It’s natural to gravitate towards people we feel comfortable with. To identify a sense of belonging with those who share meaningful commonalities such as nationality, culture, religion, values or interests. And this often leads to the formation of healthy bonds and supportive relationships.

However, what can happen, is people slip into rigid favouritism of the group they have identified with. And then irrationally shun those who identify with other groups.

Due to primal insecurities, people want to believe that their group is special, superior and more successful. They want to believe they are on the winning team.

And this often leads to a lot of false pride, pompous abstractions, and confirmation bias. Which can then lead to reactions of disregard, disdain and discrimination towards those identifying with other groups.

And this tendency for group favouritism can be ruthlessly exploited by politicians, corporations, media influencers and religious leaders to serve their interests.

It’s more advantageous and profitable to get a large group on board than it is to try and rally disparate individuals. And so a lot of effort via marketing and public relations has gone into shaping group identities and manipulating group choices.

Psychological associations are formed, and subsequent behaviour patterns emerge.

And this is why, for example, voting demographics, social trends and consumer patterns can often be closely correlated with socio-economic class, gender, ethnicity, age, religious preferences, and political allegiances.

And you also have to remember that those in power often benefit from reinforcing divisions. It’s an ancient tactic of control implemented throughout history. The reason is simple. When people are staunchly divided, they are less likely to unite and form any significant resistance.

The daily bread and circuses of identity politics and culture battles keep people distracted and polarised, whilst systemic failures are not addressed.

The continual focus of blame on ‘the other’, ‘the opposition’, ‘the enemy’ provides a convenient cover story and alibi for those in power attempting to conceal their failings or ulterior motives.

And it also keeps people in a perpetual state of rivalry and indignation. It pulls people into the primal mind, which means their ability to reason and evaluate will be weakened.

Groupthink

Groupthink is when people in a group believe they are acting in their best interests, but have failed to critically assess circumstances and evidence. They ignore contradictions to their beliefs. And make assumptions and decisions that are not rational.

And even when some people in the group become uncomfortable, they will often go along with the herd and yield to conformity because they prioritise group cohesion. Other people in the group then erroneously assume the group is united in agreement.

A common outcropping of groupthink is the tendency to dehumanise outsiders. And this happens in particular when other groups have very different beliefs or opposing ideologies.

People can end up viewing outsiders as being ‘all alike’ – they cast them all with the same stereotypes and prejudices. They irrationally disregard the nuances of individuals, and assign outsiders collectively as ‘the other’.

And it will often be claimed that ‘the other’ are inferior ‘animals’ or ‘subhumans’. And this type of group dehumanisation frequently gets used as an excuse to deny people universal human rights.

And if people feel their identity, their way of life, or their safety is threatened by ‘the other’, this can cause them to go on the offensive.

Groupthink Disasters

Groupthink and dehumanisation are at the core of understanding why people have supported or carried out acts of mass violence and oppression.

If a narrative is established wherein a group feels threatened, people can then end up feeling entitled to dominate and control ‘the other’.

However, on numerous occasions throughout history, these types of narrative have been fabricated and manipulated. Yet people have gone along with atrocities due to groupthink.

See the history of empires and dictatorships. See the lies, false flags and deceptions that have been used to start wars and to occupy countries and steal resources.

And narratives have also been generated due to snobbery, prejudice and zealotry. And have then been used to justify oppression of ‘the other’.

See the irrational dehumanisation and brutal discrimination based on conceptions of superiority. The class systems, the caste systems, the racial segregations, the religious persecutions, the violent occupations, slavery, eugenics programs, the gulags, the genocides.

The process of dehumanisation leads to a drastic reduction in empathy. And millions of people have been killed and persecuted as a result.

The Next Disaster?

We saw during the covid crisis how so many people fell into groupthink. How they failed to assess the available evidence. How they made irrational decisions. And how they dehumanised those who chose not to participate in the biotech experiment.

People’s predisposition to obey authority figures, combined with the forces of groupthink and conformity – means they are vulnerable to manipulation.

And the direction things are heading — it is conceivable that the next major disaster could see many people fighting and supporting widespread war.

Governments are openly making preparations, and propaganda about ‘the other’ is ramping up – and is priming people for groupthink mania.

What’s happening makes absolutely no sense on the surface level.

Hopefully sanity prevails, but in the meantime…

Staying Safe

• Be cautious of falling into groupthink reactions and behaviours. If you’re pulled into the emotions of fear and hostility, then you won’t be able to think rationally. Remember to keep cool and be discerning. The ability to centre yourself in calmness will be a considerable advantage if the world around you becomes chaotic.
• Group identification is natural. But there are no chosen ones. We’re all in this together as human beings.
• When people operate with common sense, respect and integrity they naturally move towards peace and harmony — they move away from the mayhem of war, conflict and discord. When you maintain peace within yourself and your relationships, you become safer. That is a metaphysical certainty.
• But depending on your circumstances, it may also be worth you having some practical plans and contingencies. And if at some point in the coming years you get the sense that war is imminent, and that your life will be affected, then you’ll know what to do. No worries.