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Timely reflections and myth-minded responses to the moment. These posts track the pulse of culture, collapse, and consciousness from the perspective of a sapient witness.

#MythicBlog #SapientWitness #ReflectionsNow #CreativeNonfiction #BlogFromTheEdge #WordsThatSee

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America Is Squid Games, Season 2

I started watching Season 2 of the Squid Games on the eve of New Year’s Eve. This season takes more time to develop the complexities and motivations of each main character and the parts they will be playing in the up coming games. But, don’t worry… it takes viewers to the games almost as quickly as Season 1. And now you know the motivations and conflicts of several key players in more depth that adds greater stakes and suspense to the games!

Spoiler Alert

Spoiler Alert, if you have not watched Season 2 yet, the games introduce even more democracy into the games. In season 1, players got to vote after the massacre of Red Light, Green Light game. In season 2, players get to vote after every game is played. The only catch is that they have to divide the money accumulated after the deaths of previous players with all the surviving players.

So, this pits desperate players who are willing to risk their lives to pay off their huge debts with equally desperate players who would rather live than risk dying playing one more game just so they can have a little bit more money. This is exactly where Americans (and also South Koreans) find themselves today due to huge failures of their modern day democracies…finely tuned to only make money for the super wealthy.

Don’t worry, the other side of communist countries are doing the exact same thing but under the guise of sharing for the good of all! In reality, both modern day systems are simply the oldest collective governance in the world: Totalitarian societies.

Both kinds of modern human civilization have been absolutely corrupted by money. And in our modern day, lots of money comes with unconstrained power and control that hollows out the human soul.

Sapience Could Help… If People Wanted Help

If you want to find out how we, the little guys and gals, who are all trapped inside these repressive, brutal systems carefully designed to entertain the super rich with our suffering and deaths, read my book: Sapience: The Moment Is Now.

Sapience: The Moment Is Now

Sapience: The Moment Is Now

My book currently is languishing on one of our modern day oligarch’s web system of commerce, Amazon, where is sits mostly unnoticed and unread, unable to find its readers.

This is because I self-published and I don’t have thousands and thousands of dollars to feed Jeff Bezos by buy ineffective ads on his website. Also, since I published through Amazon and I was stupid enough to use their ISBN, I am trapped inside Amazon vast ocean of commerce that does not play fair with bookstores or libraries.

This is because Amazon charges full retail price and does not take back books that don’t sell (like Publishing Companies do). Thus, bookstores and libraries cannot buy my book for a fair price that allows them to make some money (or at least not lose money). Therefore, they don’t. Because of this, I cannot get my book to places where readers are looking for something new to read. And believe me, readers coming to Amazon to find something new to read only see book whose authors (or authors via publishers) can afford to pay the most for advertising!

If you feel rebellious after reading this blog, please help me beat an oligarch and read or buy my book on Amazon. Also, please leave a rating… and better yet, leave a review! I would be so deeply grateful to you.

Squid Games — A Provocative Modern Metaphor

Modern democracies mirror the high stakes of deadly Squid Games

You are probably pondering, if you have made it this far in the blog: How Are the Squid Games and Modern Democracies the Same?

Here are seven parallels between modern democracies and the Squid Game Season 2.

#1. Economic Desperation

  • Be it bored rich people who are watching people die for entertainment or modern day democracies or communistic societies, both the fictional game and modern systems of governance exploit financial vulnerability. In Squid Game, players are willing to risk death for a chance to escape crushing debt. Similarly, in America, many people take dangerous jobs, endure exploitative working conditions, or gamble on high-risk investments to achieve financial security.

Deeper Dive into Economic Desperation

Here is how wealth inequality and the lack of safety nets trap people in cycles of desperation:

Wealth inequality and the lack of safety nets create self-perpetuating cycles of desperation by forcing individuals to make increasingly precarious choices just to survive. Here’s how these factors interact to trap people:

A. Unequal Distribution of Resources
  • Limited Access to Basics: Wealth inequality means fewer resources for the majority, making essentials like housing, education, and healthcare harder to afford. This forces people to prioritize immediate survival over long-term stability, such as skipping preventive healthcare or higher education.
  • Concentrated Wealth Power: Wealth is hoarded by a small elite, giving them disproportionate control over policies and opportunities. This exacerbates inequality, as the system prioritizes their interests over those of the majority.
B. Debt as a Trap
  • Predatory Lending: High-interest loans, payday lenders, and credit card debt target those who lack savings, creating a cycle of borrowing and repayment that often spirals out of control.
  • Student Debt: The cost of education locks people into decades of debt, with no guarantee of upward mobility. This limits financial freedom and delays wealth-building, such as homeownership.
C. Insecure and Low-Paying Jobs
  • Lack of Living Wages: Many jobs, particularly in service sectors, don’t pay enough to cover basic needs. Even full-time workers can require multiple jobs or government assistance to make ends meet.
  • Gig Economy: The rise of gig and contract work removes job security and benefits, leaving workers vulnerable to fluctuations in demand.
D. Lack of Safety Nets
  • Insufficient Healthcare: Without affordable or universal healthcare, medical emergencies can lead to catastrophic debt. Chronic conditions become untreated, reducing productivity and creating a cycle of poor health and poverty.
  • Weak Social Welfare: Limited unemployment benefits, housing assistance, and food programs leave people with few options when crises arise. In many cases, these programs are also stigmatized, discouraging people from seeking help.
E. Generational Impact
  • Intergenerational Poverty: Families without wealth cannot pass down financial resources, leaving each generation to start over. Meanwhile, wealthy families leverage inherited assets to grow their wealth further.
  • Educational Inequities: Underfunded schools in poorer areas result in lower educational outcomes, reducing opportunities for future generations.
F. Psychological Toll and Reduced Agency
  • Scarcity Mindset: Constantly scrambling for resources affects decision-making, often leading to short-term thinking that perpetuates the cycle.
  • Stress and Burnout: Chronic financial strain undermines mental and physical health, reducing productivity and further entrenching desperation.
G. Structural Barriers to Escape
  • Expensive Mobility: Moving to areas with better opportunities often requires upfront costs (relocation, housing deposits, etc.) that are out of reach for those trapped in poverty.
  • Systemic Racism and Discrimination: Marginalized groups face additional barriers, such as wage gaps, hiring biases, and redlining, further limiting opportunities.

The Self-Reinforcing Cycle

These factors interact to create a feedback loop: lack of resources leads to poor outcomes, which further reduces access to opportunities and resources. Without systemic change—such as stronger safety nets, equitable policies, and wealth redistribution—the cycle continues, trapping individuals and communities in perpetual desperation.

#2. Democratic Facade

  • In both the games and modern systems of governance, there is the illusion of choice. While Squid Game allows players to vote, their choices are framed by desperation. In America, the idea of “freedom” can sometimes mask systemic coercion, such as choosing between healthcare or bankruptcy, or enduring unsafe working conditions due to a lack of alternatives.

Deeper Dive into Democratic Facade

Here is how the illusion of choice mirrors democratic processes where choices are constrained by systemic power imbalances:

The illusion of choice occurs when people believe they have agency and freedom to make decisions, but their options are actually constrained by systemic power imbalances. This dynamic is evident in both Squid Game and real-world democratic processes, especially in systems shaped by wealth inequality, political polarization, and entrenched power structures. Here’s how:

A. Limited Options That Favor the System

In Squid Game, players can vote to leave the game, but the alternative—returning to crushing debt and hardship—is equally dire. This creates a “choice” between two harmful outcomes, ensuring the system remains in control regardless of the decision.

In democratic systems:

  • Economic Constraints: Low-income voters often face barriers such as unpaid time off to vote, long wait times, or inaccessible polling locations, making “free choice” contingent on financial stability.
  • Political Homogeneity: A two-party system can limit choices to candidates who often prioritize corporate or elite interests, sidelining policies that directly benefit marginalized groups.

The system effectively restricts meaningful options while maintaining the facade of democratic participation.

B. Manipulation Through Fear and Incentives

The players in Squid Game are manipulated by their desperation and the promise of wealth, leading them to make irrational or harmful choices that perpetuate the game’s cycle. Similarly, democratic systems often use fear and incentives to guide decisions in ways that maintain the status quo:

  • Fearmongering: Politicians and media outlets exploit fears of instability, crime, or economic collapse to sway voters toward particular candidates or policies, often against their own long-term interests.
  • False Promises: Campaign promises of systemic reform are often diluted or abandoned once candidates are elected, leaving the underlying issues unresolved while maintaining voter engagement.
C. Divide and Conquer Tactics

In Squid Game, players are pitted against each other, making collaboration and rebellion nearly impossible. Votes that should empower them instead deepen divisions.

In democracy:

  • Partisan Polarization: Political parties and media amplify divisions between voters (e.g., urban vs. rural, young vs. old), preventing collective action to address systemic inequalities.
  • Identity Politics: While representation is important, the focus on symbolic victories (e.g., electing diverse candidates without systemic reform) can obscure larger structural issues, dividing people along superficial lines.

These tactics ensure that systemic power imbalances remain unchallenged, as voters are too divided to demand meaningful change.

D. The Role of Money in Decision-Making

In Squid Game, the wealthy spectators manipulate the game for their entertainment and profit, ensuring they remain insulated from its dangers. Similarly, in democratic systems:

  • Campaign Financing: Wealthy donors and corporations wield disproportionate influence, shaping policy agendas and candidate viability. [Think Elon Musk… or Mush is a much better name for the maniac oligarch. Spoiler Alert: I think Mr. Elon is player 001 in Season 2 of the Squid Game.]
  • Economic Gatekeeping: The cost of running for office excludes many grassroots candidates, leaving political power concentrated among the elite.

This creates a system where voters may “choose” from options that have already been pre-selected by those with money and power.

E. Psychological Impact of the Illusion

Believing they have agency while facing constrained choices leads to frustration, apathy, and disengagement:

  • In Squid Game: Players become disillusioned with their fellow competitors and themselves, yet they continue to play because they feel there is no other way out.
  • In Democracy: Voter turnout often declines as people perceive elections as futile, perpetuating the cycle of systemic control. The illusion of choice traps them in a paradox where opting out feels as ineffective as participating.

Key Consequences

  1. Entrenchment of Power: The system remains stable, ensuring those in power stay in power.
  2. Frustrated Populations: People become disillusioned, blaming themselves or their neighbors instead of the systemic structures that constrain their choices.
  3. Cyclical Inequality: With no structural changes, disparities grow, further eroding the possibility of meaningful choices.

This is important so lets expand into specific examples of how voter suppression laws, campaign financing practices, and a two-party system trap modern day humans living in “democratic” societies in an endless Game of Kill the Squid.

1. Voter Suppression

Voter suppression undermines the democratic process by systematically limiting access to voting, particularly for marginalized groups. Examples include:

A. Strict Voter ID Laws
  • Example: In states like Georgia, Texas, and Wisconsin, voters are required to present government-issued IDs that many low-income, elderly, or minority individuals don’t possess.
  • Impact: Millions of eligible voters face barriers to participation. Studies show that Black and Latino voters are disproportionately affected.
B. Poll Closures and Long Lines
  • Example: In 2020, states like Kentucky and Texas closed hundreds of polling stations, especially in areas with large Black and Latino populations.
  • Impact: Voters in these communities faced hours-long lines, effectively discouraging participation, especially for those unable to miss work or arrange childcare.
C. Purging Voter Rolls
  • Example: Ohio’s “use-it-or-lose-it” law removes voters from registration rolls if they fail to vote in consecutive elections.
  • Impact: While framed as a way to “clean” voter rolls, the policy disproportionately impacts low-income individuals who may be less consistent voters due to systemic barriers.

2. The Role of Campaign Financing

The influence of money in politics ensures that wealthy individuals and corporations wield disproportionate control over democratic processes. Examples include:

A. Super PACs and Dark Money
  • Example: The 2010 Citizens United v. FEC Supreme Court ruling allowed unlimited corporate spending on elections through Super PACs.
  • Impact: Billionaires and corporations flood elections with money to support candidates aligned with their interests. For example, the Koch network spent over $400 million in the 2018 midterms.
B. Candidate Viability and Fundraising
  • Example: Viable presidential campaigns now require hundreds of millions of dollars in fundraising. In 2020, Joe Biden raised $1.6 billion, while Donald Trump raised $1.1 billion.
  • Impact: Grassroots candidates with limited access to wealthy donors or corporate funding struggle to compete, perpetuating an elite-controlled system.

C. Lobbying Influence

  • Example: Pharmaceutical and healthcare companies spend billions lobbying Congress to block universal healthcare policies, as seen in the defeat of the “Medicare for All” initiative.
  • Impact: Policy decisions favor wealthy industries, sidelining public interest.

3. The Two-Party System

The dominance of two major parties creates structural barriers that limit voter choice and perpetuate the illusion of democracy.

A. Winner-Takes-All Elections
  • Example: The Electoral College system in the U.S. disproportionately favors swing states, often disregarding the popular vote. In 2016, Donald Trump won the presidency despite receiving nearly 3 million fewer votes than Hillary Clinton.
  • Impact: Third-party candidates are seen as “spoilers,” and voters feel compelled to choose between the two dominant parties, even if neither aligns with their values.
B. Ballot Access Laws
  • Example: States like Texas and Georgia have stringent requirements for third-party candidates to qualify for the ballot, such as obtaining tens of thousands of petition signatures.
  • Impact: These barriers effectively exclude alternative voices, reinforcing the duopoly.
C. Polarization and Gridlock
  • Example: Partisan gridlock, such as the government shutdowns over budget disputes, highlights how the two-party system prioritizes power struggles over effective governance.
  • Impact: Voters are left with a system that prioritizes party loyalty over addressing systemic issues, like wealth inequality or climate change.

How These Examples Mirror Squid Game

Suppression as Forced Participation
  • Just as some Squid Game players are coerced into staying by systemic traps, voter suppression ensures certain groups face disproportionate barriers, effectively silencing their voices.
Financing as Rigged Odds
  • The wealthy spectators in Squid Game rig the game for their amusement, much like billionaires and corporations dictate political outcomes through campaign financing and lobbying.
Two-Party Entrapment as Limited Choice
  • Players in Squid Game believe their only choices are to play or die. Similarly, the two-party system forces voters to choose between constrained options, perpetuating systemic inequality.

#3. Winners & Losers in a Zero-Sum System

  • The “winner-takes-all” nature of both systems is what provides the captivating energy that traps both super rich and super poor in a perpetual, brutal game. In Squid Game, only one person can claim the prize (except Season 2 is allowing players to split the money and leave with their lives if enough players vote to do this… aka, modern day democracies pretty much around the world). The same can be said of capitalism in its most ruthless form—which is what we seem to have collectively molded into existence everywhere—where success for a few comes at the expense of many.

Deeper Dive into Winners & Losers in a Zero-Sum System

Here is how a Zero-Sum mindset fosters competition rather than collaboration in so called modern “democratic” societies, thus leading to societal fragmentation:

The winner-take-all nature of modern democracies fosters competition at every level of governance, reinforcing societal fragmentation by prioritizing individual or partisan success over collective well-being. This dynamic is evident in electoral systems, policymaking, and public discourse, creating a cycle where collaboration is undervalued and division is amplified. Here’s how:

A. Electoral Systems That Reward Competition Over Collaboration

In winner-take-all systems, such as those in the U.S. and the U.K., the candidate or party with the most votes wins outright, leaving all others without representation. This system has several divisive consequences:

1a. Marginalization of Minority Voices
  • Impact: Third parties and minority groups are often excluded from meaningful participation. Their interests are ignored, fostering disenfranchisement and alienation.
  • Example: In the U.S., third-party candidates like Ralph Nader in 2000 or Jill Stein in 2016 were labeled “spoilers,” discouraging voters from supporting alternatives to the two dominant parties.
2b. Zero-Sum Game
  • Impact: The all-or-nothing approach creates incentives for candidates and parties to focus on winning at all costs, rather than building consensus or addressing systemic issues collaboratively.
  • Example: Gerrymandering—manipulating district boundaries to ensure electoral dominance—prioritizes partisan victories over fair representation.
B. Partisan Policymaking and Gridlock

The winner-take-all mentality extends to policymaking, where parties prioritize short-term victories over long-term collaboration:

1a. Polarization and Tribalism
  • Impact: Partisan leaders are incentivized to portray the opposing party as enemies, making bipartisan efforts politically costly.
  • Example: In 2009, the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) passed without a single Republican vote, despite addressing a national healthcare crisis. This deepened partisan divides and stigmatized collaboration as weakness.
2b. Legislative Stalemates
  • Impact: In divided governments, the focus on “beating” the other party results in gridlock, leaving critical issues—like climate change, wealth inequality, or infrastructure—unaddressed.
  • Example: The frequent U.S. government shutdowns, such as the 35-day shutdown in 2018–2019 over border wall funding, illustrate how competition paralyzes governance.
C. Fragmentation in Public Discourse
1a. Media Amplification of Divisions
  • Impact: News outlets, driven by profit and political agendas, often sensationalize partisan conflicts, reinforcing tribal identities and fragmenting public understanding of issues.
  • Example: Networks like Fox News and MSNBC cater to ideologically polarized audiences, creating echo chambers where opposing viewpoints are vilified rather than understood.
2b. Social Media and Algorithmic Bias
  • Impact: Social media platforms, optimized for engagement, promote content that stokes outrage and division, further polarizing societies.
  • Example: The rise of “us vs. them” rhetoric online exacerbates divisions, turning political discourse into a battleground of personal attacks rather than constructive dialogue.
D. Societal Fragmentation as an Outcome
1a. Erosion of Trust
  • Impact: Constant competition erodes public trust in institutions and leaders. People perceive governments as working for partisan or elite interests rather than the common good.
  • Example: Trust in U.S. government institutions is near historic lows, with Pew Research reporting only 20% of Americans trust the government to do what is right “most of the time.”
2b. Inequitable Policy Outcomes
  • Impact: Policies often serve the interests of the winning party or their donors, ignoring marginalized groups and exacerbating inequalities.
  • Example: Tax cuts favoring the wealthy under Republican administrations or corporate bailouts during crises highlight the prioritization of elite interests over broader societal needs.
3c. Alienation and Disengagement
  • Impact: As people feel their voices are ignored, they become disengaged from the democratic process, leading to lower voter turnout and weakening the system’s legitimacy.
  • Example: Voter turnout in the U.S. hovers around 60% in presidential elections and is much lower in midterms, reflecting widespread disillusionment.

How Collaboration Is Undermined

  1. Short-Term Thinking: Winner-take-all systems encourage policies aimed at immediate partisan gains rather than sustainable, long-term solutions.
  2. Lack of Inclusive Governance: Minority voices are excluded, stifling innovation and diverse perspectives that could lead to more effective solutions.
  3. Normalization of Hostility: The framing of politics as a zero-sum game legitimizes antagonistic behavior, undermining trust and cooperation across political divides.

Paths Forward: Moving Beyond Winner-Take-All

To counteract these dynamics and foster collaboration, systemic reforms could include:

  • Proportional Representation: Electoral systems that allocate seats based on vote share encourage coalition-building and fairer representation.
  • Ranked-Choice Voting: Allowing voters to rank candidates by preference reduces polarization and empowers third-party and independent candidates.
  • Campaign Finance Reform: Reducing the influence of money in politics can level the playing field and encourage more collaborative policymaking.
  • Deliberative Democracy: Citizen assemblies and participatory governance models can bridge divides and emphasize collective decision-making.

#4. Moral Compromise & Dehumanization

  • Both systems (the fictional games and modern day governments) force participants (or citizens) to compromise their ethics. In Squid Game, alliances crumble, and morality is often sacrificed for survival. Similarly, in America, systemic pressures can push individuals or corporations to exploit others for financial gain.
  • The psychological toll of moral and dehumanization compromises in Squid Game mirrors the experiences of individuals navigating systems of modern democracies, where systemic inequalities force people into decisions that erode their humanity and sense of self. Below, we delve into how these compromises manifest, the toll they take, and their broader implications.

Deeper Dive into Moral Compromise & Dehumanization

A. The Moral Cost of Compromises
1a. In Squid Game

Players are repeatedly forced to make life-and-death decisions, often pitting personal survival against their moral values. Examples include:

  • Betrayal of Alliances: The marble game forces participants to exploit or betray their closest allies to survive.
  • Impact: This leads to profound guilt and self-loathing, as participants struggle to reconcile their survival instincts with the harm they’ve caused.
2b. In Democracies

Citizens and policymakers often face decisions that prioritize self-interest or short-term gains over ethical considerations due to systemic pressures. Examples include:

  • Workers in Low-Wage Jobs: Forced to work under exploitative conditions, such as in sweatshops or unsafe environments, to feed their families.
  • Voters’ Lesser Evil Dilemma: Choosing between two flawed candidates in elections, leading to feelings of complicity in perpetuating harmful systems.
  • Impact: Such compromises can result in disillusionment, cynicism, and feelings of helplessness, as people feel trapped in a system where every choice carries moral consequences.
B. The Toll of Dehumanization
1a. In Squid Game

Dehumanization is central to the game’s structure.

  • Players Reduced to Numbers: Participants are stripped of their names and identities, referred to only by numbers.
  • Deaths as Spectacle: Their suffering becomes a form of entertainment for wealthy spectators, who view them as disposable.
  • Impact: The loss of identity and constant objectification lead to a sense of worthlessness and alienation, with many players internalizing their dehumanized status.
2b. In Democracies

Dehumanization occurs subtly but pervasively in systems where human value is tied to economic productivity or political utility.

  • Economic Systems: People in poverty are often blamed for their circumstances and portrayed as “lazy” or “undeserving,” ignoring systemic barriers like wage stagnation or lack of opportunities.
  • Partisan Divide: Political opponents are frequently demonized, reducing individuals to caricatures and denying their humanity.
  • Impact: This dehumanization fosters divisions and erodes empathy, making systemic oppression seem inevitable and even justified.
C. The Psychological Toll
1a. Cognitive Dissonance
  • Definition: The mental discomfort of holding contradictory beliefs or values.
  • In Squid Game: Players struggle to rationalize their actions—killing or betraying others—to survive in a system they know is unjust.
  • In Democracies: Citizens often experience dissonance when participating in systems they recognize as flawed, such as paying taxes that fund unethical policies or working for corporations that exploit workers or the environment.

Impact: Over time, this dissonance can lead to emotional numbness, burnout, or a sense of resignation.

2b. Moral Injury
  • Definition: The psychological distress resulting from actions—or inactions—that violate deeply held moral beliefs.
  • In Squid Game: Participants like Gi-hun and Sang-woo endure profound moral injury after betraying their values to survive.
  • In Democracies:
  • Policymakers may feel moral injury from enacting harmful policies under pressure.
  • Low-wage workers or soldiers may grapple with the ethical compromises required by their roles.

Impact: Moral injury often leads to PTSD, depression, and a loss of self-esteem.

Consider the real life recent New Year’s Eve events in the United States. Both bombers were US citizens who had served in the military. Both were decorated servicemen. Both re-entered civilizan society with significant psychological wounds. While the New Orleans bomber found salvation in ISIS, the Las Vegas bomber favored both Elon and Trump and yet blew up a Telsa truck in front of a Trump hotel.

3c. Loss of Agency
  • In Squid Game: The illusion of choice exacerbates the psychological toll, as players feel forced to act against their will.
  • In Democracies: Citizens often feel similarly powerless, perceiving their votes or actions as insignificant in systems dominated by corporate interests and elite power.

Impact: A sense of powerlessness can lead to apathy and disengagement from civic life, further entrenching systemic problems.

D. Broader Implications of These Compromises
1a. Fractured Social Bonds
  • In Squid Game: The competitive structure destroys trust and solidarity, leaving participants isolated and unable to form meaningful connections.
  • In Democracies: Economic inequality and political polarization erode community cohesion, as people are pitted against each other along class, racial, or ideological lines.
2b. Normalization of Exploitation
  • In Squid Game: The game normalizes the exploitation of desperate people for entertainment and profit.
  • In Democracies: Systems like capitalism and the gig economy normalize the exploitation of workers, perpetuating cycles of inequality.
3c. Perpetuation of Oppression
  • In Squid Game: The system is designed to maintain the power and privilege of the wealthy spectators.
  • In Democracies: Systemic barriers ensure the continued dominance of the elite, with wealth inequality and voter suppression maintaining the status quo.

Can These Cycles Be Broken?

1. Empowering Individuals: Strengthening education, unions, and community networks to help individuals resist exploitation and reclaim their agency.

2. Systemic Reforms: Implementing policies that prioritize collective well-being over profit, such as universal healthcare or living wages. And, enacting electoral reforms to ensure fair representation and reduce the influence of money in politics.

3. Fostering Solidarity: Building movements that emphasize shared humanity and collective action, countering divisive narratives that dehumanize or isolate.

#5. Spectacle & Entertainment

There are parallels between the spectators in Squid Game and those who benefit from America’s socioeconomic systems, the 1% who sit at the very top of the social pyramid. The wealthy in Squid Game treat suffering as entertainment, much like some aspects of consumer culture profit from and sensationalize hardship in most modern day democracies today.

Deeper Dive into the Spectacle of Entertainment

The spectators in Squid Game represent the detached elite, watching life-or-death struggles as entertainment. Their indifference underscores how spectacle dehumanizes suffering, reducing players to pawns in a game for profit and pleasure.

In America, this dynamic plays out in various ways such as:

Media and Distraction: Reality TV, social media, and partisan news serve as modern-day bread and circuses. They keep people entertained and distracted, preventing deeper engagement with systemic problems.

Profiting from Struggle: From coverage of protests to depictions of poverty and crime, the suffering of marginalized communities is often commodified for ratings, clicks, and profit.

Normalization of Inequality: The glamorization of extreme wealth—juxtaposed with shows like Undercover Boss or Shark Tank—frames inequality as both aspirational and inevitable, distracting from systemic critiques.

Exploitation of Hope: Much like the players in Squid Game, the masses are lured by narratives of success against the odds. These stories maintain the myth that anyone can “win,” even as the system ensures that most cannot.

This spectacle not only distracts but also desensitizes. Just as Squid Game viewers (and even the players themselves) cheer for their favorite players while ignoring the brutality, we become complicit in a system that thrives on inequality, so long as it entertains.

#6. Voting as a Weapon of Division

  • Voting in both systems has been corrupted to the point of enslavement rather than liberation. In Squid Game, votes divide players, trapping the minority in a deadly system. In America, voting can similarly lead to polarized outcomes where a significant portion of the population feels trapped by decisions made by others whose conscious caculations and choices defy reality, reason, and facts, suggesting stupidity, insanity or criminality at play in their choices. This invites fear and widens scarcity of money and resources for all caught inside the system, and this perpetuates the disfunctional cycle.

Deeper Dive into Voting as a Weapon of Division

In Squid Game Season 2, voting is a deceptive tool. It gives players the illusion of control while dividing them into factions. After each game, just enough players vote to stay, forcing the rest to continue against their will. This creates tension, mistrust, and resentment, ensuring the group never unites against the true oppressors: the game’s creators.

In America, voting often functions in a similar way. While it’s framed as the cornerstone of democracy, systemic inequities undermine its fairness and effectiveness:

  • Gerrymandering and Suppression: Redistricting, voter ID laws, and reduced access to polling stations skew outcomes, ensuring minority voices often don’t carry equal weight.
  • Two-Party Entrapment: The binary nature of the system leaves many feeling forced to choose “the lesser of two evils,” which perpetuates disillusionment and apathy.
  • Polarization: Political and media systems capitalize on division, pitting groups against one another rather than addressing systemic issues. As in Squid Game, these divisions prevent collective action.

This creates a system where voting, rather than empowering, becomes a tool to trap citizens in a cycle of frustration, disillusionment, and inaction.

#7. Narrative of Hope

  • Investigate the way both systems dangle hope as a motivator. Squid Game players believe they can achieve a better life despite overwhelming odds. In America, the “American Dream” plays a similar role, motivating people to persevere despite systemic obstacles.

Deeper Dive Into the Narrative of Hope

Both Squid Game and modern democracies masterfully dangle hope as a motivator to keep people engaged in systems that exploit them, despite the overwhelming odds against meaningful success. This manipulation of hope creates a powerful psychological hook, ensuring participation while obscuring the deeper systemic issues at play. Let’s explore this in depth:

A. The Nature of Hope as a Motivator
1a. In Squid Game
  • The Promise of Escape: The cash prize, displayed tantalizingly above the players, represents the ultimate escape from debt, poverty, and desperation.
  • The Illusion of Agency: Players believe that if they “play smart” or “try harder,” they can achieve victory, even though the game’s design is rigged to ensure most fail.
  • Impact: Hope becomes a trap, as players cling to the dream of success while ignoring the moral compromises and physical dangers they endure.
2b. In Democracies
  • The Dream of Upward Mobility: Citizens are sold the idea of the “American Dream” (or similar narratives globally)—that hard work and determination can lead to success, regardless of starting circumstances.
  • The Illusion of Political Power: Elections and voting are presented as tools for change, yet systemic barriers (e.g., gerrymandering, voter suppression, lobbying) dilute the impact of individual voices.
  • Impact: Hope keeps people invested in systems that perpetuate inequality, with many blaming themselves rather than the system when success eludes them.
B. How Hope Is Dangled in Each System
1a. In Squid Game

Visualizing the Prize:

  • The giant glass piggy bank fills with money after every death, making the reward tangible and ever-present.
  • Psychological Impact: The constant reminder of the prize reinforces hope, even as the number of competitors—and odds of winning—dwindles.

False Choice to Leave:

  • Players are given the option to leave after the first game, which creates the illusion of freedom. However, the crushing realities of their external lives (debts, poverty) compel most to return.
  • Psychological Impact: This reinforces the belief that staying is their “best choice,” even though the system is inherently exploitative.

Individual Stories of Success:

  • The backstories of participants highlight personal struggles, making the prize seem like the only viable path to redemption.
  • Psychological Impact: Hope becomes deeply personal, tied to notions of worth and survival, which keeps players invested.
2b. In Democracies

Upward Mobility Narratives:

  • Success stories of individuals who “made it” despite humble beginnings are frequently highlighted in media and political discourse.
  • Psychological Impact: These stories perpetuate the belief that success is attainable for anyone, masking the systemic barriers that make such stories the exception, not the rule.

Electoral Promises:

  • Politicians campaign on lofty ideals and promises of systemic reform, often failing to deliver due to institutional constraints or lack of political will.
  • Psychological Impact: Citizens invest in hope every election cycle, believing “this time will be different,” only to face repeated disappointment.

Small Victories:

  • Incremental progress, such as raising the minimum wage or expanding healthcare, is celebrated as evidence of systemic change.
  • Psychological Impact: These victories, while meaningful, often obscure the broader structural inequalities that remain unaddressed.
C. The Double-Edged Sword of Hope
1a. Positive Motivator

Hope can inspire people to persevere and strive for change, even in the face of overwhelming odds.

  • In Squid Game: Some players exhibit extraordinary ingenuity and resilience, fueled by hope for a better future.
  • In Democracies: Grassroots movements and social justice campaigns often emerge from hope for systemic change.
2b. Tool of Control

However, hope can also be weaponized to maintain control and prevent rebellion.

  • In Squid Game: The dangling prize keeps players focused on survival rather than questioning the fairness of the system.
  • In Democracies: The belief that “change is possible” keeps citizens engaged in electoral systems, even when those systems fail to address root causes of inequality or injustice.
D. The Psychological Manipulation of Hope
1a. Hope as a Distraction
  • In Squid Game: Players focus on winning the prize, diverting attention from the inhumanity of the games themselves.
  • In Democracies: Citizens are encouraged to focus on individual success or incremental reforms, distracting from the need for systemic change.
2b. Fear of Losing Hope
  • In Squid Game: Players fear returning to their desperate lives without even trying for the prize, making them cling to hope despite the risks.
  • In Democracies: Citizens fear the loss of democratic institutions, even flawed ones, keeping them invested in systems that may not serve their best interests.
E. Breaking the Cycle: Reclaiming Authentic Hope

Recognizing the Illusions:

  • Both systems rely on manufactured hope to maintain control. Awareness of this manipulation is the first step toward reclaiming agency.

Building Solidarity:

  • Hope becomes transformative when shared collectively. Movements that emphasize community empowerment, such as mutual aid networks, create authentic hope rooted in collective action rather than individual competition.

Demanding Systemic Change:

  • Rather than clinging to the crumbs offered by these systems, pushing for systemic reforms—such as universal basic income, proportional representation, or campaign finance reform—can turn hope into a tool for genuine liberation.

HOPE Is Also the Most Powerful Four Letter Word

Here are stories and movements where hope became a force for systemic change, showing how collective action and a shared vision can break cycles of despair and lead to meaningful transformation. These examples illuminate the power of authentic hope rooted in solidarity, persistence, and community action.

1. The Civil Rights Movement (United States)

  • What Happened:
    During the mid-20th century, African Americans and allies fought against systemic racism, segregation, and voter suppression.
  • Why It’s Hopeful:
    Despite violent resistance, the movement achieved landmark victories like the Civil Rights Act (1964) and the Voting Rights Act (1965). Leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. inspired hope by emphasizing justice and equality as attainable goals.
  • Key Lesson:
    Hope is sustained through collective struggle and the belief that systemic change is possible when people unite for a shared cause.

2. The Fall of Apartheid (South Africa)

  • What Happened:
    After decades of brutal racial segregation, the anti-apartheid movement, led by figures like Nelson Mandela, dismantled the apartheid regime through activism, international solidarity, and negotiations.
  • Why It’s Hopeful:
    Mandela’s vision of reconciliation over revenge turned what could have been a destructive transition into a hopeful one. His message that “It always seems impossible until it is done” galvanized millions.
  • Key Lesson:
    Hope can bridge divides, and even entrenched systems of oppression can fall when people refuse to accept the status quo.

3. The Women’s Suffrage Movement (Global)

  • What Happened:
    Across the globe, women fought for the right to vote, facing ridicule, imprisonment, and violence. In the U.S., this culminated in the 19th Amendment (1920), granting women the right to vote.
  • Why It’s Hopeful:
    This decades-long struggle, led by figures like Susan B. Anthony and Emmeline Pankhurst, showed how persistence and organizing could achieve systemic change.
  • Key Lesson:
    Hope fuels long-term battles for justice, proving that systemic barriers can be overcome through intergenerational activism.

4. The Indian Independence Movement

  • What Happened:
    India’s nonviolent struggle, led by Mahatma Gandhi, freed the nation from British colonial rule in 1947.
  • Why It’s Hopeful:
    The movement showed the power of peaceful resistance, with hope as a central theme in Gandhi’s philosophy of satyagraha (truth-force).
  • Key Lesson:
    Hope doesn’t require violence; it thrives on truth, resilience, and collective moral courage.

5. LGBTQ+ Rights & Marriage Equality

  • What Happened:
    Over decades, activists worked to decriminalize homosexuality, fight discrimination, and achieve marriage equality in many countries. Landmark victories include the U.S. Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision (2015).
  • Why It’s Hopeful:
    These achievements, driven by grassroots efforts and brave individuals, transformed societal attitudes and legal frameworks.
  • Key Lesson:
    Hope empowers marginalized communities to push for systemic change, even against entrenched prejudice.

6. Climate Action Movements (Global)

  • What Happened:
    Movements like Fridays for Future, led by Greta Thunberg, and Indigenous environmental activism have raised global awareness about the climate crisis and driven policy changes.
  • Why It’s Hopeful:
    Grassroots activism has forced governments and corporations to confront their environmental impact. The recent surge in renewable energy and sustainability efforts shows progress is possible.
  • Key Lesson:
    Hope motivates action, especially when urgency and community commitment converge.

7. Labor Movements & the Rise of Workers’ Rights

  • What Happened:
    The labor movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries won rights like the 8-hour workday, workplace safety laws, and union protections.
  • Why It’s Hopeful:
    These victories arose from ordinary people organizing strikes, protests, and boycotts, demonstrating the power of collective action.
  • Key Lesson:
    Hope grows when individuals realize their collective strength can challenge even the most powerful systems.

8. Universal Healthcare Movements (Global)

  • What Happened:
    Countries like Canada, the UK, and many in Europe adopted universal healthcare systems after years of advocacy.
  • Why It’s Hopeful:
    These systems reduce inequality by ensuring that health is a right, not a privilege. Activists in the U.S. and other nations continue to push for similar reforms.
  • Key Lesson:
    Hope is sustained by the belief that essential human needs can be met through equitable systems.

9. Mutual Aid Networks

  • What Happened:
    In times of crisis—such as the COVID-19 pandemic or natural disasters—communities have organized mutual aid efforts, providing food, shelter, and care to those in need.
  • Why It’s Hopeful:
    These grassroots initiatives bypass broken systems to meet immediate needs, showing the power of solidarity and shared humanity.
  • Key Lesson:
    Hope thrives in local action, proving that communities can build resilience even when larger systems fail.

10. The Fight Against Authoritarianism

  • What Happened:
    Movements like those in Poland (Solidarity), Chile (against Pinochet), and more recently in Ukraine and Iran demonstrate resistance to authoritarian regimes.
  • Why It’s Hopeful:
    These struggles often succeed despite overwhelming odds, fueled by hope for freedom and self-determination.
  • Key Lesson:
    Hope becomes unstoppable when people unite to resist oppression, even in the darkest times.

Common Threads of Hope

  1. Shared Vision: Hope grows when people unite around a common purpose.
  2. Persistence: Transformative change often takes years or decades, but hope sustains the fight.
  3. Collective Action: Movements grounded in solidarity harness the power of the many to overcome systemic challenges.
  4. Leadership and Inspiration: Charismatic leaders and powerful stories galvanize hope and action.

These stories remind us that even the most oppressive systems can be challenged and changed when hope is transformed into action.

Speaking about stories…. have you read my book?

Stories are essential for how our minds work and how we use our precious gift of consciousness. If you read my book, you will understand why.

If you absolutely refuse to read my book, then read Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Series. He is talking about the exact same thing as the Sapience Series. I did not realize this when I began my series back in 2012, but having just started Asimov’s Foundation Series about one year ago and just finished his series just before the New Year, I know what he wrote about and what I write about are the same. Most of Asimov’s books are about this… I, Robot; Naked Sun; The Stars, Like Dust (I’m reading this one now), Pebble in the Sky, The Caves of Steel, or The Robots of Dawn.

Or pick up H.G. Wells, The Time Machine; Arthur C. Clarke, Childhood’s End; Orson Scott Card, Ender’s Game; Dan Simmons, Hyperion; Frank Herbert, Dune;  Larry Niven, Ringworld; Arthur C. Clarke, A Space Odyssey or Childhood’s End; James S. A. Corey, Leviathan Wakes; Robert A. Heinlein, Starship Troopers; Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy; Iain Banks, Consider Phlebas.

The only way to get out of this Fucking Game that we are all being forced to play is to open our minds. This can only be done one person at a time…. and the very best way to do this is to learn… and the best way to learn is to read, travel, and talk to real people in real places and in real time, which is here and now!

Read… Read… Read!!

Also, please stop at Sapience’s shop: The Quip Collection. I am introducing compelling and chic Year of the Snake wearables as well as Zodiac and Valentines merch with much more to come. Without your time and attention, I will disappear.

Thank you for reading and visiting!

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Wisdom: Narcissistic Abuse + Loss = Unexpected Strength in the Now

Climate Change

On this day six years ago, my father had a heart attack. First responders revived him after 15 minutes of CPR, and then he was flown by helicopter to the Mayo Clinic. There he was put into an induced coma and body cooled to help preserve as much brain function as possible. Nobody knew if he would wake up and if he did, how much of him would wake up. But after days of touch and go, dad came back all of him except swallowing and he had developed pneumonia due to CPR, and this was expected and Mayo began aggressive treatment of it because it turns out if you aren’t breaking ribs while doing CPR, you aren’t pumping enough blood to revive the individual.

Remembering Dad

I wrote all about this in the first anniversary of dad’s death, as well as the reasons why he did not make it.

Celestial Tendencies: A Daughter’s Journey After Father’s Death & the Eternal NOW

How Narcissistic Abuse Severely Thwarted my Healing Journey

In addition to dad’s death, the CEO of a small nonprofit I was working for fired me for being by dad’s side. Most probably this CEO suffering from Narcissistic Personality Disorder and she would be fired soon enough for this and a number of other things she did or failed to do during her tenure.

Adding insult to injury, my mother-in-law who is most definitely contorted and warped by Narcissistic Personality Disorder was about to launch one of her most hideous and disgusting campaigns to make herself appear as the victim so she could harvest attention and pity from her flying monkeys. This is what narcissists enablers are called by professionals who try to help family members and people abused by Narcissists heal. The fuel for her campaign of Narcissistic madness was her own children and grandchildren.

It would take me 6 years to understand what my mother-in-law was doing and why. But back in 2018 and 2019 I simply found myself in HELL.

I should not be here today. The only thing that helped me hold on during this time of pain and abandonment was the story I had started writing in 2012. I was reading dad the latest parts of the story when he died with me by his side on August 4, 2018.

Even though dad had slipped into a delirium due to the stress of life-saving procedures such as suctioning the mucous from his airways and reinserting a feeding tube he had worked out with the back of his tongue four times the previous day, he told the nurses caring for him that he was so proud of me for writing this book and that my whole life has been preparing me for it.

So in the dark days of the summer of 2019, with the help of a friend, I returned to my story and began editing the beginning to bring it up to the level of writing I had evolved into after six years of writing. My friend was then editing my edited version of book 1.

Then, Something New Began Coming Through

Not too long into this process, something new started coming through. I argued with myself… it was right around this time in 2019… for I knew writing something new would take more time.

The something new won took 6 more years to write! I finally published the book my father believed in so much on April 24, 2024.

Here is an excerpt of some of the something new that was coming through me after father died. This is from Sapience: The Moment Is Now — What Rain knows.

From the Book

"You cannot sell wisdom, nor can you buy it. You must earn it by living fully, living unself-consciously but not unconsciously. Wisdom is a group activity. Wisdom is kind. Wisdom shares its last morsel of food simply because that is what wisdom does. Wisdom knows that everything is connected, and what you do to someone else, you have done to yourself first. Wisdom is a baby crawling and giggling with its newfound mastery of getting around. Wisdom is an old man falling and laughing at his misfortunate mishap, knowing perfectly well everyone falls sometimes and it doesn’t mean a darn thing.
Wisdom knows sometimes you are going to win. Wisdom knows sometimes you are going to lose. Wisdom knows winning and losing doesn’t mean a darn thing because that is part of being alive. Wisdom knows navigating the ups and downs, the wins and losses, are much easier and mean so much more when you share it with the people who care about you and who you care about… this is love... caring and sharing, celebrating and mourning, feasting and fasting together as ever as one.
Wisdom is the joy of sharing life with the ones you love. Wisdom is the bliss of partaking equitably in the ups and downs of life. Wisdom is tolerating in another the things that annoy you most. Tolerance is a blessing, and wisdom knows this. Tolerance and wisdom are essential because life is complicated, too complicated for one insignificant human being to know everything it must to make a good decision.
A wise person knows this. A wise person knows a single individual can never consciously gather enough information to make a wise decision: so, stop trying to fool yourself and others that you can. A wise person understands action must be taken without foreknowledge of the results, but if the action is grounded in mutuality, respect, compassion, dignity, love, and a huge heaping of tolerance… mostly the results will reap good outcomes. And when they don’t, a wise person knows it is important to try again. Failure is simply the process of success.
Tolerance is an anti-gravity force to fear. Tolerance requires a person to broaden their bandwidth of consciousness rather than narrow and restrict it as fear does. Tolerance allows an individual to sit in discomfort, to sit in not knowing, to sit in the darkness of what is not clear yet and to wait for understanding of what is right action.
Timing is everything when it comes to action. Right action done too soon quickly turns into wrong action. Right action done too late will also not produce desired results. Action done outside of its proper time or beyond what is necessary to complete a task is easily twisted and corrupted by thinking that tries to justify it. Such action grows fat with inaccurate, incorrect, false, untrue, and mistaken attributions ladled onto it to get people to act. This sort of propped up action becomes more and more improper and unsuitable for the circumstances.
Such artificial action awakens the most wicked and sinful parts of a person, because acting outside and beyond the bounds of right action requires an angry mind, a brash, conservative, intolerant, mean, merciless, unfriendly, unsympathetic, biased, disapproving, narrow-minded, and prejudiced mind. People acting in this manner are cruel, brutal, savage, bloodthirsty, vicious people driven by narrower and narrower justifications loaded with fantastical and fraudulent fancies.
Wisdom knows this and knows tolerance is the only way to slow down enough to sense and see what is really going on inside and outside of one’s own mind and body. Only by sensing and seeing more of what is actually going on in the present moment can a person produce right action at the right time.
Right action does not inflict harm unto oneself or another without a really good reason why violence is required. Isaac Asimov got it right when his character, Salvor Hardin, says: “Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.” This is true because it is so easy to lose wisdom when one is racing inside their mind, thought after thought conceived by lies, half-truths, or half-baked ideas and silly beliefs.
A person acting in such a way utilizes the narrowest bandwidth of consciousness possible yet still able to remain conscious. Any narrower, and the person would fall into a dumb, zombie-like stupor. Wisdom knows this. Wisdom knows thinking is a result of the constriction of consciousness due to fear. Wisdom knows thinking trumped up with false facts and fantastical beliefs is going to make a lot of mistakes due to its failure to grasp reality. So, like any good toddler, a person who thinks all the time and falls out of phase with right action will make more and more mistakes and will act in more and more rageful ways trying to cover up and hide all their blunders, miscalculations, gaffes, and ignorance."                                            -- Pages 128-128

Note: the link to Sapience is supposed to be a universal link that will open to the book in whatever browser and language from which you operate; however, it has not seemed to be working, so you can also search by the ASIN: B0D2LM5B6K.

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Making Ignorance Great Again!

It is the 4th of July 2024! The United States of America has withstood so many moments of greatness, disaster, conflict, trauma, war and peace. Through it all, for 248 years, Americans of all makes and models, Americans great and small, rich or poor, immigrant or native (and most modern Americans are by far immigrants… it is ignorance to argue otherwise) have managed to come together and stand together when the times of required us to act as one body to achieve our destiny.

But this July 4th, Americans stand divided. Americans are more fractured than ever, perhaps more divided than Americans were on April 11, 1861. This is the day before the Civil War began. Evidently, the division that plunged Americans in the the bloody Civil War did not end on April 9, 1865. It rages on today.

Today, we face a stark choice: Biden or Trump. To vote for a third candidate is to shrink from your duty to make a hard choice. It is a cop out. It is playing the game of chicken when America needs you to play the game of defending democracy for the future.

Is the choice easy?

No, of course not. When the stakes are high, when is a choice that matters ever easy?

Biden is old, but he is wise. Trump is old, and he is pig-ignorant.

Biden is frail, but he tells the truth. Trump is vigorous but lies like the Devil.

Biden fumbled the debate, but his is good. Trump fumbled too, and he is evil.

What is evil?

I talk about it in my book available on Amazon titled: Sapience: The Moment Is Now.

Sapience: The Moment Is Now (available on Amazon!)

Evil is Live spelled backwards. When a human being ignores too much of reality, humans are capable of creating conditions that do not support life. In other words, the make a livable world un livable. That is evil, pure and simple.

What is ignorance?

I also talk extensively about this in my book on Amazon. Ignorance is ignoring certain parts of reality so that you can know more about one thing or another. We all must learn to ignore the world in order to know certain parts of the world. This is how we gain knowledge. But too much ignoring leads straight to foolish ignor-ance. This is where we are with the Cult of Trump and MAGA.

So, why MIGA?

If you shorten Making Ignorance Great Again, and you get MIGA. I got this idea while swimming and created it on my iPad. Basically, I took the A in MAGA crack it in half to get the lopsided I (the broken piece of A that is going to fall over because every opposite thing needs its other half to stand strong). I added an orange with a MIGA hat on top in homage to Orange Jesus.

Thank you Liz Cheney for revealing in your book that is what MAGA followers call Trump.

In short, this is what it seems to me what MAGA is bent on doing… making up fiends and foes out of common, ordinary people living in America who happen to have different ideas, lifestyles, color of skin, political or religious beliefs, or anything else they want to make a big fuss about. To do this, the very first thing that must be done is to divide Americans into “us” and “them”. Then, once the division is made, the “us” group gets to go around screaming, shouting, and raging about reality not being how or what they want it to be. It’s so easy to rage.

It’s hard to do the work to really understand the complexities of nature, much less a huge, complicate country like the USA. So, just forget about trying to understand all nuances, complexity, or differences… just cut reality in half, throw away or get rid of the part you don’t like, and plough ahead with half a head and a lopsided mind. In other words, ignore complexity. This is how you get MIGA out of MAGA.

MIGA… Making Ignorance Great Again! See the MIGA Collection now available on my Etsy store: The Quip Collection.

And, Happy 4th of July!

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No Choice vs Too Much Choice!

How Would A No Labels Presidential Candidate Change the Outcome in 2024?

This blog focus on the idea that the non-profit organization called No Labels plans to put a third party candidate into the 2024 Presidential Campaign. While I agree with Ryan Clancy’s idea of creating more choice for American voters, it is an extremely, short-sighted, ill-conceived, and premature idea to try to do this year.

While 60,000 voters think a third party candidate can win, so far no third party candidate has ever come close to getting a toe hold into the White House. There are so many more MAGA voters inspired by cooky myths, lies, and the very scary Seven Mountain Mandate men, of whom Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert are examples of women leaning heavily into “Let’s Do Medieval Again!“

The Stakes

This year, more than any year in American history, the stakes are higher than most people care to believe or admit or reckon with. Having Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West already running on third party tickets is concerning. So now, we want more choice and add a No Labels ticket too?! Really, this year, when King Kong and his MAGA base is coming to rip down democracy and replace it with the Christian Alt Right Stary-Eyed, Let’s Have Kings Again, The Seven Mountains Mandate men?!

Who are The Seven Montains Mandate men and women? Think Handmaids Tale.

From January 2022 blog

Grow up America!

From January 2022 blog

People: Do You Understand How Democracy Works

Do people really understand how democracy works?

  • It is not: “Oh the guy I voted for didn’t do the one thing I really wanted him to do, so I’m not voting for him again.”
  • This is an ignorant, short-sighted, and extremely selfish opinion. Running a country of 331+ million people democratically is not done by waving magic wands and fixing this problem instantly, then this problem, then that problem, and so on and so forth…
  • Do you live in reality people who give this as a reason for not voting for Joe? MAGA voters are a whole different story. They are a battering ram. They want to destroy democracy and rebuild America as a Totalitarian Christian Nationalist Country. Do you, ordinary voters unhappy with Joe want to live in a Christian Nationalist State run by one of the stupidest men on the planet… the Orange Baby?
  • Don’t rely on me for raising this alarm, listen to Fresh Air and Terry Gross’ interview with Bradley Onishi: Tracing the rise of Christian nationalism, from Trump to the Ala. Supreme Court

Rise of Christian Nationalism

Bradley Onishi is a former Christian nationalist who's now a professor of religion and the author of Preparing for War, a critique of the movement and its impact on American democracy.
BRAD ONISHI: I think it has. Christian nationalism is having a moment. It's having a moment in ways that it's requiring those who adhere to its principles and ideologies to respond to it. Folks like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert and others have talked about the ways that Christian nationalism not only informs their understanding of politics, but how they identify explicitly as Christian nationalists. And so we are at a point in American politics where Christian nationalism is something that many people are discussing.
GROSS: Are there many people in Congress who are affiliated with Christian nationalism?
ONISHI: I think it's fair to say that, yes. One of the things that's true about our Congress is that it is disproportionately Christian. Now, there are many different types of Christian people in our Congress from various denominations. However, if we look at the GOP and we look at the tenets of the party's policies and its approach to the upcoming elections, we find core Christian nationalist ideals in that platform. And we find many, many, many members of Congress from the GOP who support those principles. So from outgoing Speaker Kevin McCarthy to current speaker Mike Johnson, all the way to senators and other members of the House, there are many folks who I would describe as Christian nationalists in the United States Congress.
GROSS: What are some of the fundamental principles of Christian nationalism? Like, how would you define Christian nationalism?
ONISHI: I think in very simple terms, Christian nationalism is the idea that Christian people should be privileged in the United States in some way - economically, socially, politically - and that that influence and that privilege is a result of the country being founded by and for Christians. Christian nationalism is not the idea that others can't be here - that if you're a Muslim or an atheist, that you have to leave. It's also not the idea that only Christians can be part of the government. However, for most Christian nationalists, there is a core belief that the story of the United States is one where it has been elected by God to play an exceptional role in human history, and as being chosen by God, it's the duty of Christian people to carry out his will on Earth.
So Christian nationalists take an approach to their Christianity that says it should have an undue influence on our government, on our economics, on our culture, and that it is by dint of our history, the religious faith that is meant to be privileged in our public square. With that said, there are different kinds of Christian nationalists and different ways that people manifest their understanding of the term. But when it comes down to it, if we all sit down as Americans at a table and there are people from different backgrounds, different ethnicities, different faiths, and someone who is a Christian says, just by being at this table, I should have a special place, well, to me, that's Christian nationalism because you're saying that somehow this country is yours in a way that it is not for everyone else. And to me, therein lies the problem.

Go to Fresh Air to listen or read the rest of this interview. It is really, really important!

And this is really creepy:

GROSS: An extreme group of Christian nationalists is the New Apostolic Reformation, and they advocate the Seven Mountain Mandate, which is that Christian nationalists or Christians should lead government, family, religion, business, education, media, arts and entertainment, and that they - all of these sectors should reflect the kingdom of God. And I think I mentioned all seven there. So what does that mean to reflect the kingdom of God in family, religion, business, education, media, arts and entertainment, and the government?
ONISHI: The Seven Mountains mandate is a particular form of understanding human society that says that Christian people are not called to persuade their neighbors to practice the Christian faith, to demonstrate to their fellow Americans that the Christian faith is the faith of love and truth. The Seven Mountains Mandate is, as my colleague Matthew Taylor says, a mandate to colonize the Earth for God. The seven domains as you listed them - arts and leisure and the economy and the government, the family - are seen as mountains of conquest. The goal is not dialogue with neighbors who may be Muslim or atheist or Hindu. The goal is not to simply reflect the character of Christ on earth by way of living a life that upholds his glory and his teachings. The goal is to have absolute authority and power over every facet of human society.
And so we can see here what I take to be a very dangerous approach to practicing Christianity in the public square. It is not one that recognizes democracy or dialogue, pluralism as sacred values. The goal is power. The goal is conquest. And so when one hears about a politician or a leader or anyone in influence, especially as part of our government, who adheres to the Seven Mountains Mandate, that should set alarm bells off immediately.
  • Democracy Is Not: “Joe’s too old, Joe’s too square, Joe’s too this or that...” This is just as stupid, impatience, ignorant reason to not vote for a known and vetted winner: Joe Biden.
  • There was a time in the not so distant past when age was considered a plus and must for a ruler. Wisdom takes time to ripen and mature inside of people. And it does not come to everyone who ages… look at the overly large, orange, baby King Kong with his revved up mad as hell MAGA base.
  • Do you think they are worried about the Orange Giant being too old… his less than 4 years younger than Biden!! Anyone giving this as a reason not to vote for Joe is suffering from ageism and is pretty ignorant about how a government governing 331+ million people really works! It takes a lot of people to make it work… good people who are appointed to their positions in a timely fashion and have the expertise and experience to do their jobs. Trump had the most vacancies in top, critical positions of any former President. Some key positions were never appointed under the Orange Giant.
  • Democracy Is Not: “I’m mad a Joe for aiding Israel.” Modern nation-states are messy… alliances are messy… the world is messy and hard and cruel… that is why nations make alliances, and when Israel was attacked by HAMAS in one of the bloodiest, most gruesome slaughters of innocent people of this century, of course US comforts and supports Israel. There is so much going on behind the scenes that you and I never hear about. The death of any innocent person is intolerable. And Joe and his cabinet are doing their damn best to push for resolution, ceasefire, peace. But, tell me, anyone threatening not to vote for Joe because he can’t wave his wand and make this bloodshed stop… DO YOU REALLY THINK THE ORANGE GIANT (the man to put in place the Muslim Ban days after taking office)…. DO YOU REALLY THINK he is a better option?! I was mad at Obama for not doing more to stop the slaughter of Syrians being bombed by Russia as they aided their ugly ally Bashar al-Assad.

Take A Minute, Learn Something… Maybe Something New

Do Americans really understand democracy? Do Americans really cherish it? Do American comprehend what is at stake this year?

No Labels Debate

It is a choice. Listen to this debate and listen to Fresh Air if you are truly concerned about making an informed, intelligent choice.

The centrist group No Labels is planning to host a bipartisan nominating convention in 2024. This is leading some people to speculate that they may promote a third-party candidate that better reflects the perspective of middle-of-the-line voters who don’t favor President Biden’s re-election bid or Donald Trump receiving the Republican nomination. 

Those who say it will help Trump argue the group doesn’t have enough influence to make lasting tangible change and worry that promoting a third-party unity ticket will give an unpopular candidate like Trump a lower threshold for votes that would’ve gone to Biden. 

Those who disagree say voters who are discontented with both major parties but particularly opposed to Trump, might turn out in support of the third-party candidate, indirectly reducing Trump's chances. 

With this context, we debate the question: “How Would A No Labels Presidential Candidate Change the Outcome in 2024?"  

Rahna Epting argues that the No Labels Party does not have a path to win the presidency. Ryan Clancy argues a No Labels unity presidential ticket has a viable path to win the White House in 2024. Emmy award-winning journalist John Donvan moderates.

Open to Debate: How Would a No Labels Presidential Candidate Change the Outcome in 2024?

Feature Archetypal Animation

Music: Mickey Mouse Operation | Little People — [11] Fisticuffs At Dawn    1:02

https://www.sapience2112.com/when-do-we-get-to-use-violence/
When Do We Get to Use Violence
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Wanted for Mass Murderer

Putin is a serial murderer responsible for decades of death. In case you have not been keeping count, this is a partial list of his history of mass murder.

And others who should be added to his warrant for arrest include: Trump and his MAGA zombies (failure to past funding to Ukraine), Kim Jong Un (supplying missiles to Russia), Xi Jinping (supporting and supplying Russia with weapons of war), Iran (supplying missiles to Russia), and any Putin sympathizers.

Just Another Da with My Boys! | Music: YMCA — Villiage People

The Russian apartment bombings 

These were a series of explosions that hit four apartment blocks in the Russian cities of Buynaksk, Moscow, and Volgodonsk in September 1999, killing more than 300, injuring more than 1,000, and spreading a wave of fear across the country. 

Two Chechnya Wars

  • About 300000 people have been killed during two wars in Chechnya over the past decade, a senior official in the province’s Moscow-backed government said. — Al Jazeera
Human rights organizations accused Russian forces of engaging in indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force whenever they encountered resistance, resulting in numerous civilian deaths. (According to Human Rights Watch, Russian artillery and rocket attacks killed at least 267 civilians during the December 1995 raid by the Chechens on the city of Gudermes.[46]) Throughout the span of the first Chechen war, Russian forces have been accused by Human Rights organizations of starting a brutal war with total disregard for humanitarian law, causing tens of thousands of unnecessary civilian casualties among the Chechen population. The main strategy in the Russian war effort had been to use heavy artillery and air strikes leading to numerous indiscriminate attacks on civilians. This has led to Western and Chechen sources calling the Russian strategy deliberate terror bombing on parts of Russia.[65] According to Human Rights Watch, the campaign was "unparalleled in the area since World War II for its scope and destructiveness, followed by months of indiscriminate and targeted fire against civilians".[66] Due to ethnic Chechens in Grozny seeking refuge among their respective teips in the surrounding villages of the countryside, a high proportion of initial civilian casualties were inflicted against ethnic Russians who were unable to find viable escape routes. The villages were also attacked from the first weeks of the conflict (Russian cluster bombs, for example, killed at least 55 civilians during the 3 January 1995 Shali cluster bomb attack).
Russian soldiers often prevented civilians from evacuating areas of imminent danger and prevented humanitarian organizations from assisting civilians in need. It was widely alleged that Russian troops, especially those belonging to the Internal Troops (MVD), committed numerous and in part systematic acts of torture and summary executions on Chechen civilians; they were often linked to zachistka ("cleansing" raids on town districts and villages suspected of harboring boyeviki – militants). Humanitarian and aid groups chronicled persistent patterns of Russian soldiers killing, raping and looting civilians at random, often in disregard of their nationality. Chechen fighters took hostages on a massive scale, kidnapped or killed Chechens considered to be collaborators and mistreated civilian captives and federal prisoners of war (especially pilots). Russian federal forces kidnapped hostages for ransom and used human shields for cover during the fighting and movement of troops (for example, a group of surrounded Russian troops took approximately 500 civilian hostages at Grozny's 9th Municipal Hospital).[67]
The violations committed by members of the Russian forces were usually tolerated by their superiors and were not punished even when investigated (the story of Vladimir Glebov serving as an example of such policy). Television and newspaper accounts widely reported largely uncensored images of the carnage to the Russian public. The Russian media coverage partially precipitated a loss of public confidence in the government and a steep decline in President Yeltsin's popularity. Chechnya was one of the heaviest burdens on Yeltsin's 1996 presidential election campaign. The protracted war in Chechnya, especially many reports of extreme violence against civilians, ignited fear and contempt of Russia among other ethnic groups in the federation. One of the most notable war crimes committed by the Russian army is the Samashki massacre, in which it is estimated that up to 300 civilians died during the attack.[68] Russian forces conducted an operation of zachistka, house-by-house searches throughout the entire village. Federal soldiers deliberately and arbitrarily attacked civilians and civilian dwellings in Samashki by shooting residents and burning houses with flame-throwers. They wantonly opened fire or threw grenades into basements where residents, mostly women, elderly persons and children, had been hiding.[69] Russian troops intentionally burned many bodies, either by throwing the bodies into burning houses or by setting them on fire.[70] A Chechen surgeon, Khassan Baiev, treated wounded in Samashki immediately after the operation and described the scene in his book:[71]

Human rights and war crimes[edit] — Main articles: Chechen genocide, Russian war crimes, and Second Chechen War crimes and terrorism

The Second Chechen War saw a new wave of war crimes and violation of international humanitarian law. Both sides have been criticised by international organizations of violating the Geneva Conventions. However, a report by Human Rights Watch states that without minimizing the abuses committed by Chechen fighters, the main reason for civilian suffering in the Second Chechen War came as a result of the abuses committed by the Russian forces on the civilian population.[94] According to Amnesty International, Chechen civilians have been purposely targeted by Russian forces, in apparent disregard of humanitarian law. The situation has been described by Amnesty International as a Russian campaign to punish an entire ethnic group, on the pretext of "fighting crime and terrorism".[95] Russian forces have throughout the campaign ignored to follow their Geneva convention obligations, and has taken little responsibility of protecting the civilian population.[94] Amnesty International stated in their 2001 report that Chechen civilians, including medical personnel, have been the target of military attacks by Russian forces, and hundreds of Chechen civilians and prisoners of war are extrajudicially executed.[96]
According to human rights activists, Russian troops systematically committed the following crimes in Chechnya: the destruction of cities and villages, not justified by military necessity; shelling and bombardment of unprotected settlements; summary extrajudicial executions and killings of civilians; torture, ill-treatment and infringement of human dignity; serious bodily harm intentionally inflicted on persons not directly participating in hostilities; deliberate strikes against the civilian population, civilian and medical vehicles; illegal detentions of the civilian population and enforced disappearances; looting and destruction of civilian and public property; extortion; taking hostages for ransom; corpse trade.[97][98][99] There were also rapes,[100][101][102] which, along with women, were committed against men.[103][104][105][106][107][108] According to the Minister of Health of Ichkeria, Umar Khanbiev, Russian forces committed organ harvesting and organ trade during the conflict.[109]
Russian forces have since the beginning of the conflict indiscriminately and disproportionately bombed and shelled civilian objects, resulting in heavy civilian casualties. In one such occasion in October 1999, ten powerful hypersonic missiles fell without warning and targeted the city's only maternity hospital, post office, mosque, and a crowded market.[110][111][112][113] Most of the casualties occurred at the central market, and the attack is estimated to have killed over 100 instantly and injuring up to 400 others. Similar incidents include the Baku–Rostov highway bombing where the Russian Air Force perpetrated repeated rocket attacks on a large convoy of refugees trying to enter Ingushetia through a supposed "safe exit".[114][115] This was repeated in December 1999 when Russian soldiers opened fire on a refugee convoy marked with white flags.[116]
The 1999–2000 siege and bombardments of Grozny caused between 5,000[117] and 8,000[118] civilians to perish. The Russian army issued an ultimatum during the Grozny-siege urging Chechens to leave the city or be destroyed without mercy.[119] Around 300 people were killed while trying to escape in October 1999 and subsequently buried in a mass grave.[120] The bombing of Grozny included banned Buratino thermobaric and fuel-air bombs, igniting the air of civilians hiding in basements.[121][122] There were also reports of the use of chemical weapons, banned according to Geneva law.[123] The Russian president Putin vowed that the military would not stop bombing Grozny until Russian troops quote 'fulfilled their task to the end.' In 2003, the United Nations called Grozny the most destroyed city on Earth.[124]
Another occasion of indiscriminate and perhaps deliberate bombardment is the bombing of Katyr-Yurt which occurred on 4–6 February 2000. The village of Katyr Yurt was far from the war's front line, and jam-packed with refugees. It was untouched on the morning of 4 February when Russian aircraft, helicopters, fuel-air bombs and Grad missiles pulverised the village. After the bombing the Russian army allowed buses in, and allowed a white-flag refugee convoy to leave after which they bombed that as well.[125] Banned Thermobaric weapons were fired on the village of Katyr-Yurt. Hundreds of civilians died as a result of the Russian bombardment and the following sweep after.[126][127] Thermobaric weapons have been used by the Russian army on several occasions according to Human Rights Watch.[128]

Syria

  • 6,950 civilians dead 
The Syrian regime was responsible for 201,055 of these deaths, with the victims including 22,981 children and 11,976 women, while Russian forces killed 6,950 civilians, including 2,048 children and 977 women.Mar 15, 2023 -- ReliefWeb

Ukraine

  • 500,000+ killed since Putin invaded
Casualties in the Russo-Ukrainian War included six deaths during the 2014 annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, 14,200–14,400 military and civilian deaths during the war in Donbas, and up to 500,000 estimated casualties during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. -- Wiki
The second year of war dragged on through Ukraine slowly and with little mercy. The first year of the war was a story of the resilience of people amid conflict that has turned into one of perseverance as the conflict has stagnated, with no end in sight.
Bohdan Semenukha and his mother, Viktoria, walk frequently through the Lychakiv cemetery in Lviv, Ukraine, just a few blocks from the new apartment where they moved after fleeing Kharkiv, in the country’s northeast, in January 2023. | Claire Harbage/NPR

Never Again

Music: Jupiter & Jaguar — Blond:ish | Welcome to the Present & Chants of Native Earth | Shamanic Moon (Native American Drums) | From February 24, 2022 | “Never Again” the World Once Said“

Alexei Navalny

  • ‘It’s a torture regime’: the last days of Alexei Navalny
Image from The Guardian
Each morning at 5am, Alexei Navalny was roused with the words “Wake up!” as the Russian national anthem played on the prison loudspeakers. It was always dark in the polar night above the Arctic Circle, and the temperature outside could fall below -30C (-22F). The convict would have a sheepskin coat and an ushanka hat to keep warm in a prison colony better known by its nickname: the Polar Wolf.

To read whole article, go to The Guardian for full article by Andrew Roth and Pjotr Sauer
  • Full List of Putin Critics Who Have Died in Mysterious Circumstances
For over two decades, President Vladimir Putin has squeezed dissent in Russia. Critics, journalists, and defectors have faced dire consequences after opposing him. From poisonings to shootings, mysterious falls from windows, and even plane crashes, there is a long trail of silenced voices.
Alexei Navalny, whose death in prison is as yet unexplained, had previously fallen ill on a flight from Siberia to Moscow in 2020 after being poisoned with Novichok, a nerve agent. Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian spy who defected and was a prominent Putin critic, was murdered with polonium-210 in London in 2016. -- Newsweek

Book About the Man Wanted for Mass Murder

Book:

Putin’s Wars: From Chechnya to Ukraine by Mark Galeotti (Author)

Previous Blogs Dedicated to Ukraine & Vanquishing HATE

Feature Archetypal Animation from last year’s blog marking the first anniversary of Russia’s full scale invasion — February 24, 2023 — Ukraine | “Never Again” the World Once Said“
https://www.sapience2112.com/ukraine-never-again-the-world-once-said/
February 24, 2023 | “Never Again” the World Once Said“
“You Want It Darker? We Kill the Flame!” — Leonard Cohen | Leonard Cohen is telling us exactly what WE need to do in this moment of Ruthless Barbarity, the darkness Putin has plunged the world into once again, WE KILL THE FLAME... We (the Good People of Earth who honor life and respect freedom) WE kill the flame of EVIL Putin lit in 2014 and dramatically escalated last year! We don’t have a tomorrow to do this if we want OUR World Back. | | February 24, 2023 | “Never Again” the World Once Said“
“Look Mom! I’m A Monkey for Putin!” | Music: Wizard of the Hood (Collector’s Edition) | Violent J — Shiny Diamonds | Putin should be careful as Xi Jinping may very well turn Putin into his Flying Monkey! | February 24, 2023 | “Never Again” the World Once Said” | And HE is still Putin’s Pigeon… he has simply pulled the entire Republican Narc Bubble into his Pigeon Hole with him | SHAME ON YOU MAGA Republicans who are leaving Ukraine blowing in the disgusting breathe of the Putin fiend.
From March 2023
Feature Archetypal Animation marking Russia’s full scale invasion into Ukraine — February 24, 2022 — Ukraine Letters
https://www.sapience2112.com/ukraine-letters-to-the-world-of-free-men-and-women/
Ukraine Letters — February 24, 2022
World of Dictators From February 24, 2023 | “Never Again” the World Once Said” | Or as TRUMP would say: “I’m a really stable dictator!”

Archetypal Animations

Feature Archetypal Animation

Images: Midjourney

Music: Zombies Sound EffectsSound Ideas | [10] Low Moaning Zombie Ambience    0:38

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The Most Dangerous Creature on the Planet | Part 10: Marvelization of Man

Trump, Gorilla

We are ploughing ahead in this series. If you want to understand why this series is call the Marvelization of Man, then skip back to blog 1: here.

Long story short, if there are going to be Marvelous Men, there are also going to be ordinary men, awful men, and god awful terrible men. And this is what we are really exploring, the underside of Marvelous.

So, here we go, taking a deep dive into the workings of the most disgusting, vile, horrid creatures to be found on planet Earth: The Totalitarian Leader!

What follows is from Joost Meerloo’s book, Rape of the Mind, published in 1956. To read more about Joost, backtrack to this blog, here.

The Totalitarian Leader

— Page 79, Rape of the Mind by Joost Meerloo

The leaders of Totalitaria are the strangest men in the state. These men are, like all other men, unique in their mental structure, and consequently we cannot make any blanket psychiatric diagnosis of the mental illness which motivates their behaviour.
But we can make some generalizations which will help us toward some understanding of the totalitarian leader. Obviously, for example, he suffers from an overwhelming need to control other human beings and to exert unlimited power, and this in itself is a psychological aberration, often rooted in deep-seated feelings of anxiety, humiliation, and inferiority. The ideologies such men propound are only used as tactical and strategical devices through which they hope to reach their final goal of complete domination over other men. This domination may help them compensate for pathological fears and feelings of unworthiness, as we can conclude from the psychological study of some modern dictators.
Fortunately, we do not have to rely on a purely hypothetical picture of the psychopathology of the totalitarian dictator. Dr. G. M. Gilbert, who studied some of the leaders of Nazi Germany during the Nuremberg trials, has given us a useful insight into their twisted minds, useful especially because it reveals to us something about the mutual interaction between the totalitarian leader and those who want to be led by him.
Hitler's suicide made a clinical investigation of his character structure impossible, but Dr. Gilbert heard many eyewitness reports of Hitler's behaviour from his friends and collaborators, and these present a fantastic picture of Nazism's prime mover. Hitler was known among his intimates as the carpet-eater, because he often threw himself on the floor in a kicking and screaming fit like an epileptic rage. From such reports, Dr. Gilbert was able to deduce something about the roots of the pathological behaviour displayed by this morbid "genius."
Hitler's paranoid hostility against the Jew was partly related to his unresolved parental conflicts; the Jews probably symbolized for him the hated drunken father who mistreated Hitler and his mother when the future Fuhrer was still a child. Hitler's obsessive thinking, his furious fanaticism, his insistence on maintaining the purity of "Aryan blood," and his ultimate mania to destroy himself and the world were obviously the results of a sick psyche.
As early as 1923, nearly ten years before he seized power, Hitler was convinced that he would one day rule the world, and he spent time designing monuments of victory, eternalizing his glory, to be erected all over the European continent when the day of victory arrived. This delusional preoccupation continued until the end of his life; in the midst of the war he created, which led him to defeat and death, Hitler continued revising and improving his architectural plans.
Nazi dictator Number Two, Hermann Goering, who committed suicide to escape the hangman, had a different psychological structure. His pathologically aggressive drivers were encouraged by the archaic military tradition of the German Junker class, to which his family belonged. From early childhood he had been compulsively and overtly aggressive. He was an autocratic and a corrupt cynic, grasping the Nazi-created opportunity to achieve purely personal gain. His contempt for the "common people" was unbounded; this was a man who had literally no sense of moral values.
Quite different again was Rudolf Hess, the man of passive yet fanatical doglike devotion, living, as it were, by proxy through the mind of his Fuhrer. His inner mental weakness made it easier for him to live through means of a proxy than through his own personality, and drove him to become the shadow of a seemingly strong man, from whom he could borrow strength. The Nazi ideology have this frustrated boy the illusion of blood identification with the glorious German race. After his wild flight to England, Hess showed obvious psychotic traits; his delusions of persecution, hysterical attacks, and periods of amnesia are among the well-known clinical symptoms of schizophrenia.
Still another type was Hans Frank, the devil's advocate, the prototype of the overambitious latent homosexual, easily seduced into political adventure, even when this was in conflict with the remnants of his conscience. For unlike Goering, Frank was capable of distinguishing between right and wrong.
Dr. Gilbert also tells us something about General Wilhelm Keitel, Hitler's Chief of Staff, who became the submissive, automatic mouthpiece of the Fuhrer, mixing military honor and personal ambition in the service of his own unimportance.
Of a different quality is the S.S. Colonel, Hoess, the murderer of millions in the concentration camp of Auschwitz. A pathological character structure is obvious in this case. All his life, Hoess had been a lonely, withdrawn, schizoid personality, without any conscience, wallowing in his own hostile and destructive fantasies. Alone and bereft of human attachments, he was intuitively sought out by Himmler for this most savage of all the Nazi jobs. He was a useful instrument for the committing of the most bestial deeds.
Unfortunately, we have no clear psychiatric picture yet of the Russian dictator Stalin. There have been several reports that during the last years of his life he had a tremendous persecution phobia and lived in constant terror that he would become the victim of his own purges.
Psychological analysis of these men shows clearly that a pathological culture -- a mad world - can be built by certain impressive psychoneurotic types. The venal political figures need not even comprehend the social and political consequences of their behaviour. They are compelled not by ideological belief, no matter how much they may rationalize to convince themselves they are, but by the distortions of their own personalities. They are not motivated by their advertised urge to serve their country or mankind, but rather by an overwhelming need and compulsion to satisfy the cravings of their own pathological character structures.
The ideologies they spout are not real goals; they are the cynical devices by which these sick men hope to achieve some personal sense of worth and power. Subtle inner lies seduce them into going from bad to worse. Defensive self-deception, arrested insight, evasion of emotional identification with others, degradation of empathy - the mind has many defense mechanisms with which to blind the conscience.
A clear example of this can be seen in the way the Nazi leaders defended themselves through continuous self-justification and exculpation when they were brought before the bar at the Nuremberg trials. These murderers were aggrieved and hurt by the accusations brought against them; they were the very picture of injured innocence.
Any form of leadership, if unchecked by controls, may gradually turn into dictatorship. Being a leader, carrying great power and responsibility for other people's lives, is a monumental test for the human psyche. The weak leader is the man who cannot meet it, who simply abdicates his responsibility. The dictator is the man who replaces the existing standards of justice and morality by more and more private prestige, by more and more power, and eventually isolates himself more and more from the rest of humanity. His suspicion grows, his isolation grows, and the vicious circle leading to a paranoid attitude begins to develop.
The dictator is not only a sick man, he is also a cruel opportunist. He sees no value in any other person and feels no gratitude for any help he may have received. He is suspicious and dishonest and believes that his personal ends justify any means he may use to achieve them. Peculiarly enough, every tyrant still searches for some self-justification. Without such a soothing device for his own conscience, he cannot live.
His attitude toward other people is manipulative; to him, they are merely tools for the advancement of his own interests. He rejects the conception of doubt, of internal contradictions, of man's inborn ambivalence. He denies the psychological fact that man grows to maturity through groping, through trial and error, through the interplay of contrasting feelings. Because he will not permit himself to grope, to learn through trial and error, the dictator can never become a mature person. But whether he acknowledges them or not, he has internal conflicts, he suffers somewhere from internal confusion. These inner "weaknesses" he tries to repress sternly; if they were to come to the surface, they might interfere with the achievement of his goals. Yet, in the attacks of rage his weakening strength is evident.
It is because the dictator is afraid, albeit unconsciously, of his own internal contradictions, that he is afraid of the same internal contradictions of his fellow men. He must purge and purge, terrorize and terrorize in order to still his own raging inner drives. He must kill every doubter, destroy every person who makes a mistake, imprison everyone who cannot be proved to be utterly single-minded. In Totalitaria, the latent aggression and savagery in man are cultivate by the dictator to such a degree that they can explode into mass criminal actions shown by Hitler's persecution of minorities. Ultimately, the country shows a real pathology, an utter dominance of destructive and self-destructive tendencies.

Archetypal Animations

Feature Archetypal Animation

Images: Midjourney

Music: Trump Chill Covers — Maestro Ziikos — [10] Unstoppable – Trump    3:36

First Archetypal Animation

Images — Midjourney

Music: Mountain of Memory (Remixes) — Emancipator: Dodo – ITO Remix    4:49

Second Archetypal Animation

Images — Midjourney

Music: Make America Great Again — Trump The Don — [1] Make America Great Again    2:17

Previous Marvelization of Man Blogs

Marvelization of Man
https://www.sapience2112.com/the-narcissist-part-2-the-marvelization-of-man/
https://www.sapience2112.com/public-opinion-engineers-part-3-the-marvelization-of-man/
https://www.sapience2112.com/super-hero-terror/
https://www.sapience2112.com/indoctrination-barrage-part-5-the-marvelization-of-man/
https://www.sapience2112.com/the-enigma-of-coexistence-part-6-the-marvelization-of-man/
https://www.sapience2112.com/totalitaria/
https://www.sapience2112.com/hate-is-a-habit-part-8-of-the-marvelization-of-man/
https://www.sapience2112.com/creepy-collectivism-part-9-marvelization-of-man/
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Creepy Collectivism | Part 9: Marvelization of Man

This is part 9 of the series The Marvelization of Man series in which we explore chapter 6 of Joost Merloo’s book: The Rape of the Mind written in 1956 in the aftermath of WWII and the horrors of the Totalitarian Mindset.

Why is the Totalitarian Mindset part of the Marvelization of Man? I mean, really, Marvel super heroes… well, they have super powers, they can fly, they can lift heavy objects with their eyes, they are protectors… right?

Well, yes they are… but I suspect for as high as we fly in our minds with these marvelous super heroes, we also descend deeper in our minds into dark and frightening places. And the more divided we become as a nation, as a group of people trying to work out this really crazy thing called civilization… well, we need to grapple with both sides of ourselves at the same time.

Blaming the Democrats for all the MAGA’s woes isn’t going to save a single MAGA voter from the realities of our time. Any place where you see conflict erupting and one-sidedness erupting into violence and war, the realities of the Totalitarian Mindset need to understood and grappled with. This is why this blog series is exploring Joost Merloo’s book now.

So, let’s jump into it… now.

Chapter 6 | The Rape of the Mind

Part 2: Cultural Predilection for Totalitarianism — Page 76

In the battle against this dread disease, social factors as well as personal ones play an important role. We can see this more clearly if we analyze the ways in which the ideals of a culture as a whole affect its citizens' vulnerability to totalitarianism. The ethics of our own Western civilization are our strongest defences against the disease, for the ideal of these ethics is to produce a breed of men and women who are strongly individualistic and who evaluate situations primarily in terms of their own consciences.
We aim to develop in our citizens a sense of self-responsibility, a willingness to confront the world as it is, and an ability to distinguish between right and wrong through their own feelings and thoughts. Such men and women are impelled to action by their personal moral standards rather than by what some outside group sets up as correct. They are unwilling to accept group evaluations immediately unless these coincide with their own personal convictions, or unless they have been able to discuss them in a democratic way. People like this are responsible to their communities because they are first responsible to themselves. If they disagree, they will form a "loyal minority", using their rights of convincing other people at appropriate times.
There are other cultures which emphasize attitudes and values that are different from these. The Eastern ideal of man, as we find it in China and some of the other Oriental countries, is in the first place that one "oneness", of being one with the family, one with the fatherland, one with the cosmos -- nirvana. The Oriental psyche looks for a direct aesthetic contact with reality through an indefinable empathy and intuition. Eternal truth is behind reality, behind the veil of Maya. Man is part of the universe; his ideal is passive servility and non-irritability. His ideal of peace lies in rest and relaxation, in meditation, in being without manual and mental travail. The happiness of the Oriental psyche lies in the ecstasy of feeling united with the universal cosmos. Ascesis, self-redemption, and poverty are better realized ideals in Oriental culture than in our Western society.
The classic Oriental culture pattern can best be described as a pattern of participation. In it the individual is looked upon as an integral part of the group, the family, the caste, the nation. He is not a separate, independent entity. In this culture, greater conformity to and acceptance of the collective rules are the ideals. An Oriental child may be trained from infancy into a pattern of submission to authority and to rules of the group. Many primitive cultures also display this pattern. To a person raised in these cultures, the most acceptable standards, the best conceivable thoughts and actions, are those sanctioned by the group. The totalitarian world of mass actions and mass thoughts is far more comprehensible to the members of a participation-patterned and less individual-minded culture than it is to Western individualists. What is to us unbearable regimentation and authoritarianism may be to them comforting order and regularity.
An example of an intensified pattern of participation and thought control and mutual spying has been given by the anthropologist E. P. Dozier. [See the "New York Times", December 11, 1955; and "Science News Letter", December 3, 1955.] The Pueblo Indians of the Rio Grande area believe that wrongdoing or wrong thinking of one man in the tribe affects all members. He may upset the cosmic balance by ill feeling toward any one of his fellow men. The moral code of the village is group-centred. The individual who transgresses this jeopardizes the well-being of all. Epidemics, crop failures, droughts are interpreted as a result of "deviationism" of one member of the group. Village members are closely watched and spied on in order to discover the culprit or "witch." Gossip and accusations of witchcraft are rampant, and the Pueblo Indian is constantly searching in his own conscience for harmful thoughts and attitudes. It is as if we watch the ritual of the purge in the totalitarian state.
Such forms of "creeping collectivism" and participation we may see in every group formation where tolerance for non-conformism ceases to exist. Wherever dogmatic partisanship dominates, the mind is coerced. We may even detect such encroaching tendencies in some scientific circles where there exists an overemphasis on group
research, teamwork, membership cards, and a disdain for individual opinion.
The culture into which a man is born and his own psychological constitution interact to produce his personality in much the same way as his body and mind interact to produce his behaviour. Our culture of individual freedom may offer us a partial immunity to the disease of totalitarianism, but at the same time our personal immaturities and repressed savageries can make us vulnerable to it. The participation type of culture may make men more susceptible in general to totalitarianism, although personal strivings toward maturity and individuality can offer them, too, some measure of protection against it.
Because of the interaction between these social and personal forces, no culture is completely safe from internal attack by totalitarianism and from the mental destruction it may create. As I said before, our Totalitaria is a mythical country, but
the brutal truth is that any country can be turned into Totalitaria.
The aims of the rulers of our fictitious country are simply formulated: despotism, the total domination of man and mankind, and the unity of the entire world under one dictatorial authority. At first glance, this idea of unity can be most attractive -- the idea, oversimplified, of a brotherhood unity of nations under a central powerful agency. When the world is one, it would seem, there will be no more war, the tensions that face us will be eliminated, earth will become a paradise. But the simplified conception of a universal dictatorship is false and reflects the danger inherent in the totalitarian goal: all men are different, and it is the difference between them that creates the greatness, the variety, and the creative inspirations of life, as well as the tensions of social intercourse. The totalitarian conception of equalization can be realized only in death, when the chemical and physical laws that govern all of us take over completely. Death is indeed the great equalizer.
In life, all of us are different. Our bodies and minds interact with one another and with the outside world in different ways. Each man's personality is unique. True, all of us share certain basic human qualities with all the other members of the human race, but the differences in personality are also so many and so varied that no two men anywhere in the world or ever in all of human history can be said to be exactly alike. This uniqueness is as true of the citizen of Totalitaria as it is of anyone else. As a human being, he is not only different from us, he is different from his compatriots. However, to create man in the totalitarian image through levelling and equalization means to suppress what is essentially personal and human in him, the uniqueness and the variety, and to create a society of robots, not men.
The noted social scientist, J. S. Brunner, in his introduction to Bauer's book on Soviet psychology has expressed this thought in a different way: "Man's image of the nature of man is not only a matter for objective inquiry; it is and has always been a prime instrument of social and political control. He who moulds that image does so with enormous consequences for the society in which he lives."
Totalitaria fosters the illusion that everyone is part of the government, a voter; no one can be a non-voter or anti-voter. His inner pros and cons and doubts are not private problems of the individual himself any more; his thoughts belong to the state, the dictator, the ruling circle, the Party. His inner thoughts have to be controlled. Only those in power know what really lies behind national policy. The ordinary citizen becomes as dependent and obedient as a child. In exchange for giving up his individuality, he obtains some special gratifications: the feeling of belonging and of being protected, the sense of relief over losing his personal boundaries and responsibilities, the ecstasy of being taken up and absorbed in wild, uncontrolled collective feelings, the safety of being anonymous, of being merely a cog in the wheel of the all-powerful state.
The despotism of modern Totalitaria is very different from the lush, exotic personal tyrannies of ancient times. It is an ascetic, cold, mechanical force, aiming at what Hanna Ahrendt calls the "transformation of human nature itself." In our theoretical country, man has no individual ego any longer, no personality, no self. A levelling system is at work, and everything above the common level is trampled on and beaten down.

Feature Archetypal Animation

Images: Made on Genolve AI technologies

Music: [11] monster    2:20

Past Posts of the Marvelization of Man Series

For the last post in this series, see:

https://www.sapience2112.com/hate-is-a-habit-part-8-of-the-marvelization-of-man/
https://www.sapience2112.com/totalitaria/
https://www.sapience2112.com/the-enigma-of-coexistence-part-6-the-marvelization-of-man/
https://www.sapience2112.com/indoctrination-barrage-part-5-the-marvelization-of-man/
https://www.sapience2112.com/super-hero-terror/
https://www.sapience2112.com/public-opinion-engineers-part-3-the-marvelization-of-man/
https://www.sapience2112.com/the-narcissist-part-2-the-marvelization-of-man/
Marvelization of Man
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2024

Happy New Year’s! It’s 2024!!

May 2024 bring wisdom to you and to everyone who you know, especially as you try to make sense of the vast amount of nonsense and evil impacting and influencing our imperfect world, especially this year.

This year, more than any other year, each and every one of us needs to find our inner well of wisdom and drink from it. If we don’t find it… if we don’t replenish our drained and drying reservoirs of wisdom, we are not going to survive as a species on this planet past this century… at least not as we have been surviving in it.

Here and now, in this very moment, more than any transition from one year to the next one, we must be able to tell good from evil, truth from lies, right from wrong. This is the year we choose between life or death for all life on Earth.

This is the year (more than any other year) that each and every living human makes a choice… it is a vote… for what our collective fate will be as the 21st Century stretches ahead of us.

The preceding years have filled all of us with so much worry, so much onus, so much weight, and now we hold so much responsibility for our personal and collective fate.

No longer can we deny to ourselves that our personal choices and lifestyles do not affect other living beings on our beautiful planet. No longer can we choose to stay ignorant about our world, the deadly conflicts spanning the global, the deadly famines and diseases caused by our inability to get along with each other, nor our tremendous failure to cooperate with each other to solve the intractable and wicked problems we have created for ourselves as human beings.

The Choice Is Yours

Today is the day you must choose.

Will you choose life, meaning that you accept responsibility for your thoughts, words, and actions?

OR

Will you choose death, meaning you project your unconsciousness onto others and do not take responsibility for your own inner turmoil, hate, anger, and ignorance… and you don’t educate yourself about yourself and the world that offers you this precious human life?

All life is precious. And all humans matter. And each and everyone of us is making a critical choice this year. A choice of consequence that will have lasting gravity on all of life for the foreseeable future.

This is our moment to shine… or it is our moment to fall like a shooting star burning up in Earth’s atmosphere.

Choose wisely.

Feature Archetypal Animation

Art from Studio in Thomas, West Virginia

Music: World of Sleepers by Carbon Based Lifeforms — Proton Electron    6:52

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The Chosen — Come They Told Me

Recently, I discovered one of the best TV dramas about the life of Jesus. It is the Jesus my father taught me about, and the Jesus he modeled his life after throughout his life as a Lutheran minister. I grew up in the church, my father being a minister and all. Indeed, I was born far away in Brazil where my father was serving as a missionary with his new and beautiful wife, my mother.

My father was not a perfect man. He could get mad, but he was also the kindest, most compassionate, most loving person I have ever known. He had a way of soothing people and comforting them at their lowest moments or during their darkest days. And, this I would learn, is rare among people, and truly a gift, indeed it is a blessing when someone can be there for another person when they need the kindness of another the very most.

As I grew up in a very religious atmosphere as most of my uncles were Lutheran ministers too and my father served many parishes as a pastor when I was growing up. I saw all sorts of people claiming to love Jesus and love the covenant with God, but then act very badly like the mayor of a small town where dad was the pastor who shot our dog and helped to drive dad out of town because dad believed that God could work through the miracle of evolution and time. Some of the very religious didn’t like his sermons about the wonders and vastness of space and time. They didn’t like that my dad mixed religion and science.

So we left that small town in South Dakota and dad transitioned into being a Hospital Chaplin. He would remember everyone’s names and greet them by name every time he saw them. We would go with dad when he took paraplegic patients fishing. He would be there for any patient during any crisis, big or small, and offer support and compassion.

I would also learn about a vengeful god through some of the more conservative members of my family… and as I grew older… I grew more cynical about religion and religious people, except, not my father. Mega churches, mega cons — like Tammy and Jim Bakker — would further cement my cynicism and distrust of religion. The kicker would come when my beautiful father died, five years ago now, and I was fired by a Lutheran organization for being with him in the 10 days he lived after his heart attack.

This is the post I wrote in the wake of my grief the first year after his death:

https://www.sapience2112.com/celestial-tendencies-a-daughters-journey-after-a-fathers-death/
Celestial Tendencies — A Daughter’s Journey After A Father’s Death

My faith in religion was pretty much crushed after dad’s death. Until this… very tender, gentle retelling of Jesus and his life. No one alive today knows, not really, what Jesus was like or how his life unfolded. But this series, it comes so close to what my father taught me about Jesus and how my father lived his life.

On this day, the eve before Christmas Eve, when the Western World celebrates Jesus’s birth… Eastern Orthodox celebrates it January 7th… and there are many other celebrations in the Northern Hemisphere about the turning of the darkest day back to the lightest day, such as:

Hanukkah is an eight-day winter festival of lights, observed through nightly menorah candle lighting, special blessings, songs, and prayer. 

Kwanzaa is an annual celebration of African-American culture from December 26 to January 1, culminating in a communal feast called Karamu, usually on the sixth day. It was created by activist Maulana Karenga, based on African harvest festival traditions from various parts of West and Southeast Africa.

Bodhi Day is the Buddhist holiday that commemorates the day that Gautama Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment, also known as bodhi in Sanskrit and Pali.

Ōmisoka. Green and red fireworks at night. Culture: Japanese. Celebration date: Dec. 31. 

Islam has two official holidays: Eid Al-Fitr and Eid Al-Adha. The former is celebrated at the end of the month of Ramadan, whereas Eid Al-Adha lands on the 10th day of Dhu al-Hijjah (the final month of the Islamic calendar).

The Winter Solstice … On this day, the sun shines directly over the Tropic of Capricorn, making it the shortest day and longest night of the year. 

One of the oldest winter festivities globally, Yule is a pagan holiday celebrating the winter solstice. Celebrated over 12 days – the twelve days of Christmas.

Along with a bunch of other observances Christians make around this time too”

For Watch Night, Christians will thank God for the safety they received during the year, according to Interfaith Calendar.

According to the Interfaith Calendar, this is known as Posadas Navidenas is known as a Hispanic Christian holiday. It commends Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem.

Catholics celebrate the day of Immaculate Conception to honor the Virgin Mary, who is believed to have been born without original sin.

Santa Lucia or Saint Lucy’s Day is a feast day in the Christian calendar celebrating Saint Lucy, a martyr.

Advent is a season observed in most Christian denominations as a time of expectant waiting and preparation for both the celebration of the Nativity of Christ at Christmas and the return of Christ at the Second Coming.

Holy Innocents Day — Christian. Christians solemnly honor the deaths of children killed by King Herod, who was attempting to kill Jesus.

Boxing Day originated in the United Kingdom and is celebrated the day after Christmas. Originally, servants who had to work on Christmas day received boxes.

Feast of the Holy Family — Catholic. Catholics use this day to honor Jesus, Mary and Joseph, according to Interfaith Calendar. 

Sources for above from: Religious holidays celebrated in DecemberFrom sources across the web

So, here are a few links to this series about Jesus that has rekindled my faith. You can watch the first season on Netflix or download The Chosen app and see all of them.

Joseph & Mary On the Road to Bethlehem
The Chosen | A Special Christmas Presentation: The Shepherd

And this one looks really good too, but a different one, a movie called The Young Messiah (2016).

Young Jesus Tested by Rabbi

Feature Animation: The Little Drummer Boy — The Harry Simeone Choir

I choose the Drummer Boy because this was one of dad’s most beloved Christmas songs and story. I think dad often felt himself to be the Little Drummer Boy!

Merry Christmas to all … or Happy Holidays whatever bring joys, meaning, and love into your life this time of year or any time of year.

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Hate Is A Habit: Part 8 of the Marvelization of Man

This blog post continues Joost A. M. Meerloo book The Rape of the Mind published in 1956. What Joost observed more than 65 years ago is as relevant today as it was then, perhaps even more, especially if we fail to learn the lessons from our failed and terrible collective past. The section below gets into the psychology of individuals and groups that allows totalitarian thinking and regime to take command of everybody in a society that succumbs to the totalitarian mindset. No one is immune to it. It is ancient, coded deep inside our DNA and running hot between our ears and behind our eyes. When we become tempted by a totalitarian regime, we have succumb to our own phantoms and depravities first. Hate is a habit. Practiced faithfully and rigorously, it becomes a ravenous, vicious rage that only knows how to destroy.

Below are Joost’s words. I have added the animated images, comments in parathesis, and/or links to relevant current events that draw a straight line from man’s psychology right after WWII to now.

The Robotization of Man

p. 74, The Rape of the Mind

First, let me utter a word of caution. We must not make the mistake of thinking that there is any one particular nation that can be completely identified with this hypothetical land. The characteristics to be discussed can come into existence here. Some of Totalitaria’s characteristics were, of course, present in Nazi Germany, and they can today be found behind the Iron Curtain (and 67 years since this book was written, they still can), but they exist to some extent in other parts of the world as well (for instance, the Orange Jesus of the MAGA Party in the Good Old USA). Totalitaria is any country in which political ideas degenerate into senseless formulations made only for propaganda purposes. It is any country in which a single group — left or right — acquires absolute power and becomes omniscient and omnipotent, any country in which disagreement and differences of opinion are crimes, in which utter conformity is the price of life.

Hail! Orange Jesus! | Music: Bad Dream — Stellar

Totalitaria — the Leviathan state — is the home of the political system we call, euph-emistically, totalitarianism, of which systematized tyranny is a part. This system does not derive from any honest political philosophy, either socialist or capitalist. Totalitaria’s leaders may mouth ideologies, but these are in fact mainly catch-words used to justify the regime. If necessary, totalitarianism can change its slogans and its behaviour overnight. For totalitarianism embodies, to me, the quest for total power, the quest of a dictator to rule the world. The words and concepts of “socialism” and “communism” may serve, like “democracy,” as a disguise for the megalomaniac intention of the tyrant.

Megalomaniac | Music: Pop/Stars Vs Megalovania — Dj Cutman

Since totalitarianism is essentially the social manifestation of a psychological phenomenon belonging to every personality, it can best be understood in terms of the human forces that create, foster, and perpetuate it. Man has two faces; he wants to grow toward maturity and freedom, and yet the primitive child in his unconscious yearns for more complete protection and irresponsibility. His mature self learns how to cope with the restrictions and frustrations of daily life, but at the same time, the child in him longs to hit out against them, to beat them down, to destroy them — whether they be objects or people.

LiveNOW talks with Rayna Exelbierd, Granddaughter of Holocaust survivors & CEO of The Rose Grow Joins us to share those stories of horror. I would like to draw your attention to about minute 7 of this interview when Rayna describes the induction of children into a culture cultivating hate. I understand huge injustices have been inflicted on the  Palestinian people for decades by the world and Israel. But growing a culture of hate is not going to solve these injustices and the people of the world mainly sit on our hands again while so many innocent Palestinian people die. We (the people of the world) could do more. We could insist our governments send Mercy ships to evacuate the people of Gaza. We could insist our governments aid Egypt in setting up refuge centers outside of Gaza. But I think we (the people of the world) have also grown too accustom to the habit of hate.

Totalitarianism appeals to this confused infant in all of us; it seems to offer a solution to the problems man’s double yearning creates. Our mythical Totalitaria is a monolithic and absolute state in which doubt, confusion, and conflict are not permitted to be shown, for the dictator purports to solve all his subjects’ problems for them (e.g., Orange Jesus of USA in 2023). In addition, Totalitaria can provide official sanction for the expression of man’s most antisocial impulses. The uncivilized child hidden in us may welcome this liberation from ethical frustration.

“The uncivilized child… and the expression of man’s most antisocial impulses…” | Music: XANA – My Therapist Told Me

On the other hand, our free, mature, social selves cannot be happy in Totalitaria; they revolt against the restriction of individual impulses.

The psychological roots of totalitarianism are usually irrational, destructive, and primitive, though disguised behind some ideology, and for this reason there is something fantastic, unbelievable, even nightmarish about the system itself. There is, of course, a difference in the psychic experience of the elite, who can live out their needs for power, and the masses, who have to submit; yet the two groups influence each other.

Haunted By Our Thoughts | Music: Body Count / Haunted by Our Thoughts — Deadwood:

When a dictator’s deep neurotic needs for power also satisfy some profound emotional need in the population of his country, especially in times of misery or after a revolution, he is more easily able to assume the power for which he longs. If a nation has suffered defeat in war, for example, its citizens feel shame and resentment. Loss of face is not simply a political abstraction, it is a very real and personal thing to a conquered people. Every man, consciously or unconsciously, identifies with his native land. If a country suffers from prolonged famine or severe depression, its citizens become bitter, depressed, and resentful, and will more willingly accept the visions and promises of the aspiring dictator.

A History of Hamas | Photo: GAZA CITY, GAZA- Palestinian Hamas militants are seen during a military show in the Bani Suheila district on July 20, 2017 in Gaza City, Gaza. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
Chris McGrath/Getty Images — Produced by Throughline (this is well worth your time to listen to)

If the complexity of a country’s political and economic apparatus makes the individual citizen feel powerless, confused, and useless, if he has no sense of participation in the forces that govern his daily life, or if he feels these forces to be so vast and confusing that he can no longer understand them, he will grasp at the totalitarian opportunity for belonging, for participation, for a simple formula that explains and rationalizes what is beyond his comprehension. And when the dictator has taken over finally, he transfers his own abnormal fantasies, his rage and anger, easily to his subjects. Their resentments feed his; his pseudo-strength encourages them. A mutual fortification of illusions takes place.

Orange Jesus | Music: Orange Jesus · Sheamy Rock


Totalitarianism as a social manifestation is a disease of inter-human relations, and, like any other disease, man can best resist its corroding effects if, through knowledge and training, he is well immunized against it. If, however, he is unfortunate enough to catch the totalitarian bug, he has to muster all the positive forces in his mind to defeat it. The raging internal struggle between the irresponsible child and the mature adult in him continues until one or the other is finally destroyed completely. As long as a single spark of either remains, the battle goes on. And for as long as man is alive, the quest for maturity keeps on.

Archetypal Animations

Feature Archetypal Animation: Hate Is A Habit

Music: Hate Is an Attractive Force — SLEEP RADIO

First Archetypal Animation

Music: Bad Dream — Stellar

Second Archetypal Animation

Music: Pop/Stars Vs Megalovania — Dj Cutman

Second Archetypal Animation | Music: XANA – My Therapist Told Me (Official Lyric Video)

Music: Body Count / Haunted by Our Thoughts  — Deadwood: The Movie (Music from the HBO)

Orange Jesus — Sheamy Rock

Music: Scream & Shout (sped up) [Remix] — Xanemusic