From Escaping Mass Psychosis –  Imprinting on fearful minds

I want to remind you of this fantastic word menticide which was introduced to me by Joost Meerloo in his book The Rape of the Mind. Not for mere appreciation of the weighty concept but for the incredible salience this word has for us right now…

menticide (ˈmɛntɪˌsaɪd)

(noun) the destruction or undermining of a person’s mental independence in order to alter his or her beliefs.

Brainwashing had a more ‘flesh-and-blood’ quality than a more clinical alternative, ‘menticide,’ which means murder of the mind.

Collins English Dictionary.

The beginning of menticide is a state of diffuse and pervasive fear. Strong negative emotions of anxiety and fear, coupled with contradictions and confusion, prime the mind to seek emotional (not necessarily logical) relief. A power-hungry ruling class, intent on dominating a society, have the best success when they can manipulate the collective feelings of the people in a certain way – a way of death to logic and reason – a way of menticide.

“Menticide is an old crime against the human mind and spirit but systematized anew. It is an organized system of psychological intervention and judicial perversion through which a [ruling class] can imprint [their] own opportunistic thoughts upon the minds of those [they] plan to use and destroy.”

Joost Meerloo, The Rape of the Mind

When individuals are isolated, cut off from any connection or dialogue or alternative narrative to the one being offered by the ruling class, they are vulnerable. Under the constant deluge of propaganda by a rising totalitarian leadership, the individual has little counter-narrative and positive reinforcement of reason they would normally have in a previously well connected society. “Don’t talk to neighbors.” “Don’t meet in public, or private, or anywhere.” “Don’t say anything contrary on social media.” The lack of connection and the constant new narrative conditions the brain to think in a new way, a less rational way, it’s under menticidal attack.

Let me remind you of this insane blast from the past (lest we forget)…

The mind, under such menticide, is less capable of rational, critical thought and more easily accepts what would have been unacceptable in the past. Authoritarian leaders can pass sweeping changes that destroy liberty and be praised for “reasonable” mandates.

Once again, let me remind you of some of the past madness (Skip to the 3:24 mark)…

Covid was in some ways the culmination of a long menticidal program, but it seems also to be the beginning of an accelerated menticidation (not sure if that’s an actual word, but you know what I mean) of the global population – “pandemic + climate” catostrophic phenomenon to murder logic and reason…

This Daily Mail piece takes the health crisis and climate change crisis to new heights by addition. “While the UK and US are only just out of the ‘pandemic phase’ for Covid-19, scientists are already looking ahead to the next global health crisis – and say it could be sparked by a microbe locked in a Tibetan glacier… The release of potentially hazardous bacteria could affect the two most populated countries in the world: China and India.”

That’s right! Killer microbes being unleashed from glaciers gives us double the reason to lock down, be glad there aren’t as many cows around anymore, ditch the car, and worship Big Pharma for saving us from the climate virus natural world.

Our society needs those who will be free from the mass psychosis and demonstrate a better way. Thankfully we are a community of such people who have escaped the menticide of the 21st Century.

“It is not for nothing that our age cries out for the redeemer personality, for the one who can emancipate himself from the grip of the collective [psychosis] and save at least his own soul, who lights a beacon of hope for others, proclaiming that here is at least one man who has succeeded in extricating himself from the fatal identity with the group psyche.”

Carl Jung, Civilization in Transition

Similar ground was covered by Robert J. Lifton in his book Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism – A Study of Brainwashing in China which has been a mainstay of James Lindsay’s excellent work at New Discourses.  For example:

The Hard Truth About Struggle Sessions

We live in an age of propaganda.  The forces that guide what we laughingly call Mainstream Media, Entertainment and Social Media are actually sophisticated instruments of social control.  They are all mind traps.

Your Irascible Correspondent considers himself a most fortunate man because I broke the TV trap as a young man.  I had been addicted to TV until I joined the Navy in 1971.  Turns out there’s not much TV at sea, nor in port when there is one set for 200 guys and higher ranks choose the channel.  When I got out in 1975 I found the offerings on TV to be an insult to my intelligence; morally corrupt and vapid.  I preferred to read, and I read widely.  From those days to this the TV is never on (yes, I have one, the wife likes to watch the Olympics).

I offer the following proposal as a means for liberty loving people to free themselves from the mind control trap.

First, recognize that there is a trap, and stay away from it.  Turn off the TV, put your social media devices in a drawer.  Particularly, turn off the news, you will begin to experience more peace in your life.  This may be difficult to do because it is addictive.  Consider using Bill’s 12 step program to help you break free.

Second, reorient your life around real time relationships, particularly face to face conversations.  Get more connected to reality understood as doing things around the house, the yard, work on hobbies, get out in nature.  Read.

Ground yourself daily in a higher spiritual reality.  Pray, read your scriptures.  It is not an accident that the Bible repeats the phrase “do not be afraid” 365 times in one form or another.  Spend regular time in conversation with other people who share your spiritual interests.  In fact, join any community that focuses on any topic that is not guided or controlled by the organs of propaganda.

Train yourself to watch for the mind traps, and avoid them.

The life of the mind and the life of the soul cannot be separated.  Treat both as supremely precious.  Be ready to sacrifice for them.