Mass intellectualism is the standardization of thought in our society. While our populace is generally educated, I wouldn’t say it’s generally intelligent. Most everyone at least graduates from high school and nearly thirty percent have college or doctoral degrees. Yet, this amount of education in our society has created this assumption that people have highly sophisticated opinions or advanced knowledge. But this is only true for a very small slice of the educated populace, which have actually developed critical thinking skills. And even less among this slice of people have actually applied these critical thinking skills to matters in our society. People are generally too busy to think and educate themselves on pertinent issues. They are too distracted by pursuing their jobs, their relationships, raising their children. And they are the ones that fall prey to the propaganda. They are running around living their lives, and in between car pools and soccer games, the soundbites on the radio, their phones, billboards, magazines, internet and television seep into their subconscious. They end up espousing these ideas that they believe are their own. And these beliefs are reinforced by the media proclaiming that they are the sophisticated thinkers, and anyone else who has a different view is clearly ignorant. And those accused of ignorance become even more extreme in their beliefs out of self-defense. And that is how we end up with a two-dimensional intellectual framework.
In his book The Rape of the Mind – The Psychology of Thought Control, Menticide and Brainwashing, Joost A. M. Meerlo describes this societal menticide perfectly (pg. 109):
It is not only the suggestive power of these media that gives them their hypnotizing
effect. Our technical means of communication make of the people one huge
participating mass. Even when I am alone with my radio, I am technically united with
the huge mass of other listeners. I see them in my mind, I unconsciously identify
with them, and while I am listening I am one with them. Yet I have no direct
emotional contact with them. It is partly for this reason that radio and television
tend to take away active affectionate relationships between men and to destroy the
capacity for personal thought, evaluation, and reflection. They catch the mind
directly, giving people no time for calm, dialectical conversation with their own
minds, with their friends, or with their books. The voices from the ether don't
permit the freedom-arousing mutuality of free conversation and discussion, and thus
provoke greater passive acceptance - as in hypnosis.
Many people are hypnophiles, anxious to daydream and day-sleep throughout their
lives; these people easily fall prey to mass suggestion. The lengthy oration or the
boring sermon either weakens the listeners and makes them more ripe for the mass
spell, or makes them more resentful and rebellious. Long speeches are a staple of
totalitarian indoctrination because finally the boredom breaks through our defences.
We give in. Hitler used this technique of mass hypnosis through monotony to
enormous advantage. He spoke endlessly and included long, dull recitals of statistics
in his speeches.
