I recently had the honor of being interviewed by Jan Jekielek for his Epoch Times program “American Thought Leaders.” Epoch Times posted it on Twitter and here, along with a transcript: Stella Morabito: Technocratic Totalitarianism, the Impulse to Conform, and Astroturfed Mobs versus Organic Protest
You can view the preview here:
Jan and I talked at length about the subject of my book, The Weaponization of Loneliness. We covered a lot of ground on the human fear of social rejection and how it causes people to shut up --and even lie -- about what they believe. The consequences are massive because mass self-censorship always gives a lot of oxygen to destructive agendas. What are the dynamics involved in that? We discussed them in the context of conformity impulse, political correctness, identity politics, public opinion polling, mob formation, and how power elites build the illusion of consensus, even when there is no consensus.
Ultimately, this is all ramping up to be a war on the private sphere of life: family, faith, true community, and friendship. Those are the only institutions that give us the strength to resist totalitarian designs.
This is evident now that Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) recently introduced legislation called “The National Strategy for Social Connection Act.” The bill is a follow up to the surgeon general’s advisory on “Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Social Isolation.” It's ironic because government policies--particularly those that promote family breakdown, addiction, urban blight, dependency, and more--are largely responsible for the loneliness epidemic in the first place! As I wrote in the Federalist, both the advisory and the legislation read like a blueprint for government takeover of the private sphere of life. My latest article on that is here: “Beware of Bureaucrats Wanting to be your BFF.” The Exploitation - and Weaponization - of Loneliness