The Illusion of Truth

Consider these videos:

https://youtu.be/cebFWOlx848
https://youtu.be/ebEkn-BiW5k

Now consider Gustave Le Bon psychology on the group mind:

"Le Bon's book on the crowd was first published in 1895. Le Bon influenced a plethora of dictators and demagogues, most notoriously, Goebbels, Hitler, and Mussolini. 

"Simply by being part of the crowd, individuals lose all sense of self and all sense of responsibility. Once individual identity and the capability to control behavior disappears, crowd members become subject to contagion. That is, they are unable to resist any passing idea or, more particularly and because the intellect is all but obliterated, any passing emotion. 

"Crowd members, Le Bon asserts, have descended several rungs on the ladder of civilization. They are barbarians [which] "possesses the spontaneity, the violence, the ferocity and also the enthusiasm of primitive beings"

"The majority of his crowd text is, in fact, essentially a primer on how to take advantage of the crowd mentality, how to manipulate crowds, and how to recruit their enthusiasms to one's own ends. In brief, Le Bon exhorts the would-be demagogue to direct the primitive mass by simplifying ideas, substituting affirmation and exaggeration for proof, and by repeating points over and again. 

"[C]rowd contexts serve as the "off switch" for identity. If the self is sole basis of control, then loss of self in the crowd means loss of control and emergent psychopathology. On an ideological level, Le Bon's ideas serve several functions. First, they act as a denial of voice. Secondly, this psychology serves as a denial of responsibility. Thirdly, Le Bon's model legitimates repression. Crowds, having no reason, cannot be reasoned with. The mob only responds to harsh words and harsh treatment."

- Blackwell Handbook of Social Psychology: Group Processes (Blackwell Handbooks of Social Psychology) (Kindle Locations 3331-3361). Kindle Edition. 

Finally, contemplate the control over the narrative that we see in the media.

Do you still have confidence in what you believe that comes from the news?

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