Jan 7, 2022·edited Jan 7, 2022Liked by Mark McDonald, M.D.
As a fellow physician, despite being in the bone carpentry wing of the field, the psychology of what is going on is impossible to ignore. I found myself completely dumbfounded from the beginning as to why people were reacting the way they did. I simply could not wrap my mind around it. Watching the hysteria grow and seeing that those afflicted were truly immune to any rational thought, analysis, truth, and the basic tenets of science, has been horrifying.
And I am specifically referring to my fellow physician colleagues. The abdication of the fundamental principles of medicine and patient care that were hammered into us during our training has been something I thought would be impossible to happen.
It shows me that education and intelligence are NOT traits which protect us from being indoctrinated into a cult.
I have wondered why is it that some of us, right from the beginning, saw through this bullshit and were able to keep ourselves psychologically intact?
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your strength, wisdom, and warrior spirit in fighting the satanic cult. This is a war; good v. evil. So far we have been getting our butts kicked, trying to be nice and expecting eventually people to come around. That time is done. It is time to go on offense. Hold the line, whatever that takes.
Jan 4, 2022·edited Jan 4, 2022Liked by Mark McDonald, M.D.
FB censored my comments from the video where you shared this info. Here they are:
When children are raised with violence, abuse, oppression, they often grow up to re-inflict on others. People are not born sadists. They learn it either by witnessing the abuse of others or by receiving it at the hands of others, and they will often and easily join into it when it is happening.
When humans are made to feel powerless, they often find a sense of power, which feels pleasurable to them, by causing others to feel powerless. Unfortunately rather than learning self-empowerment through positive life experiences and others modeling self-empowerment; (kindness, compassion, self-responsibility, etc.), they have been conditioned to seek a sense of power by finding ways to hold power over others.
Thank you for speaking to this issue, Dr. McDonald.
Dec 30, 2021·edited Dec 30, 2021Liked by Mark McDonald, M.D.
I think this sums up the current state of affairs for some in the population today. The intolerant in society used to have to keep their thoughts in check due to societal norms while they outwardly preached tolerance. In today's climate those same individuals simply discarded that filter because it's not only unnecessary but considered virtuous in many circles.
This has managed to allow people to reveal themselves for who they really are inside. In many ways I'm thankful for that because I've discovered who my true support system consists of and why. My true friends are all reasonable in both thought and action. How could anyone draw close to individuals that exhibited the characteristics described in this article and not question their own character?
On a sidenote, Dr. McDonald's book "United States of Fear" is a recommended read and complements this article perfectly. I particularly like the last chapter about what men like myself can do to accurately understand what's happening and act accordingly. There's a lot of very good information that all would do well to take note.
Jan 8, 2022·edited Jan 8, 2022Liked by Mark McDonald, M.D.
Thank you for your interview by Del Bigtree at The Highwire. I went to your website and would like to purchase your book, however, it directs me to Amazon for the purchase. I don't purchase anything from Amazon because I don't approve of their practices / control when it comes to some of their workers. The same reason I stopped purchasing from Whole Foods when Amazon bought that brand. Is there an alternate source I can purchase your book from?
Also, you mentioned meeting in person with others that don't live in fear. I am moving to SoCal in the next few weeks and would invite the opportunity to do the same. I don't recall ever hearing of the approach to combatting this virus by strengthening our immune system. If people lived and ate in a way that supports a robust and resilient immune system, this virus would not have taken the toll that it did. I don't hear that truth being spoken in mainstream media which is sad and does not impel people to make necessary changes to be a healthier version of themselves. Because of your interview and your writings here on Substack, I decided now is the time I start my own Substack account and started writing and will publish soon. It is the next step I am taking in creating a new life and new direction for myself. This lockdown got in the way of that process but I am moving forward now.
I look forward to a possible interview of you by Joe Rogan. Is that already coming down the pipe?
Found you with Del on Highwire, welcome to Substack glad you're here!! It's been quite a wild trip here in NYC and totally agree about finding your own kind which is easier when you just need a face, lol. The biggest gen for me was in your remedies & knowing curiosity can break through fear where no mountain of data can.
I will argue it is not only sadism, but masochism, in that the currency of victimhood is encouraging the grievance that leads to the sadism, that the two are in tension. I also hypothesis, that the social justice cult preferences passive aggression, but that is spilling over. As one of the other commenters noted, I too have seen the masks come off, the social masks. One of my biggest angsts is seeing people who I respect acting horribly. I really have lost faith in humanity. I feel the only thing to do is double down on my liberal values and make sure my moral compass stays true, I do not go to their level and I try to find the good in life. I am done playing nice though, I have hardened boundaries around the behavior I will allow in my life, but alas, being selective also means being lonely.
Related question: HOW to deal w the absolute rage I feel at the world? In so many areas, not just COVID, but in my area, homeless response, chronic pain patients being denied medications, discrimination and all the things I devoted my life to eroding before my eyes? Last year I ran for office as a prosocial outlet, and I have projects planned for this year, but I am worried. I do not want to be consumed, but I am just constantly ANGRY AF. I have NEVER had anger issues, if anything, I was avoidant. I commit to decency of conduct...I refuse to treat others poorly, but I am just done.
This is right on the money. I have always attributed the push against our dissent as tribal and an assault aimed at "other"...primarily fear driven. But I think what McDonald says here is broader...if it were only about attacking "other" through tribal competition and threat there wouldn't be the "pleasure" element to it as McDonald points out here. When I think about the times I have been verbally assaulted there is an ugly pleasure in it...a pleasure in saying "I hope you get Covid and die"...sadistic for sure...and now scarier than I thought!
Jan 3, 2022·edited Jan 11, 2022Liked by Mark McDonald, M.D.
Dear Dr McDonald, I know what you're writing about, because I live in Italy and we have the same identical phenomenon here. I want to escape, but it seems that is a world wide psychosis, so I don't know what to do. Someday I am angry, some other days I am depressed. I am paralyzed by this hate which is supported by politicians and governors. Fear is now what drives the people against each other. I am unvaxxed and all my family are vaxxed. I didn't went to visit them at Christmas because I don't want to see them, to listen to them, to feel that they think I am a crazy conspiracy theorist, which I am not. Many people I know that had thre shots are now sick, either with covid, or other illnesses like chronic pain, viral reactivation or cancer. I don't know if it's caused by the vaccine. I've had covid, I treated with early treatment (HCQ) and I was just fine after 7 days. I don't fear covid at all, I fear the new totalitarism around me, so much I can't no longer sleep at night. What can we do?
Wow. Love it. God bless you. I bought your book. Thank you. Saw you on the highwire w Del and in Infowars. Today in San Antonio Tx at 1pm we will be peacefully protesting the panic porn w mask, vaxx etc. we are not just sending emojis to friends we are TAKING ACTION 😎
Doctor McDonald, I just finished your brave, magnificent book. How refreshing to read ideas that are at once, well-considered and measured, while at the same time, betray no deference to the prevailing mores of our current social and cultural zeitgeist. Your thesis that the mass psychosis underway in our civilization can be traced to a socially enabled female neuroticism, a manifestation of untempered anxiety, rings true and adds to my own understanding of the phenomenon at hand. My own thesis-in-progress can be seen as conceptually adjacent to yours, and was sparked in particular by a pre-pandemic interview of Eckhart Tolle (by Dave Rubin) from 2019 in which Tolle theorizes that our current civilization's psychological pathologies, seen most broadly, can be understood as a society "in the grip of excess Yin," an extreme pendulum swing away from the pathologically masculine personality structure that led to so much aggression and war throughout history. Situating Tolle's thesis next to Jordan Peterson's belief that the Devouring Mother archetype, what he also has referred to as the "pathological feminine," is behind much of today's cultural and social disorders, I had located the source of these hysterias and delusions, from Trump Derangement Syndrome, to BLM, to the COVID phenomenon, as a manifestation of a pathologically feminine personality structure, but my conceptualization of this structure was fundamentally oriented around "protection," taken to its pathological extreme, industrialized on a mass scale. Your analysis, in noting that anxiety and protection are deeply psychologically intertwined, has shifted my perspective. The recent notoriety of Mathias Desmet's Mass Formation thesis seems to further support your contention that female anxiety, rather than the protective instinct per se, is at the root of it all. Perhaps these impulses are so deeply connected as to be essentially the same psychological process?
And are men failing to assume their evolved role as a salve to these anxieties or are they acting them out themselves? When I see so many of these Democratic male politicians it's difficult to tell whether they are motivated to embody the anxiety or the protective ethos?
Same thing happened to me. Signed up for town yoga class thinking it was a good bargain. After sign up received email - masks are required. I am thinking - it’s yoga, Buddha loving types. I get there and some lady is pointing to her mask like a mute. I wave hello and start the class without a mask and a good 10 ft away from any human. At some point she left the class to narc me out. Next thing I see a pair of construction boots standing next to my downward dog. I ignore. The security guards (I guess Buddha needs security guards now) demand my attention and tell me I must put on the mask. I put the mask hanging over my ear. They keep checking and disturb the whole Buddha loving class and demand i put on my mask. I said it was not required when I signed up. Well. Teacher was pissed. Class stopped so I asked for a refund and started to leave as all the peace loving types said buh bye. Get out you disgusting human being who likes to breathe air. I hope the 12 step program for demasking is an option instead of meditation that follows yoga class
Dr. McDonald, I am delighted that you have opened a substack! Informed Dissent is one of my favorite podcasts, and your interview today on Infowars was a tour de force. I also live in West LA and have boggled at the same phenomena that you have. United States of Fear was one of the most enlightening reads of the entire pandemic. Thank you not just for inspiration, but for articulating the practical advice that I am implementing every day, with significant effect. When this hysteria is history, we and our children will never be caged again. That will even redeem the awful sacrifices of the past two years.
Have you researched the measles “outbreak” in Samoa in 2018? It was literally a micro version of the entire Covid saga to date.
They rushed in vaccines. Many say the vaccines arrived BEFORE the outbreak (since the vaccine does cause the spread).
The Samoan population is historically low in Vitamin A due to diet preferences. Measles happens to be cured by Vitamin A.
A man, Edwin Tamasese, was jailed for going door to door with Vitamins. He was banned from social media and threatened. He literally saved lives. He got vitamins to people who were very sick and their survival rate was outpacing hospitals. People were locked in their homes against their will.
This triggered the “scary measles babies halloween costumes” of 2018. We were being primed for hysteria.
The world didn’t care. We didn’t care about Samoa’s lockdowns because it didn’t affect us. We didn’t care about the Vitamins being withheld. There are timelines showing that the outbreak did not happen until after the vaccine campaign got into play. The media was silent (no surprise). The vaccine skeptic community was beside itself knowing this was the practice run for the world.
Here we are. They’ve pushed us so far we have encouraged sadism.
Jan 13, 2022·edited Jan 13, 2022Liked by Mark McDonald, M.D.
I just read a really repulsive article today from, of all places, AARP on Facebook about people firing their “cleaning ladies”, barbers, dentists etc, because they were unvaccinated. The whole article had a preening and disgusting tone, about warning them, but ultimately having no choice but to banish these evil entities from your life. It was actually horrifying. I left a vehement comment that I would never have anything to do with this organization for the rest of my life. It felt good being angry. If anything, I think your attitude is too nice, but as a doctor I understand this. But now it is time, I feel, to push back. I called New Yorkers scared mice on Facebook. Ooh. That didn’t go over well. Guess what? I don’t care. No more Ms. Nice Gal. Why pretend if we are unclean that others aren’t cowards and ignorant. Journalists who publish the type of piece I mentioned need to be shamed for not even acknowledging the obvious, that the vaccines don’t prevent transmission. Kind of basic.
As a fellow physician, despite being in the bone carpentry wing of the field, the psychology of what is going on is impossible to ignore. I found myself completely dumbfounded from the beginning as to why people were reacting the way they did. I simply could not wrap my mind around it. Watching the hysteria grow and seeing that those afflicted were truly immune to any rational thought, analysis, truth, and the basic tenets of science, has been horrifying.
And I am specifically referring to my fellow physician colleagues. The abdication of the fundamental principles of medicine and patient care that were hammered into us during our training has been something I thought would be impossible to happen.
It shows me that education and intelligence are NOT traits which protect us from being indoctrinated into a cult.
I have wondered why is it that some of us, right from the beginning, saw through this bullshit and were able to keep ourselves psychologically intact?
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your strength, wisdom, and warrior spirit in fighting the satanic cult. This is a war; good v. evil. So far we have been getting our butts kicked, trying to be nice and expecting eventually people to come around. That time is done. It is time to go on offense. Hold the line, whatever that takes.
Phil
FB censored my comments from the video where you shared this info. Here they are:
When children are raised with violence, abuse, oppression, they often grow up to re-inflict on others. People are not born sadists. They learn it either by witnessing the abuse of others or by receiving it at the hands of others, and they will often and easily join into it when it is happening.
When humans are made to feel powerless, they often find a sense of power, which feels pleasurable to them, by causing others to feel powerless. Unfortunately rather than learning self-empowerment through positive life experiences and others modeling self-empowerment; (kindness, compassion, self-responsibility, etc.), they have been conditioned to seek a sense of power by finding ways to hold power over others.
Thank you for speaking to this issue, Dr. McDonald.
I think this sums up the current state of affairs for some in the population today. The intolerant in society used to have to keep their thoughts in check due to societal norms while they outwardly preached tolerance. In today's climate those same individuals simply discarded that filter because it's not only unnecessary but considered virtuous in many circles.
This has managed to allow people to reveal themselves for who they really are inside. In many ways I'm thankful for that because I've discovered who my true support system consists of and why. My true friends are all reasonable in both thought and action. How could anyone draw close to individuals that exhibited the characteristics described in this article and not question their own character?
On a sidenote, Dr. McDonald's book "United States of Fear" is a recommended read and complements this article perfectly. I particularly like the last chapter about what men like myself can do to accurately understand what's happening and act accordingly. There's a lot of very good information that all would do well to take note.
Thank you for your interview by Del Bigtree at The Highwire. I went to your website and would like to purchase your book, however, it directs me to Amazon for the purchase. I don't purchase anything from Amazon because I don't approve of their practices / control when it comes to some of their workers. The same reason I stopped purchasing from Whole Foods when Amazon bought that brand. Is there an alternate source I can purchase your book from?
Also, you mentioned meeting in person with others that don't live in fear. I am moving to SoCal in the next few weeks and would invite the opportunity to do the same. I don't recall ever hearing of the approach to combatting this virus by strengthening our immune system. If people lived and ate in a way that supports a robust and resilient immune system, this virus would not have taken the toll that it did. I don't hear that truth being spoken in mainstream media which is sad and does not impel people to make necessary changes to be a healthier version of themselves. Because of your interview and your writings here on Substack, I decided now is the time I start my own Substack account and started writing and will publish soon. It is the next step I am taking in creating a new life and new direction for myself. This lockdown got in the way of that process but I am moving forward now.
I look forward to a possible interview of you by Joe Rogan. Is that already coming down the pipe?
Found you with Del on Highwire, welcome to Substack glad you're here!! It's been quite a wild trip here in NYC and totally agree about finding your own kind which is easier when you just need a face, lol. The biggest gen for me was in your remedies & knowing curiosity can break through fear where no mountain of data can.
I will argue it is not only sadism, but masochism, in that the currency of victimhood is encouraging the grievance that leads to the sadism, that the two are in tension. I also hypothesis, that the social justice cult preferences passive aggression, but that is spilling over. As one of the other commenters noted, I too have seen the masks come off, the social masks. One of my biggest angsts is seeing people who I respect acting horribly. I really have lost faith in humanity. I feel the only thing to do is double down on my liberal values and make sure my moral compass stays true, I do not go to their level and I try to find the good in life. I am done playing nice though, I have hardened boundaries around the behavior I will allow in my life, but alas, being selective also means being lonely.
Related question: HOW to deal w the absolute rage I feel at the world? In so many areas, not just COVID, but in my area, homeless response, chronic pain patients being denied medications, discrimination and all the things I devoted my life to eroding before my eyes? Last year I ran for office as a prosocial outlet, and I have projects planned for this year, but I am worried. I do not want to be consumed, but I am just constantly ANGRY AF. I have NEVER had anger issues, if anything, I was avoidant. I commit to decency of conduct...I refuse to treat others poorly, but I am just done.
This is right on the money. I have always attributed the push against our dissent as tribal and an assault aimed at "other"...primarily fear driven. But I think what McDonald says here is broader...if it were only about attacking "other" through tribal competition and threat there wouldn't be the "pleasure" element to it as McDonald points out here. When I think about the times I have been verbally assaulted there is an ugly pleasure in it...a pleasure in saying "I hope you get Covid and die"...sadistic for sure...and now scarier than I thought!
Dear Dr McDonald, I know what you're writing about, because I live in Italy and we have the same identical phenomenon here. I want to escape, but it seems that is a world wide psychosis, so I don't know what to do. Someday I am angry, some other days I am depressed. I am paralyzed by this hate which is supported by politicians and governors. Fear is now what drives the people against each other. I am unvaxxed and all my family are vaxxed. I didn't went to visit them at Christmas because I don't want to see them, to listen to them, to feel that they think I am a crazy conspiracy theorist, which I am not. Many people I know that had thre shots are now sick, either with covid, or other illnesses like chronic pain, viral reactivation or cancer. I don't know if it's caused by the vaccine. I've had covid, I treated with early treatment (HCQ) and I was just fine after 7 days. I don't fear covid at all, I fear the new totalitarism around me, so much I can't no longer sleep at night. What can we do?
Wow. Love it. God bless you. I bought your book. Thank you. Saw you on the highwire w Del and in Infowars. Today in San Antonio Tx at 1pm we will be peacefully protesting the panic porn w mask, vaxx etc. we are not just sending emojis to friends we are TAKING ACTION 😎
Fantastic article, Dr McDonald.
I will recommend one I wrote.
https://filiperafaeli.substack.com/p/hydroxychloroquine-the-world-has
Doctor McDonald, I just finished your brave, magnificent book. How refreshing to read ideas that are at once, well-considered and measured, while at the same time, betray no deference to the prevailing mores of our current social and cultural zeitgeist. Your thesis that the mass psychosis underway in our civilization can be traced to a socially enabled female neuroticism, a manifestation of untempered anxiety, rings true and adds to my own understanding of the phenomenon at hand. My own thesis-in-progress can be seen as conceptually adjacent to yours, and was sparked in particular by a pre-pandemic interview of Eckhart Tolle (by Dave Rubin) from 2019 in which Tolle theorizes that our current civilization's psychological pathologies, seen most broadly, can be understood as a society "in the grip of excess Yin," an extreme pendulum swing away from the pathologically masculine personality structure that led to so much aggression and war throughout history. Situating Tolle's thesis next to Jordan Peterson's belief that the Devouring Mother archetype, what he also has referred to as the "pathological feminine," is behind much of today's cultural and social disorders, I had located the source of these hysterias and delusions, from Trump Derangement Syndrome, to BLM, to the COVID phenomenon, as a manifestation of a pathologically feminine personality structure, but my conceptualization of this structure was fundamentally oriented around "protection," taken to its pathological extreme, industrialized on a mass scale. Your analysis, in noting that anxiety and protection are deeply psychologically intertwined, has shifted my perspective. The recent notoriety of Mathias Desmet's Mass Formation thesis seems to further support your contention that female anxiety, rather than the protective instinct per se, is at the root of it all. Perhaps these impulses are so deeply connected as to be essentially the same psychological process?
And are men failing to assume their evolved role as a salve to these anxieties or are they acting them out themselves? When I see so many of these Democratic male politicians it's difficult to tell whether they are motivated to embody the anxiety or the protective ethos?
Same thing happened to me. Signed up for town yoga class thinking it was a good bargain. After sign up received email - masks are required. I am thinking - it’s yoga, Buddha loving types. I get there and some lady is pointing to her mask like a mute. I wave hello and start the class without a mask and a good 10 ft away from any human. At some point she left the class to narc me out. Next thing I see a pair of construction boots standing next to my downward dog. I ignore. The security guards (I guess Buddha needs security guards now) demand my attention and tell me I must put on the mask. I put the mask hanging over my ear. They keep checking and disturb the whole Buddha loving class and demand i put on my mask. I said it was not required when I signed up. Well. Teacher was pissed. Class stopped so I asked for a refund and started to leave as all the peace loving types said buh bye. Get out you disgusting human being who likes to breathe air. I hope the 12 step program for demasking is an option instead of meditation that follows yoga class
Dr. McDonald, I am delighted that you have opened a substack! Informed Dissent is one of my favorite podcasts, and your interview today on Infowars was a tour de force. I also live in West LA and have boggled at the same phenomena that you have. United States of Fear was one of the most enlightening reads of the entire pandemic. Thank you not just for inspiration, but for articulating the practical advice that I am implementing every day, with significant effect. When this hysteria is history, we and our children will never be caged again. That will even redeem the awful sacrifices of the past two years.
Thank you for standing up!
Dr McDonald
Have you researched the measles “outbreak” in Samoa in 2018? It was literally a micro version of the entire Covid saga to date.
They rushed in vaccines. Many say the vaccines arrived BEFORE the outbreak (since the vaccine does cause the spread).
The Samoan population is historically low in Vitamin A due to diet preferences. Measles happens to be cured by Vitamin A.
A man, Edwin Tamasese, was jailed for going door to door with Vitamins. He was banned from social media and threatened. He literally saved lives. He got vitamins to people who were very sick and their survival rate was outpacing hospitals. People were locked in their homes against their will.
This triggered the “scary measles babies halloween costumes” of 2018. We were being primed for hysteria.
The world didn’t care. We didn’t care about Samoa’s lockdowns because it didn’t affect us. We didn’t care about the Vitamins being withheld. There are timelines showing that the outbreak did not happen until after the vaccine campaign got into play. The media was silent (no surprise). The vaccine skeptic community was beside itself knowing this was the practice run for the world.
Here we are. They’ve pushed us so far we have encouraged sadism.
I just read a really repulsive article today from, of all places, AARP on Facebook about people firing their “cleaning ladies”, barbers, dentists etc, because they were unvaccinated. The whole article had a preening and disgusting tone, about warning them, but ultimately having no choice but to banish these evil entities from your life. It was actually horrifying. I left a vehement comment that I would never have anything to do with this organization for the rest of my life. It felt good being angry. If anything, I think your attitude is too nice, but as a doctor I understand this. But now it is time, I feel, to push back. I called New Yorkers scared mice on Facebook. Ooh. That didn’t go over well. Guess what? I don’t care. No more Ms. Nice Gal. Why pretend if we are unclean that others aren’t cowards and ignorant. Journalists who publish the type of piece I mentioned need to be shamed for not even acknowledging the obvious, that the vaccines don’t prevent transmission. Kind of basic.