Seven Easy Lessons in Effective Ass-Kissing and Group-Think

Late last week, after hearing some especially ridiculous/disturbing US news, I remarked to my wife, “Lately, I feel like I’m living in a giant, nation-sized lunatic asylum.” Then, the even more ridiculous news of the next few days confirmed and escalated it all: we Americans are, indeed, living in a vast lunatic asylum.

I’m thinking of an appeals court green-lighting Trump using our military against any ‘blue’ cities he wants to invade, oppress, and control. This bonkers decision was quickly followed by something even crazier: Trump reaffirmed he may seek personal compensation of $230,000,000 from the US government for all the ‘fake,’ ‘woke’ investigations into his conduct and all the ‘weaponized’ indictments he (rightly) faced over the past 4 years.

Next came this gem: the rapid demolition of the East Wing of the White House, to make way for Trump’s planned $300,000,000, 90,000 sq. ft. (!) ornate ballroom — which will dwarf the actual White House.

Yes, we’re talking about the unilateral demolition of the East Wing of ‘the people’s house’ — which Trump doesn’t own and had promised to preserve. So much for Trump’s ‘promises.’

Of course, we already knew his ‘promises’ aren’t worth the air he exhales while making them. He is a known, compulsive liar, swindler, and sexual abuser, yet a vast group of Americans adores this man and has fallen under his sway almost totally.

This essay explores just how that occurred, in particular the roles self-denial and self-deception play in such absurd, harmful veneration.

‘Yeah!’ to bizarre craziness and abuse

It’s difficult — almost impossible, really — to describe the full extent of the mass insanity that has gripped our nation. It’s bizarre beyond words… and also dangerous far beyond our current (pitiful) comprehension. We’re seeing the burgeoning end results of decades of lies, paranoid manipulations, and insidious right-wing power plays, culminating in the grotesque rise and ‘reign’ of Donald J. Trump, the world’s most accomplished grifter, liar, and manipulator.

It’s all… too much. Way, way too much… and it’s still intensifying. It’s so over-the-top c-r-a-z-y that in an earlier time — just a few short years ago — Trump’s dictator-wannabe actions and weird antics would have seemed completely nuts. They, and he, would have been shut down fast by the power players in D.C.

But today, they just play along, smile, nod, and say “How wonderful! How inspiring! He is exactly the strong leader we need to Make America Great Again.” Then they bend over again, still grinning, and say “Please screw us some more, sir! More lies, sir! More abuse, sir!? Please?!”

Almost to a person, they have all mastered the dark arts of expert ass-kissing and foul group-think.

Seven steps to mastering extreme ass-kissing and mindless group-think

What does it take to fully succumb to enthusiastic ass-kissing and mindless, heartless group-think? I can think of several highly unhealthy inner ‘moves’ that support and sustain this deranged, semi-demonic process.

1) The primary requirement is willingness to give up any self-respect, integrity, and all intellectual curiosity, and then surrender one’s mind and heart to ‘dear leader’ and his movement — in this case, Trump and MAGA.

2) In order to accomplish such a deep self-surrender and abnegation of personal responsibility, one must quickly learn to accept ‘dear leader’s’ every pronouncement and uncritically parrot his ideas, delusions, hatreds, and reactions. One’s intelligence and inquiring mind must be shut down.

3) In service of these ugly goals, one must quickly learn to accept — and then promote — constant lies and gaslighting as ‘normal.’ Soon, any contrary information or news is dismissed as ‘fake news,’ while only ‘dear leader’s’ warped version of ‘reality’ is granted validity.

4) When all these perverse conditions have been met, one is effectively ‘living a lie’ — totally and completely. Yet, one can never admit this or even allow this idea into consciousness. This is when our human facility for massive, persistent projection enters the picture — and it’s time to find/create vicious ‘enemies’ to point to and blame for ongoing social or political problems.

5) The process of ‘enemy creation’ leads inexorably to increased hate, racism, anger, and resentment. The ever-growing list of ‘enemies within’ (Trump’s phrase) feeds our paranoia and fear, which leads to even more projection and more ‘enemies’… in an endless, vicious spiral.

6) As all these horrendous inner changes and attitudes take root and ‘harden,’ the entire sick process soon becomes the ‘new normal.’ And, of course, as horrible ideas and atrocities become acceptable and ‘normal,’ the entire process is energized — and then expands and grows stronger. It becomes a form of self-fulfilling prophecy.

7) Due to the dire self-fulfilling nature of these inner shifts and outer changes, the whole bonkers process keeps repeating at deeper and deeper inner levels — which ensures that people stay enslaved to vicious group-think. It also translates into massive social disruptions, hatred, paranoia, and violence erupting in the society around us.

The escalating ‘true believer’ takeover

Sadly, the above processes/stages in the rapid growth of group-think and abject ass-kissing aren’t always obvious or noticeable — unless one is intentionally on the lookout for the signs and symptoms. UNnaturally, one of the primary functions of these processes is to shut down one’s analytical mind (thus heavily discouraging thoughtful awareness) and instead encourage blind faith and devotion. An open, questioning mind becomes verboten.

In this way, political and religious group-think are very similar, if not identical. That’s exactly why ‘true believers’ of either persuasion are among the most dangerous human beings on the planet. They have been deeply ‘programmed’ to obey, conform, and not question — and are thus ‘primed’ to commit unspeakable, oppressive acts and atrocities if ‘dear leader’ pushes for or subtly suggests such actions. We’ve seen this pattern over and over again with Trump and the MAGA faithful.

Trump often implies or ‘suggests’ that a given ‘enemy’ deserves punishment or even death — and soon, some hapless MAGA groupie steps up and tries to carry out ‘dear leader’s’ wishes. This is exactly what happened when David Pape went after Nancy Pelosi — and, when she wasn’t home, then settled for smashing her husband’s skull with his hammer.

This was far from an isolated incident. Several similar attacks and murders have happened in the past year alone.

How to lose your mind, heart, integrity, and soul

Yet, in the midst of all this burgeoning insanity, few commentators have focused on the intense fear and cowardice behind these vile trends. Trump scares and threatens people into submission, and then MAGA groupies pick up where he left off and work overtime to intimidate the hell out of people.

Of course, this is exactly the way things work in a dictatorship or any tyrannical nation. It’s what the Nazis did, it’s what Putin does, it’s what Kim Jong Un does. Trump and MAGA are following the ‘dictator’s playbook’ verbatim in almost everything they do.

So, if you enjoy tyranny and prefer dictatorship to democracy, by all means follow the seven easy steps I outlined above. Give up your integrity and surrender your mind and soul to ‘dear leader’ Trump. Work hard at becoming an expert ass-kisser. Empty your mind of ‘woke’ knowledge, empathy, and compassion, and embody the MAGA ‘party line.’

You, too, can become a rigid, heartless group-think robot! It’s easy!

You’ve got nothing to lose except your mind, heart, integrity, and soul.

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This post was previously published on Bouncin’ and Behavin’ Blogs.

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