Beware the creation of a mass narrative
A significant risk in medical practice and wider society is the creation of a mass narrative. Crowd-thought. It may gain momentum that is difficult to stop. It may steam-roll healthy critique.
Assimilation into a mass narrative has been likened to hypnosis where totalitarianism can be seen as a form of mass hypnosis on a population-sized scale. The most ambitious totalitarian regimes of the last century – Nazi Germany and
Stalinist Russia – exemplify this phenomenon. Political theorist Hannah Arendt described the ‘atomised’ individual as the ideal unit for the construction of a totalitarian state. An atomised individual is someone who feels disconnected from
relationships and isolated from their community. When people become atomised, they are more vulnerable to external control, as they seek reassurance and identity from collective ideologies rather than personal convictions. This state of
disconnection, ever more apparent in our Western secular culture, makes individuals more susceptible to propaganda and mass narrative in their search for a sense of purpose.
Individuality can become subordinate to the collective, a key feature of both the ephemeral crowd and of totalitarian
rule.
As early as the 1950s, the Rockefeller brothers identified pandemics and climate disasters as key mass narratives through which to advance global governance.
The Mechanics of Mass Narratives
Isolation, loneliness, anxiety, and fear make people vulnerable to be nudged toward the next mass trend. In The Psychology of Totalitarianism, Mattias Desmet argues that mechanistic science, rooted in the Enlightenment, has come
at a cost to humanity – separated people from nature and left them without a ‘grand narrative’. Such destabilised societies and their atomised members show heightened anxiety and fear that seeks to ‘latch on’ to new narrative, the
very conditions required for the population to behave as a crowd – mass formation – a hypnotic state of shared song or shared mantra. Open debate is closed down, dissent is censored, and a totalitarian state is born.
Healthy scepticism and independent thought are unwelcome in totalitarianism. Both the totalitarised masses and their totalitarised leaders believe fervently in their narrative. Mechanistic rationalism has made us remarkably vulnerable to
totalitarianism. The usual hope and pursuit is for utopian solutions, a cure-all, led by technocrats and politicians, supported by the lowest forms of all scientific evidence – the expert and the predictive model.
Totalitarianism involves the transformation of thought in masses of the population. Obedience is shown towards dull bureaucrats – the pigs of Animal Farm. Individuals may sacrifice their personal interests in favour of solidarity with the
collective.
Totalitarianism transforms thought on a mass scale. Obedience towards unfit authorities becomes the norm, and individuals often sacrifice personal freedom for the sake of solidarity.
Totalitarian thought is an ever-present undercurrent in human societies, ready to seize control whenever conditions
allow.
Healthy scepticism is rare but essential. It must be nurtured, valued, and protected.
It should be taught as a key component in the pursuit of scientific truth.
The Pandemic Years: A Case Study in Totalitarian Narratives
The Covid pandemic (2020–present) stands as one of the most remarkable examples of a globalist narrative fuelled by a
totalitarian mentality.
The response constitutes one of the largest uncontrolled technocratic medical experiments in history. Two key false narratives – ‘safe and effective’ and ‘millions of lives saved’ – were widely propagated in reference to novel gene-based
vaccine technology.
Independent analysts such as Edward Dowd have estimated up to 8 – 15 million gene-based vaccine-related deaths around the globe and Denis Rancourt, former Professor of Physics, University of Ottawa, has reached similar numbers
and conclusions with the use of different methodologies.
False mass medical narratives of comparative size that ran throughout much of the 20th Century would include strictly enforced bed rest after myocardial infarction, now recognised as detrimental to cardiac function, or the food pyramid behind decades of carbohydrate promotion and associated metabolic disorder.
Dangers of Government Overreach
Excessive government control is profoundly harmful to human health. Control induces stress, and stress suppresses the immune system. Conversely, human creativity flourishes when free from government interference.
The past few years of globalist governance, social lockdown, and draconian vaccine mandates have, by their very nature, caused substantial harm. Delayed speech and language development in young children subjected to a culture of face mask enforcement is one simple but remarkable example.
Conquer Mass Narrative With ‘Truth-Telling
When faced with the Third Reich no less, Hannah Arendt recommended that crowd-thought, mass formation, and totalitarianism be countered and conquered by, kind, persistent proclamation of the truth – a process she called ‘truth telling’. The antidote to mass narrative is the power of spoken truth. This acts to disrupt and break the hypnotic hold of propaganda. Spoken truth in any forum will foster genuine human connection and fracture the cycle of collective delusion.
As Mattias Desmet argues, sincere speech has the power to counteract the psychological conditions that give rise to mass formation. It reconnects people on a deep, individual level, and restores the shared humanity that totalitarian structures
seek to erode. Mahatma Gandhi demonstrated how truth telling could dismantle oppressive systems without recourse to violence.
Conclusion
We must cultivate open dialogue and question narrative. Courageous individuals who speak out, even in the face of hostility, play a crucial role in the preservation of democratic principles and scientific integrity. When honesty is valued
over conformity, crowd thought and mass formation can be resisted. As Jordan Peterson has said, ‘When you have something to say, silence is a lie.’ The courage to speak the truth may be the greatest power we each have.
Dr Peter Rhodes – Former Consultant Specialist in Anaesthesia, Australia
Kara Thomas is the Secretary of the Australian Medical Professionals Society
Read the article on The Spectator here