‘Mass formation psychosis’ is a theory explaining society-wide groupthink that demonises all opposition. Immunologist Dr Robert Malone recently related it to Covid-19 with podcaster Joe Rogan. In the days since that interview, there has been a concerted effort by the corporate media to discredit the theory. But their loud and uniform protests instead lend weight to Dr Malone’s concerns.

In December, the internet was abuzz as podcast titan Joe Rogan interviewed Dr Robert Malone, a virologist and immunologist who played a key role in the early development of mRNA vaccines. The episode has since been streamed tens of millions of times despite being blacklisted from YouTube.

The most talked-about excerpt from their conversation was Dr Malone’s description of ‘mass formation psychosis’. Also known as mass hypnosis or “the madness of crowds”, this theory accounts for the radicalisation of a large segment of Western society since 2020 to view vaccines, lockdowns and masks in saviour-like terms, says Malone.

“When you have a society that has become decoupled from each other and has free-floating anxiety and a sense that things don’t make sense… and then their attention gets focused by a leader or a series of events on one small point, just like hypnosis, they literally become hypnotised and can be led anywhere,” Malone explained.

“It doesn’t matter whether [leaders] lie to them or whatever,” he added. “The data are irrelevant.”

The Otherising of Those Who Disagree

Developed by Dr Mattias Desmet, Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Ghent in Belgium, mass formation psychosis theory not only accounts for a fixation on narrow solutions despite new data, but also the demonisation of those who express uncertainty about such solutions, Malone suggests.

“Anybody who questions that narrative is to be immediately attacked,” he clarified. “They are the other.”

Desmet and Malone contend that mass formation psychosis explains the behaviour of the highly educated population in 1920s and 30s Germany, who threw their wholehearted support behind Hitler.

Ironically, Malone has himself been attacked and otherised as an ‘anti-vaxxer’ for his commentary throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

On the contrary, Malone has taken two doses of the Moderna vaccine and has been a proponent of vaccination his entire life. While he has since begun to question the safety and efficacy of the mRNA vaccines, he encourages the elderly and unwell to consider vaccination.

Malone’s transgression against the mainstream narrative has been to oppose blanket mandates imposed by governments worldwide.

Mass Formation Psychosis in Action

As the Canberra Declaration has long argued, vaccine mandates and passports are nonsensical, since their aim is to prevent transmission of Covid-19 — a goal that is impossible given that the vaccinated still freely spread the virus.

Despite this, and in line with mass formation psychosis theory, Australian political leaders and supple citizens have doubled down on compulsory vaccinations, believing against the evidence that they will still ‘slow the spread’.

On the release of Malone’s interview with Joe Rogan, tech and media curators saw an opportunity to prove the contentious theory correct.

Google was quickly caught red-handed modifying its search results. When users searched mass formation psychosis, they were told, “It looks like these results are changing quickly”.

Highly relevant results, such as interviews with Dr Mattias Desmet and articles by Dr Malone were nowhere to be found, while the top YouTube hit was from a video gamer with a disparaging opinion but no expertise on the topic.

A Whoopsie From the Associated Press

Following this, the Associated Press (AP) published a supposed ‘fact check’ that quoted psychology experts calling the theory “unfounded” and “not supported by the evidence”.

However, the Post Millennial soon made a fascinating discovery about one of the experts cited by the AP — New York University’s Jay Van Bavel. Not only had Bavel never heard of mass formation psychosis; he had previously written tweets and articles that encouraged ‘behavioural nudging’ to coerce people into Covid compliance.

“Until we get a vaccine, our only real tools are behavioural,” Bavel tweeted in August 2020. “We have to think through the lens of behavioural science. What can we do to nudge and encourage and cajole and motivate people to do the right thing?”

In an apparently favourable light, Bavel also quoted Hitler’s propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, who infamously said, “Propaganda works best when those who are being manipulated are confident they are acting on their own free will.”

In the days since the interview went live, Reuters, Forbes, Independent, Business Insider, Salon, ABC News and many other mainstream outlets have fallen in lockstep, claiming that mass formation psychosis is untrue.

By doing so, they have inadvertently provided more evidence for the theory. As Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet, thou doth protest too much.