“There is no “black mind” or “white mind”, no “white male of knowing”, there is only one truth, and we find it through the scientific method.”

~ Gad Saad, “The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense”

Each side of the political divide accuses the other of living in a world of mass delusion.
That both sides, right vs. left, exist in such worlds would be an accurate statement if only the delusion of one side was not completely falsifiable, that the things they believe were not logically contradictory and provably false.

In the world of the progressive Democrat, every white person is genetically racist, Nazis are everywhere, white supremacists rule the Republican Party and everything, even contradictory information, confirms their positions. If they just say it loudly enough and with sufficient frequency, even the false becomes true. The media provides closed loop feedback that confirms to them that their delusions are reality, further imprisoning them in a perpetual state of confirmation bias.

The progressive left defines everything in terms supportive of their preferred ideology – things like gender fluidity, transgenderism, identity politics, climate change, Modern Monetary Theory, genetic, systemic, and structural racism, Critical Race Theory, and politicized “science” – all are falsifiable things progressives choose to as support for their ideological positions.

As Joost A. M. Meerloo pointed out in his 1961 book, “The Rape of the Mind: The Psychology of Thought Control, Menticide, and Brainwashing”, it is eminently possible to induce mass delusions:

“If one can isolate the mass, allow no free thinking, no free exchange, no outside corrective, and can hypnotize the group daily with noises, with press and radio and television, with fear and pseudo-enthusiasms, any delusion can be instilled. People will begin to accept the most primitive and inappropriate acts.”

Therein lies one of the most significant reasons for the attacks on free speech, delusions cannot survive where free exercise of expression and association is practiced. Delusions can only be maintained if they are never challenged, for if they are, eventually the weight of contradictory evidence collapses the delusion.

But once instilled in the masses, delusions are hard to stop. Meerloo continues:

“Delusions, carefully implanted, are difficult to correct. Reasoning no longer has value; for the lower, more animal type of thinking becomes deaf to any thought on a higher level. If one reasons with a totalitarian who has been impregnated with official clichés, he will sooner or later withdraw into his fortress of collective totalitarian thinking. The mass delusion that gives him his feelings of belonging, of greatness, of omnipotence, is dearer to him than his personal awareness and understanding.”

It would seem self-evident why mass delusion is a favored tool of opportunistic oppressors and tyrants – the mass delusions tend to trend toward totalitarianism. Robbed of the possibility of independent inquiry, the vehicles for free exchange of ideas and any individual ability for reason, in the midst of chaos, the masses will turn to any faction promising a return to order and sanity.

One is reminded of how the contemporary Democrat Party promised if their candidates were elected, they would return America to “normalcy” – never mind that they are largely responsible for the chaos from which the masses sought escape.

Americans have apparently evolved the capacity to engage an incredible level of self-deception in order to navigate through life in a self-perpetuating delusional state of blissful ignorance that it would seem that mass delusions would be impenetrable – however, mass delusions can be broken through an INCREASE in the free exchange of ideas, MORE questioning and intellectual challenges, MORE curiosity, MORE competition of information sources, and demanding MORE accountability from our leadership.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, these actions are exactly the opposite of what we see coming from progressive politicians and media outlets. Progressive elected officials are actively attacking our First Amendment and in an ultimate twist of irony, CNN is actively campaigning to ban Fox News. The Tech Oligarchs have determined Parler is a threat to “democracy” and has erased it from the social media landscape. Conservative voices are being silenced after being accused of spreading dezinformatsiya.

But it is all falsifiable delusion. The only way to not see that is not to look. Dr. Gad Saad calls it Ostrich Parasitic Syndrome (OPS), a disorder that causes a person to reject realities that are otherwise as clear as the existence of gravity.

From 60 years ago, Meerloo provides this wisdom, entirely relevant to 2021:

“We have to fight man’s growing fear of thinking for himself, of being original, and of being willing to fight for what he believes in. On the other hand, we also have to learn to resist ideas. Governments may be overthrown not only by physical violence, but also by mental violence, by suggestive and menticidal penetration of young minds, by rigid conditioning, regimentation, and prohibition of dissent.”