Hypernormalisation - Why anthing built on fear should be a red flag

As humans, we instinctively have a negative bias built in. However, just because it’s there doesn’t mean it’s right to use fear to manipulate people to do what you want, whether it’s one-to-one or one-to-many.

This negative bias has been suggested to have been part of our genetic past, where we have been told historically that we needed to fear for our lives, to escape predators.

Lessons of history

Let’s step back and consider where history has come from. My mother loved to study and research history for as long as I can remember. My mother gave me many pieces of good advice in my lifetime, and particularly some very good words of wisdom as a child.

She said ‘Remember history (his story) was described by the victor, and there is one thing that the repetition of history has most certainly proved to us, was that these victors were prone to lying’.

I know right, who would imagine that the victorious would lie and exaggerate what had happened for their own glory, instead of telling the truth for the good of all, to provide an accurate account of what truthfully happened.

My mother also gave me another good piece of advice alongside this, ‘Don’t believe everything you hear or read, let your intuition guide you toward truth’.

I was an inquisitive child by nature, now I was armed with discernment. Something that has saved me more times in life than I could possibly recount. I learned to listen, think and feel into what my intuition was trying to tell me, to guide my decision-making.

It is sad to say that these skills are not taught in school. In fact, we still seem to be told to sit down, shut up and do as we are told even to this very day, where we recount phrases like discipline for children is important. When creativity, inquisitivity and discernment are far more constructive skills to teach our children to become free-thinking and discerning individuals.

But the question I pose to you is not who wants us to be free-thinking and discerning. Ask yourself who might potentially gain if we do not develop these skills. This might be more likely where you will find your answer.

The Role of Social & Cultural Conditioning

All across society, we use social and cultural conditioning to manipulate outcomes. You can soften it all you like by saying words like influence and storytelling all you like. However, when it is built on fear, it should be a red flag for us all, every time it shows up.

Yet in the world we live in of hypernormalisation of influence, religious dogma, violence and money can buy anyone or anything attitude, we are all, in some way complicit.

I know it’s hard to admit we are all part of the problem, but in reality, we are.

Consider the following examples and you will quickly see how hypernormalisation exists in not only your life, but all our lives, and not for the better.

The Hypernormalisation of Violence

Do any women in your life fear to travel anywhere on their own at night? Why is this so? Can men not protect women? Why would men want to hurt women? We live in a world full of reminders of violence against women everywhere.

The TV tells us of it on every news telecast, in every movie and TV show and It’s all over social media. Who has been murdered, raped and bashed? It’s as if we have begun to enjoy the drama. When exactly did we decide that violence against women was the accepted norm? Why does it continue?

It is called hypernormalisation!

We have normalised violence against women so much, that we have become numb to what violence against a woman means. Yet, when it happens to you directly you know exactly what it means. We have now seen and experienced violence so much that we have literally accepted it into society.

The Hypernormalisation of Telling Lies

What about the hypernormalisation of telling lies? We give these labels like selling, influencing and storytelling right! When did we decide lying was completely normal? Can you remember the first lie you were ever told? Does Santa, the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny ring a bell?

This is the process of hypernormalisation! We are now in a cycle of repeating the cycles of hypernormalisation fed from one generation to the next.

Tell children repetitive lies and stories about something that seems harmless like Santa, then build on it with influential education, social media, TV, and movies and then like magic, the process of hypernormalisation has become, entrenched in a seamless approach, accidentally orchestrated by the very people who love us the most.

Mix it up with what we like to call a healthy dose of manipulative fear, starting with; if you are not a good boy Santa won’t come, moving on gradually to bigger and better forms of manipulation, like fear of being grounded or having your phone or electronic devices taken away, or not being able to see your friends. Here we laid the groundwork for hypernormalisation by our own hands.

We have literally lost all sensitivity to people lying. Lying has become so normal we have become sceptical of even those who are close to us and love us dearly. Lost in a constant entanglement of confusion not knowing what or who to believe. Go on to depict war, dictatorship, control and violence constantly on the screen of all movies and the hypernormalisation has then crossed from childhood to adulthood.

The Impacts Today

Fast forward to today and constant wars raging everywhere where thousands, if not millions of innocent men, women and children have been violently killed in the name of war. Yet we have seen so much war in movies, Netflix and the news, so the horror of violence no longer registers. Why? Because your brain has blurred the line between reality and the apparent harmless world of pretend. It’s all now just on a screen.

Yet what would happen if the screen became your reality tomorrow?

If you are not alarmed by this realisation, I am scared for what your future holds.

You see, I’ve never bought the lies. For some reason, people are completely transparent to me. I have always disliked watching movies with violence, and have always believed in telling the truth, no matter what the consequences.

For most of my life, my views were not considered normal because I saw beyond the hypernormalisation. I was called weird and strange, and often even laughed at for my different views. However, today I can see the shift in the world that is leaning towards the new normal I’ve dreamed about and felt within my heart my whole life.

At any time, you can join the new normal!

A Better Future

A better world awaits us filled with love, truth, joy and absolute inclusion, instead of war, hate, judgement and Exclusion.

A world where the natural flow of inclusion, can be simply expressed through our humanness, where we can live as one with our innate ability for the expression of compassion.

First, like I had to, you must accept the role you have played and decide to show up differently for your children, your friends and colleagues. Then and only then will we begin to understand and undo the damage we have collectively inflicted on all of humanity.

The chaotic world we live in today is merely a reflection of the chaos within us all. Control the chaos within you and you change what you reflect. Share with others your experience and we may just overcome this hypernormalisation of all the things we all believe are wrong in our society.

Is it time to put up your red flag?