The best analysis of the C19 pandemic mass hysteria.
"[H]ow different political institutions and the state affect the development and extension of mass hysteria[?]"
"the size of the state exacerbates the negative consequences of mass hysteria" 1/n https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/4/1376/htm
"mass hysteria can lead to policy mistakes that have tragic public health consequences."
"the welfare state of the 21st century combined with a sensationalist mass media is likely to increase the havoc created by mass hysteria" 2/n
"In a mass hysteria, people of a group start to believe that they might be exposed to something dangerous, such as a virus...They believe a threat to be real because someone says so ...Due to the threatening delusion, a large group of people gets collectively very upset" 3/n
"When a mass hysteria causes physical symptoms, it is called mass psychogenic illness or epidemic hysteria"
"victims of mass psychogenic illness are really sick even though there is no toxin" 4/n
"in order to reduce the possibility of mass psychogenic illness, the true causes of anxiety must be diminished."

Basically, we need to inform people of the true infection fatality rate, which governments until now haven't done so. 5/n
"[In the] TV show Strawberries with Sugar..., the characters got infected with a life-threatening virus. After the episode had been broadcasted, more than 300 Portuguese students fell ill. They reported symptoms similar to the ones that the TV show characters had experienced." 6/
"Institute for Medical Emergency concluded that the virus did not exist in reality and that the symptoms were caused by the anxiety watching the show" 7/n
"Due to the placebo effect, a person recovers from an illness because they expect to recover. When a person suffers from a nocebo effect, on the contrary, they get ill just because they expect to become ill...the expectation to become ill can cause...a self-fulfilling prophecy."8
"pseudo-infectious people could be “cured” by mere information."

Alas, accurate information was never given by the state to reveres the mass hysteria. 9/n
"Under the illusion of a non-existing or highly exaggerated threat, people act in ways that in the absence of the illusion would seem absurd." 10/n
"Biased media coverage, incomplete and asymmetric information, personal experiences, fears, inability to understand and interpret statistics, and other cognitive biases lead to distorted risk judgments." 11/n
"lockdowns have contributed to a surge in anxiety and stress, which are important ingredients for the development of mass hysteria"
"Hysteria may cause people to inflict harm on themselves and innocent bystanders." 12/n
"negativity bias of the human brain, which makes people vulnerable to delusions. Due to biological evolution, we focus on bad news as it may represent a possible threat"
13/n
"Once anxiety has spread and the majority of a group behaves in a certain way, there is the phenomenon of conformity, i.e., social pressure makes individuals behave in the same way as other members of the group." 14/n
"in a minimal state, there exist certain self-corrective mechanisms and limits that make it less likely for a mass hysteria to run out of control." 15/n
"while anyone in a hysteria related to public health may voluntarily close their own business, wear a mask, or stay at home, in a minimal state, no one can use coercion to force others who are healthy and do not succumb to the hysteria to [do the same]" 16/n
"A minority can just ignore the collective panic and continue to live their normal lives, because they are free to do so. Such a minority can be an example and a wake-up call to those that do succumb to the collective hysteria" 17/n
"It is one of the core characteristics of decentralized systems that they allow for competition, error detection, and correction" 18/n
"Decentralized competition for solutions alleviates pressure to conform and facilitate breaking out of hysteria. Competition allows discovering information about the real danger of the perceived threat" 19/n
"It is not the task of the minimal state to protect its citizens against all risks of life, such as getting a cold or the seasonal flu. In a minimal state, citizens are free to decide which risks they want to assume" 20/n
In a large welfare state
"a ... group that has been infected by collective hysteria may be in charge of the state or get to control the state apparatus. In such a position, this group can impose measures on the rest of the population, inflicting almost unrestricted harm." 21/n
"the protection of basic liberties guaranteed in constitutions will be abrogated by emergency measures and the judiciary will succumb to the mass hysteria, failing to lift the repressive interventions." 22/n
"In order to shield against biopsychological infections, the population should exercise regularly, have quality sleep, exercise regularly, have a balanced nutrition, and maintain a strong connection with other people."

Government mandates prevent all of the above. 23/n
"As the state imposes its solution to the problem, there is no or only very limited experimentation of alternative ways to solve the problem...When alternatives are ruled out, groupthink increases" 24/n
"Groupthink is a psychological force that fosters consensus, suppressing dissent and the evaluation of alternatives to the collective narrative." 25/n
"in a modern welfare state, the media may be politicized.... News outlets and social media platforms may develop close relationships with the state. The state regulates media" "government officials are often used as a source of news, leading to a statist bias" 26/n
"they are staffed with people who were educated in state or state-licensed schools, reinforcing the statist bias in media."
"Negative news sells."
"The story of the government as a hero who provides a resolution to threats is very marketable" 27/n
"Being reminded and made aware of one´s own mortality constantly produced anxiety. Emotional pictures of coffins, mass graves, and patients on ventilators contributed to the collective fear."
"Social media consumption correlates with anxiety and psychological distress". 28/n
"negative news from an authoritative source produces anxiety.. Experts that endorse the credibility of a threat increase the spread of mass hysteria" => Anthony Fauci
29/n
"on 11 March 2020, the infection fatality rate of the seasonal influenza was compared to the estimated case fatality rate of the coronavirus, leading to the alarming statement that the coronavirus would be ten times more deadly than the seasonal influenza" -Anthony Fauci 30/n
"Another factor that may make modern societies more receptible to mass hysterias is that the role of religion in society has been reduced. The fear of death is usually alleviated by religion because religions typically consider that there is a life after death." 31/n
"The state and democracy has been elevated to a quasi-religious level... When turning away from religion, people start to fear death more, and a strong fear of death is another factor that contributes to panics, disorders, and mass hysteria" 32/n
“It is difficult to fear death if one is very pious. It is difficult not to worship health if one fears death.' 33/n
"It is difficult to enforce general health without large scale state intervention and it is equally difficult to imagine increased state intervention without a loss of liberties.” 34/n
"the state may actively want to instill fear in the population...Illustrating this point is the leakage of an internal paper of the German Department of the Interior during the first weeks of the COVID-19 crisis" 35/n
'the state authorities should stress the breathing problems of COVID-19 patients because human beings have a primordial fear of death by suffocation" 36/n
"children should be told that when they infect their parents and grandparents in turn, they could suffer a distressful death at home...Instilling guilt is another measure used by governments to make the population more supportive" 37/n
“the whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.” 38/n
"It lies in the interests of a government to emphasize citizens’ vulnerability to external and internal threats, the state´s legitimacy and power rest on the narrative that it protects its citizens against such dangers... Fear gives power over the fearful." 39/n
"politicians have an incentive to overshoot the mark in their responses to a threat...Underestimating a threat and failing to act has great political cost" 40/n
"If the existential threat claimed by politicians really turns out to be such a great danger, they can be celebrated as heroes if they enacted bold measures." 41/n
"If the costs of these measures ultimately turn out to be excessive compared to the actual danger, then the politicians do not have to bear the cost of the wrong decision but can pass it on to the rest of the population."
42/n
"prior scientific research on disease mitigation measures during a possible influenza pandemic had warned against such invasive interventions and recommended a more normal social functioning...the lockdowns have been a policy error." 43/n
The solution to curing mass hysteria is a minimal state and the decentralization of decision-making.
44/44
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