The Covidian Cult – There’s Reality, and There’s “Reality”
In The Covidian Cult (Part I) and (Part II) I characterized the so-called "New Normal" as a "global totalitarian ideological movement." More people are seeing the essays as they were, and not just "insanity" nor "an overreaction", but rather a new kind of totalitarianism. A globalized, pathologized depoliticized form that's being implemented under the pretext of "protecting public health."
To oppose the new totalitarianism we must understand its similarities and differences from previous totalitarian regimes. The similarities are fairly obvious — the suspension of constitutional rights, governments ruling by decree, official propaganda, public loyalty rituals, the outlawing of political opposition, censorship, social segregation, goon squads terrorizing the public, and so on — but the differences are not obvious.
Unlike 20th Century totalitarianism, which was the most common form, it was nationalist and more overtly politically oriented, New Normal totalitarianism, on the other hand, is more supranational and more subtle in its ideology. It isn't Nazism nor Stalinism. Global-capitalist totalitarianism is the New Normal. It doesn't technically have an ideology. Rather, it has "reality" as its ideology.
Your ideology becomes reality when you have an unrivalled global ideologic hegemon like global capitalism for 30 years. This is because there aren't any competing ideologies. Actually, there is no ideology at all … there is only "reality" and "unreality," "normality" and "deviations from the norm."
Yes, I know, reality is reality … that's why I'm putting all these terms in scare quotes, so, please, spare me the lengthy emails conclusively proving the reality of reality and try to understand how this works.
It is possible to believe in reality, but there are realities that can be manipulated and shaped by "reality" which determine how societies operate. According to society's ideology, "reality" can be constructed collectively (i.e. simulated).
The past was a time when "reality", regardless of the "reality" that you were living in, was ideologically open. There were many competing realities out there. They are not anymore. There is only the one "reality," because the entire planet — yes, including China, Russia, North Korea, and wherever — is controlled by one globally hegemonic system.
Globally hegemonic systems don't require ideology because they aren't competing against rival ideologies. This system replaces all ideology with "reality". Reality is not erased, regardless of what you think it is. You don't have the right to make "reality" your reality.
Global capitalism can dictate reality, or more precisely, simulate reality. In doing so, it also simulates the other side of reality, which is just as important, if not more.
This global-capitalist-manufactured "reality" is a depoliticized, ahistorical "reality," which forms an invisible ideological boundary establishing the limits of what is "real." This is how global capitalism hides its ideologic nature and makes any ideological opposition illegitimate (or, better, non-existent). The ideology we used to know is gone.
Ethical, moral, and political arguments all become irrelevant. The GloboCap "experts", and "fact-checkers" determine what "real" or false. Because this "reality" does not contain a cohesive ideology with core principles, fundamental values and other key principles, it is easily modified, if necessary, or even completely replaced.
Global capitalism has no fundamental values — other than exchange value, of course — and thus it is free to manufacture any kind of "reality" it wants, and replace one "reality" with a new "reality" any time that serves its purposes, like stagehands changing a theatrical set.
For example, the "Global War on Terror," which was the official "reality" from 2001 until it was canceled in the Summer of 2016, when the "War on Populism" was officially launched. Or, now, the "New Normal," which replaced the "War on Populism" in the Spring of 2020. Every one of the new simulations was presented abruptly and uncoordinated, just like 1984's scene when the Party swapped official enemies during a Hate Week speech.
Seriously, think about where we are currently, 18 months into our new "reality," then go back and review how GloboCap blatantly rolled out the New Normal in the Spring of 2020 … and the majority of the masses didn't even blink. They seamlessly moved to the "new reality" where a virus was the official enemy.
The scripts that they'd been reading verbatim for four years and those they'd been reading for 15 years prior were put aside and they began franticly reciting Covid cult-speak, sounding like they were trying to be an Orwell parody. Which brings us to the problem of the Covidian cult … how to get through to them, which, make no mistake, we have to do, one way or another, or the New Normal will become our permanent "reality."
I called the New Normals a "Covidian Cult," not to gratuitously insult or mock them, but because that is what totalitarianism is … a cult writ large, on a societal scale. Anybody who tried to reach them will confirm that this analogy is accurate.
It doesn't matter how many times you show them facts. This will make no difference. It may seem like you're having a discussion about facts. Their new reality is being threatened. They think that you struggle to make them think rationally. But you aren't. Your true nature is that of a heretic, an agent for demonic forces and an enemy to all things "real" or "true".
Scientologists call you "suppressive" According to the New Normals, you are a conspiracy theorist, anti-vaxxer or virus denier. These epithets are not important. They are just labels that cult members and totalitarians use to demonize those they perceive as "enemies" … anyone challenging the "reality" of the cult, or the "reality" of the totalitarian system.
You can't get people to leave a cult and you cannot talk them out from totalitarianism. You usually get rid of the cult member. Take them kidnapped, place them in a safe house or other location, surround them by many non-cult members and gradually deprogram them over the next few days.
This is because they may be still in the cult and you won't be able to get past them. They can't hear what you say. A cult, or collective of self-contained reality, is an organized group. The power of a cult comes from the social organization made up the leaders and other members. It is impossible to "talk down" the power. Before you can start to talk with someone, it is necessary to remove them from their power.
This is not an option. Global totalitarian systems are the New Normal. The New Normal is a global totalitarian system. There's no escape from it. It is impossible to kidnap all the people and bring them to Sweden. The cult/society paradigm is being rewritten, as I mentioned in Part I. It has made the cult the dominant society and all those who are not converted to it have been reduced to isolated, cult-controlled islands.
We need a new strategy. The New Normal masses and the Covidian cultists need to be made aware of the existence of the monster. Jim Jones needs to stop promoting peace and love, get into the jungle, then drink the Kool-Aid.
Charles Manson must give up his guitar and abandon orgy time. We should make him a homicidal hippie. That is the way to take down an entire cult. It is not your goal to stop its progression; instead, you work with it towards its conclusion. It is when it collapses and then dies that you make its full expression.
It is not possible to do this by being conciliatory or polite. This is achieved by inciting internal conflict within your cult.
In other words, we need to make GloboCap (and its minions) go openly totalitarian … because it can't. It would already have done this if it had. That is why global capitalism will not function in this way. Going openly totalitarian will cause it to implode … no, not global capitalism itself, but this totalitarian version of it. This is already happening.
To keep people docile, it needs to be simulated as "reality", "democracy," or "normality". This simulation must be attacked. It is necessary to smash it into pieces until the beast within it appears.
That is the weakness of the system … the New Normal totalitarianism will not work if the masses perceive it as totalitarianism, as a political/ideological program, rather than as "a response to a deadly pandemic." It must be made visible as totalitarianism.
The New Normals must see it like it is. It does not mean we should explain this to them. It is beyond their reach to provide explanations. It is important to get them to see and feel this, in a tangible, unavoidable way, so that they realize what they are actually collaborating with.
Instead of arguing on their terms with them, attack their reality. Don't get caught up in their story when they begin to ramble about the viruses, the variants and the "vaccines." Respond as though they are rational.
Respond as if they were talking about "Xenu," "body thetans," "Helter Skelter," or any other cultoid nonsense, because that it is exactly what it is. The same applies to their restrictions and rules, such as the "face covers", the "social distancing" and the like.
You shouldn't be arguing with them about the fact that they aren't working. Although they may not work, that does not mean that they do not exist. They are a series of strange compliance rituals that serve to consolidate allegiance and incite a "deadly pandemic."
This can be done in many different ways, including generating internal conflict. While I've done it my own way, many others do it differently. I'm grateful that you are among them. You can start if you don't. You can do it whenever and however you want. Make the New Normals face the monster, the monster they are feeding … the monster they have become.
About the Author
C.J. Hopkins is an American playwright, novelist, and political satirist who lives in Berlin. His plays are published by Bloomsbury Publishing and Broadway Play Publishing, Inc. His dystopian novel, Zone 23, is published by Snoggsworthy, Swaine & Cormorant.
Volumes I and II of his Consent Factory Essays are published by Consent Factory Publishing, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amalgamated Content, Inc. He can be reached at cjhopkins.com or consentfactory.org.
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