POW camps in the Korean war explain a lot about the total capitulation to Covid today. Nearly 40% of US prisoners died, the highest death rate in US military history. But the camps were only weakly fortified, prisoners had adequate food and water and were usually not tortured. /1
In fact prisoners were often rewarded with sweets and cigarettes. Nobody tried to escape, despite the absence of barbed wire or often even armed guards. But prisoners would often sit in their huts with a blanket over their heads, and just die. /2
After liberation, very few prisoners even wanted to do the basic act of calling family at home. And there was little camaraderie amongst survivors. The overwhelming culture of the camps and in survivors was one of hopelessness. That hopelessness was deliberately engineered. /3
For example, prisoners were observed interacting, and the small number among them (about 5%) who other prisoners looked up to, the socially popular leaders of the group, were then removed and killed. The Koreans also targeted the rewards (sweets and cigarettes) to those whoā¦/4
ā¦informed on other prisoners. Snitches. Also encouraged was extreme self criticism amongst prisoners, of the wrongs they had done and the good they hadnāt done. Confession, to erode self respect and personal worth. There were a variety of other techniques used to undermineā¦/5
ā¦self-worth, and to sever any collective ties between prisoners and to their loved ones and country back home. (Some summarised here: 302aw.afrc.af.mil)
The relevance to Covid? Twitter for example is awash with the same feeling of hopelessness, every day. /6
The relevance to Covid? Twitter for example is awash with the same feeling of hopelessness, every day. /6
Focused not just on the authorities who are doing nothing to lead a fight against the virus, but also against fellow members of the public who are perceived (often rightly) to be doing nothing to fight the disaster either. The core message for me is one I tweet about a lot. /7
That all of society functions by social rules, not political rules. What we call the economy, and capitalism, and power, are really all just manifestations of some basic underlying social dynamics. Conformity is the glue that holds all societies together, of any belief system. /8
Conformity is not the universal negative libertarians would have us believe either. To emulate others is a great way to learn and build upon progress in human affairs. The evil here comes from how conformity is led, because as the Korean camps show, itās what that 5% doā¦/9
ā¦that drives what everybody else does. Not because the 95% are sheep, but because nobody can do everything. We all āfollow the leadā in everything we do, thereās always a hierarchy of expertise and value that we draw upon, whether itās playing guitar, cooking or voting. /10
The total Covid capitulation was and is led. Just as inaction on climate change is led. And for both, just like those US POWs, the majority of us feel hopeless, like thereās nothing that could be done, and we even turn on the public more generally, shocked at their apparentā¦/11
ā¦stupidity. Itās all part of eroding the social dynamics that might lead to resistance to whatās going on. Government-friendly Covid experts are given the sweets and cigarettes (media attention, plum postings in advisory bodies etc.), to snitch on the rest of us. /12
To police the acceptable beliefs. Constant āfreedomā narratives saturate all media, but itās not freedom from Covid or even from government, itās freedom to conform to something once libertarian politics has removed as many of the hierarchies of basic social life as possible. /13
Clearing the jungle of complex, sophisticated due process of democratic society, with its overlapping hierarchies of expertise, and replacing it with a handful of simple rallying slogans. āLive with the virusā. āJust like the fluā. Removing that 5% that guide in every tinyā¦/14
ā¦part of life, in everything we do, and replacing them with these rallying slogans. If you feel helpless and hopeless right now, itās because that was always the plan. So that youād hopefully then grasp the first slogan that came along, to ease these feelings. /15
The politics of hopelessness, or neoliberalism or libertarianism, whatever you want to call it, is entirely about taking control of that 5% space, so that social conformity will then do the rest for it. Telling everybody theyāll be free if they get infected, because thenā¦/16
ā¦not only can you avoid doing any public health work at all, but people will actually celebrate that absence as freedom. Millions die, and people do nothing, because conformity has been used to weaponise helplessness. 17/17
@caprellid ā¦most important message. That hierarchy is natural and unavoidable, we already see that in everything else we do, in life and work. There are hierarchies of value, better and worse things. Good and bad plumbers, etc. Democracy is not and has never been āflatā. Populists areā¦/2
@caprellid ā¦destroying it right under our noses, by making us think that. All of the hierarchies of expertise that created the free publics of democracy are their main target. The āelitesā, as they call them (the populists are the actual elites). We donāt need to change the proportions. /3
@caprellid We need to make sure the 5% in the role of national leaders are moderated by checks and balances again. By their non-elected officials. Sorry to give such a long reply! 4/4
Loading suggestions...