How Not To Be A Mass

Well the fear campaign on the London Underground has been ramped up. I was visiting again a few weeks ago and the poster from my last blog, the one that instructs folks to be wary and suspicious of their fellow passengers, has grown to about three times the size and was displayed prominently in stations. Meanwhile, I came across a Swiss advert (shown) offering reward to those willing to report neighbours whom they suspect are using too much electricity. How to explain this kind of divisive messaging that turns us away from each other and towards paternalistic authority?

“DOES YOUR NEIGHBOUR HEAT HIS FLAT TO MORE THAN 19c?
PLEASE LET US KNOW [tel.]
ANONYMOUS – 200 FRANKEN REWARD”

In his brilliant new book, The Psychology of Totalitarianism, Mattias Desmet explains the phenomenon of mass formation both historically and currently within the context of a global pandemic. Masses are disciplined and, like well-trained soldiers, work and think in lockstep. They are propelled by slogans such as “All for one and one for all” or, more recently, “We’re all in this together”. This creates an illusion of unity and community. But in reality, Desmet writes, individuals within the mass become more connected to authority than to each other, which, if allowed to continue finally gives rise to totalitarianism. 

The Underground campaign and Swiss advert are small examples of how this dangerous process, described by Desmet, leads us to become both disconnected from our own intuition and fearful of one another. Once this happens we increasingly put our faith in authority rather than in ourselves, our neighbours and our community. 

How to reverse the trend? How to resist the constant bombardment of fear and suspicion? According to Desmet, we must reconnect with our own humanity, and this includes re-learning to live with uncertainty. Risk, whether from strangers on the underground, a neighbour over-using scarce resources, a virus or anything else cannot be avoided altogether. And by stubbornly trying to control and eliminate risk we become more anxious and more socially isolated. Uncertainty, Desmet writes, is inherent in the human condition, and is necessary for individuality, creativity and connectedness. Think on that.

Sorted: Spreading Fear on the Underground

I came across this poster on the London Underground and again in Brixton last weekend.

Poster spotted on the Victoria Line last weekend

What an unwelcome addition to the “SEE IT, SAY IT, SORTED” fear-mongering advert that has for the past few years been broadcast every five minutes over the tannoys in UK railway stations – honestly, my heart sinks every time I hear it.

As though we haven’t had enough suspicion and anxiety spread by this toxic campaign, now someone in the transport-sphere has taken it to a new medium so we can become afraid through our eyes as well as ears. The poster blatantly instructs us to be alert to dangerous people. Treated as children, the implication is that we must forsake any intuition and humanity we possess, and take no responsibility for assessing a situation by ourselves. Instead, we are to report any out-of-the-norm behaviour to “a grownup”, who will “SORT IT” on our behalf. We needn’t even go to the trouble of speaking to an actual person, which potentially would mean having to explain ourselves, but can choose to alert the authorities by text, taking even less responsibility for the potential harm our (propaganda enhanced) paranoia may cause others. Notable also is the non-caucasian appearance of the “dangerous” person lurking menacingly in the foreground, probably a subject for a different post – my own fear of strangers extends to all skin colour.

How this poster campaign is cranking up a “fear one another” narrative is also in the language: The tannoy announcement is less overt about what we should be afraid of – “If you see something that doesn’t look right…” etc., so the source of anxiety could be a thing or a person. Whereas the poster directs us fully to people – “someone”, not “something”.

Is it about terrorism? I in no way underestimate the horror of terror – but this is not a way to combat it. Having lived in Israel my first two decades, I know something of the psychological harm to individuals and damage to society of living in a more or less constant state of alertness to such danger – and have written about it in my novel Night Swimming in the Jordan.

What this poster boils down to is more fear porn designed to make us needlessly averse to each other, especially where the other or their behaviour is different. Let’s resist this move to erode our solidarity and our communities. We must preserve ourselves and preserve our humanity.