The Psychological State of The State: the Societal ‘Stockholm Syndrome’

By  Lee Maddox  and Tim McK

Guest Writers for Wake Up World

With the Australian federal elections over – apart from a few squabbling electorates demanding recounts – Australia’s two-party system has continued to devolve to resemble a mongrel mix of zealous nanny state paternalism and oligopolistic corporatocracy. The mainstream media circus entertains and purports to inform, but presents content within strict boundaries that exclude serious criticism. And when truly independent thinkers occasionally manage to gain a foothold in the system, they are summarily ridiculed with ad hominem attacks in efforts to discredit the person, and by extension, their ideas.

At present Australia has an education system that trains people to fit into the system. While I believe the private education system provides better education than the state one, both still follow the same curriculum because all students still need to attain the same certificate of education. The more elite schools train the managers of society while the others school their students to be employees. There is a bit of crossover, but that is the rule rather than the exception.

And do you know what? We accept it! Society as a whole may or may not know of the problems inherent in it, but we love it nonetheless. Of course not those of us reading this, who are awake and have taken action against this system. As for the rest of society, not only do they love it, they develop compassion and loyalty for it … and embrace it. At times they even willingly fight to protect it.

The best slave is one who thinks he is free

Politicians allow the public to think we are free to vote for whomever we like when “democracy” rolls around at election time. Some voters are actively loyal to the Liberal, National or Labor parties, others vote for them as the lesser of the presented evils. So we’re stuck with Tweedle Dee or Tweedle Dum. But is the sun rising and scattering the cockroaches?

A few non-mainstreamers have slipped into the Senate via a flaw in the very system designed to keep them out. So will the major players accept this? Hell no! They plan to change the rules to restore their entitlements to power. These upstarts can’t be thinking there’s hope. Back to the salt mines for you, boy!

The state is adamantly determined to uphold the status quo that they have even convinced the public that it’s no use fighting the system, and to instead embrace our captive society so we don’t allow such incursions by those seeking to instigate real change. I recall my school’s Head of Campus at the end of Year 9 driving home the message “don’t play the system.” That’s verbatim. And this was at a well known school in the ‘elite’ category. The subtext:  you can’t change anything, so don’t even try. I’ve forgotten just about every direct quote from a teacher, but that comment stands alone in my memory. As a born contrarian, I have ever since considered it a challenge, not a command.

So what is it then? What is it that urges us to take a stand and resist when it seems everyone else just follows suit? The basis of the Stockholm Syndrome, a term coined by psychologists post 1973 after the bank robbery in Stockholm, Sweden, is that a person held captive has a subconscious need for personal preservation that will drive them to do what it takes to survive, even if it means building a rapport with their captors. Some go so far as to love and even defend those that have them in bondage from the very people trying to rescue them.

How is this paradigm any different today?

It’s not. Societal Stockholm Syndrome (SSS) can easily develop in such a system where people don’t consciously recognise they’re held captive within a certain paradigm. This is because the system can be perceived as acting benevolently towards the public through means such as handouts to people who don’t actually need them, election promises (which frequently go unfulfilled) and the welfare system.

It’s hard to try and wake someone up who is so dependant on the very system that has enslaved them. But there is hope. A global alternative media network is growing exponentially, born out of the need to resist the control of the status quo. And it’s gaining momentum, as it continually unplugs people from the system and wakes them up from their learned helplessness.

The only true way to break free of this SSS is to resist. The very act, nay, even the thought of resisting is in essence resistance itself, because this captive society that has been created around us is fundamentally a mental prison, and any act of resistance has to begin in your mind.

Previous article by Lee:

• Has HSBC Just Signaled the Countdown to the Next Big Financial Crash?
• Collusion for Illusion: Australia’s “Big 4”³ Banks are All Owned by the Same Financial Interest
• The Politics of Polarity: The ‘Hegelian Dialectic’ and its Use in Controlling Modern Society

About the author:

Lee “General” Maddox is the founder of  realnewsaustralia.com, a site dedicated to offering an alternative view to government-controlled media, and helping people to challenge and question what they see on TV, read in newspapers & hear on the radio.  Catch Lee on the  conspiracyoz podcast  or visit realnewsaustralia.com

Tim McK is a freelance writer interested in writing on politics, current events and what makes the world really tick.