Once again you knock it out of the park. It’s the Salem Witch Trials all over again. Hysterias and hoaxes instigate fear to force people into giving government more power.
Unsaid here is that these people are forced to adopt increasingly frantic and apocalyptic tones because what they're pushing is further and further removed from reality. They're trying to drive us ALL insane.
Angela Merkel held moderate, rational views on immigration until she was ambushed in a media staged event with a crying immigrant girl who feared being deported. Merkel explained to the girl that it was simply not possible for Germany to accept every person who wanted to immigrate. Immediately afterward Merkel was shamed widely by the press for her response to the crying migrant girl. That was the instant where Merkel changed her views completely and came up with 'Wir schaffen das.' A stronger leader would have been able to withstand the criticism. But Merkel folded and Europe is still paying for her moment of weakness. Since this set-up worked so well, we can expect all kinds of similar theatre now in the public square. Cue Olaf Scholz marching with the AfD witch hunt mob.
Another excellent and well-documented piece! The common threads linking these sequenced hysterias are (1) the increasingly effective deployment of fifth generation/cognitive warfare (2) orchestrated from high above, directing global footsoldiers in corporate media and governments. Expect this to intensify from a third factor: widespread populist uprisings in Western jurisdictions during an election year. Oh, yeah...and "Trump."
One nagging feeling I can't shake is that the short-term wild oscillations of this 21st century hysteria of perceived apocalyptical threats mask overarching longer-term trends of decay in western civilisation. To what extent this may be intended or is simply a property of things, I am not quite sure - Roman bread and circuses?
A great essay Eugy, alarm and frighten so the solutions 'need world government', just what the Marxist Left wants. But few of our politicians have the guts to deal with relatively simple problems; 1) close the freaking borders 2) get national governments to deal with the problems, don't delegate to unelected external bodies. And if elected politicians can't act, people need to throw them out.
The Roger Hallam man is very special. Like most eco warriors he has mountains of hypocrisy, more mountains of hypocrisy than even the most corrupt politician can muster.
Whenever the usual suspects talk of an Russian invasion someone should post an atlas showing how f'ing HUGE Russia is. If it's one thing Russia doesn't need is land nor whiny soft metrosexual Europeans.
> Above all you are called upon to feel a specific way about this Very Bad Thing and to demonstrate your feeling with some specific performative action, whether that is attending a protest or wearing a mask. Sooner or later – and whether or not anything has been accomplished against this Very Bad Thing – the hysteria subsides, making way for the next Very Bad Thing.
I know analogies to Nineteen Eighty-Four are almost a Godwin's Law at this point, but Orwell warned us about this. This is just the Two Minutes' Hate
Also, something that frustrates me to no end, constantly: All of the media we have that depicts despotic, authoritarian dystopias does it in an almost cartoonishly evil way, and this has had the frustrating side-effect of making people unable to recognize evil when it's not cartoonish. The obvious recent example is vaccine passports.
Movement restrictions for everyday activities based on authorities checking your paperwork is a hallmark of both nazi _and_ commie authoritarianism. It is, in a very literal and direct sense, one of the first steps towards atrocities. But when the vaccine requirements hit our country, they didn't involve a menacing guy with an angry accent, obvious racism, and a very visible service pistol demanding your papers, they involved unemployable HR-Americans with blue hair and fake cheery smiles, giving plausible reasons for asking to see your documentation and politely reminding you that "your employer requires you to be vaccinated". And so the overwhelming majority of Americans rolled over and took it
In the same way, I imagine a lot of people (not _here_ per se, just in general) would be unable to recognize the very real and very serious parallel between the hysterical style laid out, and the Two Minutes' Hate, because nobody is being literally performatively _hateful_. It's all so tiresome
As Democracy inevitably devolves down into Mob Rule & Tyranny (per Aristotle & others' observations) Emotive ploys, innuendo & related stratagems work far better on the people.
It appears that European politics & politicians have long ago succumbed to using said Vile Devices!
the only thing I remember about Greta, is when trump (who I cannot stand) said the truth for once: shouldn't that kid be in school? Greta is a spoiled rich kid, sailing her father's sailboat when she indeed, should have been in school. All these other kids surrounding her, were probably of the kind. Which normal 17 year old has the opportunity to do this? Later on, of course, we learned she is a WEF groomed kid, like all the rest of the spoiled brats.
Laser-like analysis. One of your better posts, for sure.
I think you should extend this analysis a bit further though, to talk about the decline in the media's business fortunes. The fall in newspaper revenue since 2000 has been astronomical. The word "decimation" is far too mild to describe the financial failure in that industry, which has tried to stem the staff bleeding by leaning in to whatever engages the most easily excited readers (especially, billionaire grant givers).
Bad news sells, and the fact that our media is now funded by a tiny number of hyper-engaged hysterics must surely contribute to the phenomenon, beyond the need for coordination.
“That Germany could slide into a dictatorship, as it did at the end of the 1920s, or even worse – that violent deportations like those during the Holocaust could happen again.”
American Media:
“Trump's second-term agenda: revenge, trade wars, mass deportations
Reuters - December 27, 202311:22 AM EST”
Their hysteria is absolutely coordinated, and in my opinion nothing more than the Hegelian Dialectic writ large.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, you have again wonderfully summarized my feelings on all manner of "let's be very afraid about [put scary thing here] disease." Some of us have come to a conclusion about this type of hysteria. Whenever it occurs, it is likely to be accompanied by a clarion call to The God of Bigger Government. "Only a coordinated effort by all the smart people we hire can quell this danger!" That, sports fans, is the first sign of a scam! I understand that it is possible for some issues to benefit from cooperation. I understand that "teamwork makes the dream work." (Positive thinking memes from the 80s still haunt me.) That said, it is nigh impossible for every episode of the Next Boogie Man to resemble the dire plot of a disaster movie! And yet, here we are...
I hope that eventually people will rumble the bogus nature not just of current MSM hysteria fits but of 'The News' per se. It is (and has always been) one of the great delusions of modern times. It has always been a fraud on account of the inevitable Editorial Selectivity (whereby for instance, some murders warrant months of agonising and outrage whereas others don't even get a mention). Hence the very CONCEPT is a fraud........the illusion that you can know what the most important thing going on in the world is (without any effort on your part) just by checking 'The News'. And then came the great MSM invention of 24/7 'current affairs' which was really mostly about keeping the great army of MSM news grifters in a job.
Once again you knock it out of the park. It’s the Salem Witch Trials all over again. Hysterias and hoaxes instigate fear to force people into giving government more power.
The new NPR CEO is a classic commissar who will continue to push shrieking narratives on behalf of her shadowy stakeholders: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/commissar-npr-ceo-katherine-maher-she-her
Not for the first time am I left wondering how long the current model of governance-by-moral-panic can last
Unsaid here is that these people are forced to adopt increasingly frantic and apocalyptic tones because what they're pushing is further and further removed from reality. They're trying to drive us ALL insane.
Angela Merkel held moderate, rational views on immigration until she was ambushed in a media staged event with a crying immigrant girl who feared being deported. Merkel explained to the girl that it was simply not possible for Germany to accept every person who wanted to immigrate. Immediately afterward Merkel was shamed widely by the press for her response to the crying migrant girl. That was the instant where Merkel changed her views completely and came up with 'Wir schaffen das.' A stronger leader would have been able to withstand the criticism. But Merkel folded and Europe is still paying for her moment of weakness. Since this set-up worked so well, we can expect all kinds of similar theatre now in the public square. Cue Olaf Scholz marching with the AfD witch hunt mob.
Another excellent and well-documented piece! The common threads linking these sequenced hysterias are (1) the increasingly effective deployment of fifth generation/cognitive warfare (2) orchestrated from high above, directing global footsoldiers in corporate media and governments. Expect this to intensify from a third factor: widespread populist uprisings in Western jurisdictions during an election year. Oh, yeah...and "Trump."
Eugyppius hits many nails on the head, again.
One nagging feeling I can't shake is that the short-term wild oscillations of this 21st century hysteria of perceived apocalyptical threats mask overarching longer-term trends of decay in western civilisation. To what extent this may be intended or is simply a property of things, I am not quite sure - Roman bread and circuses?
A great essay Eugy, alarm and frighten so the solutions 'need world government', just what the Marxist Left wants. But few of our politicians have the guts to deal with relatively simple problems; 1) close the freaking borders 2) get national governments to deal with the problems, don't delegate to unelected external bodies. And if elected politicians can't act, people need to throw them out.
Fantastic barn-storming article.
The Roger Hallam man is very special. Like most eco warriors he has mountains of hypocrisy, more mountains of hypocrisy than even the most corrupt politician can muster.
The mantra. 'Do as I say, not as I do'.
Whenever the usual suspects talk of an Russian invasion someone should post an atlas showing how f'ing HUGE Russia is. If it's one thing Russia doesn't need is land nor whiny soft metrosexual Europeans.
Commenting while reading, usual disclaimers apply
> Above all you are called upon to feel a specific way about this Very Bad Thing and to demonstrate your feeling with some specific performative action, whether that is attending a protest or wearing a mask. Sooner or later – and whether or not anything has been accomplished against this Very Bad Thing – the hysteria subsides, making way for the next Very Bad Thing.
I know analogies to Nineteen Eighty-Four are almost a Godwin's Law at this point, but Orwell warned us about this. This is just the Two Minutes' Hate
Also, something that frustrates me to no end, constantly: All of the media we have that depicts despotic, authoritarian dystopias does it in an almost cartoonishly evil way, and this has had the frustrating side-effect of making people unable to recognize evil when it's not cartoonish. The obvious recent example is vaccine passports.
Movement restrictions for everyday activities based on authorities checking your paperwork is a hallmark of both nazi _and_ commie authoritarianism. It is, in a very literal and direct sense, one of the first steps towards atrocities. But when the vaccine requirements hit our country, they didn't involve a menacing guy with an angry accent, obvious racism, and a very visible service pistol demanding your papers, they involved unemployable HR-Americans with blue hair and fake cheery smiles, giving plausible reasons for asking to see your documentation and politely reminding you that "your employer requires you to be vaccinated". And so the overwhelming majority of Americans rolled over and took it
In the same way, I imagine a lot of people (not _here_ per se, just in general) would be unable to recognize the very real and very serious parallel between the hysterical style laid out, and the Two Minutes' Hate, because nobody is being literally performatively _hateful_. It's all so tiresome
As Democracy inevitably devolves down into Mob Rule & Tyranny (per Aristotle & others' observations) Emotive ploys, innuendo & related stratagems work far better on the people.
It appears that European politics & politicians have long ago succumbed to using said Vile Devices!
the only thing I remember about Greta, is when trump (who I cannot stand) said the truth for once: shouldn't that kid be in school? Greta is a spoiled rich kid, sailing her father's sailboat when she indeed, should have been in school. All these other kids surrounding her, were probably of the kind. Which normal 17 year old has the opportunity to do this? Later on, of course, we learned she is a WEF groomed kid, like all the rest of the spoiled brats.
Laser-like analysis. One of your better posts, for sure.
I think you should extend this analysis a bit further though, to talk about the decline in the media's business fortunes. The fall in newspaper revenue since 2000 has been astronomical. The word "decimation" is far too mild to describe the financial failure in that industry, which has tried to stem the staff bleeding by leaning in to whatever engages the most easily excited readers (especially, billionaire grant givers).
Bad news sells, and the fact that our media is now funded by a tiny number of hyper-engaged hysterics must surely contribute to the phenomenon, beyond the need for coordination.
German Media:
“That Germany could slide into a dictatorship, as it did at the end of the 1920s, or even worse – that violent deportations like those during the Holocaust could happen again.”
American Media:
“Trump's second-term agenda: revenge, trade wars, mass deportations
Reuters - December 27, 202311:22 AM EST”
Their hysteria is absolutely coordinated, and in my opinion nothing more than the Hegelian Dialectic writ large.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, you have again wonderfully summarized my feelings on all manner of "let's be very afraid about [put scary thing here] disease." Some of us have come to a conclusion about this type of hysteria. Whenever it occurs, it is likely to be accompanied by a clarion call to The God of Bigger Government. "Only a coordinated effort by all the smart people we hire can quell this danger!" That, sports fans, is the first sign of a scam! I understand that it is possible for some issues to benefit from cooperation. I understand that "teamwork makes the dream work." (Positive thinking memes from the 80s still haunt me.) That said, it is nigh impossible for every episode of the Next Boogie Man to resemble the dire plot of a disaster movie! And yet, here we are...
I hope that eventually people will rumble the bogus nature not just of current MSM hysteria fits but of 'The News' per se. It is (and has always been) one of the great delusions of modern times. It has always been a fraud on account of the inevitable Editorial Selectivity (whereby for instance, some murders warrant months of agonising and outrage whereas others don't even get a mention). Hence the very CONCEPT is a fraud........the illusion that you can know what the most important thing going on in the world is (without any effort on your part) just by checking 'The News'. And then came the great MSM invention of 24/7 'current affairs' which was really mostly about keeping the great army of MSM news grifters in a job.