Massive Hysteria (Irrational Behavior and Groupthink)

Some would say we’re either currently living in a state of mass hysteria or we’re screaming full speed ahead to get there. Mike, John, and Tom discuss who defines mass hysteria and how they define it, definitions changing, nuns spontaneously meowing and then not stopping for months, the meow game, school children in Le Roy New York exhibiting muscle spasms and tics, APA being different than APA, Scientology and other cults, rational behavior being highly subjective, whether groupthink is a type of irrational behavior, the German people and the rise of the Nazi Party, Adolph Hitler writing Mein Kampf for propaganda, irrational behavior and groupthink in the face of accurate conflicting information, vaxxers and anti-vaxxers wanting different results that may be both rational and irrational, social media pulling individuals into a dopamine response feedback loop and how that generates groupthink, flip-flops and boots and changing opinions, politicians following the polls, the populist movement and the rule of the crowd, the wisdom of the crowd, pure democracy can be chaos, the traditional nuclear family is communism in practice, socialism and pure democracy can work in smaller groups, communism and socialism and pure democracy not working at larger scales, the internet being available for the public good, lack of citizen involvement in the legislative process, posting memes on Facebook to get everyone on your side and generate mass hysteria, the Infrastructure Bill requiring new vehicles to monitor, track, and report your location in real-time to the government, cell phone monitoring, boiling frogs, Anthony Bourdain eating iguana, Mothers Against Drunk Driving founder quitting due to mission and scope creep, H1N1 virus affecting more young healthy immune systems than COVID-19, people being scared and wanting the government to tell them what to do, how lockdowns were untested idea of 14 year old child, sometimes Alex Jones is correct, pro-mask/shutdown being emotional response stance and anti-mask/shutdown stance being thinking response stance, adoption of all ideas in a group to be accepted by that group, effects of irrational behaviors and beliefs on freedoms and rights, risk management versus groupthink fear response, dancing in the street nonstop until you die of heart failure because hot blood, is there any real problem with flat earthers or others with irrational beliefs unless they harm others, wrongthink and cancel culture and thoughts being violence, the need for toleration of hate speech, riots and social media, Trump flipping the term fake news back onto Democrats, and how hysteria is subjective.

Le Roy, New York Teens, Tics, and Mass Hysteria
https://www.npr.org/2012/03/10/148372536/the-curious-case-of-teen-tics-in-le-roy-n-y

Mein Kampf
https://archive.org/details/AdolfHitlersMeinKampf-CompleteAudioBookMp3
https://archive.org/details/meinkampf035176mbp

Creeping Mission and Scope of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD)
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2002/aug/6/20020806-035702-2222r/
https://www.usnews.com/news/newsgram/articles/2013/05/28/madd-founder-dont-lower-the-legal-bac-limit

The 2006 Origins of the Lockdown Idea
https://www.aier.org/article/the-2006-origins-of-the-lockdown-idea/

Mass Hysterias Will Never Go Away (Flat Earthers and Sonic Attacks)
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/market-bubbles-and-sonic-attacks-mass-hysterias-will-never-go-away/

ACLU: Freedom of Expression
https://www.aclu.org/other/freedom-expression-aclu-position-paper

The Rape of the Mind
https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/11521295

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