THE "FISTS"

FIXED IDENTITY STENOTIC TEMPERAMENT... my newfangled-if-clunky term describing many of the propaganda-deluded humans walking among us, unable to see past the rhetoric

Earlier today I was listening to a story which Matthew Crawford (of Rounding the Earth) shared with the always-interesting Jessica Rose as part of a longer discussion on the topic of “Propaganda and Mass Formation” (of course, referencing Matthias Desmet’s Mass Formation Psychosis theory). The story briefly touched upon a person whose identity was firmly shaped upon an idea which, unbeknownst to her, was a complete delusion. So attached was she to the delusion that was the basis for her identity, that she was completely unable to cope with new information introduced to disabuse her of the long-mistaken notions. New information can be perceived as SUCH a threat to one’s self-perception or identity that it simply must be rejected, no matter how truthful.

Aha! BINGO! said I to myself! THIS is finally one way to explain what the heck is going on with all the zombie-brained people out there—many I know personally—who will NOT for love or money heed sound counsel and listen to reason—people who seem to have no common sense whatsoever. Why cling to nonsensical notions and inconsistent directives from untrustworthy idiots? BECAUSE for some of these people, being disabused of their illusions so deeply threatens WHO THEY ARE that they cannot, will not THINK. So the threat is to their very identity, not simply to, concepts or to random ideas they previously accepted as being factual. Is this absolute defense of identity even at the expense of logic and reality a form of hypnosis? Not sure but it does explain what is going on in MANY people!

So folks, listen to the entire video if you have a moment, HERE and read on to see the how this concept got Daisy, here, a’thinkin’.  

A wee CAVEAT: I’m aware that brilliant minds including those of Dr. Peter Breggin and CJ Hopkins are not totally in agreement with Desmet, and I recall, too, that James Corbett found another philosopher (brain fart here for the name, sorry!) upon whose writings Desmet’s were, in part, based and so opined that the earlier writer offered a lot more substantive foundation for and complexity to the whole picture which, basically has people in denial, mindlessly following along with a hugely illogical and ever-changing narrative. So given all this…here is:

WHAT GOT ME THINKIN’

HOW is it that so many people can maintain such foolish and crazy delusions EVEN in the face of ample contradictory information? Well, “Mass Formation Psychosis” is one such theory. However, while discussing that theory in the above-mentioned video, Crawford tells the tale of his brilliant brother, as a kid, convincing a bunch of other kids that they had actually seen an alien spaceship in the sky.  Crawford explains that this was a carefully crafted skill, this convincing others of various falsehoods—it was something his brother carried out frequently, without the “victims” of the dupe detecting it.  Clearly it was a satisfying exercise for the brother; he was like a little Bernays, right? But what of the duped and deluded?

Fast forward many years and Matthew Crawford happens to run into one of the girls that believed in the alien spaceship yarn, she’s now an adult.  When he told her, without intended malice, that what his brother set up was all a big hoax, that all the kids were totally snookered by this bogus story, the young woman basically had a melt down / freak out and was in near hysterics, loathe to believe she was conned.  It seemed quite the outsized reaction.

Soon thereafter, Crawford relates, he learned that the REASON for the HUGE reaction was that this young woman’s entire persona, her IDENTITY, was based on this one seemingly harmless childhood incident—she WAS “the woman who believed in aliens because she saw the ship” – and so on.  She DEFINED herself using the story that had been put out to manipulate her in the first place.

So if we establish a connection between one’s very identity and one’s current beliefs, including beliefs which are patently false (but which do not shake up the identity snow globe), then it’s clear that if you threaten any core belief that puts into question one’s very identity, then THE VAULT SHUTS closed, nothing can get in, Ears-closed, Eyes Tight Shut. Does not compute. THAT is how we how find friends, family, and others we know rejecting anything logical that we might offer

HOW DOTH IT PLAY OUT IN REALITY?

I have only “up close and personal” (non-clinical) experience with friends (er, former friends) who CANNOT and WILL NOT believe that our government wants us DEAD let alone even contemplate the “GREAT RESET.”  Distancing, masks, sanitizing, jabs, they buy all the trimmings as these do not threaten their sense-of self

IDENTITY as OBSTACLE

Might there be a proper label for this identity-connected phenomenon? Does it fall precisely under the umbrella of “Mass Formation Psychosis ™” or in another category entirely? Not sure but I can attest that one’s identity, if carved in stone (and thereby made inflexible), is indeed an obstacle to getting people thinking clearly, i.e. this self-perception and how it’s defined—fully gets in the way. My thesis regarding THE STATIC / FIXED/ STENOTIC BRAIN:

If who you are—if your identity—is based on certain immutable tenets near and dear to you (even if absurd or false…)—then your brain cannot be flexible enough to take in new truths that contradict those older tenets as doing so would DESTROY THAT IDENTITY. 

Is it self-preservation, then, when the identity-preserving response is clearly self-destructive? I wonder…  

If a person’s identity is, say, based on MODERN MEDICINE being a WONDERFUL, INFALLIBLE institution and someone tells them NO, that their trusted doctor is literally harming them and their precious kids by giving out toxic covid jabs like so many sugar-free lollies, they CANNOT wrap their minds around that idea—of their trusted physician being Dr. Death or at least a Dr. Damage—they cannot do this without denying who they themselves are per what defines them being a “Staunch Believer in Modern Medicine,” as one who trusts in the “Infallible Good Will of Doctors.” So in this example we have a theoretical person but one not unlike many truth-deniers I know personally. It’s actually traumatic to try to reconcile a contradictory identity with certain newly-presented facts.

FLEXI-BRAIN…

By contrast, some of us (including crackpots like Daisy here!) are very much “flexi-brained” (flexible in our thinking, able to change and adapt and NOT be shaken in our semi-rubberized sense of self in so-doing), and we-the-flexible take in the entire enchilada and can adapt to different toppings. We can even switch whom to trust, meld theories, take a little from Peter and give to Paul and all that. Is it brain wiring? Is it just a more resilient sense of identity? Not sure BUT…

Inflexibly-brained people, no matter how smart or well-educated, cannot seem to hack a literal hack to their tree trunk, the solid, rooted identity they preserve in so much amber. 

This crystalized sense of self and its accompanying inflexibility seems to be a fairly common human characteristic, now that I can see it:

THE FIXED IDENTITY STENOTIC TEMPERAMENT
aka FIST

(Stenotic referring to stenosis—stiff and one may argue, petrified!)

FIXED IDENTITY STENOTIC TEMPERAMENT is quite the mouthful so I’ll call it FIST for short! And boy golly these FISTs are strong in their weakness; they will punch you with strong words and yes, quite possibly with their actual fists once challenged!
So I THINK this IS IT or at least there IS something to it!

I’m a gonna offer y’all a few personal stories as examples of my heady little theory here—a little bit long a read so feel free to SKIP past them if yer all short on time.  Only the names have been changed to “protect the innocent” (any Dragnet fans around?!)

CASE 1.  BRAVE CANCER SURVIVOR MAMA

Livia, a mama I know who has a lot of health-related issues, is also a breast cancer survivor who believes more or less exclusively in conventional medicine. She went though radiation and surgery (years ago) and “kicked the cancer” but then got thyroid cancer (clearly it kicked her back!) and yet, to this day, she is ever-GRATEFUL for all the conventional treatments that “saved her life.”  Her online (and offline to some degree) identity is as a BRAVE CANCER SURVIVOR MAMA who owes her very survival to conventional medicine. Others sometime even seek her advice online.

When the plandemic came along she was VERY fearful of “Covid” (being a 2x cancer survivor with said auto-immune-related health issues).  I tried to tell her, as a friend, that there was ample reason NOT to trust the Warp Speed jabs that would soon be available. However, Livia was not open to hearing about vitamins C and D and zinc. She, her husband, and her child all got their jabs as soon as they came out... 

And, no surprise here, they all have had covid at least 3x each and my friend was actually hospitalized for over a week with “long covid and other complications” (thankfully she got out alive!) and her hubby had a few trips of his own to the emergency room due to not being able to breathe.  It’s my belief that questioning the trusted jabs or linking them WITH their known “covid” symptoms would put her BRAVE CANCER SURVIVOR MAMA "identity into question.

I offered to send her studies and other important info. about the jabs, especially regarding fertility issues (as she has a daughter) to which she responded, firmly, “Our family has already been vaccinated and there is no reason for us to question the science.  Please do NOT send me anything, I will not read it.” 

Today BRAVE CANCER SURVIVOR MAMA is still an “expert” and remains very glad she took the vaccines as “it could have been much worse” for her and her family if she hadn’t.  So folks, see how her identity is strongly aligned with her choices? Conventional medicine and trust “in the science” and belief in the “right” experts shapes her decisions and there is no room for contradictory info from me. ANYTHING I sent might have questioned that identity as BRAVE CANCER SURVIVOR MAMA, one so strongly connected to conventional medicine.

CASE 2.  IT’S ALWAYS OKAY ZEN ARTS-MAMA

Shelly is not fearful or worried, surely,not about “Covid” or “Monkeypox.” The world is good, the world is generous, it’s always OK (no matter what).  Her positive attitude is indeed a very lovely thing.  She runs arts programs, including inclusive ones for special needs kids, and her life and the lives of her own young-adult kids is all about the arts, theater in particular.  She’s empathetic and a kind spirit who helps others when she can. One flaw though is that since “all is OK,” the corollary is that nothing can be wrong or even suspect.  She believes only in the “good intent” of all people and sees no evil or greed or power grabs. (sigh)

Concerned about the clot shots, I warned Shelly and advised against her family taking them, especially since she has young adult kids yet to reproduce (as they say). Again, Shelly is good people.  She told me she could not imagine why ANYONE would issue something harmful on purpose, why ANYONE would or could believe in the crazy dystopian Agenda 21 and eugenics stuff I tried to email her about.  Upshot was no matter what I sent to her, ALWAYS OKAY ZEN ARTS MAMA was, of course, sure (sure as she was standing!) that all would be OK and nobody could really be so evil as to upset the universe with dastardly plans. Her very identity clashed with any idea of potential harms.

All her children took the clot shots because, she said, “THEY HAD TO” for that was THE ONLY WAY they could still DO THEATER (believe me friends, I too believe theater for theater-folks is a type of life-necessity but for me and my fam, it’s not NEARLY as important as life itself and not worth our losing our lives or futures just to be in Dames at Sea).  Surely she felt that if she believed IT’S ALWAYS OKAY that it would be.  Although there IS something to positive good energy, methinks this too is FIST syndrome...

Will ZEN ARTS-MAMA be a grandma one day?  I wonder knowing what I know about fertility and these injections though in blue NYC many people got less-toxic batches–was it saline? Did her family get lucky?  I hope so! Anyway, Shelly’s IT’S ALWAYS OKAY ZEN identity can never jibe with recognizing the harms malevolently engineered into the jabs or she’d lose her sense of self—her sense of optimism, trust, and Zen.

CASE 3. SMART n’ SNARKY GAY GUY who HATES THE ORANGE MAN

Neil is one of the funniest fellers I have known, very clever, always with a good pun and a smirk and very talented as a musician.  He’ll generously help anyone he can “in the biz,” however Neil suffers from a Trump Derangement Syndrome so intense that it colors (literally) who he IS and how he SEES HIMSELF (as the ultimate “anti-Trumper”) and clearly it affects what he takes in…and gives out..

A little before the “plandemic” started, upon seeing some MAGA tourists in the city, Neil ranted on for a good five minutes on how all the MAGA people hated gays and how Trump was a raging homophobe (is he? his ex-wife Ivana was certainly a gay icon...) and was also a “sexist pig” (bravado?) and even was behind the “Proud Boy Nazis” and how ALL his “awful MAGA followers” were just “evil white supremacist republicans” who “should be shot” (!) for their horrible views. It was a jaw dropping moment for sure. And thus we have the SMART n’ SNARKY GAY GUY who HATES THE ORANGE MAN (and his followers) so intensely that it colors (literally) who he IS.  Clearly his favorite color is NOT ORANGE even if it is the NEW BLACK! 

When the plandemic started Neil refused to leave his apartment—he was VERY scared of getting ill, he did his music thing exclusively on ZOOM, his food was delivered.  We hadn’t seen him in a long time (and apart from that outlier Trump-triggered-Tourette’s moment, we missed him! We’d always enjoyed his otherwise good company.  SO… about six months into lockdowns, a mama friend and I invited Neil to a private musical get-together where our kids would all be performing, thinking he’d venture out.  Upon learning that there would be a “small crowd of more than ten people indoors in someone’s living room” (sssh! we naughty rule breakers!) and that we and our friends and the kids were all un-injected and planned to be unmasked too, he declined because he simply couldn’t risk his health being around us “super spreaders.”  Really? We-the-healthy? Wow. We made an attempt to let him know that kids especially were NOT super spreaders or vectors of disease—and that we were all well ourselves. No dice.

He explained that TRUMP (his nemesis) had “bungled” the pandemic response SO terribly that EVERYONE in NY was AT RISK and he was SO disgusted, it was ALL Trump’s fault. Neil was following all of Dr Fraudski’s recommendations including distancing, masking, staying locked down and certainly NOT gathering with friends. You just cannot argue with people like this.

So, we have not seen Neil since he rejected the invite—we know how he feels about us uninjected folks. Sad that his hate of our former President is SO intense that he cannot see old friends. We wonder if he still sees himself as the SMART n’ SNARKY GAY GUY who HATES THE ORANGE MAN? I’m CERTAIN Neil has gotten all of his boosters and I DO hope he’s OK... .

Post-script note: I think that Neil will still define himself in relation to Trump for quite some time but perhaps when Trump falls out of the public eye he’ll pick another figure through which he can define himself. Doing so is not flexibility though, it’s just replacement…

CASE 4. (last one! though I could go on...) 
Middle Aged TOUGH, POST-PUNK ROCKER ICONOCLAST

Ricky was a good old friend from my Radio Days (Daisy used to deejay!) and we shared a love for many of the same bands and films. He and I used to share a canny eye for spotting out the hypocrites that fooled others with sub-par trendy-cool garbage and oft-pilfered styles or songs and made money off of it, selling the work as original, as art.  Then came the plandemic and this smart guy who knew the JFK story we all got was full-out bunk, who knew a “bullshit artist” when he saw one, fully BELIEVED in the Wuhan bat story, the jargon, and in the narrative about those who should be BLAMED. It’s FIST again,... I’m tellin’ ya...

One fine day we were emailing and he mentioned he was SO ANGRY at a neighbor that he almost punched the guy out.  The crime?  The man dared NOT to mask up in the little elevator of their apartment building, the selfish SOB.  What????! was this for real?  He recounted that he ordered the guy outta the elevator and threatened to beat the “crap” outta him if the guy didn’t put on a mask.  The guy, Ricky told me, refused to leave the elevator and had the gall to say that “masks don’t work” and “I’m not sick” and “if your mask protects you from me, why are you worried?”  (Sounds like logic to me, no?) Thankfully, From all I gathered, it never came to fisticuffs and the neighbor took a solo ride with Ricky taking the car empty on the rebound trip.

The upshot of the story was, however, that Ricky was not able to see logic (like a bull seeing red?) and felt baited.  He actually bragged that despite being middle-aged he still was “tough enough” to hold his own against such A-holes. He added that he could not believe these STUPID unmasked “sheep” (covidiots!)  that were unable to “get a life” and “put on a f—king mask.” Well, doodly do, I guess I fit that bill.

Clearly there was a lot of posturing going on. I wrote him back that I’d seen plenty of evidence that the masks did jack squat and he wrote his reply that I was “wrong as Hell” and that he hoped that whatever I believed that at least I was masking up—my kids and husband too! 

I avoided answering that question in my reply and just wished him good health and told him that vitamin C and D were not a bad idea whatever was up with the “virus” he was worried about.  Luckily he didn’t notice my oblique reponse.

Anyhoo,  my take is that he drank the Fauxchee Kool-Aid too without a spec of suspicion, and as a tough macho punk rocker guy who was certain he knew whom to trust, no fool was gonna shake what he KNEW to be true, he of the gimlet eye.  Thus, the TOUGH, POST-PUNK ROCKER ICONOCLAST could not believe that some regular-guy neighbor was absolutely no threat to him (unmasked) or that the plain logic the guy spoke was...well...logical! Another FIST!

CAN YOU SEE IT TOO?

So friends, FIST is a thing... this stiff, inflexible, identity thing that makes otherwise sane-thinking people get SO defensive, so unwilling to HEAR or LEARN…

Really I DO think I am onto something here even if my ‘splainin’ is in layman’s terms and my label is a little clunky.
FIXED IDENTITY STENOTIC TEMPERMENT . But dang there is this phenomenon.

WRAP UP…

NONE of these friends (some former…?) could re-think their attitudes or envision things otherwise due to their circumscribed identities..almost to the point of being cliche-like.  This is a HUGE hallmark of inflexible thinking—and of having an immutable identity that cannot shift with new understanding—and indeed their identities DEPEND on them stubbornly not changing their minds, so regrettably, it appears, they lost them completely (as in LOST THEIR MINDS!). 

Bo Peep wonders if they’ll ever return to sanity, tails waggin’ behind them or not. Or was this a trait all along that I just never noticed?

Meanwhile, I’m savin’ my fists for all the Fraudskis out there,
Daisy

ps Oh, iffin’ you thought, goin’ by the title, that this was a naughty article about something stomach-turnin’ly kinky, well shame on y’all!  (tee hee).