Opinion: What Does the Asch Conformity Experiment Tell Us?

[Stone]

What Does the Asch Conformity Experiment Tell Us about Francis, the 2020 Election, and the Covid-19 Atrocities?

The Remnant Newspaper | August 18, 2023

While it has always been the case that fallen human beings are prone to both lying and believing lies, many of us have observed a remarkable increase in the propensity of seemingly intelligent people to believe preposterous lies in recent years. In many instances, those of us who have refused to believe those lies have been ostracized by family members, colleagues, and those we had considered friends. How, we must ask, do these otherwise normal people not only believe these preposterous lies but also defend them as though their lives depended upon it?

Undoubtedly there are many contributing factors to this increase in preposterous lies, but one significant factor has been the ability of today’s powerful coalition of liars — including Francis and those responsible for the Great Reset — to exploit human weaknesses related to conformity. Once we view today’s preposterous lies from that vantage point, we can better understand how we arrived at our current perilous situation, and perhaps we can also see the way out of it.

On the topic of conformity, we can look to a psychological study described by Professor Cass Sunstein, a legal scholar who has held positions in the administrations of Presidents Obama and Biden — most of us would not agree with his political views, but we need to understand his insights because those reshaping our world understand them. In his 2019 book entitled Conformity, Professor Sunstein described the famous “Asch Conformity Experiment” which took place in the 1950s:

“Some famous experiments, conducted by Solomon Asch, explored whether people would be willing to overlook the apparently unambiguous evidence of their own senses. In those experiments, the subject was placed into a group of seven to nine people who seemed to be other subjects in the experiment but who were actually Asch’s confederates. The simple task was to ‘match’ a particular line, shown on a large white card, to one of the three “comparison lines” that was identical to it in length. The two nonmatching lines were substantially different, with the differential varying from an inch and three quarters to three quarters of an inch. In the first two rounds of the Asch experiments, everyone agrees about the right answer. ‘The discriminations are simple; each individual monotonously calls out the same judgment.’ But ‘suddenly this harmony is disturbed at the third round.’ All other group members make what is obviously, to the subject and to any reasonable person, a clear error, matching the line at issue to one that is conspicuously longer or shorter. In these circumstances, the subject, in almost all cases showing initial confusion and disbelief at the apparent mistakes of others, has a choice: he can maintain independent judgment or instead accept the view of the unanimous majority. What would you do? As it turns out, a large number of people end up yielding at least once in a series of trials. They defy the evidence of their own senses and agree with everyone else. When asked to decide on their own, subjects erred less than 1 percent of the time. But in rounds in which group pressure supported the wrong answer, subjects erred no less than 36.8 percent of the time. Indeed, in a series of twelve questions, no less than 70 percent of subjects went along with the group and defied the evidence of their own senses, at least once.”

If the subjects made their decision based simply on their own powers of observation, they almost always arrived at the obvious answer; but when their decision-making process was skewed by the interactions with seemingly honest people who gave the wrong answers, they frequently yielded to the erroneous majority.

Given this understanding of human nature, how would a bad actor exploit the human weaknesses associated with conformity to lead otherwise rational people to adhere to clearly fallacious positions? Tragically, we have numerous devastating case studies from which to draw lessons, but we can limit the analysis to three: the Covid-19 atrocities, the 2020 United States Presidential election, and Francis and his anti-Catholic initiatives. After briefly highlighting some obvious (red flag) problems associated with each of these three situations, we can evaluate the ways that bad actors have exploited the lessons from the Asch Conformity Experiment.

Covid-19 Atrocities. As we now know, both Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine have been effective in treating some cases of Covid-19. Many of us knew that in 2020, but policy makers and the medical establishment worked hard to prevent Covid-19 patients from having access to those potentially life-saving treatments. At the same time, these leaders approved and mandated the deployment of the Covid-19 vaccines, largely based on the false assumption that there were no effective treatments for Covid-19. Even after those vaccines were proven to be ineffective and dangerous, they were still mandated for many people. Now that the experts have been proven wrong about almost everything connected with Covid-19, why are they still the experts? And why are they not being held accountable for their apparently criminal behavior?

2020 Presidential Election. Leading up to the election, both Trump and Biden warned their supporters about the potential for wide-spread election fraud. Even though President Trump’s supporters were suspicious that Biden’s supporters would steal the election, many went to bed on election night elated to see that Trump had developed an overwhelming lead in voting tallies. We awoke on the following morning to learn that the voting had been inexplicably stopped in the middle of the night in certain key jurisdictions in which Trump had a comfortable lead; when voting resumed in those jurisdictions, the tide had turned, and Biden would ultimately be declared the winner. Biden himself had warned about widespread election fraud, so why is it forbidden to ask questions about the many anomalies?

Francis and His Anti-Catholic Initiatives. In recent years, a relatively small but growing number of Catholics have realized that the man reputed to be pope is actively trying to destroy the Catholic Church. He has called into question almost all of the Church’s moral teachings, praised the merits of various non-Catholic religions, unhesitatingly supported the anti-Catholic initiatives of the Great Reset, and repeatedly denounced Catholics for trying to adhere to what the Church has always taught. If Francis is correct in denouncing the Church’s theological traditions, then there is no logical basis whatsoever to believe that the Church teaches a true Faith; and yet his supporters still insist that no Catholic can criticize the man without abandoning the Faith. [Note, this is yet another example of focusing solely on the errors of Pope Francis while white-washing the many, many errors of the previous Conciliar popes. A little critical thinking and a decent memory shows that this is not realistic or factual. - The Catacombs]

Those with eyes to see ought to be able to recognize the glaring problems associated with these three situations or, at the very least, comprehend why reasonable people might doubt the “official” explanations. But that is not the case to a large extent. Instead of seeing the preposterous lies for what they evidently are, far too many people act like the duped subjects in Asch’s Conformity Experiment.

Even worse, these situations and many others all contribute to the so-called Great Reset, which threatens to fundamentally reshape the way of life for the world’s entire population. In each case, we see that the following five aggravating factors make it much more likely that those with eyes to see will blind themselves — through some combination of self-doubt, cowardice, and the desire to avoid conflict — and conform with the clearly false beliefs of their neighbors.

Faux-Expert Opinions. With Covid-19 and the 2020 election, we saw “experts” on both sides of the political spectrum insist that we accept the official narratives. With Francis, we see a growing number of critics, but there remains an overwhelming majority of bishops and priests who defend all of his anti-Catholic initiatives. In each case, those who might otherwise see the truth have been pressured by faux experts to abandon common sense to conform with the official opinions.

Amplifying the Messages of the Conforming Leaders. Thanks to their ability to completely dominate the media, those who have promoted the preposterous lies associated with the Great Reset have been able to not only showcase their chosen “experts” but also amplify the voices of the conforming majority. In Asch’s experiment, the test subjects were persuaded by the wrong answers of a handful of those who were part of the test, but in real life we are inundated with messages telling us that everyone (other than extremists) supports the official narrative.

Censoring the Testimony of Non-Conforming Experts. In each of these situations, those wielding the most power have worked to censor the expert opinions of those who have questioned the official narratives. The censorship of those who question the Covid-19 and 2020 election narratives is most evident, but even with Francis we see heavy-handed censorship in the form of penalties for those bishops and priests who raise questions.

Consequences for Non-Conformity. In the case of Francis, those who fail to conform are threatened with “schism,” as well as the loss of certain rights to practice the Faith without harassment from Rome. In the secular sphere, those who do not conform are threatened much more broadly by a wide array of punishments, ranging from those imposed by “cancel culture” to expanded definitions of what might constitute domestic terrorism. The message is clear: if you like your bread and circuses, and want to avoid landing on an FBI watch list, you must not question the official narratives.

The Magnitude of the Lies. The enormity of the lies can cut both ways: while they may eventually become so preposterous that people open their eyes, the process of accepting gradually bigger lies makes it impossible for some people to turn back to reality. With Covid-19 and the 2020 election, many people are reluctant to even consider that the skeptics are right because the consequences are simply too grim — how could we ever recover from such treachery? Similarly, Catholics may think that the Church’s promises of indefectibility would be void if Francis truly is as bad as he seems. It is easier for many people to deny reality altogether and hope for the best.

These five aggravating factors help the bad actors gaslight and intimidate otherwise reasonable people into abandoning their accurate assessments of what is truly happening in the world today. This, in turn, makes it much more likely that others will conform by accepting the preposterous lies. How do we escape this disastrous situation?

We ought to trust our intuitions more than the chorus of fools who accept and defend the official narratives. If ever we are inclined to doubt this, it should suffice to recall that those who promote these lies about the Great Reset are the same people who tell us we are bigots if we do not believe that men can become pregnant.

First of all, Catholics must realize that the immutable Catholic Faith cannot be abandoned without having catastrophic effects not only for the Church but all of society. As the architects of the Great Reset know, a strong Catholic Church is their most formidable opposition because faithful Catholics adhere to objective moral standards and would rather die than cooperate with the anti-Catholic initiatives of the New World Order. If, as has been the case since Vatican II, there is some corruption that causes an apparent divide between Faith and authority, we must always fight for the unadulterated Catholic Faith. Otherwise, we contribute to dimming the light of God’s holy truth, with which He wants to illuminate the world.

Second, we must have the courage and conviction to stand up for the truth, especially when the bad actors in society tell us to accept their lies. This obviously does not mean we need to loudly proclaim every conspiracy theory we encounter, but we ought to trust our intuitions more than the chorus of fools who accept and defend the official narratives. If ever we are inclined to doubt this, it should suffice to recall that those who promote these lies about the Great Reset are the same people who tell us we are bigots if we do not believe that men can become pregnant.

Finally, because this is a spiritual battle, we must turn to God and trust that He will shelter and reward us if we earnestly seek to do His will. This does not mean we will not suffer (we will), but fighting for the truth is assuredly the best path for our own salvation and the good of our neighbors. We may have doubted this a few years ago, but today we see the tragic consequences of capitulating to their lies. We have all suffered because the liars have grown powerful through peddling their lies without effective opposition. We can no longer hope to escape this problem by hiding, we have to fight.

God has permitted this great crisis in the Church and world for a reason. And He has also created us to live in these times for a reason. If He is permitting this crisis to continue, surely He wants those who see His truth to help others do the same. We need to be the ones who break the chain of conforming with those who promote the preposterous lies of the Great Reset. But, first things first: we must overcome the lies in the Church that threaten to send souls to hell before we can hope to overcome the lies that threaten our material well-being. If we are ready to die for God’s holy truth, we can become worthy of His intercession. If not, we deserve what the Great Reset liars have planned for us.

Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!

[Stone]