I am deeply troubled by the concept of mass formation psychosis. It is a type of insanity. I do not know a single person who fits this description. But many are in an unshakeable dedication to demonstrable falsehoods. Reason and facts have no impact. There must be another explanation. Perhaps it lies in our fundamental human need to belong.
Mass formation psychosis leads to totalitarianism? I don’t believe it. Sometimes it may but not as a general rule. Belgian psychologist Mattias Desmet has just published a book on “The Psychology of Totalitarianism” that claims to link mass formation to mass hypnosis. Given what’s going on today, this could be hugely important. But it doesn’t pass my smell test.
I keep reading about the spread of “mass formation psychosis”, which translates roughly to “psychotic crowds of people”. But is this true, or just more fear-mongering? Something not-so-good is out there for sure, so what can us so-far non-psychotic folks do? This kind of uncertainty-driven anxiety can make folks crazy – or maybe even psychotic.
A crowd is not an assemblage of individuals but instead a different organism, with its own particular characteristics and behavior. It usually has a strong leader. A herd does not need a leader but simply a situation that encourages behavior as a group. Crowds can create and change civilizations. They can also drive destructions of enormous magnitude. Do crowds dominate our world today?
