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I recently sat down with two delightful and lovely young ladies for an interview about my book and thesis, the weaponization of loneliness. It was part of a new podcast of the Clare Boothe Luce Center called "GenZ Unplugged." I specifically focused on how the young women of Generation Z are especially affected by the uses of isolation as a social and political weapon. Check out my interview here: I covered a lot of ground in our 40 minute conversation with Hannah and Catherine, but we could have gone on for hours more. We talked about the effects of social media, of the sexual revolution, and how deeply embedded the fear of social isolation is, especially among young women. As I noted in my book, they will often shut up about what they believe -- or even lie about what they believe -- in order to feel accepted. If you'd just like to get a one minute gist, here's the short:

This past Valentine’s Day I had the honor of speaking to the Clare Boothe Luce Center for Conservative Women on a topic that is particularly relevant to the center’s audience and mission.  The title of my talk was “The Weaponization of Loneliness Against Women.” Policy talk prepared for the Claire Boothe Luce Center for Conservative Women on February 14, 2025 The general thesis of my book is that the threat of ostracism is the primary weapon used by tyrants to control people.  We are social animals and the threat of social isolation often causes people to comply with top-down agendas, no matter how self-destructive those agendas might be. In this particular talk I focused on how that process acutely affects women, particularly young women. I don’t think it’s any mystery that women are heavily targeted by propaganda campaigns to comply with agendas that she might not even understand (for example, defunding the police, blocking traffic to make a point about the environment, allowing men to compete against her in sports, taking away a scholarship or trophy.) An extensive poll taken across the political board of nearly a thousand women found that many women tend to adhere to conservative beliefs like school choice (79%) and no bail for violent criminals (78%). The most interesting finding was that even though they held such beliefs, they didn't want to talk about it! Many admitted that they self-silenced to avoid conflict with others. All of the above seems to have led to a spike in mental illness among young women. Women are very susceptible to being targeted and influenced because they tend to be especially compliant and prone to the conformity impulse. I provided four possible reasons (among many) as to why I think this is the case.  Finally, I offered ideas about how to recognize the patterns of the weaponization of loneliness and build defenses so that women might be better equipped to resist it.  It’s not a long talk – about 20-25 minutes.  I hope you can tune in!

Do you keep your opinions to yourself because you’re afraid people will reject you? Do you sign on to a cause just because everyone around you acts like it’s the right thing to do? About The Weaponization of Loneliness “Terror can rule absolutely only over men who are isolated against each other. . . . Therefore, one of the primary concerns of all tyrannical government is to bring this isolation about.” – Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism Do you keep your opinions to yourself because you’re afraid people will reject you? Do you sign on to a cause just because everyone around you acts like it’s the right thing to do? Welcome to The Weaponization of Loneliness. Tyrants of all stripes want to tell you what to believe and how to live your life. They get away with it by using the most potent weapon at their disposal: your fear of ostracism. This book explains how dictators—from the French Revolution to the Communist Party of China to today’s globalists—aim to atomize us in order to control us. We fall for it because our need to connect with others and our fear of social rejection are so hardwired that they trigger our conformity impulse. These dynamics can even cause us to comply with evil orders. We all need a better understanding of how the merchants of loneliness—power elites in Big Tech, Big Media, Big Government, academia, Hollywood, and the corporate world— exploit our terror of social isolation. Their divide-and-conquer tactics include identity politics, political correctness, and mob agitation. Their media monopoly spawns the propaganda essential to demonization campaigns, censorship, cancel culture, snitch culture, struggle sessions, the criminalization of comedy, and the subversion of society’s most fundamental institutions. It all adds up to a machinery of loneliness. Ironically, people tend to comply with this machinery to avoid loneliness, but such compliance only isolates us further. The Weaponization of Loneliness also offers a message of hope. We can resist this psychological warfare if we have strong bonds in our families, faith communities, and friendships. Let’s resolve to talk to one another openly and often, especially about the consequences of giving in to social pressures and media hype. Indeed, totalitarians always seek to destroy private life because it is the very fount of freedom. Buy Now Sharyl Attkisson, Emmy Award winning investigative reporter "Stella Morabito cracks the code of one of today's most powerful political weapons: isolation. The Weaponization of Loneliness is an eye-opening and chilling look at how propagandists use the tool to enforce compliance and smear dissenters."

Curated Video Clips Related to the Theme of the Weaponization of Loneliness Curated Video Clips Related to the Theme of the Weaponization of Loneliness Asch Line Experiment and social pressure. Note how having a "partner" within a group reduces conformity. "The Honecker Joke" -- Scene from the 2006 movie The Lives of Others. An employee joins his co-workers in the cafeteria of the headquarters of the East German Stasi (secret police) and tells a politically incorrect joke about the nation's communist leader -- unaware that the head honcho can overhear him. [Spoiler alert: the boss wasn't "kidding" about ruining Alex's career.] Trailer from the 2015 film: Experimenter: The Stanley Milgram Story. This movie delves into the story behind Stanley Milgram's famous "shock experiments" in social conformity and "obedience to authority." Since Milgram was a student of Solomon Asch, there is background to the Asch experiments in the movie as well. Trailer from the 2014 movie The Giver. Based on the dystopian novel by Lois Lowry, The Giver portrays life in a dystopia where where "sameness" is the rule and cultural memory is hidden from all. "The Loyalty Dance" is a scene from 1987 movie The Last Emperor . Mao Zedong's mob of loyal Red Guard youth "justifies" the revolution and its uses of violence against perceived enemies. On the sidelines are victims of struggle sessions who have been singled out for humiliation and social rejection. Below is a trailer for the management training film, "The Abilene Paradox." It's based on the book by professor of management, Jerry Harvey, who wrote about the negative effects of self-censorship on real progress and communication. The film depicts the social dynamics of mindless "agreement" in everyday settings as well as in business settings.