This explains a lot about the treasonous mob

[MN2theMax]

I keep wondering, “What the hell is wrong with these people!”

“SNIP...

“Shared psychosis”—which is also called “folie à millions” [“madness for millions”] when occurring at the national level or “induced delusions”—refers to the infectiousness of severe symptoms that goes beyond ordinary group psychology. When a highly symptomatic individual is placed in an influential position, the person’s symptoms can spread through the population through emotional bonds, heightening existing pathologies and inducing delusions, paranoia and propensity for violence—even in previously healthy individuals. The treatment is removal of exposure.

SNIP”

Interesting article.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-shared-psychosis-of-donald-trump-and-his-loyalists/

[SheltieLover]

1. PFN - Plain fucking nuts!

[Bernardo de La Paz]

28. No no no. Read the article. It is excellent. The "PFN" reaction makes it worse by punting.

Read the article.

He is not PLAIN nuts. It is a bit more complicated. Further the article makes the great point that he must be considered in an ecology of his followers and the nation.

Writing him off as just nuts sweeps the problem of his followers under the rug until a more competent autocrat comes along, and mobilizes his followers in the same way. Their problems can be exploited by somebody who does not have tRump's problems but can mimic his techniques.

He got this far because people wrote him off in 2015 as "nuts".

[blm]

2. By design. QAnon is set up as an addictive alternate reality game.

https://www.wired.com/story/qanon-most-dangerous-multiplatform-game/?

QAnon Is Like a Game—a Most Dangerous Game
The conspiracy theory has the best attributes of a multiplatform game, except that it can cause harm in the real world.

[NoRoadUntravelled]

8. Wow! Thanks for posting this link.

The article is a good one and makes so much sense.
I don't know why, really, but Q seems so much like something Russia would do. About half way through my reading I thought how whoever rules the mind of humans will rule the world.

[blm]

9. In-depth analysis from game designer

Last edited Tue Jan 12, 2021, 10:50 AM - Edit history (1)

https://medium.com/curiouserinstitute/a-game-designers-analysis-of-qanon-580972548be5

[NoRoadUntravelled]

10. Thank you! nt

[Nitram]

13. Fascinating, and totally relevant, explanation about how QAnon works.

I've gotten stuck in video games when I encountered something I was sure was a clue, but turned out to be extraneous to the plot.

[renate]

21. I could not recommend this article more highly

It really does explain so much.

[blm]

22. Share wherever you can. QAnon's game must be exposed

There is too much at stake.

[blm]

30. Important share

[mzmolly]

3. Welcome

to DU!

Thanks for sharing.

[C_U_L8R]

4. Extraordinary popular delusions and the madness of crowds.

It's the history of humankind. Trumpism deserves its own chapter

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_Popular_Delusions_and_the_Madness_of_Crowds

[NoRoadUntravelled]

5. This is fascinating!

Thanks for posting. And welcome to DU.

[3catwoman3]

6. Most interesting.

Shared psychosis is something I would like to learn more about now that I know the term.

[Judi Lynn]

7. Thank you for sharing this, MN2theMax. n/t

[mitch96]

11. Kind of like whipping up your troops into a frenzy to attack a position in war...any war...

Welcome to the clan...
m

[LunaSea]

12. Great post

Helps understanding the importance of "deplatforming" as an effective treatment as we saw with ISIS online presence just a few years ago.

[MyMission]

14. So how do we deprogram them?

Seriously. Or reprogram them? Getting rid of 45's rhetoric and social media was a small step.
Great information in this thread.

[TryLogic]

17. Some thoughts...

I suspect that if the world can function normally for awhile, the illness will ease.

I am quite certain that an honorable system of justice can provide useful consequences for over-the-top participants. But, I'm NOT confident that politicians will be held accountable. There are many who need to be shut down and held accountable. I really hope that happens!!! They are the ones with the skills to twist the truth and provide cleverly contrived arguments.

As dear leader continues to show who he really is, I think his useful idiots will gradually fade away. His job "approval rating" has fallen by 25% in a matter of days.

Those who keep lurching toward someone to believe in are the sad cases. First it was George W (the born-again former heavy drinker), now Trump (the pandering con man). Persistent followers of this type are the most conservative religious folks, like the woman who asked me during a light political discussion when George W was running for president, "Do you believe in God?" (God?) Obviously if I "believed" then I would believe along with those who believed in George W. They have such a need to believe in something (someone) less esoteric than God.

[bucolic_frolic]

15. Agent provocateur

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_provocateur

An agent provocateur (French for "inciting agent&quot is a person who commits or who acts to entice another person to commit an illegal or rash act or falsely implicate them in partaking in an illegal act, so as to ruin the reputation or entice legal action against the target or a group they belong to or are perceived to belong to. They may target any group, such as a peaceful protest or demonstration, a union, a political party or a company.

______________________

But I would argue it's the incitement that's important here. I don't see the need for those used to make violence to be the intended fall guys. It's sufficient that the agent provocateur has an objective and incites someone else to do the deed, allowing the agent provocateur to walk away relatively unscathed.

[eppur_se_muova]

16. ...

?

[Doc_Technical]

18. These people are mentally ill and a danger to themselves and others.

They should be locked up in a psychiatric hospital.
The cost of doing so would be worth it.

[OldBaldy1701E]

29. Yep

The phrase "... even in formerly healthy individuals" really made me laugh.

[JHB]

19. Or in layman's terms, a few decades of Ruch and Sean and Billo and Glenn and Mike and Charlie...

...and Dana and Larry and Hugh and Dennis and Mark shitting into their skulls can leave people susceptible to having their heads filled with horseshit.

[MN2theMax]

24. Nothing against science...

But your explanation seems pretty damn logical to me. Bring back the Fairness Doctrine!

[wnylib]

20. Some other examples from history,Ivthink,

would beex the Salem witch trials, the French Revolution, the Nazi era in Germany, the Peasants' Revolt in Germany, the peasant uprising in England.

In some of those examples, the people had legitimate gripes, but were fired up into mob behavior and shared dekusions by people who led them.

[paulkienitz]

23. This explanation lets a lot of his followers off way too easy.

Shared delusion is their excuse, not their reason. They believe his transparent lies not because they're hypnotized by some radiating force of crazy, but because of motivated reasoning and selective awareness that supports their already hateful and antidemocratic desires.

[love_katz]

25. Bingo!

Exactly. Agolf Twitler's rhetoric gives them the excuses that they want to express the hateful ideas that they believe and permission for the vile acts of violence that they want to commit.

[Crowman2009]

26. Constant lead dust exposure at the firing range.

There have been studies on the amount of lead exposure at these facilities.

[burrowowl]

27. Kick