This episode of Counterculture explores how the academic institution of Harvard is changing and why. Host Danielle D’Souza Gill begins by attributing the change to “mass formation psychosis,” a term used to explain how so many people could so eagerly listen to and follow someone like Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. History is full of other examples of dictators and cult leaders who are able to control and brainwash people with their charismatic personalities and propaganda, regardless of how irrational their ideas or policies may be. Being able to identify mass formation psychosis as it occurs is imperative to prevent horrifying events, like the Holocaust, from being repeated. A key factor in recognizing the signs is first admitting that this phenomenon exists, and that no one is completely immune from it.
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