Groupthink

Our Rulers and their Groupthink

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Rulers and their GroupthinkChristopher Chantrill – The question that keeps us Benighted folks awake at night is whether the campaign against Donald Trump is run out of some secret office deep in the intelligence community, or whether it is a kind of Keystone Kops operation, a bunch of bureaucrats and swamp creatures that just can’t let go of their collective annoyance that Trump is a thing.

I tend towards the Keystone Kops interpretation, because the overall impression I get of the ongoing anti-Trump fireworks display is that the show is not very well planned, and the fireworks aren’t that good. Continue reading →

Groupthink in Service of Government

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“The tribe often thinks the visionary has turned his back on them. When, in fact, the visionary has simply turned his face to the future.” –  Ray Davis

groupthink Sartre – If the human race survives into the future, the history of the current age will be entitled – A Love Affair with Authority. As the 21st century unfolds, the existential struggle between group worship of government and an inherent autonomy revolt against a popular culture of state obedience seems to forecast doom for civilization. By any measurable standard of success, the prospects of rescuing a society based upon human dignity and natural law is vanishing in a technocratic system of coerced compliance and punitive punishment. The limits of individual behavior are severely restricted to the requirements of the State and the willful confines of self-induced conformity.

The prison of institutional establishment restraints, based upon a designed hallucination of media newspeak and trendy pop culture gullibility, has the populace adsorbed in trivia and addicted to a governmental version of reality. The practice of “Free Will”, relegated to the acceptance of government dependency and peer pressure harmony, is common among the ranks of the conflict challenged. The motivation of individual liberty is foreign in the cultural cloning society that makes up the collectivist public consciousness.

Before placing primary blame on the usual suspects – corporatists, banksters, and politico sociopaths – understand the fact that the top down authoritarian framework operates on the tenet that public acceptance of the system is indispensable. What possible psychological disorder is in play that differentiates the current generations from their ancestors?

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8 Reasons To Keep An Open Mind And Think For Yourself

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“When all think alike, no one thinks very much.” – Walter Lippmann, 2 times Pulitzer Prize winning American journalist

groupthinkChris Bell – Free-thinkers will all struggle at times to comprehend why mainstream viewpoints can remain unquestioned by those around them. Why people will aggressively push the dominant viewpoint even when it’s outdated, unhelpful, or even blatantly contradicted by evidence. Why these viewpoints leave no room for others to hold differing ones, and complete conformity is often the end goal, even though free-thinkers advocate individual freedom and choice.

How can free-thinkers comprehend the static viewpoints many hold about the important issues that affect our lives? Issues that free-thinkers see as demanding continuous, rigorous debate and evaluation, and an openness to adaptation and change. Issues regarding lifestyles, food, the environment, animal welfare, nutrition, health, war, peace, human diversity, all manner of social systems, parenting, governments, politics, education, science, religion and spirituality.

Groupthink

I have found one of the most powerful influences in life is social system regulation and stability. When one person disagrees with us we can shrug it off, but when several people disagree with us the effect is very powerful, our ability to reality-test is being compromised. For asking as little as an open question or sharing an alternative viewpoint, others may automatically experience our actions as offensive, and we can be ostracised to the out-group of our society.

In 1972 social psychologist Irving Janis coined “groupthink,” a term that describes this phenomenon. The Psychologists for Social Responsibility summarise groupthink thusly:

“…[Groupthink] occurs when a group makes faulty decisions because group pressures lead to a deterioration of ‘mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgment.’ (Janis, 1972, p.9) Groups affected by groupthink ignore alternatives and tend to take irrational actions that dehumanize other groups.

When pressures for unanimity seem overwhelming, members are less motivated to realistically appraise the alternative courses of action available to them. These group pressures lead to carelessness and irrational thinking since groups experiencing groupthink fail to consider all alternatives and seek to maintain unanimity. Decisions shaped by groupthink have low probability of achieving successful outcomes.”

8 Symptoms of Groupthink

(Janis, 1982, adapted from The Psychologists for Social Responsibility) Continue reading →

Groupthink In Service Of Government

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BATR August 5 2013

If the human race survives into the future, the history of the current age will be entitled – A Love Affair with Authority. As the 21st century unfolds, the existential struggle between group worship of government and an inherent autonomy revolt against a popular culture of state obedience seems to forecast doom for civilization. By any measurable standard of success, the prospects of rescuing a society based upon human dignity and natural law is vanishing in a technocratic system of coerced compliance and punitive punishment. The limits of individual behavior are severely restricted to the requirements of the State and the willful confines of self-induced conformity.

The prison of institutional establishment restraints, based upon a designed hallucination of media newspeak and trendy pop culture gullibility, has the populace adsorbed in trivia and addicted to a governmental version of reality. The practice of “Free Will”, relegated to the acceptance of government dependency and peer pressure harmony, is common among the ranks of the conflict challenged. The motivation of individual liberty is foreign in the cultural cloning society that makes up the collectivist public consciousness.

Before placing primary blame on the usual suspects – corporatists, banksters, and politico sociopaths – understand the fact that the top down authoritarian framework operates on the tenet that public acceptance of the system is indispensable. What possible psychological disorder is in play that differentiates the current generations from their ancestors?

This inauspicious culture, dominated by the disorder of Groupthink, is explained in an informative power point presentation, from Psychologists for Social Responsibility. From the perspective of an “application of psychological knowledge and expertise in addressing today’s pressing societal challenges and in building cultures of peace with social justice” this left learning society offers the following breakdown.

What is Groupthink?

Groupthink, a term coined by social psychologist Irving Janis (1972), occurs when a group makes faulty decisions because group pressures lead to a deterioration of “mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgment” Groups affected by groupthink ignore alternatives and tend to take irrational actions that dehumanize other groups.　A group is especially vulnerable to groupthink when its members are similar in background, when the group is insulated from outside opinions, and when there are no clear rules for decision making.

Continue reading →