I had this exact experience with a very intelligent and well read friend. Told him that Democrats support taking kids away from parents if they don’t support the transition. He said: that’s a flat out lie. He lives in Illinois and that’s the law in Illinois! I was floored.
Your friend has entered the Mind-Snap. Colloquially named as such back in the late 70s by a research duo who were attempting to explain the Cult phenomenon.
It is about people leaving cognitive reality if that is what they must do to join the prevailing herd. Such as a cult. Or the Democrats. Or the COVID Maniacs. Or the Pro-Hamas mobs.
Why would they be so desperate to join destructive herds?
Well, the destructive herds have magnetic attraction because they are operated by Cluster-B personalities, who attract vulnerable prey as easily as they live and breath.
So, the assumption is that those who join these herds are vulnerable to them. Usually meaning that they have little or no sense of personhood. Therefore they seek outside validation, as often as possible.
Cluster-B/Dark Personality herds (also known as totalitarian groups) will offer an artificial form of personhood/identity, in exchange for continual fawning towards the leader, and utter absolute loyalty to the group narrative. No questioners/dissenters allowed.
Think Jim Jones and his Jonestown followers here. Or in general, cults, gangs, extremist religions, or political regimes such as Communism or Nazism. All basically operating on the same premises. They offer faux-personhood to people who need it (we all need personhood, but in healthy situations we gain this in childhood). In exchange, the authorities/leaders of such groups/herds exact a price. And if the group gains wide control, they rope in everyone -- those who need a source of faux-personhood or not.
Humanity is complex, my friends. Though if you look hard enough, and think about it, you can see the patterns.
I think the problem today is not Cluster-Bs creating traditional cults, and by that I mean groups that are outside of the mainstream, but infiltrating and gaining control of mainstream institutions that have largely been trustworthy. It's a more subtle and more dangerous strategy. With a traditional cult, you willingly join, but with infiltration, you are already a member but don't know it.
This creeping Pathocracy has been in gear in the West since the 60s (It could even be argued that it never really stopped post-WWII).
Many tactics that worked to lure in the Baby Boomers of that era have gone farther now. To the heavy-booted March through the Institutions. Most of them have been taken by now. As you say, it is a more subtle approach. You think you are in a normal group situation, while slowly the heat is being turned up. Insanity is being normalized in the mainstream. Frog in the pot of boiling water.
I had my range of experiences with the cults and the personalities of their followers since I graduated from high school in 1969. What you've said aligns perfectly. It was always so perplexing why people joined and were so hard to get to leave and come to their senses. (deprogram). I think a large part is from our distant tribal past. We needed most people to fit into the band and perform the functions of growing food, hunting and gathering, making tools and weapons, protection caring for injured and sick and bringing up kids. Leadership was usually an elder. In my 1st anthro class in '69 I was introduced to the concept of the savage in the gray flannel loin cloth. That fit what I described above. There were always a few that did not quite fit in . They may become the travelers and traders, or may self exile because they don't fit in. But, most everyone wanted a group the could fit in with.
Human beings begin life in what some have called the Togetherness-force. In which we need our herds/groups. But healthy herds/groups. Not those which are operated by Cluster-B personalities to take advantage of this human need.
As we mature, we are meant to Self-Differentiate. To become capable of standing as individuals even without a herd. To be an individual with a healthy community rather than a serf in a destructive herd which thrives on our having no selfhood.
I was in high school during that period. I wanted to be popular it didn’t happen.
I said screw you. Suddenly I became popular. I was in almost every group so I didn’t have one set of beliefs. I loved high school once I stopped wanting something and actually did something
It is the same reason why people who identify as "very liberal" have a tendency to support authoritarianism. My personal belief is that they ALL are cluster B. The scientific data supports this, as does Gallup polling on political identification and mental illness. There are same cluster Bs on the far, far, right as well, but it is a vastly smaller demographic. This is issue is essentially the political manifestation of mentally ill people, i hate to say. But the data is there.
I would agree with you that the issue we find ourselves in these days is indeed a political manifestation of mental illness.
Pathocracy gives itself away when you see too many Mass Formations (Mob Effects/Collective Delusions such as COVID Mania crowds, Pro-Hamas mobs, or Witch-hunts). They always use one or more designated enemies as the scapegoats onto which they will project their own sins.
Seeing a death culture rising is another indication -- unfettered abortion (where people fail to see the problem with killing the unborn) and/or State euthanasia...large suicide clusters. In 2024, Canada is bad on both counts, with England and America vying for second place.
Joining a destructive herd is not the same as staying in a herd that becomes destructive over time, where the prior years of normalcy carry a lot of weight.
At some point, a once-normal group can become a destructive totalitarian herd. It happens if Cluster-B personalities infiltrate and gain control. Not always. Not every group. But this era in the West has seen huge numbers of political and cultural groups taken over in this manner. By WOKE totalitarians.
Look at the sociopathic personalities of a large % of people in positions of power and control over others that become the politicians and bureaucrat functionaries in our system today. The overton window has fallen out of its frame and lays in shards on the ground.
Normals need to learn how to recognize these Psychopaths. Obviously, they do not wear a sign. Nor are they like the Psychopaths described by Hollywood script writers.
LBJ and Henry Kissinger were Psychopaths. Let that be a starting point. This aberrant personality type is alive and well today, too, in high politics. And I do not mean Trump. He is the one strong enough to fight them. They often combine Psychopathy with Communism. Ahem.
"Joining a destructive herd is not the same as staying in a herd that becomes destructive over time, where the prior years of normalcy carry a lot of weight."
Herd is Herd.
If you can't chart your own path then you have to hope everyone else is doing the right thing. And Herd People don't have a good track record on that account.
I was standing outside a post office in Michigan circulating a petition in 2020 to remove the emergency powers of the governor. A man drove up and told me how dangerous the idea was; Whitmer *needed* that power to "keep us safe". I told him facts about the virus not being dangerous to most people and that masks don't work to prevent infection, etc. He claimed that I got my info from "right wing sources". I told him that no, in fact, a lot of it came from the CDC, the health department, and medical journals. He yelled, "Right wing sources!" and drove off.
I got this from some clown on LinkedIn the other day who was going on about Trump being affiliated with Project 2025. I posted a link from X, from Project 2025, specifically stating that Trump was not affiliated with them. So she responds with: “Your link goes to X. That site has become a leading distributor of disinformation since Elon Musk took over.”
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣. I guess it was fine when Twitter was censoring all of us pre-Elon!
Similar thing happened when I advised people very early that pregnant woman and kids should Not get the COVID jabs, because risk outweighed benefit. By the time of the mandates, no one should have wanted them. I was in healthcare then, and now I am not. It’s a do no harm issue, you know.
It's interesting that easily provable facts are dismissed as being crazy but if you told your friend that Donald Trump organized and fomented an insurrection on Jan 6th, or that he plans to lock up anyone that disagrees with his general philosophy, they would probably find that to be a fairly obvious truth. The human capacity for delusion is strong and easily reinforced if we stay in our bubbles. It is something we all need to be careful of regardless of which camp you're in. Over the years I have come to the conclusion that most people are in fact decent but the present day media has been spewing hardcore propaganda for a long time and there are still far too many people who believe it is truthful. Our biggest enemies are the controllers in the C-Suites of large corporations and financial institutions and the politicians and elites that benefit from working for them. The legacy media is the most powerful tool these folks have and trying to maintain that power is why they are so desperate to convince those that still absorb the propaganda to believe we need to censor and control the internet. If they somehow win that battle we are in for some long lasting dark times.
A rabid leftie pro choice woman was adamantly against abortion restrictions. Adamantly. Other than ‘what we have now. You know, 12 week limit except in the case of life of the Mother’. This is Canada. Zero rules. I said that. She wouldn’t believe it. Her husband confirmed it. She then pivoted to, late term abortions ‘never happen’. I told her where they occurred in our city. I told her where the abortuary is. She said ‘it must be for only critical life or death situations. I said ‘it is for any reason. Pro choice advocates say it happens in Canada for non health reasons only ‘about 200 times a year’. She said ‘well it isn’t a very big issue then’. I said ‘if 200 young women were being killed on college campuses each year would that be a big issue? And anyway pro life advocates say it happens 1000s of times a year’. She just kept making excuses. She didn’t want to accept the horror of it. And she didn’t want to accept a plank of the platform from the right.
I ask my friends why tgey make the choices tgey makes, such as voting against Trump. They use a lot of words to explain yet at the end of the explanation nothing substantial has been said.
I then ask why harris? Not many words and again no substance. And yet they still believe.
But one cannot act on every single moral outrage because of limited time, resources, and capacity. A psychologically healthy person has to be able to notice moral outrages without feeling guilty about not acting on every single one.
I think it's more about humility. With age comes more opportunities to see things as they truly are, but humility is necessary to question whether what you have been believing could possibly be incorrect, and to change one's mind with evidence.
Those of us who, at some point in our lives, have had the misfortune of dealing with a single person that actually was that insane now have an easier time cutting through the b.s. in these bizarre times. I guess I'm thankful now that I learned some important coping skills that have come in handy recently. I'm also exhausted.
Ohhh, exhausted is right. All my family members (siblings and parent) are lifelong die-hard progessives. I was liberal until I woke up in my 30s (thank you, Jesus!). Until 2020, we still managed to have interesting conversations,and laughed a lot together. Now? We have nothing...and I do mean nothing...to talk about. It is hard to watch the world falling apart around me, and have to refrain from discussing it, because they just don't see it. Thank God for my non-woke husband and adult children.
The world is not falling apart. We are just in a speedy transition period where things that don't work or make sense are being revealed so they get fixed. Try thinking like an engineer building a bridge.
We all have family and neighbors who, at least we hope, are not insane or evil, but rather as Gato points out, are low information people who have put blinders on. They have not been red pilled like you. Unfortunately, they are aiding and abetting the insane ones in the downfall of society.
I'm dealing w/ this in my own family. 2 of my kids and I see the gorilla, the other 2 and my husband can't/don't. Makes life difficult to say the least. I can't talk about this truth with my husband b/c he thinks I'm an idiot and crazy. I don't have a PhD in Chemistry like he does so how could I know better than he? My two kids who have followed in his footsteps won't talk about these issues with me either. The other two have their eyes wide open to the craziness. All I can think of is there are none so blind as those who refuse to see...
It's the people who are the most invested in things as they are, who have the hardest time seeing it. I'm sure after going to all the trouble to get a PhD in Chemistry from the system (and I assume making a living that way as well), the system that you're a part of and that rewards you is hard to let go of.
Yes, exactly. He's living in an echo chamber and even when I showed him the Pfizer Whistleblower he said that she was lying (this even after he has told me he thinks Pfizer is the worst Pharma company). The cognizant dissonance is killing me...
CeeCee, I think a LOT of people who took the jabs cannot mentally / emotionally face what they may have done to themselves (not to mention what they did to minor children if they took them in for the shots or to their parents or other relatives if they blackmailed them with banishment).
I don't think I would call myself brave just yet...just hanging on hoping and praying that their eyes will open...and it is very painful, especially since my husband took 3 of the shots w/o telling me b/c he didn't think it would be a big deal. Still trying to find my path to forgiving him for that...but thank you...
It's precisely those very professionals in academia, science, etc. who have had the most closed minds and supported the status-quo based on lies and deception; they all have "too much skin in the game" along with ego and arrogance which further enables their blindness.
That gets lonely too. I hope you find others you can talk to that validate what is going on. Eventually them calling you "crazy" is going to affect you in a negative way. Got to find your tribe.
I've found my tribe here on Substack. I have yet to find someone to talk to face to face who agrees with me. Just having you all affirm what I know to be true keeps me strong and keeps me going 🤗
We’re here for you! 🤗. I feel the same way, I never had many close friends before Covid but lost my longtime friend of 35+ years over Covid and politics, and my relationships with a cousin and my brother have become hallowed out. Thank God my boyfriend is on the same page (he even thanks me for talking him out of the shots) and my older son as well. So many refuse to see the truth of how much damage the Covid shots have done, and now they deny that anyone was ever mandated to get them! 🤦🏼♀️😡
Selective attention test x Asch conformity experiment = 2024 America. Free speech with a spoonful of humor is the ozempic for cognitive dissonance. Biderman's chart of coercion was deployed for COVID conformist craziness: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/bidermans-chart-of-coercion-covid-ccp
Ew, don't call it "the ozempic of" since ozempic is a dangerous drug that initially causes the desired effect (weight loss) in some who are able to tolerate it, while destroying the metabolism and digestive system of the user and making them dependent on it for life to maintain the weight loss (if it is even capable of that at long term).
But yeah, free speech with a spoonful of humor is the *something*, just not the ozempic. Maybe someone else here can come up with a better analogy.
I'm not sure about your optimism that things are shifting for the better. Trump Derangement Syndrome and the Wuhan flu broke people's brains, I mean, really broke their brains. Then up here in Canada, we're just as broken.
An example is our continual handwringing over Indian Residential Schools. That particular dam broke with the announcement of 215 kid's bodies being found in mass graves in Kamloops, BC. Our Nation went into paroxysm for months. Yet, over three years later, the Native band refuses to let anyone actually investigate what were just ground anomalies. Plus, no one in the history of our schools actually reported their kid missing let alone murdered.
Doesn't matter, as professional organizations such as the BC Law Association voted to keep accepting the murder of these phantom children as fact. Plus our government organizations like Transport Canada are holding literal communist Struggle Sessions with their employees also stating this 'mass murder' as fact. Meanwhile, all the school kids are happily repeating Land Acknowledgements daily to start the day.
The cognitive dissonance is not a bug, it's a feature being hard baked into people's brains. It's no wonder they can't see gorillas for the lies.
That's why so many Canadians, Europeans and Australians know how important the US election is with their countries wholly captured and hopeless....the U.S. is the very last hope
It's going to be a slim hope, unfortunately; the U.S, Canada, most of Europe, and so many other nations are already "lost states" because they have repeatedly had electorates of brain-dead voters; these voters are essentially cowardly sheep without any sense of independent thought or ability to think critically; they believe that "you will own nothing and be happy" is a viable option for them within a corrupt system they are really fearful of and offers them nothing but false hope.
They're the same voters the US has: people who believe voting every four years and then sitting back doing nothing will eventually change the system when their party is elected. This, despite decades of evidence to the contrary. They buy into the bread and circuses routine because it's easy. They ignore the fact that nothing ever changes because of the exact same cognitive dissonance in this article.
The countries you mentioned are further ahead on the agenda than the US because their governments took their guns away, not because their people are stupider or more sheep like.
Most normies in any country have never heard "you will own nothing and be happy" and if they did, they simply wouldn't believe it was a thing. That's the point of this article, even if it does miss the point that cognitive dissonance cuts both ways.
Exactly, and in this regard I highly recommend the work of psychiatrist Iain Gilchrist and his left and right brain theories; Scott Peck's "People of the Lie" is also very helpful, as is Bonhoeffer's explanation of "collective stupidity", the "human defect" which prevents openness to reason or facts.
Never heard about the 215 kid's bodies being found. Though in the JFK book on Fauci ,I believe he mentioned there are kids murdered from his experiment. Kids that were in foster care?
These were supposedly native kids murdered by priests in residential schools. Trudeau and his ilk are using it to drive a divisive narrative here. No proof of any of it being true because the native leaders won't allow any excavation. Genocide without a single body.
I’m not sure many people are waking up to the nonsense and evil - but there is a good test any government could set: broadcast far, wide and often that there is a ‘new virus’ killing many, many people (although no one knows anyone who has actually died of said virus) and tell everyone they must wear a mask. If masks weren’t made compulsory that would be the best test: no one could say they were only following orders. We could all see with our own eyes then who was awake and who was actually so profoundly asleep they are unreachable having learnt nothing at all over the last four plus years.
I am of the belief - especially since March 2020 - that many people are very stupid, very easily led, or very evil. I hope it’s not a majority, but it certainly doesn’t seem like a small minority, nearly 100% wore masks where I live. And so…anyways, I hope no government sets the mask test again. Perhaps they don’t need to, having already assessed just how dumb and sleepy their populations are.
Blaming people for being fooled because they stupid or gullible is your gorilla blind spot. The fact that people can be manipulated like cattle is because propaganda works, and we all have an adaptive mental mechanism that makes us blind to information that’s just too weird or awful to believe. You are missing the gorilla too when you think this phenomenon only applies to fools, but almost nobody sees the gorilla. And it’s just too weird and awful to believe that institutions of various sorts are purposely using psychological manipulation to screw up civilization and destroy people’s lives. None of us are immune and every one of is blind to some certain (but unknown to us) number of gorillas. Me, you, and everyone on the planet.
Well said! There are evil forces at work, alright, and always have been, but evil thrives on stupidity of the masses which is why the psychopaths of the world are so dominant; "the inner liberation of man begins by living responsibly before God. Only then may stupidity be overcome."(Bonhoeffer) In the final analysis (and in the first analysis!) it's a SPIRITUAL problem!
Steve Sailer calls it "noticing", essentially pattern recognition that is an outgrowth of our evolution as a species that has allowed us to survive. Noticing, of course, as Sailer knows, gets you into a *lot* of trouble with the kinds of people that suffer from the cognitive shortcomings you've outlined.
"noticing" is the Zeroth Step in the Scientific Method. We could all be Scientists. Basically:
0. Notice some Stuff.
0.314 Notice some more Stuff.
0.621 Notice more and more of that same Stuff all over again.
0.9944 🤔 Science Guy™ say, "Hmmmm..."
Then *genuflects*
¡1.! Write your Hypothesis. *strikes nerd pose*
2, etc. See if you can Notice more of the Stuff you keep Noticing. Take notes, think about, share you thoughts, revise or retract if others just don't Notice that same stuff.
We can all be Scientists. We don't even have to play one on TV.
Yes -- Iain McGilchrist has written at length on the bigger picture. About what might be happening in the brain systems of human beings (especially in the West) to attract the manifestations seen in Pathocracies, and other damaging phenomena.
If you want to get into the nitty-gritty, I would also recommend the work of British Psychiatrist/Researcher John Bowlby, he of the Attachment Theory.
Mattias Desmet was getting warm, too, on the concepts which Iain McGilchrist delves into.
I told my lib daughter Walmart had butt plugs wrapped in bright colors at eye level for children in the health and beauty section. Had to take her there and show her before she believed me. I looked up some of these books ( because I won't just repeat what I heard) and was floored! They were not only in the library but on the summer reading display for grade school! I sent excerpts to our local politicians and our governor,suggesting they read the passages out loud at bedtime to their children or grandchildren. The response I got back was " I don't think anyone would disagree this is inappropriate " and 6 months later the governor signed a bill restricting where these books can be in the library and a fine if they are not relocated or the librarian allows a minor to check them out without parental permissions. Soon " conservative " purple haired face pierced tattooed mothers are outside the library protesting the banning of books in the name of free speech. ( Actually the law is less than 2 pages and does not contain the word "ban" anywhere).
I'm even pretty De Gustibus on things but you there are clearly some places where we could be a little more selective about our target audience/customers.
My mom's friend is of that same opinion. She doesn't realize that the books we want out of the school libraries are pornographic, not just "controversial" like the old times of trying to kick out Huck Finn or the like. :/
well, they are trying to kick out Huck Finn and Laura Ingalls Wilder because "racisss"
In 2018 the Association for Library Service to Children decided that the the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award is now officially the Children’s Literature Legacy Award because of one line of the one book about trying to move to Oklahoma that in the original edition seemed to indicate that Laura Wilder thought Indians weren't people. This was changed in subsequent editions (about 1938) but it wasn't enough for those harpies.
The fact that her daughter and editor Rose Wilder Lane was an early outspoken libertarian may have had something to do with that.
If it doesn't agree with their narrative as "we are the good guys, the smart, kind and hip ones" then it's misinformation. Their vision is perfect, complete and flawless. Don't you dare bring up a fault - you racist, Putin loving, fascist.
I was on a Next Door Neighbor site where people in my local area post. Someone posted about there being consequences for posting misinformation. So I said but who determines what is misinformation and what isn't. That was all I said. My post was deleted and flagged. LOL
Yeah, I got thrown off ND. I think it was my comment that the people pushing the mandates should go to the neighboring majority black city and attempt to force the vax themselves, but they wouldn't, because they would wind up as white George Floyds.
I stay on Next Door so I know who to avoid in my area. And also so I know who I don’t need to check on in case of disaster since they’ll be waiting for the government to help them.
I was off for a long time. Just thought I would see what was going on in my neighborhood. You are right. Can't stay on that for long. Can't take the insanity. Sooner or later I will make a comment and then...
The only part of Nextdoor that I follow is the private conservative groups I’ve found over the last few years. They are small but we enjoy ourselves. The rest of ND can go f*ck itself, especially the people who complain about “too many” lost pet postings (we live in East San Diego County, so there are coyotes everywhere). As someone who lost a cat in my fenced backyard in broad daylight to a coyote, I would never chastise anyone for posting for a lost pet! 💔
I remember reading a book 13 years ago called 'Risk: The Science and Politics of Fear' about why people are so useless at assessing risk. It told about an aircraft accident. One plane taking off clipped another already on the runway and crashed down - the fire engines and crew raced to the downed plane but did not notice a fire had started on the other plane. Of the people still sat in this plane the majority were unable to move - not because they were petrified but according to the author, their minds were simply unable to process a scene so divorced from their usual reality. In other words they were unable to believe their own eyes. As a result many perished unnecessarily whilst those who did perceive the threat escaped and dragged many passengers off the plane thus saving their lives.
Yes....though I didn't want to sound too frightening. Or defeatist. There is the US election next week, which can assist in crushing the Pathocracy if Trump wins.
It is a fine balance between offering the facts, and smothering hope. We need to keep hope alive.
"somewhere embedded deeply even atavistically in human cognition lies a vast set of macros that we use to “see” the world around us.
we cannot take in all the data or process it. mostly, we focus on a few things and expect other things to be mostly the same."
Alright....you can get a good grasp of this by reading the excellent Robert Cialdini books -- "Influence" and "Pre-Suasion". He explains the most common of macros.
Next, you read the Andrew Lobaczewski book, "Political Ponerology", and begin to grasp what happens when a Dark Personality (Cluster-B personality) exploits these macros.
You're welcome. I have been passing on such references for many years. They usually elicited a yawn. However, I knew there would come a day they would be most handy to have.
We need to tell people about resources. Based on the person. Some are not deep readers so finding other sources to consider for them . . . Beyond pointing the way, it is up to them to look. They may look when they are ready, or not. It is up to them. They are adults and can make their own decisions.
Personal cult memoirs are a good place to read about the Cluster-B/Dark Personalities in action. To learn to recognize them.
Also the memoirs from Parentally-Alienated spouses and/or children (grown). A Parental Alienation family becomes a totalitarian group. A poisonous herd under the authority of a Cluster-B parent.
Perfect, gato !!! And just last night I actually witnessed an awakening— received an apology letter from a “critical thinker” who had “unfriended” me sometime during the Covid/riots year(s). He stated, “It’s so obvious now that I have open my eyes and see the evil coming out of the left.” There IS hope !!!
I had this exact experience with a very intelligent and well read friend. Told him that Democrats support taking kids away from parents if they don’t support the transition. He said: that’s a flat out lie. He lives in Illinois and that’s the law in Illinois! I was floored.
Your friend has entered the Mind-Snap. Colloquially named as such back in the late 70s by a research duo who were attempting to explain the Cult phenomenon.
It is about people leaving cognitive reality if that is what they must do to join the prevailing herd. Such as a cult. Or the Democrats. Or the COVID Maniacs. Or the Pro-Hamas mobs.
See the common denominators?
Why would they be so desperate to join destructive herds?
Well, the destructive herds have magnetic attraction because they are operated by Cluster-B personalities, who attract vulnerable prey as easily as they live and breath.
So, the assumption is that those who join these herds are vulnerable to them. Usually meaning that they have little or no sense of personhood. Therefore they seek outside validation, as often as possible.
Cluster-B/Dark Personality herds (also known as totalitarian groups) will offer an artificial form of personhood/identity, in exchange for continual fawning towards the leader, and utter absolute loyalty to the group narrative. No questioners/dissenters allowed.
Think Jim Jones and his Jonestown followers here. Or in general, cults, gangs, extremist religions, or political regimes such as Communism or Nazism. All basically operating on the same premises. They offer faux-personhood to people who need it (we all need personhood, but in healthy situations we gain this in childhood). In exchange, the authorities/leaders of such groups/herds exact a price. And if the group gains wide control, they rope in everyone -- those who need a source of faux-personhood or not.
Humanity is complex, my friends. Though if you look hard enough, and think about it, you can see the patterns.
I think the problem today is not Cluster-Bs creating traditional cults, and by that I mean groups that are outside of the mainstream, but infiltrating and gaining control of mainstream institutions that have largely been trustworthy. It's a more subtle and more dangerous strategy. With a traditional cult, you willingly join, but with infiltration, you are already a member but don't know it.
Very good point, Kertch.
This creeping Pathocracy has been in gear in the West since the 60s (It could even be argued that it never really stopped post-WWII).
Many tactics that worked to lure in the Baby Boomers of that era have gone farther now. To the heavy-booted March through the Institutions. Most of them have been taken by now. As you say, it is a more subtle approach. You think you are in a normal group situation, while slowly the heat is being turned up. Insanity is being normalized in the mainstream. Frog in the pot of boiling water.
This! This is exactly what happened.
This is 100% accurate.
Hope so, Publicus. I have been working on these concepts for a long time. Distilled today into a few posts.
I had my range of experiences with the cults and the personalities of their followers since I graduated from high school in 1969. What you've said aligns perfectly. It was always so perplexing why people joined and were so hard to get to leave and come to their senses. (deprogram). I think a large part is from our distant tribal past. We needed most people to fit into the band and perform the functions of growing food, hunting and gathering, making tools and weapons, protection caring for injured and sick and bringing up kids. Leadership was usually an elder. In my 1st anthro class in '69 I was introduced to the concept of the savage in the gray flannel loin cloth. That fit what I described above. There were always a few that did not quite fit in . They may become the travelers and traders, or may self exile because they don't fit in. But, most everyone wanted a group the could fit in with.
"In my 1st anthro class in '69"
*Carlos Castaneda has entered the chat*
Human beings begin life in what some have called the Togetherness-force. In which we need our herds/groups. But healthy herds/groups. Not those which are operated by Cluster-B personalities to take advantage of this human need.
As we mature, we are meant to Self-Differentiate. To become capable of standing as individuals even without a herd. To be an individual with a healthy community rather than a serf in a destructive herd which thrives on our having no selfhood.
I was in high school during that period. I wanted to be popular it didn’t happen.
I said screw you. Suddenly I became popular. I was in almost every group so I didn’t have one set of beliefs. I loved high school once I stopped wanting something and actually did something
It is the same reason why people who identify as "very liberal" have a tendency to support authoritarianism. My personal belief is that they ALL are cluster B. The scientific data supports this, as does Gallup polling on political identification and mental illness. There are same cluster Bs on the far, far, right as well, but it is a vastly smaller demographic. This is issue is essentially the political manifestation of mentally ill people, i hate to say. But the data is there.
"the political manifestation of mentally ill people"...sadly but very accurately stated!
I would agree with you that the issue we find ourselves in these days is indeed a political manifestation of mental illness.
Pathocracy gives itself away when you see too many Mass Formations (Mob Effects/Collective Delusions such as COVID Mania crowds, Pro-Hamas mobs, or Witch-hunts). They always use one or more designated enemies as the scapegoats onto which they will project their own sins.
Seeing a death culture rising is another indication -- unfettered abortion (where people fail to see the problem with killing the unborn) and/or State euthanasia...large suicide clusters. In 2024, Canada is bad on both counts, with England and America vying for second place.
Joining a destructive herd is not the same as staying in a herd that becomes destructive over time, where the prior years of normalcy carry a lot of weight.
At some point, a once-normal group can become a destructive totalitarian herd. It happens if Cluster-B personalities infiltrate and gain control. Not always. Not every group. But this era in the West has seen huge numbers of political and cultural groups taken over in this manner. By WOKE totalitarians.
Look at the sociopathic personalities of a large % of people in positions of power and control over others that become the politicians and bureaucrat functionaries in our system today. The overton window has fallen out of its frame and lays in shards on the ground.
Normals need to learn how to recognize these Psychopaths. Obviously, they do not wear a sign. Nor are they like the Psychopaths described by Hollywood script writers.
LBJ and Henry Kissinger were Psychopaths. Let that be a starting point. This aberrant personality type is alive and well today, too, in high politics. And I do not mean Trump. He is the one strong enough to fight them. They often combine Psychopathy with Communism. Ahem.
"Joining a destructive herd is not the same as staying in a herd that becomes destructive over time, where the prior years of normalcy carry a lot of weight."
Herd is Herd.
If you can't chart your own path then you have to hope everyone else is doing the right thing. And Herd People don't have a good track record on that account.
"It is about people leaving cognitive reality if that is what they must do to join the prevailing herd."
The Current Thing: https://libertymaniacs.com/products/i-support-the-current-thing-npc-sticker
May they roll up their sleeves for endless boosters….
I was standing outside a post office in Michigan circulating a petition in 2020 to remove the emergency powers of the governor. A man drove up and told me how dangerous the idea was; Whitmer *needed* that power to "keep us safe". I told him facts about the virus not being dangerous to most people and that masks don't work to prevent infection, etc. He claimed that I got my info from "right wing sources". I told him that no, in fact, a lot of it came from the CDC, the health department, and medical journals. He yelled, "Right wing sources!" and drove off.
Kudos to you for getting out in public. Circulating petitions are a way to spread the word, even if no one signs!!
There was basically little else we were "allowed" to do, with all the forced shut downs. I met a lot of really amazing, wonderful people that summer.
Mostly what I hear is- “I don’t believe that”. Here’s the proof- “Stop with your bullshit conspiracies”. Sigh
What's your sOuRCe!?!?
I got this from some clown on LinkedIn the other day who was going on about Trump being affiliated with Project 2025. I posted a link from X, from Project 2025, specifically stating that Trump was not affiliated with them. So she responds with: “Your link goes to X. That site has become a leading distributor of disinformation since Elon Musk took over.”
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣. I guess it was fine when Twitter was censoring all of us pre-Elon!
Tiresome and futile to try and reason with irrational thinkers. Its why we all give up
Illinois is right behind California.
I can not tell you how many friends/family that I grew up with in CA who have said the exact same thing you mentioned.
Mental illness is real.
Similar thing happened when I advised people very early that pregnant woman and kids should Not get the COVID jabs, because risk outweighed benefit. By the time of the mandates, no one should have wanted them. I was in healthcare then, and now I am not. It’s a do no harm issue, you know.
It's interesting that easily provable facts are dismissed as being crazy but if you told your friend that Donald Trump organized and fomented an insurrection on Jan 6th, or that he plans to lock up anyone that disagrees with his general philosophy, they would probably find that to be a fairly obvious truth. The human capacity for delusion is strong and easily reinforced if we stay in our bubbles. It is something we all need to be careful of regardless of which camp you're in. Over the years I have come to the conclusion that most people are in fact decent but the present day media has been spewing hardcore propaganda for a long time and there are still far too many people who believe it is truthful. Our biggest enemies are the controllers in the C-Suites of large corporations and financial institutions and the politicians and elites that benefit from working for them. The legacy media is the most powerful tool these folks have and trying to maintain that power is why they are so desperate to convince those that still absorb the propaganda to believe we need to censor and control the internet. If they somehow win that battle we are in for some long lasting dark times.
"See No Evil. Hear No Evil. Speak No Evil."
But, sadly, the Evil is still there...
A rabid leftie pro choice woman was adamantly against abortion restrictions. Adamantly. Other than ‘what we have now. You know, 12 week limit except in the case of life of the Mother’. This is Canada. Zero rules. I said that. She wouldn’t believe it. Her husband confirmed it. She then pivoted to, late term abortions ‘never happen’. I told her where they occurred in our city. I told her where the abortuary is. She said ‘it must be for only critical life or death situations. I said ‘it is for any reason. Pro choice advocates say it happens in Canada for non health reasons only ‘about 200 times a year’. She said ‘well it isn’t a very big issue then’. I said ‘if 200 young women were being killed on college campuses each year would that be a big issue? And anyway pro life advocates say it happens 1000s of times a year’. She just kept making excuses. She didn’t want to accept the horror of it. And she didn’t want to accept a plank of the platform from the right.
I have had simular experiences.
I ask my friends why tgey make the choices tgey makes, such as voting against Trump. They use a lot of words to explain yet at the end of the explanation nothing substantial has been said.
I then ask why harris? Not many words and again no substance. And yet they still believe.
"admitting a truly awful outrage is and then failing to act = moral culpability"
It always amazes me how you are able to boil an issue down to its essence.
That sentence renders any comment i could provide as redundant.
You would make one helluva a CEO.
BRAVO!
But one cannot act on every single moral outrage because of limited time, resources, and capacity. A psychologically healthy person has to be able to notice moral outrages without feeling guilty about not acting on every single one.
i suspect this is precisely why such processes exist in the human mind.
they're adaptive.
but they can also be gamed and taken advantage of.
like many things, it's double edged.
Well said
"It always amazes me how you are able to boil an issue down to its essence."
I feel like there should be 'ergo's all over. There are treasure troves of simple summaries in every article.
I cannot believe how blind and gullible I used to be.
I literally look at everything critically now.
It’s almost like finding a pair of special sunglasses that allow you to see all the propaganda and the nasty people running things.
I was born wearing those special sunglasses. Wondered why everyone else wasn't wearing them.
With age comes wisdom....hopefully....
I think it's more about humility. With age comes more opportunities to see things as they truly are, but humility is necessary to question whether what you have been believing could possibly be incorrect, and to change one's mind with evidence.
👍
Those of us who, at some point in our lives, have had the misfortune of dealing with a single person that actually was that insane now have an easier time cutting through the b.s. in these bizarre times. I guess I'm thankful now that I learned some important coping skills that have come in handy recently. I'm also exhausted.
Yes. Same. JD Vance’s words come to mind daily: do you hear what you’re saying, Martha?”
Ohhh, exhausted is right. All my family members (siblings and parent) are lifelong die-hard progessives. I was liberal until I woke up in my 30s (thank you, Jesus!). Until 2020, we still managed to have interesting conversations,and laughed a lot together. Now? We have nothing...and I do mean nothing...to talk about. It is hard to watch the world falling apart around me, and have to refrain from discussing it, because they just don't see it. Thank God for my non-woke husband and adult children.
The world is not falling apart. We are just in a speedy transition period where things that don't work or make sense are being revealed so they get fixed. Try thinking like an engineer building a bridge.
We all have family and neighbors who, at least we hope, are not insane or evil, but rather as Gato points out, are low information people who have put blinders on. They have not been red pilled like you. Unfortunately, they are aiding and abetting the insane ones in the downfall of society.
The problem is the smugnorance. They KNOW theu are absolutely correct and “better” than you in every way. Infuriating
I'm dealing w/ this in my own family. 2 of my kids and I see the gorilla, the other 2 and my husband can't/don't. Makes life difficult to say the least. I can't talk about this truth with my husband b/c he thinks I'm an idiot and crazy. I don't have a PhD in Chemistry like he does so how could I know better than he? My two kids who have followed in his footsteps won't talk about these issues with me either. The other two have their eyes wide open to the craziness. All I can think of is there are none so blind as those who refuse to see...
It's the people who are the most invested in things as they are, who have the hardest time seeing it. I'm sure after going to all the trouble to get a PhD in Chemistry from the system (and I assume making a living that way as well), the system that you're a part of and that rewards you is hard to let go of.
Yes, exactly. He's living in an echo chamber and even when I showed him the Pfizer Whistleblower he said that she was lying (this even after he has told me he thinks Pfizer is the worst Pharma company). The cognizant dissonance is killing me...
CeeCee, I think a LOT of people who took the jabs cannot mentally / emotionally face what they may have done to themselves (not to mention what they did to minor children if they took them in for the shots or to their parents or other relatives if they blackmailed them with banishment).
And it’s painful as hell. You’re brave.
I don't think I would call myself brave just yet...just hanging on hoping and praying that their eyes will open...and it is very painful, especially since my husband took 3 of the shots w/o telling me b/c he didn't think it would be a big deal. Still trying to find my path to forgiving him for that...but thank you...
It's precisely those very professionals in academia, science, etc. who have had the most closed minds and supported the status-quo based on lies and deception; they all have "too much skin in the game" along with ego and arrogance which further enables their blindness.
That gets lonely too. I hope you find others you can talk to that validate what is going on. Eventually them calling you "crazy" is going to affect you in a negative way. Got to find your tribe.
I've found my tribe here on Substack. I have yet to find someone to talk to face to face who agrees with me. Just having you all affirm what I know to be true keeps me strong and keeps me going 🤗
We’re here for you! 🤗. I feel the same way, I never had many close friends before Covid but lost my longtime friend of 35+ years over Covid and politics, and my relationships with a cousin and my brother have become hallowed out. Thank God my boyfriend is on the same page (he even thanks me for talking him out of the shots) and my older son as well. So many refuse to see the truth of how much damage the Covid shots have done, and now they deny that anyone was ever mandated to get them! 🤦🏼♀️😡
“Hollowed” out, not hallowed.
Selective attention test x Asch conformity experiment = 2024 America. Free speech with a spoonful of humor is the ozempic for cognitive dissonance. Biderman's chart of coercion was deployed for COVID conformist craziness: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/bidermans-chart-of-coercion-covid-ccp
Ew, don't call it "the ozempic of" since ozempic is a dangerous drug that initially causes the desired effect (weight loss) in some who are able to tolerate it, while destroying the metabolism and digestive system of the user and making them dependent on it for life to maintain the weight loss (if it is even capable of that at long term).
But yeah, free speech with a spoonful of humor is the *something*, just not the ozempic. Maybe someone else here can come up with a better analogy.
I'm not sure about your optimism that things are shifting for the better. Trump Derangement Syndrome and the Wuhan flu broke people's brains, I mean, really broke their brains. Then up here in Canada, we're just as broken.
An example is our continual handwringing over Indian Residential Schools. That particular dam broke with the announcement of 215 kid's bodies being found in mass graves in Kamloops, BC. Our Nation went into paroxysm for months. Yet, over three years later, the Native band refuses to let anyone actually investigate what were just ground anomalies. Plus, no one in the history of our schools actually reported their kid missing let alone murdered.
Doesn't matter, as professional organizations such as the BC Law Association voted to keep accepting the murder of these phantom children as fact. Plus our government organizations like Transport Canada are holding literal communist Struggle Sessions with their employees also stating this 'mass murder' as fact. Meanwhile, all the school kids are happily repeating Land Acknowledgements daily to start the day.
The cognitive dissonance is not a bug, it's a feature being hard baked into people's brains. It's no wonder they can't see gorillas for the lies.
That's why so many Canadians, Europeans and Australians know how important the US election is with their countries wholly captured and hopeless....the U.S. is the very last hope
Crossing my fingers. There are a lot of idiots here.
It's going to be a slim hope, unfortunately; the U.S, Canada, most of Europe, and so many other nations are already "lost states" because they have repeatedly had electorates of brain-dead voters; these voters are essentially cowardly sheep without any sense of independent thought or ability to think critically; they believe that "you will own nothing and be happy" is a viable option for them within a corrupt system they are really fearful of and offers them nothing but false hope.
But being lost, and I'm not admitting we are, means having everything to win by going on the offensive.
And by not giving up, we are in fact winning; first the spiritual battle and then the physical one too.
They're the same voters the US has: people who believe voting every four years and then sitting back doing nothing will eventually change the system when their party is elected. This, despite decades of evidence to the contrary. They buy into the bread and circuses routine because it's easy. They ignore the fact that nothing ever changes because of the exact same cognitive dissonance in this article.
The countries you mentioned are further ahead on the agenda than the US because their governments took their guns away, not because their people are stupider or more sheep like.
Most normies in any country have never heard "you will own nothing and be happy" and if they did, they simply wouldn't believe it was a thing. That's the point of this article, even if it does miss the point that cognitive dissonance cuts both ways.
Exactly, and in this regard I highly recommend the work of psychiatrist Iain Gilchrist and his left and right brain theories; Scott Peck's "People of the Lie" is also very helpful, as is Bonhoeffer's explanation of "collective stupidity", the "human defect" which prevents openness to reason or facts.
Never heard about the 215 kid's bodies being found. Though in the JFK book on Fauci ,I believe he mentioned there are kids murdered from his experiment. Kids that were in foster care?
Did anyone say how long these bodies were there?
These were supposedly native kids murdered by priests in residential schools. Trudeau and his ilk are using it to drive a divisive narrative here. No proof of any of it being true because the native leaders won't allow any excavation. Genocide without a single body.
Murdered by priest? Yikes.
I’m not sure many people are waking up to the nonsense and evil - but there is a good test any government could set: broadcast far, wide and often that there is a ‘new virus’ killing many, many people (although no one knows anyone who has actually died of said virus) and tell everyone they must wear a mask. If masks weren’t made compulsory that would be the best test: no one could say they were only following orders. We could all see with our own eyes then who was awake and who was actually so profoundly asleep they are unreachable having learnt nothing at all over the last four plus years.
I am of the belief - especially since March 2020 - that many people are very stupid, very easily led, or very evil. I hope it’s not a majority, but it certainly doesn’t seem like a small minority, nearly 100% wore masks where I live. And so…anyways, I hope no government sets the mask test again. Perhaps they don’t need to, having already assessed just how dumb and sleepy their populations are.
Blaming people for being fooled because they stupid or gullible is your gorilla blind spot. The fact that people can be manipulated like cattle is because propaganda works, and we all have an adaptive mental mechanism that makes us blind to information that’s just too weird or awful to believe. You are missing the gorilla too when you think this phenomenon only applies to fools, but almost nobody sees the gorilla. And it’s just too weird and awful to believe that institutions of various sorts are purposely using psychological manipulation to screw up civilization and destroy people’s lives. None of us are immune and every one of is blind to some certain (but unknown to us) number of gorillas. Me, you, and everyone on the planet.
Well said! There are evil forces at work, alright, and always have been, but evil thrives on stupidity of the masses which is why the psychopaths of the world are so dominant; "the inner liberation of man begins by living responsibly before God. Only then may stupidity be overcome."(Bonhoeffer) In the final analysis (and in the first analysis!) it's a SPIRITUAL problem!
Steve Sailer calls it "noticing", essentially pattern recognition that is an outgrowth of our evolution as a species that has allowed us to survive. Noticing, of course, as Sailer knows, gets you into a *lot* of trouble with the kinds of people that suffer from the cognitive shortcomings you've outlined.
"noticing" is the Zeroth Step in the Scientific Method. We could all be Scientists. Basically:
0. Notice some Stuff.
0.314 Notice some more Stuff.
0.621 Notice more and more of that same Stuff all over again.
0.9944 🤔 Science Guy™ say, "Hmmmm..."
Then *genuflects*
¡1.! Write your Hypothesis. *strikes nerd pose*
2, etc. See if you can Notice more of the Stuff you keep Noticing. Take notes, think about, share you thoughts, revise or retract if others just don't Notice that same stuff.
We can all be Scientists. We don't even have to play one on TV.
Then, make memes about the other scientists.
Cue Gen Alpha-students: "What's a Tee-Vee?"
a giant cell phone that mounts on the wall?
Right! Again, see the work of Iain Gilchrist in this regard...
Yes -- Iain McGilchrist has written at length on the bigger picture. About what might be happening in the brain systems of human beings (especially in the West) to attract the manifestations seen in Pathocracies, and other damaging phenomena.
If you want to get into the nitty-gritty, I would also recommend the work of British Psychiatrist/Researcher John Bowlby, he of the Attachment Theory.
Mattias Desmet was getting warm, too, on the concepts which Iain McGilchrist delves into.
See Channel McGilchrist. Read his books.
The existence of "children's books about sex toys and bondage" is just too extreme for them to wrap their minds around.
I told my lib daughter Walmart had butt plugs wrapped in bright colors at eye level for children in the health and beauty section. Had to take her there and show her before she believed me. I looked up some of these books ( because I won't just repeat what I heard) and was floored! They were not only in the library but on the summer reading display for grade school! I sent excerpts to our local politicians and our governor,suggesting they read the passages out loud at bedtime to their children or grandchildren. The response I got back was " I don't think anyone would disagree this is inappropriate " and 6 months later the governor signed a bill restricting where these books can be in the library and a fine if they are not relocated or the librarian allows a minor to check them out without parental permissions. Soon " conservative " purple haired face pierced tattooed mothers are outside the library protesting the banning of books in the name of free speech. ( Actually the law is less than 2 pages and does not contain the word "ban" anywhere).
"Walmart had butt plugs wrapped in bright colors at eye level for children in the health and beauty section"
Dag. My brain just hiccupped reading that, too.
What is a butt plug for? Honest question here!
Let's just say... Don't Google that phrase if you're at work.
Just ewwww
Congrats to you on standing up for what's right and making them change where they could display that filth!!!
I'm even pretty De Gustibus on things but you there are clearly some places where we could be a little more selective about our target audience/customers.
My mom literally believes that the books that are being "banned" are like "To Kill a Mockingbird" and similar literary classics.
My mom's friend is of that same opinion. She doesn't realize that the books we want out of the school libraries are pornographic, not just "controversial" like the old times of trying to kick out Huck Finn or the like. :/
well, they are trying to kick out Huck Finn and Laura Ingalls Wilder because "racisss"
In 2018 the Association for Library Service to Children decided that the the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award is now officially the Children’s Literature Legacy Award because of one line of the one book about trying to move to Oklahoma that in the original edition seemed to indicate that Laura Wilder thought Indians weren't people. This was changed in subsequent editions (about 1938) but it wasn't enough for those harpies.
The fact that her daughter and editor Rose Wilder Lane was an early outspoken libertarian may have had something to do with that.
so does my 65 year old brother
Maybe in the past, but the pendulum continued to swing in a raunchy direction. It is way, way more crazy than any thing that was written back then.
My brain hiccupped just reading it and I already knew it was true. They have to block it out or their brains would glitch.
Freud called it Repression. Big hitter, the Freudster.
If it doesn't agree with their narrative as "we are the good guys, the smart, kind and hip ones" then it's misinformation. Their vision is perfect, complete and flawless. Don't you dare bring up a fault - you racist, Putin loving, fascist.
I was on a Next Door Neighbor site where people in my local area post. Someone posted about there being consequences for posting misinformation. So I said but who determines what is misinformation and what isn't. That was all I said. My post was deleted and flagged. LOL
Dee, I got off that digital rag Next Door years ago in the Age of WuFlu because there were soooo many libtards. I couldn’t take it anymore
Yeah, I got thrown off ND. I think it was my comment that the people pushing the mandates should go to the neighboring majority black city and attempt to force the vax themselves, but they wouldn't, because they would wind up as white George Floyds.
I stay on Next Door so I know who to avoid in my area. And also so I know who I don’t need to check on in case of disaster since they’ll be waiting for the government to help them.
😊
I was off for a long time. Just thought I would see what was going on in my neighborhood. You are right. Can't stay on that for long. Can't take the insanity. Sooner or later I will make a comment and then...
"So I said but who determines what is misinformation and what isn't."
Apparently not you.
I guess you got your answer.
What is that quote about find out who can decide what you can and cannot question, and you'll know who's the true ruler?
The only part of Nextdoor that I follow is the private conservative groups I’ve found over the last few years. They are small but we enjoy ourselves. The rest of ND can go f*ck itself, especially the people who complain about “too many” lost pet postings (we live in East San Diego County, so there are coyotes everywhere). As someone who lost a cat in my fenced backyard in broad daylight to a coyote, I would never chastise anyone for posting for a lost pet! 💔
Dollyboy’s hammer just obliterating that nail.
When one has their head in the sand, and someone else continues to kick them in the ass, there is eventually an awakening…
Some may find it kinky. 🥴
That’s where those butt plugs come in handy! 🤣
I remember reading a book 13 years ago called 'Risk: The Science and Politics of Fear' about why people are so useless at assessing risk. It told about an aircraft accident. One plane taking off clipped another already on the runway and crashed down - the fire engines and crew raced to the downed plane but did not notice a fire had started on the other plane. Of the people still sat in this plane the majority were unable to move - not because they were petrified but according to the author, their minds were simply unable to process a scene so divorced from their usual reality. In other words they were unable to believe their own eyes. As a result many perished unnecessarily whilst those who did perceive the threat escaped and dragged many passengers off the plane thus saving their lives.
Can I do my Andrew Lobaczewski thing here today, and point out -- with a BIG pointer -- that we are in a creeping Pathocracy?
Which explains the upside-down insanity-land we have entered.
Rule by Psychopathy will do that.
"Pathocracy", rule by psychopathy, describes it very well...except it's not "creeping" at this point in time, it's full-blown!
Yes....though I didn't want to sound too frightening. Or defeatist. There is the US election next week, which can assist in crushing the Pathocracy if Trump wins.
It is a fine balance between offering the facts, and smothering hope. We need to keep hope alive.
"somewhere embedded deeply even atavistically in human cognition lies a vast set of macros that we use to “see” the world around us.
we cannot take in all the data or process it. mostly, we focus on a few things and expect other things to be mostly the same."
Alright....you can get a good grasp of this by reading the excellent Robert Cialdini books -- "Influence" and "Pre-Suasion". He explains the most common of macros.
Next, you read the Andrew Lobaczewski book, "Political Ponerology", and begin to grasp what happens when a Dark Personality (Cluster-B personality) exploits these macros.
Thanks for the references - was not aware of these
You're welcome. I have been passing on such references for many years. They usually elicited a yawn. However, I knew there would come a day they would be most handy to have.
We need to tell people about resources. Based on the person. Some are not deep readers so finding other sources to consider for them . . . Beyond pointing the way, it is up to them to look. They may look when they are ready, or not. It is up to them. They are adults and can make their own decisions.
Personal cult memoirs are a good place to read about the Cluster-B/Dark Personalities in action. To learn to recognize them.
Also the memoirs from Parentally-Alienated spouses and/or children (grown). A Parental Alienation family becomes a totalitarian group. A poisonous herd under the authority of a Cluster-B parent.
Yes!
Some suggestions:
"CHAOS" by Tom O'Neill
"The Strange Case of Thomas Quick" by Dan Josefsson
"The Family" by Chris Johnston & Rosie Jones
"Cult, A Love Story" Alexandra Amor
"Don't Hug Your Mother" Fintan Murphy
"A Kidnapped Mind" Pamela Richardson
They are much appreciated!
Thanks, Tony.
Perfect, gato !!! And just last night I actually witnessed an awakening— received an apology letter from a “critical thinker” who had “unfriended” me sometime during the Covid/riots year(s). He stated, “It’s so obvious now that I have open my eyes and see the evil coming out of the left.” There IS hope !!!