The Manufacturing of a Mass Psychosis

Doctor de Vaca – Diseases of a body can spread throughout a population and reach epidemic proportion. So, too, can diseases of the mind. Without these epidemics of the latter variety the mass psychosis is the most dangerous.

During a mass psychosis this madness becomes the norm in a society, and delusionary beliefs spread like a contagion.  Mass delusions can take many forms and as madness can manifest in countless ways the specific manner the mass psychosis unfolds will differ based on the historical and cultural context of the infected society.

In the past mass psychoses have led to witch hunts, genocides, and even dancing manias. In the modern era it is the mass psychosis of totalitarianism that is the greatest threat.

“Totalitarianism,” writes Arthur Versluis “is the modern phenomenon of a total state centralized power coupled with the obliteration of individualized human rights. In a totalized state there are those in power and there are the objectified masses, the victims.

In a totalitarian society the population is divided into two groups – the rulers, and the ruled.  Both groups undergo a pathological transformation. The rulers are elevated into an almost Godlike status, diametrically opposed to our nature as imperfect beings who are easily corrupted by power.

The masses, on the other hand, are transformed into the dependent subjects of these pathological rulers, and take on a psychologically regressed and childlike status . . .

… there is in fact much that is comparable between the strange reactions of the citizens of [totalitarianism] and their culture as a whole on the one hand and the reactions of the …sick schizophrenic on the other. The social transformation that unfolds under totalitarianism is built upon and sustained by delusions. Only deluded men and women regress to the childlike status of obedient and submissive subjects, and hand over complete control of their lives to politicians and bureaucrats.

It’s worth the time to listen to this excellent lecture on the game that’s currently being played.