Hyper-Normalisation?

drillyeye

Too lazy to write my own description, so as per Wikipedia..


"The term "hypernormalisation" is taken from Alexei Yurchak's 2006 book Everything was Forever, Until it was No More: The Last Soviet Generation, about the paradoxes of life in the Soviet Union during the 20 years before it collapsed.[3][4] A professor of anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley,[5] he argues that everyone knew the system was failing, but as no one could imagine any alternative to the status quo, politicians and citizens were resigned to maintaining a pretence of a functioning society.[6] Over time, this delusion became a self-fulfilling prophecy and the "fakeness" was accepted by everyone as real, an effect that Yurchak termed "hypernormalisation".[7]"

Do you feel this is an adequate explanation for some of the absolute craziness you see in the world recently? The cost of rents, home ownership, cost of healthcare and education, extreme political affiliations, outright bizarre social movements, the deconstruction/destruction of academic learning? And most of all, "fake news"?

Like, sane people can clearly see that there are many crazy things all around us, yet it just seems to be "accepted" by so many!

baylah17

Another TLDR

Did you watch the Adam Curtis documentary?

drillyeye

baylah17 wrote: »

Another TLDR

Fook sake! Two small-ish paragraphs is too much?!

Sure that's just part of hyper-normalisation, I suppose, directly crippling the attention span of people in order to control them :P

drillyeye

Deleted User wrote: »

Did you watch the Adam Curtis documentary?

I'm aware of it, but haven't watched it. Just some casual reading so far.

The theory certainly presents itself as a reasonable explanation for the state of the world!

H3llR4iser

drillyeye wrote: »

Like, sane people can clearly see that there are many crazy things all around us, yet it just seems to be "accepted" by so many!

I kind used to think so for a while; Then after hearing the sh1t most people say, I realized it's not the case...as it's always been in the history of mankind, most people are immensely stupid, ignorant and gullible. Just like it's always been, they end up supporting and following a vast array of charlatans.

Back in the middle age, said charlatans were priests and "holy men", and they burnt "witches" and "heretics" on the stake; Today, it's youtubers and bloggers, and they "burn" their victims on the altar of social media.

Same old sh1t in a shiny new electronic package - multiplied by a million since now every village idiot can perform on the stage of the world.

drillyeye

H3llR4iser wrote: »

I kind used to think so for a while; Then after hearing the sh1t most people say, I realized it's not the case...as it's always been in the history of mankind, most people are immensely stupid, ignorant and gullible. Just like it's always been, they end up supporting and following a vast array of charlatans.

Back in the middle age, said charlatans were priests and "holy men", and they burnt "witches" and "heretics" on the stake; Today, it's youtubers and bloggers, and they "burn" their victims on the altar of social media.

Same old sh1t in a shiny new electronic package - multiplied by a million since now every village idiot can perform on the stage of the world.

That's the killer difference though, with globalisation we have run out of escape points. If this goes belly-up, the whole show is going down with it.

One example, houses are too dear in Dublin, Ireland (where you have majority of jobs, hence nearly only option for majority of people). You cant just escape over to the wild-west in amercia any more and claim some land, homes are MEGA expensive just about everywhere in the developed world now.

s7ryf3925pivug

Yeah the Adam Curtis documentary was good, you should watch it.

drillyeye

Malachi Black Windshield wrote: »

Yeah the Adam Curtis documentary was good, you should watch it.

Its on the to-do list!

s7ryf3925pivug

Made me think to check out other Adam Curtis stuff on YouTube. 'The Century of the Self' is fascinating and on a similar theme. The development of PR as a rebranded domestic/commercial propaganda. Mass manipulation and subtle indoctrination with consumerism. Meanwhile the US government under Roosevelt actively sought to strengthen citizens' mental health as the ability to make rational choices and resist manipulation is a vital component of working democracy. However the theories they were applying appear to have been faulty.

Really interesting so far; only on the second episode.

Malachi Black Windshield

Malachi Black Windshield wrote: »

Made me think to check out other Adam Curtis stuff on YouTube. 'The Century of the Self' is fascinating and on a similar theme. The development of PR as a rebranded domestic/commercial propaganda. Mass manipulation and subtle indoctrination with consumerism. Meanwhile the US government under Roosevelt actively sought to strengthen citizens' mental health as the ability to make rational choices and resist manipulation is a vital component of working democracy. However the theories they were applying appear to have been faulty.

Really interesting so far; only on the second episode.

Yeah, they're all very good..

CrankyHaus

I actually thought Curtis fell off with hypernormalisation, and bitter lake before that.

Century of the Self, All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace and the Mayfair Club are 10/10 fantastic though.

The hypernormalisation theory is interesting, but you could apply it to any period of dysfunction or stagnation, and there have been plenty in history. The idea isn't all that profound.