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[aBc]

What do YOU think?

From The Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/wellness/ng-interactive/2025/may/22/hypernormalization-dysfunction-status-quo

[IIO]

hypernormalisation sounds like something which noobs do to their audio files.

[aBc]

hypernormalisation sounds like something which noobs do to their audio files.

Yes, funny. And I didn't really expect that anyone would actually read it.

[ssp3]

Well, I did, but, except the new to me term, it didn't offer anything that I didn't know already.
As Malcolm Nance says - YOU voted for it, so buckle up now.

[smilesdavis]

A key move in the modern autocrat playbook is to maintain a facade of normalcy while executing deeply authoritarian shifts. This involves:

- Euphemistic language (e.g., “special military operation” instead of “war”, “election integrity” instead of voter suppression, “public safety” instead of expanded surveillance or policing).
- Flooding media with distractions — from culture war debates to celebrity scandals — to dilute attention and overwhelm people with conflicting narratives.
- Institutional erosion disguised as reform — gutting regulatory bodies, courts, and media while presenting it as efficiency or anti-corruption.
- Normalizing the abnormal — through repetition and denial, actions that once shocked (e.g., targeting minorities, ignoring law, dismantling checks and balances) are slowly accepted as politics as usual.

This strategy creates a psychological trap: people see the breakdown but are told things are fine, leading to confusion, isolation, and inaction — exactly what hypernormalization describes. It’s not just propaganda; it’s a method of control through dissonance and denial, and it’s proving dangerously effective in this decade.

[Bolkonskij]

Don't forget projection - always accuse the others of whatever misconduct you're doing to shift attention to them and force them to defend themselves. (and not attacking you)

[smilesdavis]

its toddler level kgb propaganda unleashed unto the world via putins mafia network subjugates.

[Knezzen]

I'm asking for a calm and civilized climate in this thread, or I'll have to lock it.

[smilesdavis]

I'm asking for a calm and civilized climate in this thread, or I'll have to lock it.

anything particular that wouldnt appear calm and civilized?

[refinery]

I read this article when it came out.
As a bit of an armchair psychologist and in a managerial role at my work, it's been interesting to observe some people's ability to cope with the chaos, and some people who can't. And then there's the people who, much like the article talked about, people who insist on keeping their head in the sand and that the gears will keep on turning... Not realizing they're probably going to be the first ones that get ground up in their endless operation.

I personally adjusted quite well to maintaining a clear head during covid. It made me realize there's a LOT less resiliency in the population than I thought there was... A lot of people who engaged in less than rational behavior and it made my friends group shrink by a lot.

Maybe it's the fact I'm half Lithuanian and slogging through the nightmare is baked into our genes.

[torvan]

It was an interesting reading. I attended protests today on No Kings Day, one of the 20,000 in my small city that lined the major boulevard here for 40 blocks on both sides, and in downtown in the richest part of the city.   It was my first protest since HIV/AIDS in the early 1990s. While I felt like I was the oldest one there, I know I wasn't, yet the feeling was one of rebellion.

I was talking to a friend of mine and we both realized we had this same feeling, which drove us both to the No Kings Protest. 

I doubt we had any effect, but it takes more than a single protest to drive change. I just hope it changes before I am feeble.