"The most dangerous psychological mistake is the projection of the shadow on to others; this is the root of almost all conflicts." -Carl Jung
It feels like we're living through an era of extreme projection by the most nefarious sorts. But the truth is simply that we're stepping out of an era in which mass projection was successful insofar as it was cost effective.
Source: Violation Tracker
These days, one person documenting a contradiction can quickly demonstrate proof that can spread as virally as the lie.
Once you recognize the pattern, you begin to see it often. It's ubiquitous among those whose power depends on control. The psychological profile of the Kunlangeta is stamped on society through the flaws in the organization of our economic incentive structures. Technology's (a)symmetry problem ensures the result, encoded in a mind virus, implanted in the youth.
Maybe pot smoking is the variable that suddenly changed everything just recently? Or temperatures rising? Maybe somebody should check out the heart attack rates closer to the equator. That would be genius!
Succinctly Phrased
I'm no expert in Jungian psychology, but my test for psychological concepts is how they grow on me as I meditate on them. Maybe I'm suddenly projecting when I see projection everywhere? Or maybe it really is all getting louder. Louder means the footsteps are getting closer.
Oliver Darcy @oliverdarcy
I do not think most people fully appreciate the disinformation campaign taking place right now in right-wing media to de-legitimize Biden as President-elect. It has totally saturated coverage. It's everywhere.I recently subscribed to VivaFreiBarnes at Locals.com. I find Frei and Barnes to be crisp and educational. Even if by some strange twist I never again find any of their discussions compelling, the succinct phrasing of this concept, which is part of the mass psychosis unraveling, is pure gold. This is another example of what I see as "new media as educators/education", where the masses can reject the mainstream media for a combination of education and reality after coming to grips with various flavors of Gell-Mann amnesia. Viva Frei may have popularized the phrase "confession through projection", though I haven't found out for certain whether he was the first to use it. Either way, it's a t-shirt now.
The Other Side of Projection
I look forward to forgiving a certain kind of person for being misled. Projection isn't just about the shadow. It's about the light, also. Many of the people walking dangerously astride with totalitarian pandemonium are people of good faith who themselves could not imagine the deliberation of cruelty. These people outnumber the Kunlangeta many-to-one. They are clever enough to make use of proxy trust as an economical guide, but not clever enough to train themselves past their mind viruses and recognize the predators and parasites. When the CDC said, without any science backing the move, that the vaccinated could go unmasked (indoors and...outdoors?) despite the obvious fact that...there is no mechanism in place by which people generally know who is vaccinated and who isn't. Projection leads these overly trustworthy people into a state where they neither foresee nor recognize the arbitrary policy changes made and undone.
I also look forward to forgiving those who have simply been driven insane by an insane world that is too often entirely opposite its projected representation. This includes many of my most intellectual peers in school, sadly. They had no idea that their genius made them prime targets for psychological exploitation, or that there was even a Best Slave Pageant that they competed in.
I still believe there is a world in which their children see more clearly. I believe it because having spent thirteen years in the service of education, I know how it's done.
The Bizarre Historical Projection of Fascism
"Fascism recognizes the real needs which gave rise to socialism and trade unionism, giving them due weight in the guild or corporative system in which divergent interests are coordinated and harmonized in the unity of the State." -Benito Mussolini, "The Doctrine of Fascism" (1932)
Mussolini entered the first World War a young intellectual socialist, but was kicked out of the socialist party for embarking upon a quest to infuse socialism into the state. Strangely, Western historians refer to Mussolini's Fascist parties (plural because there were three) as "right wing", though this misses the key point: fascism found itself selling out all its ideals over time in its transformation into national machinery. The acceptance of Iberians, Goths, Jews, Greeks, and North Africans as "Italians, all" lasted a few years until Mussolini's handshake with the devil that was Hitler confirmed a trajectory that lacked any principle.
Does all this look like principles of "health" and "equity" to you?
What does Zuby think?
P.S. While finishing up this article, I came across the bad cat who beat me to the application of the concept.
The projection thing can also be regarded as the tactic of "Always accuse your opponent of what you yourself are doing".
As someone who has observed the warmongering world powers use their good intentions to spread democracy in dictatorship countries for decades (mine included, in several variations and on several occasions) by initiating some sort of violent local conflict (coupe, to the best, and bloody war, to the worst), I can now safely say that projection is the weapon of war. Our whole worldview may be a projection, and when we attack to self-defend (or inject to self-protect or control partners in the name of love) it is definitely not in others' best interest. Now the veil of wars has finally been lifted to transcend national borders, and we can clearly see the war for what it is - psychopathology. The "war on terror" in the U.S. is a projection of fear. I am devastated to see so many people being gaslit by the projection of public health.