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A term I just learned about that really describes everything right now: hypernormalisation. The elaborate pretense that clearly and obviously failing systems are not failing and everything is ok. Originally coined to describe life just before the Soviet Union collapsed, but also applies to late stage capitalism.
Crucially, it does not imply a conspiracy. It is engaged in by the majority of society, because the alternative is unbearable and unimaginable.
@dawngreeter yeah that fits. It takes effort to remain oblivious unless you're rich enough to pay to be oblivious.
@big_louse I saw that just as I learned of the word. Definitely have my weekend movie watching plans set.
The "This is fine" dog is an example of hyper-normalization.
Why are so many people so sure conspiracies don't exist, when we have proof that in the *recent* past they did exist *and* that they dramatically altered the US political landscape to benefit specific interests?
@johnzajac I did not attempt to express a belief that no conspiracies exist. Clearly they do. It'd take a very odd line of thinking to claim otherwise, I think.
Point the first: hypernormalisation is a word that describes a phenomenon which is not a conspiracy but a social dynamic in a society.
Point the second: If I were to express scepticism about conspiracies, it'd relate to clear cases of delusional and/or magical thinking that tends to be weaponized by certain groups. Like Qanon.
@dawngreeter It is related to the concept of hyperrealism, the idea that what we understand as reality is a facade presented (deliberately largely, but also, by osmosis) that does not actually correspond to what is actually happening.
Here's a Youtube link in case the BBC site doesn't let anyone in...
@dawngreeter
"There is no war in Ba Sing Se."
@dawngreeter perhaps I could interest you in this Adam Curtis documentary https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/HyperNormalisation
I very much enjoyed all watched over by machines of loving grace.
@dawngreeter I think it's important not to be tempted to chalk this up to Human Nature, though. Hypernormalization is created. It's made by wealthy people paying for right wing think tanks and publicity machines. the Urgency of Normal messaging that convinced people to infect themselves and their children with Omicron was carefully crafted, focus-group tested, and blasted out with hundreds of millions of dollars of ads and media blitzes.
@Geoffberner I do think human nature is a part of it. Of course, there are clearly individuals and power centers that drive a large chunk of it. There is blame, both for action and inaction (this mostly being various government agencies and institutions).
But even for the complicit ones, I do think there is an element of human nature driving situational blindness. Late stage capitalism is a story of power centers and capital owners copying each other's actions and no one knowing why exactly.
@dawngreeter no doubt you're right. Highly paid propagandists like the guy from the Brownstone Institute have a great feel for the weaknesses they can exploit in people. The buttons are there and they know how to push them.
@dawngreeter
I think there are just too many elephants in the room for anyone to be able to admit it.
Thisisfine.png
@dawngreeter there's that Carol Cadwalladr article in the Guardian today that ends with a callback to the dinner party at the end of _Carry On Up The Khyber_…