Wow. Just wow. Same thing could be applied to long term domestic violence that is mostly or completely psychological abuse, which most people react to when it comes to their attention through the news or something, "Why don't they just leave?" Very recently I had an excellent therapist who couldn't deal with the dissonance of me being masked every session although she set that one aside in the discard pile, but when I suggested that her one year old's daycare "ought to have an air filtering box (corsi-rosenthal box) like the one I showed you the photo of that I built", her response was, "maybe you should stop researching covid for a month". No more therapist for me. Good thing I was ready for that. Your piece is spot on and great, thanks.
Thanks for this excellent article. It's absolutely critical to analyze, dissect and put a name to this crap, and you've done it very well. (All your articles are very well done. I consider them essential reading).
The phenomena you're describing has been found in different flavors all throughout human history, human societies are almost defined by cult-like behavior, in the sense that the entire point of a society is collective action. So being wired to somewhat mindlessly cooperate in cultural settings seems to be part of the human condition.
And this wiring didn't come out of nowhere, its tied directly into the neurology of our dream machinery, which began back when were still on the Roof of the World:
Well done. It’s so important to put a name to the way misinformation and lack of information is used to bring others into the cult which pits them against their own and everyone’s best interests. The next question is how to get science and reason into the public’s daily awareness.
This is so interesting! You bring up excellent points about cults. And its funny because when I started to read I thought you would have a complete opposite conclusion than what you actually wrote.
Putting myself in your perspective I totally get it. Which is interesting because that means in your eyes I’m the one being in dissonance. And I am wondering if I share my vision with you, if that would make you dissociate, because of the topics I would bring up. *(Scroll down to last bit if you dont feel like reading)*
So, I am totally with you that our society is behaving like a cult. (I’m European btw, Dutch) I stumbled upon your article because I was looking up information about cult like behaviour to help me formulate.
I have done quite some reading on the subject since a few years now, and I know multiple people who have been cult-survivors. Also I was close enough to notice weird shit going on in the organisation I was taking classes from, an organisation now accused of being a cult. And I supported a very good friend, cult-survivor, in fleeing from the satanic pedo cult network that was after her for blowing lots of whistles. (The Netherlands is one of the biggest producing countries of child porn and human trafficking markets worldwide, and corruption is literally everywhere to maintain this position) I’m certainly not an expert, but I know a thing or two by now, about cults and cult behaviour and since then I notice it everywhere in such subtle ways.. its unsettling.
For me the whole COVID process felt like a big Culty experience, but seen from a different perspective than yours. I never thought the virus wasn’t real nor threatening, actually my partner was probably one of the first to get it in nov or dec 2019, from being in contact with Chinese travelers in Italy. And he was able to work, but I had never seen him this sick (he is a big strong guy) and he kept coughing for weeks.
I had actually heard, in the beginning of 2019, a theory of a virus being created in a lab, that could start a pandemic. That it could be potentially used as a bio weapon. And two weeks prior to my partner getting sick his bookkeeper told us about this weird virus making people drop dead or paralysed on the floor in China(her husband just came back from china). So I was actually a bit scared when he got sick, as you can imagine.
But he recovered. And then in march 2020 the panic started to arise a bit. Seeing that my partner knows a lot about medical hygiene since he is a dental technician, he was surprised how counter productive the advice from the government was at some points. Plus viruses can’t be stopped by wearing masks, that’s for germs, bacteria. Wearing latex gloves doesn’t help anything if you dont change them everytime you touched something. I mean, try to do your groceries without spreading bacteria from you onto stuff or from stuff onto you. I actually tried. Everytime I accidentally touched my face I would have to replace them. It was a ridiculous endeavour.
Every new rule they gave us to follow got crazier and crazier. And it seemed a lot information wasn’t correct or complete or accurate. I had friends working in hospitals and elderly homes, afraid to speak up about the weirdness and the insanity. They would check in with me and a few others to see if they were crazy for not getting it. And with that theory of a bio weapon in the back of my head, I started to pay attention.
What I saw was exactly what you described; Cognitive Dissonance. People not being able to find real logic in the whole story but they didn’t want to be secluded, didnt want to be seen as troublemakers and bad people or ‘virus-super-spreaders’. Hoping it would all be over soon, so they followed the unlogical rules. Even actual doctors I know, a surgeon and an ENT specialist admitted most of the protocols were doing nothing, it was probably just something ‘to give people the idea they were contributing to safety’, followed the rules they saw no point in. They didnt ask questions, didnt speak up. Doctors.
I call that red flags. I call that ignoring your own values.
Anyhow. You were talking about excess deaths. Yes, exactly, why is there such mystery around it? After everything that happened and that I experienced in the past 4 years, I don’t think its deaths by COVID. I truly tend to believe a lot has to do with covid vaccines. So many people that I know got the shot are constantly sick, have heart problems, artery problems, or got turbo cancer, or died. My stepdad might have lung cancer... I don’t think ‘they’ are being mysterious because they don’t want you to panic, I think they are being mysterious because they don’t want to be unmasked.
So yeah. I believe we live in cult. For many other reasons than only this one above. One that is built on trauma. The effects of trauma keep us in the loophole. It’s trauma that causes people to dissociate. It’s fear. It’s people using their head in stead of their heart to act from.
Ugh. I’m sorry for the long read. It comes down to this:
When you think I don’t react appropriately to your fear or concerns about covid, consider that it might not be because of dissonance. That it might be because I truly have a different point of view that I can’t explain to you in a simple elevator pitch. Also, sometimes I dont want to explain/go into it because I respect you and your thoughts, choices and feelings, and know that you will probably not get my point of view and might even ‘fight’ me for it. And that’s okay. I’d rather choose to connect then to divide. And I’ll wash my hands twice and keep my distance if you feel safer that way. I’m just not going to share your fear.
I’ve been studying a lot about cults recently as I’m trying to help some of my family members out of one. This makes a lot of sense, in my confusion at why so many people are acting this way!
Wow. Just wow. Same thing could be applied to long term domestic violence that is mostly or completely psychological abuse, which most people react to when it comes to their attention through the news or something, "Why don't they just leave?" Very recently I had an excellent therapist who couldn't deal with the dissonance of me being masked every session although she set that one aside in the discard pile, but when I suggested that her one year old's daycare "ought to have an air filtering box (corsi-rosenthal box) like the one I showed you the photo of that I built", her response was, "maybe you should stop researching covid for a month". No more therapist for me. Good thing I was ready for that. Your piece is spot on and great, thanks.
Thanks for this excellent article. It's absolutely critical to analyze, dissect and put a name to this crap, and you've done it very well. (All your articles are very well done. I consider them essential reading).
The phenomena you're describing has been found in different flavors all throughout human history, human societies are almost defined by cult-like behavior, in the sense that the entire point of a society is collective action. So being wired to somewhat mindlessly cooperate in cultural settings seems to be part of the human condition.
And this wiring didn't come out of nowhere, its tied directly into the neurology of our dream machinery, which began back when were still on the Roof of the World:
https://harvard2thebighouse.substack.com/p/f33
Well done. It’s so important to put a name to the way misinformation and lack of information is used to bring others into the cult which pits them against their own and everyone’s best interests. The next question is how to get science and reason into the public’s daily awareness.
Good diagnoses
Yes, compromise enough times and you become the thing you thought you’d never be.
100%
This is so interesting! You bring up excellent points about cults. And its funny because when I started to read I thought you would have a complete opposite conclusion than what you actually wrote.
Putting myself in your perspective I totally get it. Which is interesting because that means in your eyes I’m the one being in dissonance. And I am wondering if I share my vision with you, if that would make you dissociate, because of the topics I would bring up. *(Scroll down to last bit if you dont feel like reading)*
So, I am totally with you that our society is behaving like a cult. (I’m European btw, Dutch) I stumbled upon your article because I was looking up information about cult like behaviour to help me formulate.
I have done quite some reading on the subject since a few years now, and I know multiple people who have been cult-survivors. Also I was close enough to notice weird shit going on in the organisation I was taking classes from, an organisation now accused of being a cult. And I supported a very good friend, cult-survivor, in fleeing from the satanic pedo cult network that was after her for blowing lots of whistles. (The Netherlands is one of the biggest producing countries of child porn and human trafficking markets worldwide, and corruption is literally everywhere to maintain this position) I’m certainly not an expert, but I know a thing or two by now, about cults and cult behaviour and since then I notice it everywhere in such subtle ways.. its unsettling.
For me the whole COVID process felt like a big Culty experience, but seen from a different perspective than yours. I never thought the virus wasn’t real nor threatening, actually my partner was probably one of the first to get it in nov or dec 2019, from being in contact with Chinese travelers in Italy. And he was able to work, but I had never seen him this sick (he is a big strong guy) and he kept coughing for weeks.
I had actually heard, in the beginning of 2019, a theory of a virus being created in a lab, that could start a pandemic. That it could be potentially used as a bio weapon. And two weeks prior to my partner getting sick his bookkeeper told us about this weird virus making people drop dead or paralysed on the floor in China(her husband just came back from china). So I was actually a bit scared when he got sick, as you can imagine.
But he recovered. And then in march 2020 the panic started to arise a bit. Seeing that my partner knows a lot about medical hygiene since he is a dental technician, he was surprised how counter productive the advice from the government was at some points. Plus viruses can’t be stopped by wearing masks, that’s for germs, bacteria. Wearing latex gloves doesn’t help anything if you dont change them everytime you touched something. I mean, try to do your groceries without spreading bacteria from you onto stuff or from stuff onto you. I actually tried. Everytime I accidentally touched my face I would have to replace them. It was a ridiculous endeavour.
Every new rule they gave us to follow got crazier and crazier. And it seemed a lot information wasn’t correct or complete or accurate. I had friends working in hospitals and elderly homes, afraid to speak up about the weirdness and the insanity. They would check in with me and a few others to see if they were crazy for not getting it. And with that theory of a bio weapon in the back of my head, I started to pay attention.
What I saw was exactly what you described; Cognitive Dissonance. People not being able to find real logic in the whole story but they didn’t want to be secluded, didnt want to be seen as troublemakers and bad people or ‘virus-super-spreaders’. Hoping it would all be over soon, so they followed the unlogical rules. Even actual doctors I know, a surgeon and an ENT specialist admitted most of the protocols were doing nothing, it was probably just something ‘to give people the idea they were contributing to safety’, followed the rules they saw no point in. They didnt ask questions, didnt speak up. Doctors.
I call that red flags. I call that ignoring your own values.
Anyhow. You were talking about excess deaths. Yes, exactly, why is there such mystery around it? After everything that happened and that I experienced in the past 4 years, I don’t think its deaths by COVID. I truly tend to believe a lot has to do with covid vaccines. So many people that I know got the shot are constantly sick, have heart problems, artery problems, or got turbo cancer, or died. My stepdad might have lung cancer... I don’t think ‘they’ are being mysterious because they don’t want you to panic, I think they are being mysterious because they don’t want to be unmasked.
So yeah. I believe we live in cult. For many other reasons than only this one above. One that is built on trauma. The effects of trauma keep us in the loophole. It’s trauma that causes people to dissociate. It’s fear. It’s people using their head in stead of their heart to act from.
Ugh. I’m sorry for the long read. It comes down to this:
When you think I don’t react appropriately to your fear or concerns about covid, consider that it might not be because of dissonance. That it might be because I truly have a different point of view that I can’t explain to you in a simple elevator pitch. Also, sometimes I dont want to explain/go into it because I respect you and your thoughts, choices and feelings, and know that you will probably not get my point of view and might even ‘fight’ me for it. And that’s okay. I’d rather choose to connect then to divide. And I’ll wash my hands twice and keep my distance if you feel safer that way. I’m just not going to share your fear.
X
Good luck then x
a great explanation about what is happening with covid and climate change denial
Excellent article, thank you.
I’ve been studying a lot about cults recently as I’m trying to help some of my family members out of one. This makes a lot of sense, in my confusion at why so many people are acting this way!