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The Psychology of Totalitarianism
- Narrated by: Dan Crue
- Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
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The Psychology of Totalitarianism
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Publisher's Summary
We bear witness to loneliness, free-floating anxiety, and fear giving way to censorship, loss of privacy, and surrendered freedoms. It is all spurred by a singular, focused crisis narrative that forbids dissident views and relies on destructive groupthink.
Totalitarianism is not a coincidence and does not form in a vacuum. It arises from a collective psychosis that has followed a predictable script throughout history, its formation gaining strength and speed with each generation—from the Jacobins to the Nazis and Stalinists—as technology advances. Governments, mass media, and other mechanized forces use fear, loneliness, and isolation to demoralize populations and exert control, persuading large groups of people to act against their own interests, always with destructive results.
In The Psychology of Totalitarianism, world-renowned Professor of Clinical Psychology Mattias Desmet deconstructs the societal conditions that allow this collective psychosis to take hold. By looking at our current situation and identifying the phenomenon of “mass formation”—a type of collective hypnosis—he clearly illustrates how close we are to surrendering to totalitarian regimes.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- S K Gupta
- 21-07-23
Fabulous
A textbook for every civilized individual. Highly recommended. A lucid well written book which opens up a new dimension of thinking for those who find themselves lost in the crowd of a hallucinated people.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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- Sai S.
- 23-04-23
Bad audio
Great book. Great performance too, but audio is breaking in the middle which spoils the experience
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Susan M
- 18-07-22
Is this the best book every written?
Matthias Desmet embarks on a journey to describe the two great mysteries of the last century. Why have dozens of countries descended into totalitarian rules murder millions? Why did those murderers think they were doing GOOD as they slaughtered the unwanted, gypsies, Jews, children, farmers? On the contrary, why do some systems produce fully functional, rational creative individuals immune to the effects of the totalitarian leaders.
These questions have been unanswered until now. Desmet is well versed in all aspects of the psychology of thought. He is well-read citing scores of the most important works of scientific genius. His description of the four causes by Aristotle is both concise yet complex enough to educated the reader.
The final three chapters are a tour de force of logic and erudition. He describes the origin of a child’s thought and how it can take two paths. One is a four part creative process which expands a child’s brain and capability into a functional adult. This is the path all humans should take. It is logical, rational and leads to expertise.
The other path a child takes is based in anxiety of self and one’s acceptance. This is a simple two part system of thought that is dominated by force. It takes from others and does not create anything. It is the power of the totalitarian state and its fuel is fear and blind trust in rulers/experts.
This content of this book should be consumed by all humans. Good people need not be driven to destroy themselves and our society and lose our diversity and potential in lieu of the collective ruled by the absurd totalitarian.
Please read this, again and again until you understand its content. Desmet has written a beautiful written work and the translators are amazing. It achieves its mission on many levels.
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16 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Linda Muller
- 20-06-22
A much needed 21st-c update to Hannah Arendt
According to experts quoted by Reuters fact checkers in January 2022, “mass formation” is not in the DSM, nor is it an academic term. Therefore, there is no such thing as “mass formation”.
Nevertheless, here is a book all about “mass formation” and how statistics and seemingly objective data undergirds highly subjective narratives.
Interestingly, Dismet, by training a clinical psychologist and biostatistician, draws upon the work of Hannah Arendt, Asch’s conformity experiments, and the founders of quantum physics and chaos theory to make his case for 21st-C version of totalitarianism and “the banality of evil”.
Significantly, Dismet argues that the mass formation of the majority has its ideological minority flip-side in conspiracy theories. The antidote to this slippery slope slide into totalitarianism is non-violence and to carefully and rationally speak out (ie free speech) while we still can.
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16 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Mike D
- 19-06-22
Pleasantly Surprised
I didn't expect the philosophical and scientific refutation of the technocratic perspective. I assumed this would be more mechanistic in its diagnosis and prescription. The later chapters I think are worth reading twice.
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11 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Amazon Customer
- 22-06-22
Fire
If you are a individual who wants to really get a better understanding of human relations, then get this book. The author spoke about how easily we can be deceived with “numbers and statistics” , or simply putting the word “expert” in the front of a statement . How if majority believe then it rules , even when given prove of situation we still put our blinders on and go with the majority. SMH 🤦🏽♂️
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9 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- The Vikid Truth
- 20-07-22
Book of the Decade
I have read thousands of books in the last 10 years. This ranks amongst the best. Close your eyes and get it and while your at it, get some copies for friends and loved ones. This is a masterpiece.
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7 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Revelo
- 29-11-22
Life-changing revelations
If you are someone who has not fallen under the spell and cannot understand the madness we're descending into, this will be a watershed book. It is one of the best I've ever read/heard. I felt disappointed when it ended and plan to listen to it over and over again.
This book eliminates the need for "conspiracy theories" by explaining what is happening and why and exposing repeating patterns in human history. You will understand why totalitarian systems arise and eventually burn themselves out, and how to survive in the meantime.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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- Lou
- 25-07-22
Disappointing trash
Starts-off well—but continuously degrades & rambles; this is an author’s timely attempt to capitalize on today’s mass plundering.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 08-07-22
Mostly drivel
I purchased this book to learn about totalitarianism. Unfortunately most of the book covers other topics, such as the authors barely concealed indignation at COVID measures and a modern retelling of the criticism of rational management from the 1960's/1970's.
The author is clearly a wide-ranging and eclectic thinker. Such investigations can bear fruit, but in this case the only things on offer here are pseudoscientific ideas about physics, alternative medicine and (to a significant extent) ahistorical claims about Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union as well as a variety of colourful anecdotes. I also remain unconvinced by the authors's argument for the existence of a God, which rests on quoting famous scientists as if their words were religious scripture.
The only time I smiled while listening to this book was, when I realized the author (a psychologist) wanted to revise the scientific system to place psychology in the center.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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- maydelis1023
- 29-11-22
It goes on an on about COVID not being real
I was looking for a book explains what totalitarian governments do to the human mind and how to overcome it. I was not expecting to listen to a book that talks about Covid every other paragraph. I like the concepts reviewed but it always circles to Covid and it gets old.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Brandon Melseth
- 28-09-22
Excellent read! Thoughtful and enlightening.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Well thought out, balanced, with an earnestness in the author’s approach. And I appreciated the sense of awe and gratitude he expressed, as opposed to the arrogance and ego that dominate the mechanistic science world. I listened carefully as he discussed the tendency to place blame for what’s happening at the feet of certain individuals, when, although there are bad people and those that lead the charge in attempting to reshape our world and whom harm many, it’s actually the ideology that they cling to that’s the primary driver. The majority of these leaders and technocrats are part of the mass and drink their own Kool-Aid. This current environment where a mechanistic science (not scientific) approach is driving our world into trans-humanism is destined to fail. The final chapter of the book offers a very good conclusion. Well worth reading.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 26-07-22
The eclectic perception that everyone needs
I’m not a fan of rules. I’m a believer in managing the self to my own ethical standards. I am often both amused and bemused by the rules of modern society. After listening to this book I feel inspired to be myself more. For me it important to be able to recognise all the diverse deceptions and traits of totalitarianism so that I can avoid them. This book helps so much. A rich vein of observational information that can boost a person’s understanding that life is what you make it based on the moments you choose to engage with. Utterly brilliant.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Amazon Customer
- 15-07-22
Scary but offering hope
Very grateful to the author for the understanding he brings to a mad, mad world. Yet we are still faced with surviving the wrath of the sheep and the collapse they are driving.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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- Alexander Kerr
- 12-07-22
oh dear
Wasn't entirely sure where this was going when it started. When Mattias Desmet sticks to individual psychology it serves as an interesting look into how humans can develop over time. Sadly he spends most of his book making crass generalisations that in many ways fall foul of his own rules.
It starts reasonably enough with the view that perhaps science cannot explain everything in life. So far, so good. It then touches on the replication crisis in science which is an incredibly interesting problem that particularly effects his own field of psychology.
Mattias then takes a huge logical leap and uses the replication problem to begin attacking ANY belief in established "material science". "Material science" in this instance seems to mean any scientific pursuit that is not psychology.
There are some serious fallacies in most of the arguments he makes about his social theory and most claims he makes about fields outwith his own expertise. I imagine if I'd heeded his plea to abandon rational thinking at the end of the book then perhaps I would be more convinced.
His analysis of what humans have lost following on from the enlightenment is founded on an extremely rose tinted view of the past. Talk of people only having to make enough to survive personally and always seeing who received the fruits of their labour are frankly embarrassingly incorrect. His view of a people that are psychologically content under feudalism almost makes it seem like the author feels we have lost something with the deposition of the church and aristocrats as the supreme powers of the land.
The rest of the book is a mess of half baked comparisons between the Nazis, Stalin and COVID restrictions. His attempts to discredit the so called "material sciences" in this section use some seriously flawed reasoning. My personal favourite being some statistics folk get it wrong sometimes so we shouldn't trust statistics at all. For a supposed scientist to fail to understand that correcting mistake in science is part of the process is rather concerning.
He also derails the flow of the book multiple times to try and push a "placebo can replace all medicine" narrative multiple times. Incredible claims from someone without any medical experience and quite dangerous.
And just to top it all off he finishes the book by disingenuously implying that all scientists eventually end up religious and rationality has rather run its course.
This is just a whistle stop tour. Suffice it to say I would be getting back my audible credit if I could.
P.S. His entire set of guidelines for a totalitarian state are completely incoherent. At one point he suggests using a core tenant of his building blocks for totalitarianism (Directing anxiety against an enemy) against totalitarianism but not in a bad way. If you are interested in a book about tackling authoritarian behaviour you'd be beat placed reading How Democracies Die which is a much more grounded academic book.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Gaz McKenna
- 13-07-22
Shocking and Surprising
Mattias Desmet challenges narratives of our thinking and our times.
Wholeheartedly, I thank him for an awesome book. Full of intelligence and encouraging explanations.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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- The Purple Shamrock
- 24-09-22
Disappointing, misleading info
I abandoned this book 5 chapters in when Matthias Desmet stated that in Sweden people must have a written contract consenting to sex without which they can be accused of rape. I checked this out for veracity as it seemed far fetched. It is simply not true. This blatant statement of an untruth has wrecked his credibility in my eyes and I cannot take the rest of this book seriously as a result of this. Shame because I was really looking forward to this, I am really disappointed. If he can get something like this (such an easily verifiable detail) wrong then what is else in this book is misleading?
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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- Susan H
- 10-08-22
Better understand our fragile society
This book is well-argued and clearly points out the dangers of where we are today in most of the world.
I docked one star for the performance because at times it comes across as unedited and stilted, almost as if read by AI - oh, the irony!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- S. P. M
- 20-07-22
Desmet delivers... big time.
This will be remembered as one of the most important non-fiction books of the 21st century. The reader is excellent too.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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- MR
- 19-07-22
What dross! don't bother.
I only bought it as Ivor Cummings said it was amazing!? It starts off well enough and then lapses into the usual psychological babble. Lacks any insights and gives no solutions to the current hellscape.
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- Amazon Customer
- 06-07-22
Nailed it.
awesome listen will be buying book next to further grasp this fascinating way people act in crowds.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Dave
- 23-06-22
A Rossetta stone for the decryption of reality.
If you noticed cult like behaviours during "the pandemic", this book will help you understand what has taken place and what you can do about it!
A beautifully structured work that takes you on a tour of the consequences of the contemporary manifestations of our materialistic lens of perception.
Well written. Brilliantly translated. Nicely read.
This deserves to become a best seller for all the best reasons... Illuminating. Emancipating. Inspiring. Uplifting. An invitation to explore a more nutritious grand narrative.
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- Frank Paul
- 03-07-22
A Classic.
Having listened to Desmet in several long form discussions on Mass Formation, I thought this book was the written form of that thesis. I was wrong. Desmet has laid out an overarching thesis, that includes Mass Formation but includes much, much more than that. I finally understand what Totalitarianism means, and what gives rise to it. It is a must read to understand this new world that global covid policy has given us.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Robyn
- 21-06-22
Thought-provoking
This is not a book for a quick read: it contains a lot of information from many disparate fields of enquiry, all of which leads to Desmet's hypothesis to explain what got the world to where we are now. There is more here than has been discussed in Desmet's various interviews so anyone interested in his research and analysis will benefit from reading this book. Fine narration by Dan Crue.
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- Alan Stewart
- 08-08-23
Understanding ‘their’ actions
Matias clearly sets out before us the reasons behind the irrational, hateful and deeply disturbing behaviour of those around us who we once considered to be highly educated, loving and emphatic human beings who literally changed overnight when Covid 19 and it’s insidious narratives were released on mankind.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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- Yakir
- 17-03-23
Very poor theory when applied to the free world
The theory promised here to prove called the mass formation does resemble things occurring in totalitarian regimes but the comparison to the COVID response is rather narrowly subjective and doesn’t look like a scientific theory.
The amount of contradictory statements which are taken later or immediately as lemmas is astounding.
The examples brought from history often one sided judged and in some cases, as with examples from Soviet history are simply not true.
Very poor scientific work.
The only thing which stood relatively well for me were some of the questions asked about covid response, tho the writers bias can be visible by some even here.
Sorry for this super biased review, it didn’t click.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Jesse Foote
- 09-06-23
Phenomenally deep insight
Wasn't quite sure what I was expecting but I certainly wasn't expecting what I got. A deep insight into the psychology of the world in its current socio-political form. I think this book is essential reading for anyone who wants to gain a fundamental understanding of why the world is the way it is and where it is heading.
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- Robert Brus
- 21-02-23
What a punish - don't bother
A book about nothing at all. It's like trying to put a puzzle together without knowing what the actual picture is. Random facts not connected to each other do not constitute a book about anything, let alone an important topic that it claims to be about.
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- Lloyd P.
- 22-01-23
A great explanation of current times
The craziness of current times makes a lot more sense. Well written. Clearly explained.
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- MARK WALMSLEY
- 16-01-23
Read this book in 2020 before the Covid madness
Great book. Highly recommend. Truth is the light and the way forward out of totalitarian madness. Facebook clearly explains why.
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- Anonymous User
- 29-12-22
Highly recommend .
This book was even better than I expected. Everyone NEEDS to get their heads around it to break the ludicrous covid spell.
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- Leonie F. Murray
- 21-12-22
Clarity and truth
This book is well timed. While there may be many more years ahead of us before the collapse of the totalitarian ideology we are experiencing it is books like this that could help humanity fast track that process.
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