, eager to inform on anyone who demonstrates a faint alertness.
When they reach the invisible boundaries of their self-constructed walls, they stop. When the atmosphere grants permission to proceed, they tiptoe tentatively forward, cringing in anticipation of the thunderclap order to halt and reverse. And it comes. It almost always comes—but at random intervals, nerves fraying as they remain suspended in a state of perpetual tension, anxiety, and terror until the next shock.
After enough waves of dread, they forget. They forget what it was like before, and they forget what it was like ahead. They forget there is an outside. They forget they have the capacity to stride through those phantom walls. They forget they have agency over their own lives. They forget they possess the power of a collective, resounding “NO!”
yes, I read yours as well.
this is such a common human situation. Think about others lives and what is their normal, or new normal, perhaps living with a severe chronic condition. They do look back often on what life was like before, and it is normal to feel hopeless, or even doubtful that your life will ever be like that, or perhaps!! many do not even remember their "old life"
This situation for each individual could be something like soft terrorism. It is wearing on the heart.
I think “soft terrorism” is a good description of what’s occurring. They are following Biderman’s Chart of Coercion (https://margaretannaalice.substack.com/p/letter-to-a-tyrant) to a T, but the torture is entirely psychological, thus making it impossible to point to direct forms of assault. If the torture were physical in nature, people wouldn’t be able to deny it, but the psychological scars take longer to become evident.