There is now significant evidence of an ongoing breakdown of industrial consumer societies, worldwide, due to hitting natural limits and internal contradictions. As this is a painful realisation, many experts avoid saying it publicly, while the mainstream media have been ignoring it. Nevertheless, opinion polls reveal that most people know something is seriously wrong, as we have been experiencing years of disruption, degradation and decline. Consequently, a new epidemic is taking hold, which offers a distraction from the worry and pain. As this ‘Collapsis’ may soon become a ‘public health emergency of international concern’, here I’ll describe what is currently known about it 😉
Collapsis is the novel psychological condition of believing illogical ideas to explain the unfolding breakdown of modern societies. Collapsis spreads like an infection, leading to disorientation and counterproductive responses, which might then accelerate the unfolding actual collapse of modern societies. There are already many variants of Collapsis, which will be superseded by new ones, due to the susceptibility of human hosts and the economic drivers behind spreading infection. In this blog I list fifteen variants I am already aware of.
Collapsis Variant 1 (anti-Alpha)
The belief that society is collapsing because its citizens have lost confidence in their nation, culture or race. The precise mechanisms by which less confidence is putting up prices or causing weather disasters, worldwide, are somewhat fuzzy and never explained by sufferers of anti-Alpha.
Collapsis Variant 2 (Xenocron)
The belief that society is collapsing because it is being attacked with misinformation from a foreign enemy. Despite independent studies assuaging concerns, people infected with this variant regard anything they disagree with as evidence of the ongoing attack.
Collapsis Variant 3 (Schwab-XL)
The belief that society is collapsing because a globalist cabal is organising it on purpose. Those infected with this variant can experience a euphoria of knowing their parents were right – because there really is that evil bogeyman to fear, and he now has a name. Symptoms of Schwab-XL infection include compulsively sharing videos and losing friends.
Collapsis Variant 4 (Immicron)
The belief that society is collapsing because immigrants are invading the country to take all the jobs, benefits, and positions in the city’s football team. That many of those immigrants are cooking and delivering meals to those infected with Immicron as they re-post content about an invasion, is often overlooked; which might be due to the delirium induced by this variant.
Collapsis Variant 5 (Godlessicron)
The belief that society is collapsing because its citizens have lost faith in their religion. A subvariant of Anti-Alpha, sufferers experience blindness to the decades of economic expansion during increasingly secular societies, and the global nature of recent decline in places with different religions.
Collapsis Variant 6 (Endtimesicron)
The belief that society is collapsing because “it is written” and will bring deliverance for the devout. For those infected by Endtimesicron, the millions more babies who will be malnourished as industrial agriculture breaks down is viewed as an unfortunate aspect of God’s will. Some suspect this is a more virulent subvariant of Godlessicron.
Collapsis Variant 7 (B.An.Elon)
The belief that society is collapsing because people aren’t having enough babies. How a small decline in birthrate would collapse a society that could adapt if not needing exponential economic growth, is not explained by people infected by B.An.Elon. This variant also instils blindness to the pool of potential migrant workers, though curiously not colour blindness towards them.
Collapsis Variant 8 (B.An.Elon-XL)
The belief that society risks collapse because young people are being influenced by the very few people who advocate for voluntary human extinction. The fact that most people have never heard of such marginal advocates is ignored by sufferers of this subvariant of B.An.Elon.
Collapsis Variant 9 (Demonicron)
The belief that society risks collapsing because a particularly demonic politician could be, or was, elected. Consuming a lot of TV or social media increases risks of infection. A large salary paid for by a foundation is also a risk factor. It tends to produce deafness to information contrary to belief, including the data showing a global decline – which is unrelated to their ‘demon’.
Collapsis Variant 10 (Terminator-7)
The belief that society will soon collapse because of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). Many of those infected believe the corporate PR story that AI is conscious and so they don’t recognise the legal accountability of software manufacturers for their products. In any case, ChatGPT just told me not to worry about AI-rmageddon 😉
Collapsis Variant 11 (FLiRT-Imperial)
The belief that society is collapsing because of the end of Western hegemony. This variant is suspected to be a hybrid of many of the previous variants. It produces a yearning for a stable and confident experience of privilege based upon invisibilised oppression and exploitation.
Collapsis Variant 12 (Narcissicron)
The belief that society is collapsing because people are spending too much time on social media. Narcissicron often infects cultural commentators who seek polite attention from all forms of media. Serious treatment or surgery, such as breaking up bigtech monopolies, is rarely favoured by those infected.
Collapsis Variant 13 (Zom-B)
The belief that society is collapsing because the general public have gone insane. It is currently unknown whether this is the subvariant or parent of Narcissicron. In any case, it induces in sufferers the belief that they alone aren’t going mad. Real mechanisms of brain damage from forever chemicals, microplastics, viruses, and even some vaccines, means that both you and I might soon succumb to this variant. Fortunately compassion, curiosity and respect are showing promising results in palliative trials.
Collapsis Variant 14 (Careericon)
The condition of thinking one is responding to the actual process of societal collapse, while doing nothing of the sort. This might be the result of hypochondria. Sufferers might claim they work on collapse, typically spoken of as polycrisis, but then warn of preventing threats to globalisation, economic growth, or trust in the institutions that administer destruction. As with Demonicron, a large salary paid for by a foundation is a risk factor, along with a desire to be respected by incumbent power (and get more funding).
Collapsis Variant 15 (Beta-hide)
The belief that society is collapsing because of the scholars and others who first saw it coming. This is another subvariant of Anti-Alpha, where the culture or religion includes a belief in modernity, progress, technology, and even a solipsistic belief in quantum manifestation by individuals. It is not circulating widely yet but being incubated by people who currently deny collapse (at least in public). Sadly this variant is likely to generate aggression towards people who write and share blogs like this one.
How are these variants spreading and what can we do about them?
Some experts thinks Collapsis develops like psoriasis, the skin rash. That is because an internal allergy to a toxic environment leads to inflammation which is made worse by itching a rash. Others think it more like tuberculosis, infecting people in close quarters and weakening them over time so that they become susceptible to other infections.
A population is made vulnerable to Collapsis by mainstream media ignoring and censoring data and analysis on the global societal collapse that has actually begun. That means the general public’s experience of disruption and decline, along with associated anxiety, makes them receptive to the many variants of Collapsis described above. The main transmitters of variants are opportunist YouTubers, who select those variants most likely to infect their audiences with a feeling of indignation, while giving them nothing to do except feel superior, share videos, buy gold, and wait to be told who to vote for.
Surprisingly, being aware of the collective anxiety-induced phenomenon of Mass Formation, or Mass Psychosis, does not provide immunity to variants of Collapsis. Therefore sceptics of the Covid-19 policy response have been equally susceptible to infection as have conformists.
The best inoculation and therapy for Collapsis is to read ‘Breaking Together’ and then talk to others who have read it.
If you don’t like facetious writing, then, um, oops. This blog is the second time I categorised some counter-productive responses to the symptoms of societal collapse. Four years ago I noticed some similar narratives in society but they hadn’t reached epidemic proportions as they are today, with widespread anxiety and opportunistic independent media.
(Author’s note: Increasingly, at times I will write in a non-academic way, creatively, without references, to share ideas easily and quickly. Sometimes I may write fully referenced essays, like I did before. But this week it’s the former – just in case you weren’t sure ;-))
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