H1N1 as a 'Mass Hysteria' and 'Moral Panic' experiment

First of all let me say that I have no evidence to suggest that the recent H1N1 outbreak was intentionally propagated as a social "experiment."

Having said that, the implications are worth considering.

Let us take a look at what I am pointing to:

Mass Hysteria:

Mass hysteria typically begins when an individual becomes ill or hysterical during a period of stress. After this initial individual shows symptoms, others begin to manifest similar symptoms, typically nausea, muscle weakness, fits or headache.

The features of mass hysteria include no plausible cause found, ambiguous symptoms, rapid escalation of cases - often spread by line of sight - and rapid remission of symptoms.

Demographically, cases are higher in females and those with greater use of medical services. Other factors that contribute to the severity of the symptoms and spread are protective clothing worn by emergency services and mistaken or misleading investigations.

Sightings of religious miracles are often attributed to mass hysteria.

Cases of moral panic often have symptoms that overlap with mass hysteria. *

Interesting isn't it?

Some of the symptoms are flu like symptoms.

But even more interesting is the definition and characteristics of "Moral Panic."

A moral panic can be defined as "the intensity of feeling expressed by a large number of people about a specific group of people who appear to threaten the social order at a given time."

snip

Moral panics are by-products of controversies that produce arguments and social tension, or aren't easily discussed as some of these moral panics are taboo to many people. The media have long operated as agents of moral indignation, even if they are not self-consciously engaged in crusading or muckraking. Simply reporting the facts can be enough to generate concern, anxiety or panic.

Moral Panics have several distinct features. The process by which these are created is best explained with Cohen's Deviancy Amplification Spiral:

Concern - There must be awareness that the behaviour of the group or category in question is likely to have a negative impact on society.

Hostility - Hostility towards the group in question increases, and they become "folk devils". A clear division forms between "them" and "us".

Consensus - Though concern does not have to be nationwide, there must be widespread acceptance that the group in question poses a very real threat to society. It is important at this stage that the "moral entrepreneurs" are vocal and the "folk devils" appear weak and disorganised.

Disproportionality - The action taken is disproportionate to the actual threat posed by the accused group.

Volatility - Moral panics are highly volatile and tend to disappear as quickly as they appeared due to a wane in public interest or news reports changing to another topic. *

If you have been observing how the MSM and indeed thread developments here on ATS over the last few days, the above 'Moral Panic' characteristics are evolving precisely as such.

In the end for the purposes of social behavior analysis it matters little whether this latest influenza strain was deliberately released into the population or if it was indeed a natural mutation. The end result as far as population reaction and behavior is the same.

I bring this up because I believe self awareness, both at an individual and social level, is the only true tool we possess to fight both the fear based runaway mind and any nefarious intent by a third party or would be oppressor.

So I just wanted to offer these observations for your consideration as we move forward in these trying times.

Don't let "them" or "you" get you down.

My sentiments exactly, and if there is any conspiracy involved, why on earth would we want to succumb to the psychological warfare element, or worse, work to propogate the hysteria and in so doing, serve their purpose? That makes no sense to me.

Putting it into perspective, something like 28,000 Americans die every year as a result of complications due to flu virus.

I believe that such hysteria and panic hijacks the "fight or flight" mechanism in the brainstem, altogether bypassing the higher rational and even consciously aware spiritual centers of the human mind. It keeps people down, and is oppressive, since freedom and the power of choice emerges via the maximal use of conscious awareness, and fear is the principal killer of that realm or domain of limitless possibility.

I believe that some conspiracy theorists are so indoctrinated into the Alex Jonesian view of the world, that their entire focal point of awareness is distorted, even to the degree that they do not see how very close we may be to an incalculably magnificent realm of light, life, love and mutuality, capable of bringing about a global transoformation in human affairs and producing something pleasing to God who's end game is to make his home with us here on earth, innerant and transcendant.

And if there is such a mass conspiracy among the elite, which there probably is, then you will NOT find me in their service. No, I will tread them under foot and look for the best in all things.

"Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."


[edit on 29-4-2009 by OmegaPoint]

Originally posted by OmegaPoint
... if there is any conspiracy involved, why on earth would we want to succumb to the psychological warfare element, or worse, work to propogate the hysteria and in so doing, serve their purpose? That makes no sense to me.

Neither does it to me.

Yet "group think" is just as prevalent amongst conspiracy theorists as it is amongst the ordinary public. And in many ways the former actually enables the ptb to its end to manipulate the latter.

After all such sites as ATS, Infowars, etc, whilst often find themselves at the forefront of knowledge and information can also, when lacking self awareness, be at the forefront of incitement.

Our "out of the box" thinking is incredibly useful when coupled with patient and considered analysis but perhaps works against us when fast evolving events are happening before us, and in the process can be of help to the powers we often resist in their developing plans.

Here's an interesting "public service" message from 1976:



Nice way to spread fear don't you think?

I totally concur with the sentiments of the OP. And I'm trying not to succumb to the hysteria and hype. However, it very difficult due to the confluence of events during this past year to two years. Surely you can all concede that things are playing out almost entirely as many CT'ers maintained they would?

It's all a matter of perception and projection and the world we are creating, beginning from within ourselves. Modern science has now proven that this is the way the world really works, and when we look at history, for the most part, that's how the moutain moves, where small starts generate BIG outcomes.

Me I see a bright new world of hope and new possibility coming into being, the likes of which, when it arrives will make of the Alex Jones and many CT'ers, raving loons spouting nonsense, even devils advocates, many of whom WANT there to be as much death and destruction as possible to fullfill their hardened viewpoints based on outdated interpretations of Biblical prophecy.

For those who hold the key, break free and free your fellow man from the "prison planet" which is just an illusory matrix not based in reality where the causative principal is love and compassion and mutuality. Stop judging without, and projecting against the evil without, and change the whole world outside of yourself by first changing the one within. The kingdom of heaven is within and among us. It is spread out upon the earth but people do not see it. Children do.

[edit on 29-4-2009 by OmegaPoint]

Originally posted by kosmicjack
Surely you can all concede that things are playing out almost entirely as many CT'ers maintained they would?

That, cosmicjack is a very complicated question.

CTers are by definition almost always presuming the worse. They work to uncover the truth behind who is plotting what, and under the correct assumption that if it wasn't nefarious to a degree it would not need to be hidden from the general population.

Thus anytime an event such as the present one manifests it is easy and convenient to say "I told you so!"

It is the responsibility of the CT to show that not only he/she was correct in their prediction but also in the ball park as to the reasons why. Otherwise it's just general doom and gloom forecasts that due to the nature of humanity are bound to manifest sooner or later.

reply to post by schrodingers dog


I just wanted chime in and clarify something. When you refer to H1N1, you are referring to "Swine Flu." Correct?

Since this is in the Psychology Forum.....Does calling "Swine Flu" H1N1 make people less afraid of it?

I bet if you did a poll and asked "Would you rather come down with swine flu or H1N1 flu?" I bet the majority would say H1N1!

Psychology at its best...I guess?

Originally posted by RRconservative
reply to post by schrodingers dog

 

I just wanted chime in and clarify something. When you refer to H1N1, you are referring to "Swine Flu." Correct?

Correct.

Since this is in the Psychology Forum.....Does calling "Swine Flu" H1N1 make people less afraid of it?

Believe it or not that wasn't a conscious consideration when I created the title.
However that is a fair observation which I have pointed to in the past:
What something Is vs. What it is Called

I bet if you did a poll and asked "Would you rather come down with swine flu or H1N1 flu?" I bet the majority would say H1N1!

I don't know about that, both sound ominous enough.


Truth is that if this was a pre-planned event I am sure whomever instigated it would have a ready made, focus group tested, appropriate built in term to market the intended hysteria.

Originally posted by OmegaPoint
Me I see a bright new world of hope and new possibility coming into being, the likes of which, when it arrives will make of the Alex Jones and many CT'ers, raving loons spouting nonsense, even devils advocates, many of whom WANT there to be as much death and destruction as possible to fullfill their hardened viewpoints based on outdated interpretations of Biblical prophecy

People who as you say WANT for the worse are in my opinion not true conspiracy theorists any more that people who wish for Armageddon are true christians.

What we are talking about here is being aware enough in our CT contributions onto fast developing events so as not to exacerbate the very dynamic against which we fight against.

Namely those who indeed WANT things and are willing to do anything to get them. Including potentially deliberately spreading such viruses as H1N1.

Without wishing to call this influenza crisis over too soon, the latest reports indicate that it is going to be much less severe than originally thought.

Let us hope that that is indeed the case.

With a little time distance from the fast evolving events as they played out over the last week, perhaps it is time to start looking at said events with a conspiratorial eye.

What did we learn?

Even more importantly ...

What did "they" learn about us?

Wonder how the subtleties of language can be used against the population to generate a contrived Mass Hysteria?

Here's a great article from Salon on the subject named: Pandemic Pandemonium

The word "pandemic" comes from the Greek "pandemos," meaning, "of all the people." It may not simply be coincidence that the word "pandemonium"-- uproar and noise -- comes right after it in the dictionary. Pandemonium was actually a literary location, chosen by Milton as the capital of hell in "Paradise Lost." Combine "of all the people" with the Greek "daemon" and you've got a chaotic situation instigated by evil spirits.

And how about the word "panic"? There's that "pan" again, although in this instance, it refers to that rambunctious Greek god Pan, whose chief talent seemed to be for creating fear and terror in lonely, isolated places. But while the word "pandemic" tends to push the panic button in most of us, it doesn't have to. At face value, a pandemic is only an epidemic over a large area. Not to be flippant with that "only," but as many medical experts have stressed in the past few weeks, a "pandemic" refers to the scope of a disease and not necessarily its severity.

Interesting don't you think?

I'll just keep talking to myself ...



I still maintain that whether intentional or unintentional this has been a very interesting exercise in mass manipulation and hysteria.

reply to post by schrodingers dog


very very good points my friend!

in my personal opinion this flu is an attempt - again- to scare people to get them into better controll
when this hysteria started - which is even promoted via WHO - i did some researches on my own to figure out what an epedemic might be

you need 10-20% of a country being ill to call it an epedemic.
now do your math - not you schro dog - but anybody else and figure out how many people have to be ill in mexico, usa, canda, europe to call it an epedemic or pandemic


the MSM and govermental offices play with the population - a scared population is a population which can be guided and controlled so much easier than a population who is able to think by themselves


it might be my personal paranoia, but i won.t take by anymeans a medicine which is considered the "only" help in a given incidence like this flu.
who knows what they secretly give to you.


and i also mistrust the vaccination programs


quiet funny that people try to prevent the "flu" by wearing surgical masks
do they stop it - no they don.t - interesting article

Originally posted by orange-light
reply to post by schrodingers dog

 

you need 10-20% of a country being ill to call it an epedemic.

Indeed ...

Now look at how many people became willing and unwilling participants in the hysteria.
Also count the proportion of swine flu threads started on ATS over the first few days of the "outbreak," I am willing to bet it was over 20% of the total threads.

We did have a pandemic, a hysteria pandemic!

Originally posted by schrodingers dog

Now look at how many people became willing and unwilling participants in the hysteria.
Also count the proportion of swine flu threads started on ATS over the first few days of the "outbreak," I am willing to bet it was over 20% of the total threads.

We did have a pandemic, a hysteria pandemic!

you took the words right out of my mouth

and i believe that THIS is what the "officials" (who ever they are) desire.
they wanted to creat a pandemic hysteria spreading all over the world.
and again …… it worked.

i mean we really have to acknowledge and stand there with admiration "it worked!"

this morning they claimed in the news that

after 2 incidence of swine flue in brandenburg (county of germany) the goverment in berlin is well prepared

(just 2 people are ill not dead!!)

you can imagine how happy i am about this report - even before breakfast.

this masshysteria - if you do some researched you will figure out that it is created periodically - is a construction which shall peole take away from the real problems: like economical crisis, the fact that the middle class disapeares, that the so called income gap gets bigger and bigger, that even having a job you can.t feed you familiy … i guess we will be able to find many more items belonging to this list.

this constructed masshysteria prevents people from protesting against the circumstances in life we got allready … yeah as a kind of economic pandemic.

we got this phenomenon with mad cow, we got it with sars, we got it with bird flue and now the pig flue – interesting that the virus of pig flue seems to be the same kind as the one of the spanish influenca which really caused a pandemic in 1918/1920 (see right after WWI)

It is estimated that anywhere from 70 to 100 million people were killed worldwide,[3] or the approximate equivalent of one third of the population of Europe,[4][5][6] more than double the number killed in World War I.[7]

source

The global mortality rate from the 1918/1919 pandemic is not known, but is estimated at 2.5 to 5% of those who were infected died.

source

This pandemic has been described as "the greatest medical holocaust in history" and may have killed more people than the Black Death.[13]

source


intersting hu?

and again: compare it to the "pandemic" of today
i am still shaking my head that WHO is proclaiming alert 5 of 6

Check out this latest fear mongering directly from a rep of the WHO

(CNN) -- The World Health Organization cautioned that the swine flu outbreak could gain momentum in the months ahead, despite claims by the health secretary of Mexico -- the epicenter of the outbreak -- that the virus "is in its declining phase."


The number of confimed cases of the H1N1 virus continue to multiply.

The outbreak is only about 10 days old, and even if the illness is declining, it could return, said Gregory Hartl, the WHO spokesman for epidemic and pandemic diseases, at a briefing Sunday.

"I ... would like to remind people that in 1918 the Spanish flu showed a surge in the spring, and then disappeared in the summer months, only to return in the autumn of 1918 with a vengeance," Hartl said. "And we know that that eventually killed 40 million to 50 million people."

www.cnn.com...

reply to post by OmegaPoint


Yes, but at this point I think it's just the media trying to squeeze a few extra days of revenue out of it. Perhaps it is still also "pushed" by those who would have carried this out as a social experiment, though I think that by now they have all the answers they were seeking.

I think when the 'time' comes....we'll all be shaking in our boots...The ads on tv I'm sure will be very scarry. Hang tight and don't give in....It was very tense in 1976...but we didn't get vaccinated then...and we're not getting it now....

According to Google Insights, avian flu is unfashionable now:

www.google.com...=avian%20flu&cmpt=q

swine flu is fashionable these days:

www.google.com...=swine%20flu&cmpt=q

So tamiflu is fashionable again:

www.google.com...=tamiflu&cmpt=q

I'm Brazilian.

According to the Brazilian Ministry of Health, only 96 people died in Brazil by the swine flu from 25/4 to 01/09.

School and colleges are closed in most states.
Hoaxes are spreading like wildfire on emails and word of mouth.
Media keeps bombarding us with fear. As always!

[edit on 8-8-2009 by infobrazil]