The difference between dictatorship and totalitarianism is that within the first one people obey out of pure fear, in totalitarianism people are hypnotized into obedience.
Totalitarianism always begins with a so called mass formation (collectivism). For mass formation to be triggered you need to induce anxiety in the population. When that is accomplished a solution is offered to soothe the collective fears. People are encouraged to find refuge in the collective ritual. A ritual would be anything that is repeatedly enacted according to a prescribed order. Mask wearing is a good example – viruses are smaller than the mask perforation, yet it makes people feel safer and with that, calmer. You have surely heard the propaganda calls appealing to collectivism: “we’re all in this together” or “stay home save lives”. When you’re asked by the gov to do something for the good of the collective, you are most likely being coned.

So, if the anxiety is hard to bear, when one fears for their life, people jump at the opportunity to mitigate the inner discomfort by applying the presented solution, the rituals and by feeling safe in the herd of others doing the same. All they know is their anxiety is gone. With that they also receive a new meaning and a new sense of solidarity. That is a trap because when you need the ritual and a sense of solidarity to feel safe, it trumps everything else, including, morality, ethics, reason. You are now within the illusory perimeter of the groupthink and it changes how you think and feel. It changes who you are. That is why we can see people resorting to cruelty and immoral behaviours waged against others from outside of the groupthink. The rational thinking is overridden by the self-preservation instinct.
If you found refuge in the groupthink, your brain is literally bewitched. No amount or rational thinking or compassion will change that, for exiting the groupthink can be terrifying. Upon the waking up from the hypnotic state not only the anxiety will return, but you will also see the extent of damage you created in their lives and the lives of others. As the time progresses, it becomes harder to wake up from the dream unless one is exposed to tremendous pressures or trauma. The social engineers don’t want the masses to wake up as it will not only thward their domination dream, but also expose them to the collective anger. When we look back at history, the orchestrators of mass hypnosis don’t end up well as the masses wake up to the extent of damage inflicted upon them and that anger is often directed at the “leaders”.
According to Prof Desmet, an expert on psychology of totalitarian regimes:
- 30% of people are the ones usually deeply hypnotized.
- 40% are not but go along with the crowd (in stage 2 the 40% stop hearing dissenting voices of reason and will unite with the hypnotized to go along)
- The remaining 30% cannot be hypnotized and continues expressing dissent.
When the last voices of dissent give up and become silent – the mass then starts committing atrocities (that is stage 3 of totalitarianism). After that you will have a revolution which has traditionally required violence and casualties.
Margaret Eliza Keays
We all carry societal programming within our psyche and as we let go of self-defeating beliefs imprinted on us by the education system, media, religion and culture we become more independent and can withstand whatever life throws at us as independent human beings. To remove self-defeating programming, poverty consciousness, old stories, book a 15min free call with me and we can create a deprogramming strategy for you. Reach out at contact@margaretkeays.com and I will take it from there.