Murmuration of Idiots

Every once in awhile I come across a new word or phrase that I’m both unfamiliar with and intrigued by simultaneously. A few years back that word was murmuration. I can’t remember exactly how I came across the word murmuration, but when I did I immediately ran to the dictionary.

Here’s what Merriam Webster had to say:

Murmuration

1. the act of murmuring : the utterance of low continuous sounds or complaining noises

2. of starlings : FLOCK

Then I googled images of a murmuration, which led me to this video by Fox Weather:

Beautiful right?

Over the last 3 years I couldn’t stop thinking about the idea that we humans form murmurations too. However, unlike the beauty and grace of the starling’s murmuration, the human murmuration is more akin to Hitchcock’s The Birds…

or more like Stephen King’s circling murmuration seen in the movie Cell,

which of course I was reminded of when the story of the circling sheep in China came out, and I thought to myself, “That looks familiar, where have I seen that circling before? Oh yeah, the movie Cell.”

What is that saying, life imitates art?

Well indeed it may.

More recently I have come across a new phrase that has me as equally intrigued as murmuration. This is the term mass formation, mass psychosis, or mass formation psychosis. which has been defined by Mattias Desmet, a Professor of Clinical Psychology at Ghent University in Belgium, and author of the book, The Psychology of Totalitarianism. If you are not familiar with Mattias Desmet or his theory of mass formation I have provided some links below so you can research further:

Dr. Robert Malone Substack

Tucker Carlson Interview

Joe Rogan Interview with Dr. Malone

Mass Formation is described by Mattias Desmet as, “…a type of collective hypnosis.” He relates this collective hypnosis to the rise of totalitarianism. “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.” He further goes on to describe how this mass psychosis grows within a society, “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.” His theory has been influenced by the works of Hannah Arendt’s work on totalitarianism.

It was really Dr. Robert Malone who introduced me to Mattias Desmet’s theory of mass psychosis during his interview on the Joe Rogan show. I’m kind of a visual learner, so as Dr. Malone was explaining this mass formation, my mind immediately visualized a mass murmuration, and the snarky center in my brain whispered, “more like a murmuration of idiots.” However, calling people idiots who fall into a mass psychosis, or murmuration, is not very helpful or thought provoking, so I had to really stew on this concept for awhile. I needed to observe the behavior of people over time.

What I saw went like this:

Shocking News story breaks….main stream media reacts…opposing murmurations form, they swoop, and dive in synchrony attacking their opposition. Next shocking news story breaks…main stream media reacts….new murmurations form, they swoop and dive in synchrony attacking their opposition…More shocking news stories break…main stream media reacts…more murmurations form, they swoop and dive in synchrony attacking their opposition…

Get the picture?

As a nurse I found myself trapped in the murmuration of the healthcare system. Boy do we flock together. Like starlings, we fly in synchronous flock-step. We swoop and dive, our starched wings flap and flutter, as our swarm oscillates and quivers with each changing course. Our collective thoughts and behaviors harmonize to the rustle of the journals and protocols that guide us on our flight.

Breaking free from that murmuration took some time. I wrote about that in my four part series “Waking Up is Hard to Do.” But was this break from my murmuration only leading me into a similar situation, in other words was I breaking free from one mass formation only to be hypnotized into new one? How could I be sure I was being objective?

So who are the murmuration of idiots?

Honestly, they are people just like you and me. They are our mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, coworkers and friends. They are the people that we once shared a drink and a meal with, or a hug and a kiss. Now they are the perceived enemy. They are the ones who refuse to talk to us, or invite us out for that drink. They are the ones who ostracized us, called us names, fired us, and wished us dead. They are birds of a feather, and we no longer flock together.

How does a mass formation take shape, and what separates us from those sucked into the hypnotic, hypodermic, hypochondriacal trance?

Well for starters, I’m going to guess we are not the types who ever liked being told what to do when we were younger. No amount of fear instilled in us by our parents, our teachers, our churches, or our bosses was ever going to stop us from marching to our own beat. We are the critical thinkers, the work-arounders, the “what do you mean it can be done, step aside and let me tryers.” We don’t like taking no for an answer, and yet we’re suspicious of anyone saying yes. We are the types that nod along when listening to total bullshit, whilst desperately trying to keep our eyes from rolling out of their sockets. We are always looking over our shoulders, watching our six, or looking in the rearview mirror making sure that the car on our tail isn’t following us home.

Paranoid?

Perhaps. But I just heard a great definition of the word paranoia by Dr. John Coleman from a speech he gave in 1994, where he defined paranoia as, "a man or person who has the ability to link events that seemingly are not connected." Isn’t that what we are all doing here? Linking events that seemingly are not connected and discovering the truth free from the murmurations, and mass formations fluttering all around us.

Why do birds murmurate in the first place?

One theory is to confuse or discourage predators. I don’t think humans are much different, or should I say I don’t think most humans like to be different, they don’t want to stand out or draw unwarranted attention to themselves. It’s safer in the murmuration, however, the motion of the flock isn’t necessarily guided by one supreme leader, or one collective thought, but rather a sort of complex behavioral contagion “the rapid transmission of local behavioral response to neighbors” (Rosenthal, Twomey, Hartnett, Wu, Couzin, 2015).

Which neighbors?

Why your seven closest neighbors. Turns out that’s the magic number for birds. “Considering all these little groups of seven touch on other individuals and groups of seven, twists and turns quickly spread. And from that, a whole murmuration moves” (Donovan, 2021, Young, Scardovi, Cavagna, Giardina, Leonard, 2013).

Reminds me of that shampoo commercial from the ‘80s…

Instead of “they told two friends”, it’s more like they told seven friends, and then they told seven friends, and so on, and so on…

Whose manipulating this behavioral contagion over the masses?

Fauci? Gates? Klaus? CNN? CDC? FDA? MSNBC? Hunter’s Laptop? Who dammit, who? To be honest, I haven’t a clue! But, I did come across another great piece by Dr. Robert Malone who may just have the answer or at least is pointing us in the right direction. And so our murmuration rapidly changes course…

Here is a link to Dr. Malone’s speech that he gave at the Pandemic Strategies Conference in Stockholm, Sweden on January 21, 2023 titled “PsyWars: Fifth Generation Warfare and Sovereignty.” (5G warfare for short.)

It would appear the call is coming from inside the house…

or at least from inside our technology. We are up against military grade psyops coordinated on a global scale, leveraged off of individual’s free floating anxiety. We are on a technological battlefield in an ambiguous war being triggered by existing cognitive biases against populations struggling with anxiety, depression, isolation, loneliness, gender dysmorphia, lack of meaning, dead end jobs, and God knows what else. Advertise, '‘the sky is falling’ on a media loop infinitum and what do you get but a murmuration of idiots flock-stepping in fearful pendulosity.

So where can we find this battleground?

Let me give you a hint…

These are the battlegrounds of alternative realities. The formation of mass psychoses within these spaces is palpable. Step out of line and one murmuration of idiots rapidly descends to take down their enemy, while another murmuration of idiots ascends to defend them. I would say Twitter is the mac daddy of all murmurations. Those little bluebirds are the nightmares of Hitchcock, Orwell, and Huxley combined. The key is to get in and get out unscathed. Stay too long and you become a lotus eater.

How do I know if I’m in the right murmuration?

Like I said earlier, my fear about flock mentality, or mass formations, is losing my own objectivity, and no longer being able to think critically, or independently. This above all needs to remain sacred and protected. However, there is one small way you might be able to identify if you’re in the right flock. Just ask yourself a few simple questions. At the end of the day, who is benefitting? Is it you or someone else? If you find yourself cheerleading for Big Government, Big Pharma, or Big Corporations, you are probably in the wrong flock. If you’re the type that finds joy in the censorship of others, regardless of their point of view, you’re probably in the wrong flock. If you’re into medical malfeasance, mask mandates, or megalomaniacal mayors you’re probably in the wrong flock. And if you find any late night TV show hosts funny, you are most definitely in the wrong flock!

Hope vs. Hell

I’d like to believe there is hope inside of our murmuration. I want to think we are creating something beautiful to counter the evil we are up against. I don’t want to end up like the poor souls in Dante’s Inferno. For even Dante compared the starlings murmurations to the tempest and fury of the condemned, trapped in their murmurations of regret and sin for eternity.

Into a place I came
Where light was silent all.  Bellowing there groan'd
A noise as of a sea in tempest torn
By warring winds.  The stormy blast of hell
With restless fury drives the spirits on
Whirl'd round and dash'd amain with sore annoy.
When they arrive before the ruinous sweep,
There shrieks are heard, there lamentations, moans,
And blasphemies 'gainst the good Power in heaven.

I understood that to this torment sad
The carnal sinners are condemn'd, in whom
Reason by lust is sway'd.  As in large troops
And multitudinous, when winter reigns,
The starlings on their wings are borne abroad;
So bears the tyrannous gust those evil souls.
On this side and on that, above, below,
It drives them: hope of rest to solace them
Is none, nor e'en of milder pang.  
(Translation Rev. H.F. Cary)

The Whirlwind of Lovers, Illustration to Inferno William Blake 1825-1827

I’d like to believe that good conquers evil, kindness trumps hate, and God prevails over satan. I’d like to believe the murmuration I’m in is the murmuration that will lead us out of this dark time, and back into the light.

Come fly with me…