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Modern Totalitarianism

A new book, The Psychology of Totalitarianism by Mattias Desmet, examines the psychological and sociological factors that give rise to modern totalitarianism, or as he defines it:

“The world is in the grips of mass formation―a dangerous, collective type of hypnosis―as we bear witness to loneliness, free-floating anxiety, and fear giving way to censorship, loss of privacy, and surrendered freedoms. It is all spurred by a singular, focused crisis narrative that forbids dissident views and relies on destructive groupthink.”

With detailed analyses, examples, and results from years of research, Professor Desmet lays out the steps that lead toward “Mass Formation”, including:

An overall sense of loneliness and lack of social connections and bonds.
A lack of meaning―unsatisfying “bullsh*t jobs” that don’t offer purpose.
Free-floating anxiety and discontent that arise from loneliness and lack of meaning.
Manifestation of frustration and aggression from anxiety.
Emergence of a consistent narrative from government officials, mass media, etc., that exploits and channels frustration and anxiety.

Mattias Desmet is a world-renowned Belgian Professor of Clinical Psychology and professor in clinical psychology at Ghent University. He has a Doctor of Philosophy in Psychological Sciences as well as a Master's degree in statistics. His previous books include “The Pursuit of Objectivity in Psychology” and “Lacan’s Logic of Subjectivity: A Walk on the Graph of Desire”. Professor Desmet is the author of over one hundred peer-reviewed academic papers. In 2018 he received the Evidence-Based Psychoanalytic Case Study Prize from the Association for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, and in 2019 he received the Wim Trijsburg Prize from the Dutch Association of Psychotherapy.

This book is an invaluable resource in understanding the how and why of the psychological and sociological underpinnings of the current irrationality in American society and the rest of the democratic world, has come about. In his examination, he warns that this psychology can easily be manipulated to become totalitarianism of the masses, as the masses unquestionably accept the reasoning and statistics presented to them. The first five chapters (Section I) of this book cover how the mechanist-materialistic view of man and the world creates the specific social-psychological conditions in which mass formation and totalitarianism thrive. Chapters six to eight (Sections II) detail the process of mass formation and its relationship to totalitarianism. Finally, chapters nine to eleven (Section III) investigate a way to transcend the current condition of man and the world so as to render totalitarianism superfluous. The following are my recaps of these sections.

Introduction

In the Introduction to this book, Professor Desmet enumerates his journey in the development of his theory of “Mass Formation” as one of, “To write a book about totalitarianism – the idea first occurred to me on November 4, 2017. Or rather, it first appeared then in my scientific diary; a notebook I use to scribble down anything that might be useful for a later article or book.” And “In the months and years after I made these initial notes, more and more references to totalitarianism appeared in my diary. They spun into longer and longer threads that originally connected to other areas of my academic interests.” He further elaborates on the world events that crystallized his thoughts on modern totalitarianism that led him to develop his theory of “Mass Formation”.

Part 1 – Science and Its Psychological Effects

Part I of his book is about the bedrock upon which mass formation is built. The Chapters in Part I of this book are 1) Science and Ideology; 2) Science and Its Practical Applications; 3) The Artificial Society; 4) The (Im)measurable Universe; and 5) The Desire for a Master, in which he explains:

“In the first five chapters of this book, I describe how the emergence of the mechanistic worldview brought society into a specific psychological condition over the past centuries. Society was increasingly gripped by a fanatical, mechanistic ideology that degenerated into dogma and blind belief (chapter 1); experiences of meaninglessness and social isolation increased hand over fist (chapter 2); hopes were increasingly placed on a utopian, technological solution to the problems inherent in human existence (chapter 3); public space was increasingly dominated by a pseudoscientific discourse of numbers, data, and statistics that completely blurred the line between facts and fiction (chapter 4); and epidemic fear and uncertainty made the population yearn for absolute authority (chapter 5).”

Part II – Mass Formation and Totalitarianism

In the Chapters in Part II of this book, 6) The Rise of the Masses; 7) The Leaders of the Masses; and 8) Conspiracy and Ideology, he examines how mass formation arises and how it is led, and why there is no organized cabal directing the mass formation.

In the chapter on The Rise of the Masses, Professor Desmet “. . . describe how, from here, the socially fragmented population reunites into a unit into the process of mass formation.” He delves into the psychology of the masses., the sociological and psychological reasons for why and how the masses arise, and the psychological characteristics of the individuals in the mass:

“[. . .] to understand the astounding psychological characteristics of a totalitarian population: the willingness of the individuals to blindly sacrifice their personal interests in favor of the collective, radical intolerance of dissident voices, a paranoid informant mentality that allows government to penetrate the very heart of private life, the curious susceptibility to absurd pseudo-scientific indoctrination and propaganda, the blind following of a narrow logic that transcends all ethical boundaries(making totalitarianism incompatible with religion), the loss of all diversity and creativity (making totalitarianism the enemy of art and culture), and intrinsic self-destructiveness (which ensures that totalitarian systems invariably annihilate themselves in the end).”

In the chapter on The Leaders of the Masses, he delves into the psychology of the leaders of the masses. He explains that “in the previous chapter, I describe the phenomenon of mass formation – the psychological basis of totalitarianism – as a form of hypnosis.” However, in mass formation:

“. . . the person who conveys the story is usually in the grip of the story as well. In fact, this person’s field of attention is usually even more narrow than that of the masses. The reason is clear: The leader usually believes in the ideological basis of the narrative (not in the narrative itself!) that controls the masses.”

He further explains that the bond between the masses and the leaders involves a feedback loop between each other that reinforces the narrative:

“This shows that the leaders are not only hypnotized by their ideology but also by the masses. The leader himself is entranced by the effects he produces in the crowd. Between the psychological condition of the masses and their leaders, there is a kind of circular causality: They hypnotize one another.

The fact that the totalitarian leader is himself under hypnosis doesn’t mean that he believes everything he tell the population. On the contrary, it is more accurate to put it this way: He blindly believes in the ideology he is trying to impose but not in the discourse he uses to promote it. He believes so fanatically in his ideology that he considers it justified to limitlessly manipulate, lie, and deceive in order to realize that ideology. Mankind (or part thereof) is on its way to the best of all worlds and therefore everything is permissible.”

In the chapter on Conspiracy and Ideology, he examines that modern totalitarianism has no leaders in a traditional sense, as the leader is not the driver but a committed follower. As such, there is no organized cabal directing the mass formation, nor is there a conspiracy:

“. . . the real master of the predicament are not the leaders of totalitarian systems but the stories and their underlying ideology; these ideologies take possession of everyone and belong to no one; everyone plays a part, nobody knows the full script.”

I am not a believer in conspiracy theories, except in limited circumstances, for as Professor Desmet explains in his chapter on Conspiracy and Ideology:

“According to Wikipedia, a conspiracy theory is: “A secret plan or agreement between persons [. . .] for an unlawful or harmful purposes, [. . .] while keeping their agreement secret from the public or from other people affected by it.” This definition shows that at least three core characteristics must be present for an activity to be classified as a conspiracy: 1) There has to be a conscience intentional and planned endeavor, 2) This endeavor has to be hidden or secret. 3) The endeavor has to be aimed at inflicting harm (i.e., there must be some malice toward someone involved).”

Using the example of the creation of a Sierpinski triangle by haphazard but bounded rules in its creation will give rise to the illusion that an organized effort was undertaken to create the triangle. When likeminded individuals, with a likeminded ideology and with likeminded objectives bond together in a mass formation, it often gives the illusion of a planned organization and allegations of a conspiracy where none exists, based on the above definition of a conspiracy theory.

Part III – Beyond the Mechanistic Worldview

In Part III of his book chapters, 9) The Dead versus the Living Universe, 10) Matter and Spirit, and 11) Science and Truth, he “. . . examines whether the mechanistic ideology has some openings that could offer us another vision of the world, and of mankind.”, and that “. . . mass formation and totalitarianism are in fact symptoms of the mechanistic ideology.”

In The Dead versus the Living Universe chapter, he examines the mechanist-materialistic viewpoint of Enlightenment Science that has failed to grasp the essential nature of the universe and how “Chaos theory and the Complex and Dynamic systems theory open a breathtaking new perspective on the universe.” He notes that “The first basic assumption of the mechanistic-materialistic world-view is that the universe is a machine-mechanistic given that can be fully understood by means of logical reasoning.” He observes that the mechanist-materialistic viewpoint focuses on the appearances of life, and “If one focuses too much on the superficial appearances of life and loses touch with the underlying principles and figures, life will increasingly be experienced as a meaningless chaos, . . .” He also notes that:

“The same applies at the societal level” A society primarily has to stay connected with a number of principles and fundamental rights, such as the right to freedom of speech, the right to self-determination, and the right to freedom of religion or belief. If society fails to respect these fundamental rights of the individual, if it allows fear to escalate to such an extent that every form of individuality, intimacy, privacy, and personal initiative is regarded as an intolerable threat to ‘the collective well-being’, it will decay into chaos and absurdity.”

He then goes on to explain how the Enlightened belief in the mechanistic nature of the universe, and the associated overestimation of the powers of the human intellect to understand and control the universe, were often accompanied by a tendency to lead society in a less and less ethical principled manner.

In the Matter and Spirit chapter, he discusses the importance of a person in his interactions with the universe, and he “. . . tackles the second great assumption of mechanistic materialism: Everything belonging to the domain of consciousness and the psychological realm is a consequence of material phenomena – matter over mind.” He notes that:

“. . . the world is still firmly in the grip of the mechanistic view of the world and mankind. Maybe even more so than ever before. Within this ideology, everything belonging to the domain of the consciousness and the psychological experience is ultimately considered an insignificant by-product of the biochemistry of the brain. Man’s desires and aspirations, his romantic longings and his most superficial needs, his joys and sorrows, his doubts and his choices, his pleasures and his sufferings, his deepest aversion and his most lofty aesthetic appreciations – in short, his completely subjective world of experience – is reduced to a consequence of elementary particles in his brain that interact according to the laws of mechanics.”

In the Science and Truth chapter, he states that “The ideal of a technocratic society was inherent to the Enlightenment tradition, especially in its positive branch.” and that, “. . . fanatical belief in a humanist-technocratic society in which scientists and technocrats would take the place of popes and priests. Not God, but Human Reason should be glorified.” As a result:

“Totalitarianism is the belief that human intellect can be the guiding principle in life and society. It aims to create a utopian, artificial society led by technocrats or experts who, based on their technical knowledge, will ensure that the machine of society runs flawlessly. In this view, the individual is completely subordinated to the collective, reduced to being a cog in the machine of society.”

In this final chapter, he states that:

“In this book, we have shown that the logical end point of this vicious circle is mass formation and totalitarianism, that is, the radical destruction of all human creativity, individuality, diversity, and every form of social connectedness (except the bond between the individual and the state collective). We can see in all facets of society how this process is now evolving toward its limit. For the first time in history, the entire global village has been caught up in the same process of mass formation and the ‘technologization’ and ‘mechanization’ of the world has been scaled up to such an extent that the omnipresent control reaches into the core of intimacy and private life. Therefore, we are experiencing an end point of a cycle, the moment at which a ruling ideology is driven to its ultimate consequence, rears up with its full power for one last time, and thereby shows its powerlessness in a definitive and final way.”

* * * * *

I believe this mass formation starts with individuals not applying proper ethical principles to rationality and reasoning to reach a sound and humane social policy, as I have examined in my Article, “Beyond Rationality and Reasoning”. Indeed, many individuals do not apply any rationality, reasoning, or ethical principles to their beliefs; instead, they are thoughtless and rely on the emotional appeals of the masses and their leadership. Much of their beliefs are based on "The Biggest Falsehoods in America", which leads to irrational and unreasonable conclusions about America, which is also a symptom of Mass Formation.

I believe that this is what is happening with Progressives/Leftists and Democrat Party Leaders, in that they have become a Mass Formation. As they share a bounded ideology, it has given the illusion of a conspiracy by them where none exists. They have been utilizing the tactics of a "Herd Mentality" to achieve their objectives, but a herd mentality can be more destructive than a conspiracy, as the herd will often trample anyone in its path, both friend and foe.

This Mass Formation is exhibited by the “chaos and absurdity” that grips today’s America and the world. The bitter partisanship, which is polarizing America, is leading many of the Progressives/Leftists and Democrat Party Leaders to embrace restricting the free speech of Conservatives and Republican Party Leaders. As Progressives/Leftists and Democrat Party Leaders believe that as they are more intelligent, better educated, and morally superior, they are, of course, always correct and, therefore, Conservatives and Republican Party Leaders are reprehensible and must be silenced lest they harm America and the American people. A silencing of Free Speech is one of the symptoms of mass formation, a silencing which I have written about in my article “The Decline of Free Speech in America”. As Professor Desmet has noted, this silencing of Conservatives and Republican Party Leaders will spread to everyone’s “right to freedom of speech, the right to self-determination, and the right to freedom of religion or belief“, as this is a part of the development of mass formation. These rights restrictions can only be achieved through despotism, which eventually leads to Modern Totalitarianism.