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The solace I can take from any success at red-pilling a friend or colleague (and I have succeeded a few times) is somehow not enough to block the devastating pain I feel because my own children have turned against me for trying to warn them.

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One day they will thank you, even if it's after you're dead. Better to the right thing regardless of the short term cost or pain.

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Thank you Joel.

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I know how it feels, I had the same for a while. I have had to stop speaking and win them back by engaging with normal stuff that they don't feel threatened by. Remember how scary it was to adjust at the beginning? If felt like the whole world had gone crazy and how lonely it was to go against everyone. They're just scared of feeling like so they shut down any possibility you might be correct but eventually they'll realise you're right. Try to build bridges in the meantim . Good luck.

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There’s a lot of us in that particular boat. I came across this article last night in my virtual wandering, and thought it was helpful. May all our loved ones who tread on shifting sand make it safely to a more solid foundation, and find us there, still loving them.

https://unbekoming.substack.com/p/a-libertarian-boomer?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

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You are not alone in that. Hang in there. As Desmet has said, these regimes all fall apart eventually. We just have to fight where we can, and try to survive until it destroys itself.

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That’s literally the story of Jesus. You just summed up the gospels.

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I see the same, in a multitude of ways, all the time. This is at its core a spiritual battle for the souls of mankind.

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It is indeed painful to see they are no longer open to alternative views....either frightened to confront the truth, or totally sold on the propaganda. Many parents in the same boat...but to keep trying is to keep the flame of hope flickering, and, one day they may come to realise what has been done to them. The hard part is watching them spinning off on a different damaging trajectory.

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My children have not turned against me but they do not listen to me either and continue to Vax their children. It is surprising because one is a Bernie Bro type who hates corporations and the other is a prepper.

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Yes. One day they will realize you were correct. You might not get an apology, but

they will gradually start speaking again....I am so sorry for your pain.

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When I pray, I also apologize to my parents for the things I was VERY, VERY wrong about.

"Sorry, Mom. I was wrong about the .........", is quite a powerful and healing thing to say.

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It also shows your willingness to self reflect and provide yourself forgiveness. Seems like a very heart opening/ healing experience.

I've made similar apologies to people who have passed when realizing they held different perspectives regarding frustrating interactions with them when they were still living due to the relationship dynamics. Sort of like a conversation with an old friend, with much more understanding on my part with life experience and passage of time. It feels quite renewing and invokes deep gratitude from me. Hard to describe.....

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I do too. How silly we were when young.

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Sep 5, 2022·edited Sep 5, 2022

I feel your pain - I have one with and one against! I'm going to send a copy of Desmet's book to the against for his birthday. I'm halfway through it at the moment and it's very insightful.

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I can recommend RFK Jr’s book The Real Anthony Fauci, if you can get you kid to read it.

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Aliss, we are all your family--you are not a lone species. Our common epigenetic traits are pain, alienation, and avoidance from loved ones.

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A major difference today is social media and the internet blocking the truth and publishing lies so only one narrative is seen.

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thats why comedy and memes are important, they are harder to censor, not that they dont try

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I think it's the opposite. The internet allowed an alternative narrative, even if there was massive censorship. Think Substack. I grew up in Eastern Europe during communism, the only alternative was word of mouth with people you trusted, it is way different now.

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Don’t forget samizdat. It’s probably not a bad idea to produce and disseminate published material *especially* in this digital age. Who to trust, though?!

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Sep 5, 2022·edited Sep 5, 2022Liked by Joel Smalley

People don't want their confirmation bias and cuddly view that they believe as truth...to be questioned....the cognitive dissonance is sooo strong...and those of us who remain open must remain open so our energy can spread! Carry on!

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Desmet's "The Psychology of Totalitarianism" deserves to be a seminal book. He's even better on the page than in interview. I recommend it to everyone I know, whichever side of the divide they're on.

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Christmas presents for my entire family this year sorted then! Thanks!! I'll write them all a personal note!!

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Sep 5, 2022Liked by Joel Smalley

I think I’m gonna visit a few independent booksellers (which tend to be lefty) this week and loudly ask, “DO YOU HAVE ‘THE PSYCHOLOGY OF TOTALITARIANISM’ IN STOCK???”

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Sep 5, 2022Liked by Joel Smalley

Love! I sometimes do fake cell yell, like I’m talking to someone on my phone. I say “people are dropping dead from that covid vaccine. Especially the boosters! The insurance companies are starting to freak out. Uh huh. Well, do not get another shot! Oh good. Glad you know not too…”

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Hee hee! ❤️

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Thanks for the idea. Adding to it.

I will make a mp3 file that consists of a couple minutes of blank silence, and ending in a phone ring sound.

Then start the playback of the mp3, go somewhere else, and "answer" the phone when it rings.

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Sep 5, 2022Liked by Joel Smalley

DeSmet's ideas are useful in explaining some of the deceptions and the vulnerability of populations to deception, but it fails to account for the structure of humanity. Humanity is composed primarily of sheep, wolves, and shepherds. Sheep don't create wolves, which is what DeSmet proposes. Rather, sheep attract wolves because of their vulnerability and tastiness.

The only way to deal with wolves is for shepherds to attack them and drive them off or kill them.

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Interesting point. In fact species Homo sapiens cannot be placed in the same category as sheep with the exception of children perhaps. To do so is to posit that we Homo sapiens members have no agency-free will, and bear no responsibility for the decisions that we make. Having said this, it is true that a good honest person i.e. sheep, is always at the mercy of evil people i.e. wolves, because of the tendency to project our own psychology onto others.

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"because of the tendency to project our own psychology onto others."

Indeed, sheep think that other people are like them and don't prey on others. Predators think that most men are predators. Shepherds have the clearest view of things.

My view on humanity is informed by the New Testament, which distinguishes three categories of people: sheep, wolves, and shepherds. All men are sinners, per the NT, but not all men prey on other men by habit.

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Hmmm . . . how to be a good (effective) shepherd?

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Sep 5, 2022·edited Sep 6, 2022

Yes, because even the shepherds are imperfect and WILL make mistakes. It can’t be any other way. I think humility is a big part of what makes a great shepherd. (I hope Trump is reading this lol) You have to be willing to learn from others, and learn from mistakes.

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Cooperate with other shepherds? Be on the alert? Study wolves and sheep?

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I think you’re on to something there. Many don’t believe in the Sin Nature or Original Sin concept, but rather believe that all are born good. That’s just not the way it is, and history has proven it over and over again. Religions attempt to mitigate that sin nature but fail, as they must. It is a journey on this earth, not a destination.

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I never understood this bible sheep analogy before now.

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Predators know most men are sheep.

The metaphor of sheep and wolves is biblical.

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Sep 6, 2022·edited Sep 6, 2022

You _do_ realize that species Homo sapiens was _panicked_ and behaved just like sheep behave when _they_ are panicked. The panic-mongering predators knew exactly what they were doing when they panicked the species Homo sapiens sheep. Right into social isolation, masking, quarantines of the healthy, and dangerous vaccines.

Your contention that people didn't act like sheep is absurd.

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The fact that they acted like sheep does not change the fact that they are NOT sheep. Homo sapiens means Homo the wise. We humans are in possession of a brain far superior to that of sheep. This means that we are responsible and accountable for the choices-decisions and their consequences that we make, in a way that sheep are not. Blaming the "predators" is to play the victim, and absolve oneself of responsibility and control over one's own life.

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I think human society consists only of sheep and shepherds. Often, the shepherds have good intentions - or at least benign intentions - and they allow the sheep to graze peacefully, blissfully. That was our erstwhile liberal democracy based on free-market capitalism. Now the shepherds have turned nasty. They wish to move the herd on from green pastures and drive them over rough ground, to the slaughter house. They've outlived their usefulness. So the shepherds cry wolf, time and time again, knowing that there are no wolves. The panicked flight is Desmet's mass formation psychosis.

https://jaimejessop.substack.com/p/the-shepherd-boy-who-cried-wolf-a

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"Now the shepherds have turned nasty."

Why would anyone expect government bureaucrats to be shepherds? Aren't they working with pharma as predators?

So who are the actual shepherds? Aren't they people fighting the covid vaccines and totalitarianism? People like Naomi Wolf and Pam Popper. And many others discovering and disseminating info about the dangerous covid vaccines?

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No, I don't see those people as shepherds. They want to wake the sheeple up, not herd them. We have this quaint biblical notion of the kindly shepherd tending to his flock, but in reality, the shepherd sees the flock as his property, to be herded and exploited at will. The sheep have no say in the matter. Most of the time they may safely graze, but their lives are not their own; sooner or later they face being rounded up and sent for slaughter.

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You are a city boy and lack any understanding of predators.

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You are obviously only on here to insult people.

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Bless your heart.

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Jamie and Tom you are both ready for Rothbard's "The Progressive Era" which provides an engaging journey through the birth of the regulatory state in the USA. Available as a free ebook in pdf and epub.

https://mises.org/library/progressive-era-0

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You missed the wolf in sheep’s clothing. 🙂

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That might be comforting for you to imagine but a courageous study of hidden history reveals it to be false.

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Sep 5, 2022Liked by Joel Smalley

To paraphrase Mark Twain: It’s easier to fool a person than to convince them that they have been fooled.

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I saw this quote near the beginning of the pandemic and it’s really stuck with me:

When sufficiently frightened, most people will not only accept authoritarianism, but demand it.

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Sep 5, 2022Liked by Joel Smalley

"If all the victims of the psychosis would learn about Desmet and recognise themselves, this would all be over in a heartbeat."

I doubt it. It would help some.

The problem is Original Sin. Our complacent opulence over past decades coupled with Marxist gov't schools has bred generations who have no interest in truth as long as their bellies are full.

I work with PhDs who bought the psyop hook, line and sinker. They could read Desmet, but it wouldn't make a dent with most of them. The problem is in the will.

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Hence "recognise themselves", i.e. understand that they are deluded. First step towards enlightenment?

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Sounds OK, but we need clearer definitions. What does one find when they "recognize themselves?" I.e., what are we? Getting ontological here - probably stretching the thread.

Getting enlightened to see the lies and the predators is a good thing. But do folks want to hear it? "Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies."

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Sep 6, 2022·edited Sep 6, 2022

I’m not sure on Desmet's latest take - but I distinctly remember him in earlier interviews shying away from the language of ‘psychosis’ due to misinterpretations, preferring mass formation - can you elaborate on this, I haven’t managed to obtain his book to clarify? At the start of all this I immediately thought of ‘The Crucible’ and the Skool clip was also being shared - will attach link. The parallel structures give the view hope - watch till the end. Most readers here likely to have seen this presentation….

https://youtu.be/09maaUaRT4M

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Self-examination can be very uncomfortable--especially when we might need to consider the possibility that we have been fooled.

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For people to be able to recognize themselves as being a victim of mass formation psychosis they would have to have critical thinking skills. That's sorely lacking in today's society, and the PhDs you mentioned, who have been taught what to think not how to think.

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True. But there's a high-end way and low-end way to get out of this. On the low-end, I think a 17th-century orphan could more easily see through a con than most today. That was my exit, when I heard Neil Ferguson predict a gazillion deaths. I laughed, but I'm not laughing anymore.

Desmet presents high-end analysis. It makes sense. I think we live in a unique time, a "perfect storm" of conditions to make so many susceptible. To get free, though, only some will digest Desmet. Others will require a dead child or freezing to death this winter.

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In my twenties, i discovered a few, moderate doses of psychedelic helped me reflect and break out of mental and ideological ruts. It's not for everyone though.

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Sep 5, 2022Liked by Joel Smalley

Matthias Desmet did a one hour interview with Tucker Carlson. I watched it last night. It’s EXCELLENT!

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Link please?

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It’s on Fox Nation it maybe tuckercarlson.com. Desmet also did an interview with Alex Jones last week, infowars.com for that one.

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Whenever I visit our surgery or the dentist I make a point of asking “how much longer do you think you have to wear masks”? Today the surgery nurse responded “it would feel funny not to wear a mask”. My response, “really? but even you know they don’t work, look at the gaps on either side of your mask.” She says nothing. I finish by saying “your mask carries bacteria and fungi which you are breathing in. I know this because I have read all the data and I am a family nurse practitioner”. Now she may think I am also a nutter, but, I feel I have done my job. I also told the consultant rheumatologist, a few weeks ago, it was okay to remove his mask. He thanked me and took it off. Guys we have a lot of work to do here. And now we have the masses lining up for their 150th, I mean 5th injection despite the first four not working and causing the injectees (is that a word?) to be unwell for a very long time.

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Sep 5, 2022Liked by Joel Smalley

I like how she writes we should “articulate the words that seem honest and sincere.” I realize she was not saying to use those exact words, but I plan to use them as an opening: “I want to say something to you that’s sincere…” or “Can I be honest? I sincerely hope you don’t get another covid vaccine. Here’s why…” I mean how can someone be mad at you if you are being honest and sincere?

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Conveying concern and care is the best strategy. Most aren’t receptive to anger or insistence. Think of it as leaving a crumb. The next person will leave another. And so on. We just need to plant a seed. We might not even see the plant full grown, but we will have played a part.

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Very well said.

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Sep 5, 2022Liked by Joel Smalley

I find dry humor and subtle sarcasm to be the best weapon against these people. They have to arrive at the conclusions themselves. They’re ego driven and narcissistic. They don’t worship the “science”.. they worship themselves. “Science” being code for “more educated, smarter, better than you.”

Say,

“Oh… free shots… they really care…where’s the free insulin?”

“I’m sure our leaders are going to hand in their mansions and private jets any day now.”

Things like that. Always make the victim of mass formation hypnosis included as an ally. Be one of them if you’re addressing them. Never give them a psychological out by making them a “they.”

“I think the pharmaceutical companies lied to US.”

NEVER say something like, “YOU were lied to.” They’ll subconsciously block everything to defend their ego.

If they’re an insufferable left wing hack, then just mock them for supporting the “trump tard vaccine”.

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> They have to arrive at the conclusions themselves. They’re ego driven and narcissistic. They don’t worship the “science”.. they worship themselves.

Bingo. I understand the ego and narcissism issues. Then there are others who are just plain cowardly and cannot even think of a different possibility which would put them out of their comfort zone.

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I agree. But I find people who are afraid to go outside their own comfort zone to be narcissistic as well. Just not in the way we usually define narcissism. At the end of the day, it’s all about them and how they feel.

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Sep 5, 2022Liked by Joel Smalley

What an uplifting article as sometimes you feel you’re banging your head against a brick wall saying to people “why can’t you see what’s happening” and they look at you as if you’re deluded or a conspiracy theorist.

It’s nice to know even in my small way that I’m doing the right thing despite the frustrations, so I will keep on quietly going against the narrative…

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You cannot expect an animal to understand things a human can. Remember to keep expectations to be realistic.

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Sep 5, 2022Liked by Joel Smalley

Before Desmet, there was this Academy of Ideas piece re-presented by AfterSkool, which may be an easier to digest introduction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09maaUaRT4M

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Here's another version. Graphic animation with author citations. "The Manufactoring Of A Mass Psychosis ~ Can Sanity Return To An Insane World?" Academy of Ideas you tube channel. https://youtu.be/fdzW-S8MwbI . I posted this well over a year ago and way before Malone and Desmet.

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Sep 5, 2022·edited Sep 5, 2022

That is the original on which the AfterSkool one was based, and the one we originally saw. Really eye opening.

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That's a good series!

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Sep 5, 2022Liked by Joel Smalley

This situation reminds me of John 5:6, where Jesus asks a man who has been suffering for decades, “Do you want to get well?” Some may think that is a silly question, but others may see it as a foreshadowing of the red pill/blue pill choice in the Matrix. Many may choose the status quo out of fear to be different. However, those who learn the truth cannot unlearn it.

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Sep 5, 2022·edited Sep 5, 2022Liked by Joel Smalley

I was first introduced to Mattias Desmet on a podcast interview by Jeremy Nell of Jerm Warfare about a year ago. Desmet's description of our present condition and his warnings and admonitions resonated with me. I'm fortunate in that I live in the suburbs of Philadelphia. My daily life was not as affected as that of many others. Other than the occasional shut down and the stupid mask theater life went on as usual.

The images coming out of Europe, Canada, and Australia in 2020 and 2021 were deeply disturbing and reminiscent of the Third Reich. There was some ridiculousness in blue state America but nothing like I saw in other countries. I took some solace in the fact that we Americans are an ornery bunch, even though it is now clear that my country played the starring role in whatever is going on in the world. We have much to atone for, I'm sad to say.

Speaking out was never optional for me. I felt a moral imperative to share what I was reading and hearing from the counter-narrative voices. I'm not sure any of it got through, but I tried.

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Sep 5, 2022Liked by Joel Smalley

I think Biden's speech the other night was an attempt to push forward the final solution...six months we have if Mattias is correct.

Six months from that speech.

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