The only part where I tend to disagree is when he postulates that mass formation is not ego driven. It certainly is ego driven on both sides. Virtue signalling, and following orders, I maintain, is definitely ego driven. "I am good, I am virtuous, I follow orders (and make sure everyone else follows suit)" are all ego statements.
I think Desmet was trying to convey that in the minds of those taking part of this mass formation they sincerely believe they are actually acting helpfully and importantly on the behalf of the greater good. Also, Desmet seems to be partly convinced this is basically not ego-driven because much of what those who are part of the 'movement' are doing involves very serious self-sacrifice and self-harm. I recall he paints a big picture of a bunch of isolated, unhappy people not obtaining much satisfaction from their everyday lives finally happening upon something that they can 'give their all' to, and that this giving does provide them much extraordinary satisfaction -- at least temporarily.
In what the late Saddam Hussein once dubbed “the great Satan,” roughly two-thirds of the United States enlisted military corps is white . . . The fat, bulbous U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin once confirmed in a 93-2 vote of the U.S. Senate, immediately embarked on a whirlwind media tour of duty, telling the pseudo-secular sycophants in the state-controlled tabloid press and state-controlled television talk show circuit about how the U.S. Army is full of bad racist white men.
Senior Defense Department leaders celebrating yet another Pride Month at the Pentagon sounding the alarm about the rising number of state laws they say target the LGBTQ+ community, warned the trend is hurting the feelings of the armed forces . . . “LGBTQ plus and other diverse communities are under attack, just because they are different. Hate for hate’s sake,” said Gil Cisneros, the Pentagon’s undersecretary for personnel and readiness, who also serves as DoD’s chief diversity and inclusion officer.
And now the U.S. Army is doing ads begging for more young white males? What happened?
Even with a full-on declaration of war from Congress, and even if Gavin Newsome could be cheated into the Oval Office by ZOG somehow, with Globohomo diversity brigades going door-to-door looking to impress American children into military service, they will be met with armed, well-trained opposition, the invasion at the Southern border is going full tilt, and the drugs are flowing in like never before.
Get ready for it . . . the fat old devil worshipping fags on Capitol Hill, on Wall Street, in Whitehall, and in Brussels are in no shape to fight a war themselves, and most Americans are armed to the teeth with their own guns . . . NATO hates heterosexual white men . . . they said so themselves . . .
Yeah, well, people can be sincere, deluded, and wholly odd and self-damaging at the same time. Humanity is flexible to extremes sometimes. As can their written utterances.
Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) have every right to say what they like about Israel and the genocide of Palestinians as elected members of the US House of Representatives; they never took an oath to serve Israel . . .
I voted for Ron Desantis (R-FL) to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel.
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Congressman Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia . . .
Was he running for speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
Following his ouster . . . McCarthy (R-CA) traveled abroad again, this time to England, and expressed his open contempt for the white Republicans who make up the majority of the GOP and praised Democrats for their diversity during a debate at Oxford in the wake of his ouster as House Speaker . . .
Is he now running for the Prime Minister of the U.K.?
Nevertheless, he is free to go on media tours bashing white people and lobbying for Israel, because he has now resigned from the US House of Representatives . . . I can only conclude that the collective RINO butthurt over former Speaker McCarthy is all about the Israelis who have hijacked the American deep state war machine.
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
I think what is missing is the concept of personality. Ego plays a big role in personality, but personality is more than ego. When you have an altruistic, communal or moralistic narcissist, they may be convinced they are the good guy trying to save everyone else, but they have no compunction harming any who get in their way. The defining characteristic is they lack empathy. They don't show compassion for the other - they put on a show to burnish their own image.
Feminism: A Jewish Psyop to Demonize White Women . . .
Just when we were really making some progress in exposing the jewish orchestrated genocide against Whites, a toxic narrative was injected. Instead of blaming jews for their obvious role in flooding all White countries with hordes of non-White invaders, while also condemning all the White traitors who let it happen, some of the biggest figures in our “movement” started pointing the finger at White women. Women are too horny and want to be ravaged by the savages, they are all feminists, they opened the borders because they are pathologically altruistic, and so on.
After our women started getting raped and assaulted en masse, some men started saying these women were asking for it, that they deserved it, and that they actually liked it, since “scientific” studies show many women fantasize about rape and even orgasm while they are being brutally defiled. Many of our kinsmen, acting as “good goyim,” lapped up this poisonous narrative that has been spreading like the plague.
Fascinating article, Larry; like Stephanie I'm in Canada too, but I've watched the descent into "unsanity" here for many years so am I believe less saddened than worried about the behaviour of the until recently rational. (As it's October, I think the zombie is a better analogy than the dementing). I wonder if you'd be interested in appearing on my public affairs program to discuss this, Grundvilk, and other matters of the moment? I can be reached at: lex at highspeedplus dot com. Here's my show site link if you're interested...
Thanks very much, Les, for the invitation, but I'll pass. I usually don't have all that much riding on my mind to say, but what I do have I like to write down rather than speak it. In very large part this is because writing it down helps me better work the subject matter and associated problems out for myself. This tendency, I think, comes from my professional background as a mineral exploration geologist. As a geology undergraduate, we were exolicitly taught (especially by Dr. Felix Mutschler, formerly of the USGS), that personally putting things down in maps and reports was critical to optimally understanding what we observed (and/or missed seeing) 'in the field'. My work after college definitely and repeatedly confirmed the utility of this advice. In this last regard, what I write on Substack should be taken as being purposefully addressed to my peers; i.e., those who are being faced with the same 'field problems' as I am.
All correct. However, I think a simpler way of looking at this phenomenon is to consider narcissism as the conditions for mass formation and totalitarianism closely mirror what happens to a target caught in a relationship with a narcissist.
1. Social isolation - narcissists seek to cut their targets from other people & supports
2. A lack of sensemaking in individual lives - the changing rules of the narcissist defy sense
3. Abundant presence of free-floating anxiety - "walking on eggshells" is the term used by victims of narcissists who seek to avoid triggering an abusive outburst
4. Similar (consequent) abundance of free-floating psychological discontent - in an attempt to cope with the situation, those suffering psychological abuse from narcissists work overtime trying to justify away the confusing scenarios in which they find themselves. Rumination and confusion are the order of the day.
Something to look at that is directly related to your perspective, Maggie: http://albernstein.com/checklists.php. Bernstein -- talking of subclinical personality disorders in general (he calls people who have them "emotional vampires" because of the general emotional stress they subject everyone around them to) -- reports the exact same dynamic exists not only between 'normies' and narcissists, but also 'normies' and histrionics, anti-social types, obsessive-compulsives, and paranoids. Bernstein enumerates these practical defenses against these difficult people (and therefore the mass formation hypnosis they can create):
Know Them, Know Their History, And Know Your Goal
The way to anticipate vampires is by knowing how they've acted in the past. Chances are pretty good that they'll do the same thing in the future. The big mistake you can make with vampires is assuming, without evidence, that though their record has been bad in the past, that they have learned their lesson, and will do better this time. When you deal with vampires, always ask yourself what you're trying to accomplish and why. If you're not sure, don't do anything until you've thought about it carefully.
Get Outside Verification
Vampires want you to listen to them alone. To control you, they'll try to isolate you from your usual sources of information. Always check out what they say with a trusted friend, especially when you'd rather not. Vampires can't operate in the light of day.
Do What They Don't
To prevail over Emotional Vampires you must rush in where they fear to tread. Your greatest strengths lie in doing the things you can do that vampires can't.
Pay Attention To Actions, Not Words
What vampires say is often very different from what they do. To avoid being drained, always focus on what they do.
Identify Hypnotic Strategy
Vampires are consummate hypnotists. When you see through the smoke and mirrors, their illusions don't work nearly so well.
Pick Your Battles
To be an effective vampire fighter, you have to be able to pick the important battles and ignore the rest. You also have to avoid fighting battles you can't possibly win.
Let Contingencies Do The Work
A contingency is an if-then situation. If someone does a particular thing, then certain consequences will follow. The only way Emotional Vampires learn anything is by experiencing the consequences of their own behavior. If you're ever tempted to rescue a vampire, think about what you're teaching him or her about how the game of life is played.
Choose Your Words As Carefully As You Pick Your Battles
With Emotional Vampires what you say, how you say it, and when you say it are all crucial to the outcomes you are likely to achieve.
Ignore Tantrums
When vampires don't get their way, they throw tantrums. They can explode into all sorts of emotional outbursts whose only purpose is to get you to give in. Don't.
Know Your Own Limits
Dealing with Emotional Vampires requires a lot of effort. They may be worth it, they may not. Only you can decide. Sometimes it's better to run away, or not get involved in the first place.
Absolutely on target. Narcissistic traits are foundational in all personality disorders. Difficult and toxic are code words for referring to these types. We turn ourselves inside out trying to deal with them, but it's never going to be good for us. And yes, "emotional vampires" is an apt term.
Very nicely written and thought-out comment, Stephanie. Thank you. Yeah, I have started employing the same dementia model as you when faced with the poor behavior you have described. It's a good model, I think, in that it usefully reduces expectations of rational behavior from those that are 'afflicted', and thus reinforces the need for increased care, caution and circumspection when interacting with them. The later post I wrote with regard to Wendell Berry's observations that there is a chronic totalitarian tendency in humans was sort of a chant to myself to "Get used to it" and quit being so habitually and indiscriminately idealistic about the general human condition. That being said, I do think a lot of this disturbed behavior from friends, acquaintances, family, and people at large is because, as Desmet has said, because they are not, and have NOT been for a very long time, 'very happy campers'. Stress, like Mullainathan and Shafir report (https://www.amazon.com/Scarcity-Science-Having-Defines-Lives/dp/125005611X/ref=sr_1_1) makes people (at least temporarily) very, very stupid and impulsive.
As to fear of 'the COVID', it does seem to be greater (the fear; i.e.,) in Canada, compared to at least the non-urban parts of the US. Generally speaking, the only people in Minnesota (my state), for example, who are shaking in their boots about it are white big city and college town residents. They seem to harmfully pass on their fears to each other in some kind of closed system positive feedback loop (there's the pertinence of what Desmet had to say again). Chances for death by COVID are increasingly smaller the younger than 80 a person is, and even less so if that person makes a constant thing of maintaining their general good health. In that last regard, I recommend looking at the links and references provided here: https://swprs.org/2018/10/01/covid-19-intro/. The preventive/prophylactic measures mentioned at that website materially support both the innate and adaptive immunity defense systems of the human body and are based on research conducted decades before 'the COVID' - so are not at all influenced by the current irrationality and political hullabaloo surrounding the matter.
Thanks again, Stephanie, I appreciated receiving and reading your letter.
Stephanie, I am in Canada as well. Canadian Covid Care Alliance https://www.canadiancovidcarealliance.org is a good resource for treatment protocols, prophylactic, and for at-home treatment and of the virus if you should contract it. I hope this resource lessens your fear on this front and gives you the tools and knowledge to take care of yourself and your family's health.
The only part where I tend to disagree is when he postulates that mass formation is not ego driven. It certainly is ego driven on both sides. Virtue signalling, and following orders, I maintain, is definitely ego driven. "I am good, I am virtuous, I follow orders (and make sure everyone else follows suit)" are all ego statements.
I think Desmet was trying to convey that in the minds of those taking part of this mass formation they sincerely believe they are actually acting helpfully and importantly on the behalf of the greater good. Also, Desmet seems to be partly convinced this is basically not ego-driven because much of what those who are part of the 'movement' are doing involves very serious self-sacrifice and self-harm. I recall he paints a big picture of a bunch of isolated, unhappy people not obtaining much satisfaction from their everyday lives finally happening upon something that they can 'give their all' to, and that this giving does provide them much extraordinary satisfaction -- at least temporarily.
In what the late Saddam Hussein once dubbed “the great Satan,” roughly two-thirds of the United States enlisted military corps is white . . . The fat, bulbous U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin once confirmed in a 93-2 vote of the U.S. Senate, immediately embarked on a whirlwind media tour of duty, telling the pseudo-secular sycophants in the state-controlled tabloid press and state-controlled television talk show circuit about how the U.S. Army is full of bad racist white men.
Senior Defense Department leaders celebrating yet another Pride Month at the Pentagon sounding the alarm about the rising number of state laws they say target the LGBTQ+ community, warned the trend is hurting the feelings of the armed forces . . . “LGBTQ plus and other diverse communities are under attack, just because they are different. Hate for hate’s sake,” said Gil Cisneros, the Pentagon’s undersecretary for personnel and readiness, who also serves as DoD’s chief diversity and inclusion officer.
And now the U.S. Army is doing ads begging for more young white males? What happened?
Even with a full-on declaration of war from Congress, and even if Gavin Newsome could be cheated into the Oval Office by ZOG somehow, with Globohomo diversity brigades going door-to-door looking to impress American children into military service, they will be met with armed, well-trained opposition, the invasion at the Southern border is going full tilt, and the drugs are flowing in like never before.
Get ready for it . . . the fat old devil worshipping fags on Capitol Hill, on Wall Street, in Whitehall, and in Brussels are in no shape to fight a war themselves, and most Americans are armed to the teeth with their own guns . . . NATO hates heterosexual white men . . . they said so themselves . . .
https://cwspangle.substack.com/i/138320669/nato-an-anti-white-and-anti-family-institution
Yeah, well, people can be sincere, deluded, and wholly odd and self-damaging at the same time. Humanity is flexible to extremes sometimes. As can their written utterances.
Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) have every right to say what they like about Israel and the genocide of Palestinians as elected members of the US House of Representatives; they never took an oath to serve Israel . . .
I voted for Ron Desantis (R-FL) to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel.
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Congressman Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia . . .
Was he running for speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
Following his ouster . . . McCarthy (R-CA) traveled abroad again, this time to England, and expressed his open contempt for the white Republicans who make up the majority of the GOP and praised Democrats for their diversity during a debate at Oxford in the wake of his ouster as House Speaker . . .
Is he now running for the Prime Minister of the U.K.?
Nevertheless, he is free to go on media tours bashing white people and lobbying for Israel, because he has now resigned from the US House of Representatives . . . I can only conclude that the collective RINO butthurt over former Speaker McCarthy is all about the Israelis who have hijacked the American deep state war machine.
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/i/138320669/fight-your-own-wars-you-kikesucking-zionist-ass-whores
I think what is missing is the concept of personality. Ego plays a big role in personality, but personality is more than ego. When you have an altruistic, communal or moralistic narcissist, they may be convinced they are the good guy trying to save everyone else, but they have no compunction harming any who get in their way. The defining characteristic is they lack empathy. They don't show compassion for the other - they put on a show to burnish their own image.
Feminism: A Jewish Psyop to Demonize White Women . . .
Just when we were really making some progress in exposing the jewish orchestrated genocide against Whites, a toxic narrative was injected. Instead of blaming jews for their obvious role in flooding all White countries with hordes of non-White invaders, while also condemning all the White traitors who let it happen, some of the biggest figures in our “movement” started pointing the finger at White women. Women are too horny and want to be ravaged by the savages, they are all feminists, they opened the borders because they are pathologically altruistic, and so on.
After our women started getting raped and assaulted en masse, some men started saying these women were asking for it, that they deserved it, and that they actually liked it, since “scientific” studies show many women fantasize about rape and even orgasm while they are being brutally defiled. Many of our kinsmen, acting as “good goyim,” lapped up this poisonous narrative that has been spreading like the plague.
http://www.renegadetribune.com/the-psychological-operation-to-blame-white-women/
Fascinating article, Larry; like Stephanie I'm in Canada too, but I've watched the descent into "unsanity" here for many years so am I believe less saddened than worried about the behaviour of the until recently rational. (As it's October, I think the zombie is a better analogy than the dementing). I wonder if you'd be interested in appearing on my public affairs program to discuss this, Grundvilk, and other matters of the moment? I can be reached at: lex at highspeedplus dot com. Here's my show site link if you're interested...
cheers
chris
http://www.gorilla-radio.com/
Thanks very much, Les, for the invitation, but I'll pass. I usually don't have all that much riding on my mind to say, but what I do have I like to write down rather than speak it. In very large part this is because writing it down helps me better work the subject matter and associated problems out for myself. This tendency, I think, comes from my professional background as a mineral exploration geologist. As a geology undergraduate, we were exolicitly taught (especially by Dr. Felix Mutschler, formerly of the USGS), that personally putting things down in maps and reports was critical to optimally understanding what we observed (and/or missed seeing) 'in the field'. My work after college definitely and repeatedly confirmed the utility of this advice. In this last regard, what I write on Substack should be taken as being purposefully addressed to my peers; i.e., those who are being faced with the same 'field problems' as I am.
All correct. However, I think a simpler way of looking at this phenomenon is to consider narcissism as the conditions for mass formation and totalitarianism closely mirror what happens to a target caught in a relationship with a narcissist.
1. Social isolation - narcissists seek to cut their targets from other people & supports
2. A lack of sensemaking in individual lives - the changing rules of the narcissist defy sense
3. Abundant presence of free-floating anxiety - "walking on eggshells" is the term used by victims of narcissists who seek to avoid triggering an abusive outburst
4. Similar (consequent) abundance of free-floating psychological discontent - in an attempt to cope with the situation, those suffering psychological abuse from narcissists work overtime trying to justify away the confusing scenarios in which they find themselves. Rumination and confusion are the order of the day.
Something to look at that is directly related to your perspective, Maggie: http://albernstein.com/checklists.php. Bernstein -- talking of subclinical personality disorders in general (he calls people who have them "emotional vampires" because of the general emotional stress they subject everyone around them to) -- reports the exact same dynamic exists not only between 'normies' and narcissists, but also 'normies' and histrionics, anti-social types, obsessive-compulsives, and paranoids. Bernstein enumerates these practical defenses against these difficult people (and therefore the mass formation hypnosis they can create):
Know Them, Know Their History, And Know Your Goal
The way to anticipate vampires is by knowing how they've acted in the past. Chances are pretty good that they'll do the same thing in the future. The big mistake you can make with vampires is assuming, without evidence, that though their record has been bad in the past, that they have learned their lesson, and will do better this time. When you deal with vampires, always ask yourself what you're trying to accomplish and why. If you're not sure, don't do anything until you've thought about it carefully.
Get Outside Verification
Vampires want you to listen to them alone. To control you, they'll try to isolate you from your usual sources of information. Always check out what they say with a trusted friend, especially when you'd rather not. Vampires can't operate in the light of day.
Do What They Don't
To prevail over Emotional Vampires you must rush in where they fear to tread. Your greatest strengths lie in doing the things you can do that vampires can't.
Pay Attention To Actions, Not Words
What vampires say is often very different from what they do. To avoid being drained, always focus on what they do.
Identify Hypnotic Strategy
Vampires are consummate hypnotists. When you see through the smoke and mirrors, their illusions don't work nearly so well.
Pick Your Battles
To be an effective vampire fighter, you have to be able to pick the important battles and ignore the rest. You also have to avoid fighting battles you can't possibly win.
Let Contingencies Do The Work
A contingency is an if-then situation. If someone does a particular thing, then certain consequences will follow. The only way Emotional Vampires learn anything is by experiencing the consequences of their own behavior. If you're ever tempted to rescue a vampire, think about what you're teaching him or her about how the game of life is played.
Choose Your Words As Carefully As You Pick Your Battles
With Emotional Vampires what you say, how you say it, and when you say it are all crucial to the outcomes you are likely to achieve.
Ignore Tantrums
When vampires don't get their way, they throw tantrums. They can explode into all sorts of emotional outbursts whose only purpose is to get you to give in. Don't.
Know Your Own Limits
Dealing with Emotional Vampires requires a lot of effort. They may be worth it, they may not. Only you can decide. Sometimes it's better to run away, or not get involved in the first place.
Absolutely on target. Narcissistic traits are foundational in all personality disorders. Difficult and toxic are code words for referring to these types. We turn ourselves inside out trying to deal with them, but it's never going to be good for us. And yes, "emotional vampires" is an apt term.
Q: Why do vampires never attack narcissists?
A: Professional courtesy.
Totally agree with Desmet on the dangers of the dangers of the collective unconscious( hive mind) in the grip of fear. https://notpublicaddress.wordpress.com/2021/10/20/fear-is-the-thing-in-the-age-of-information-addiction/
This is worth adding:
https://youtu.be/pOmXiapfCs8
Liked that phrase the speaker used, "bananas in the ears", especially. Thanks for the link.
Very nicely written and thought-out comment, Stephanie. Thank you. Yeah, I have started employing the same dementia model as you when faced with the poor behavior you have described. It's a good model, I think, in that it usefully reduces expectations of rational behavior from those that are 'afflicted', and thus reinforces the need for increased care, caution and circumspection when interacting with them. The later post I wrote with regard to Wendell Berry's observations that there is a chronic totalitarian tendency in humans was sort of a chant to myself to "Get used to it" and quit being so habitually and indiscriminately idealistic about the general human condition. That being said, I do think a lot of this disturbed behavior from friends, acquaintances, family, and people at large is because, as Desmet has said, because they are not, and have NOT been for a very long time, 'very happy campers'. Stress, like Mullainathan and Shafir report (https://www.amazon.com/Scarcity-Science-Having-Defines-Lives/dp/125005611X/ref=sr_1_1) makes people (at least temporarily) very, very stupid and impulsive.
As to fear of 'the COVID', it does seem to be greater (the fear; i.e.,) in Canada, compared to at least the non-urban parts of the US. Generally speaking, the only people in Minnesota (my state), for example, who are shaking in their boots about it are white big city and college town residents. They seem to harmfully pass on their fears to each other in some kind of closed system positive feedback loop (there's the pertinence of what Desmet had to say again). Chances for death by COVID are increasingly smaller the younger than 80 a person is, and even less so if that person makes a constant thing of maintaining their general good health. In that last regard, I recommend looking at the links and references provided here: https://swprs.org/2018/10/01/covid-19-intro/. The preventive/prophylactic measures mentioned at that website materially support both the innate and adaptive immunity defense systems of the human body and are based on research conducted decades before 'the COVID' - so are not at all influenced by the current irrationality and political hullabaloo surrounding the matter.
Thanks again, Stephanie, I appreciated receiving and reading your letter.
I really appreciate that comment, Stephanie. Feedback of all sorts is much appreciated (I also like metrics that keep me on the road).
Larry
Stephanie, I am in Canada as well. Canadian Covid Care Alliance https://www.canadiancovidcarealliance.org is a good resource for treatment protocols, prophylactic, and for at-home treatment and of the virus if you should contract it. I hope this resource lessens your fear on this front and gives you the tools and knowledge to take care of yourself and your family's health.