I do believe tribalism/identitarianism/collectivism is one of the greatest threats to humanity and explored how totalitarian governments use the “public good” to crush individual autonomy in my “Letter to the UK Government” (https://margaretannaalice.substack.com/p/letter-to-the-uk-government) about proposed changes to their human rights laws.
“Cultivate and wield our cognitive biases—especially ingroup bias, conformity bias, and authority bias—against us in a comprehensive divide-and-conquer policy that keeps us too busy squabbling amongst ourselves to recognize and unite against those corralling us into a Matrix-like collective delusion that enables the powerful to extract our resources for their own gain.”
Mark, I just finished “United States of Fear” and appreciate how concisely yet movingly you chronicled the way in which mass delusion and the pandemic of fear swept over the nation and ultimately world. I’m now listening to Laura Dodsworth’s “A State of Fear,” the excellent UK equivalent no doubt you are already aware of.
Excellent! I appreciated the Dodsworth interview. While the blatant use of psychological manipulation in the UK has been documented, no one seems to be looking for the same evidence in the US.
Great piece, thanks. However it might actually be better if we returned to real, honest tribalism - the kind we once admired & feared so much we went to war with it and killed it dead. Our founding ancestors even went so far as to emulate some of the government styles of our Native American forebears. They went to a great deal of trouble as the years passed to wipe out all the traces they could find and replaced Native American tribalism with what they thought was more civilized European Colonial & corporate tribalism. Suicidal tendencies have been reflected in our culture of death for a long time. Now the culture-at-large seems bent on it. Tribal identity as a substitute for real healthy personal identity is certainly a path to ruin.
All forms of societal-level tribalism are inherently self-limiting and, ultimately, self-defeating. The reason is simple: They prevent meritocracy by promoting group survival. A meritocratic society will always surpass one organized around tribal identity, and it will conquer. We were the conquerers once. Soon we will be conquered, if we don't right the ship.
Yes, she’s badly battered and on the rocks. Just as many of our earlier ancestors ended up at the bottom of the Atlantic these storms will leave us sunken and conquered if we don’t establish our own meritocracy based on free, open communication. Propaganda is not intelligent but ensures its own destruction.
I do believe tribalism/identitarianism/collectivism is one of the greatest threats to humanity and explored how totalitarian governments use the “public good” to crush individual autonomy in my “Letter to the UK Government” (https://margaretannaalice.substack.com/p/letter-to-the-uk-government) about proposed changes to their human rights laws.
I also touched on this topic in my first essay, “A Primer for the Propagandized: Fear Is the Mind-Killer” (https://margaretannaalice.substack.com/p/a-primer-for-the-propagandized), nearly a year ago:
“Cultivate and wield our cognitive biases—especially ingroup bias, conformity bias, and authority bias—against us in a comprehensive divide-and-conquer policy that keeps us too busy squabbling amongst ourselves to recognize and unite against those corralling us into a Matrix-like collective delusion that enables the powerful to extract our resources for their own gain.”
Mark, I just finished “United States of Fear” and appreciate how concisely yet movingly you chronicled the way in which mass delusion and the pandemic of fear swept over the nation and ultimately world. I’m now listening to Laura Dodsworth’s “A State of Fear,” the excellent UK equivalent no doubt you are already aware of.
Laura Dodsworth was recently interviewed by Jan Jekielek of The Epoch Times, through his American Thought Leaders series. The title was State of Fear.
Jan filmed me last week to further the conversation. Should be out within one to two weeks here: https://www.theepochtimes.com/c-american-thought-leaders.
Excellent! I appreciated the Dodsworth interview. While the blatant use of psychological manipulation in the UK has been documented, no one seems to be looking for the same evidence in the US.
ATL remains my favorite interview program.
That’s awesome, and thanks for the heads-up, Mark!
No surprise but great sadness.
Great piece, thanks. However it might actually be better if we returned to real, honest tribalism - the kind we once admired & feared so much we went to war with it and killed it dead. Our founding ancestors even went so far as to emulate some of the government styles of our Native American forebears. They went to a great deal of trouble as the years passed to wipe out all the traces they could find and replaced Native American tribalism with what they thought was more civilized European Colonial & corporate tribalism. Suicidal tendencies have been reflected in our culture of death for a long time. Now the culture-at-large seems bent on it. Tribal identity as a substitute for real healthy personal identity is certainly a path to ruin.
All forms of societal-level tribalism are inherently self-limiting and, ultimately, self-defeating. The reason is simple: They prevent meritocracy by promoting group survival. A meritocratic society will always surpass one organized around tribal identity, and it will conquer. We were the conquerers once. Soon we will be conquered, if we don't right the ship.
Yes, she’s badly battered and on the rocks. Just as many of our earlier ancestors ended up at the bottom of the Atlantic these storms will leave us sunken and conquered if we don’t establish our own meritocracy based on free, open communication. Propaganda is not intelligent but ensures its own destruction.