New Totalitarianism Led by ‘Dull Bureaucrats and Technocrats’: Psychologist Mattias Desmet

People must not let fear stop them from dissent against irrational policies

Mattias Desmet, a professor of clinical psychology at Ghent University and author of “The Psychology of Totalitarianism," in New York on Aug. 27, 2022. Otabius Williams/The Epoch Times

Professor of clinical psychology at Ghent University Mattias Desmet is the world’s leading expert in the phenomenon known as “mass formation,” which is a type of hypnotic state that occurs when people are isolated from one another and free-floating anxiety is prevalent, as in during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Desmet believes the world is now seeing a new form of totalitarianism, spawned in the last couple of decades and fostered by mass formation during the pandemic.