Dear reader,

In the following article I wanna try to dissect some key concepts that connect with previous articles like; hyper-normalization (The prescribed reality and the value judgment of Foucault), how that interferes with the natural social construction of our interactions with others and how simple governance systems of command and control try to minimize deviance in the greater world system.

So given that we live in a world that is increasingly becoming more complex due to more open ended systems working together in a globalized network, one could go in two opposing ways in dealing with this. One way is to keep track with this complexity by continue to innovate our mental models and do our best to continue to make sense of what is going on around us. This website, for example, is an attempt to create sense-making of the complexities of the world around us, thereby saying I try to prevent over-rationalizations. Another way is to (hyper)normalize the complexity which will result in ignoring new and profound complex and systemic problems and in doing so holding on to a status quo which is not sustainable. (peacock effect, runaway capitalism etc)

The latter can be seen in how their is an effort to prescribe a reality that ‘things will go back to normal’ after this current crises. However, the severity of the crisis and the possible domino effects it will cause, will set in a trend for a new normal, a new equilibrium, that makes the old models obsolete. The house or former models are on fire, and why risk saving the house? Instead an analogy could be that there is light at the end of the tunnel, but the train we are currently on is caught on fire. So even though central banks are again trying to save the system by manipulating the cash flows, on the long run, this would only be a form of symptom treatment, trying to minimise the effects of a frozen world economy on the shorter term. The tunnel is, however, a bit more challenging then just falling back on quantitative easing of currencies and trying to ‘save the house’ by doing so. Therefore, there are different ways to react on a crises situation, and this period could be marked with those opposing forces of dealing with it on the short and long term. Automatically, a fear based paradigm will almost always be short term, and going back to normal is really an impulse out of fear, while I would argue we should critically think about how to formulate new visions and ideas that could give us a new house, with better foundations and principles that serve the challenges of a new age, rather then trying to save the old house. Just gotta hop on a new planet, continue learning finding the right relationship.

That being said, the concept of ‘hyper-normalization’ is called into existence here, and is a very clear key concept for those who also like to do research into societal development. It has to do with the manipulation of the masses to make sure that there is a safe and prescribed reality to act in. Especially now, when central banks are printing enormous amounts of extra cash in the system, people start to worry and be more cautious, resulting in a lack of trust and more savings. Cause something must be really wrong in the system when central banks are trying to remove the deviance of a worldwide lock-down by overflowing the economy with extra cash, or is it just me? However, any reasonable thinker can see and know that the real economy is on hold for who knows how long, so it really depends how much faith and trust one has in thinking the real economy (the farmers, bakers etc) is actually gonna make up for this. I do not share many statistics and links in my articles, but just by doing ones own research, it ain’t that hard to understand the differences of the real economy, how the financial system is now being manipulated by the central banks and how politicians are trying to reduce the worry and anxiety by handing out all this money over to national economies. There is no such thing as free money, there is always a ‘price to be paid’ spread out over future generations if you study the history of these trends. So it does not take a genius to figure out people are being manipulated into a prescribed reality everything is ‘still fine and will be fine’, just to try to minimise even more deviance to the system due to more uncertainty.  What Michel Foucault called ‘normative value judgement’ is what I think, is what you see now in more extreme manners, that people are being judged by a more strict normative norm of bio-politics in which basic rights are overruled for the Utilitarian view of safety of all. The more people are giving in to a prescribed reality, the more value judgement is put upon those who do not wanna play within this rigid new reality of bio-politics. This makes it very easy to be a criminal (one who deviates from the norm) nowadays, since it is pretty easy to show deviant behaviour in a tight and rigid system of advanced bureaucracy.

And I think that makes the world of today different then that of yesterday. When the complexity in the world is rising and the problems are getting more complex, it might work on a political level to prescribe a false reality and make sure trust of the ‘normal’ is regained. On the longer term however, underlying systemic failures or the foundations of the burning house as a metaphor will cause more inevitable calamities within socioeconomic systems, with the purpose to wake people up off course. Deviance, uncertainty and change are natural phenomena we see in all complex and innovative systems, with the function to make the next organisation of a system more robust, resilient and efficient.  By living in a prescribed reality and living the lie people are told, there is no need to think about these systematic errors of the greater system, there is no need to have a vision or to think outside of the box, cause the prescribed reality seems to uphold as long as there is no new severe crises. This all boils down to how the reptilian stem of our brain works and why the concept of ‘hyper-normalization’ works in modern society. Fear is the thriving motor of this societal phenomena, and it only works because people and politicians give in to the fear, not dealing with the systemic errors and living the day as if the wrath of Gaia will just weather over.

So I hope by sharing these articles I make you think in certain ways about socioeconomic concepts that play in contemporary society. Just thinking about it is already a huge step forward then staying ignorant about it I believe. If you simply know that there are forces at play that want to promote hyper-normalization, that promote the simple fact that deviance or abnormality cannot exist within the greater world system due to the loss of all those heavily invested in the status quo. Just by knowing and trying to understand these world stage forces one can, I think, better position him or herself in who one wants to be in the (near) future.

Just living the prescribed reality is just playing the fool, sticking its head in the sand, following protocol blindly without any critical thought or doing ones own independent research.

I hope these articles will help in your research, and so that we can come to reasonable solutions together, since it is all with a sufficient level of agency that will actually be able to steward this planet forward.

Cheers,

Kees