America's Irrational Obsessions
From the New York Times bestselling author John Leake — a gripping diagnosis of how irrational beliefs spread like contagions, sickening "We the People" while enriching the special interests that profit from fear and division.
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Sound on · 3 min
"It is not famine, not earthquakes, not microbes, not cancer but man himself who is man's greatest danger to man, for the simple reason that there is no adequate protection against psychic epidemics, which are infinitely more devastating than the worst of natural catastrophes."
— Carl Jung
America's decline from Cold War victor to "a house divided against itself" is not the result of external threats — but of irrational beliefs that spread like a contagion.
In 1957, the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung warned about "subversive minorities" in the West animated by "chimerical wish fantasies" that may rapidly spread and develop into "psychic epidemics." In 1984, KGB defector Yuri Bezmenov warned of "ideological subversion" — changing the perception of reality so thoroughly that, despite an abundance of information, no one can reach sensible conclusions in defense of themselves, their families, or their country.
"Exposure to true information does not matter anymore."
— Yuri Bezmenov, KGB defector, 1984
In recent years the American public forum has been afflicted with a host of irrational ideas that possess the minds of believers — distorting perception, replacing calm discussion with emotional outbursts, and rendering people unable to think through complex problems. Mind Viruses examines the people, events, and interests that engineered these mental contagions, and what they bode for the future of our constitutional republic.
Division is engineered through three moves — repeated, crisis after crisis.
Propagate fear and loathing of a purported threat to public health and safety.
Present a solution whose implementation is cast as a sacred, unquestionable mission.
Scapegoat anyone who doubts, questions, or opposes the mission.
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Two centuries ago, Goya painted Saturn devouring one of his children — a symbolic expression of how deranged, power-hungry men may, to maintain their dominance, destroy the youth and children of their nation.
"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed — and hence clamorous to be led to safety — by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary."
— H. L. Mencken
With no limits on government debt, purported threats to national security and public safety have emerged with increasing frequency.
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During the pandemic, the COVID-19 vaccine was idolized as the liberator and savior of mankind — despite its failure to prevent infection. Similar "faith communities" coalesced around racism, transgender medicine, Ukrainian nationalism, and climate change: each demanding belief, each punishing doubt.
The contagions are not accidents. They are cultivated by entrenched interests that profit from fear and division — manufacturing the next crisis before the last one has faded from memory.
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Sound on · 5½ min
An invaluable book for anyone who has ever wondered why we've constantly lurched from one "crisis" to the next — and how all of them are related. As a medical doctor, I found the chapters on the COVID-19 vaccines and transgender medicine especially illustrative of how science can be hijacked by special interests. A must-read for all concerned citizens who wish to restore sanity to our public forum.
A compelling diagnosis of what has weakened the West, and what we need to do to get our social and political health back. Mind Viruses reveals with anatomical precision how we are constantly being manipulated — and how to protect our minds from the contrived social scourges of our era.
“A potent antidote to the next contagion.”
America isn't imperiled by perfidious foreigners or natural phenomena — as much as politicians like to talk about them — but from contrived threats that frighten, distract and turn us against each other.
Producers, podcasters, and journalists: request an interview with John Leake or media assets for Mind Viruses. The team typically responds within two business days.
Working this week? Email John directly at johnleake@yahoo.com or call 646-301-3396 — and take what you need from the press kit, no form required.
Know how the contagion spreads — and how to protect yourself, your family, and your country from the irrational obsessions of our era.
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