The Rise of Global Conformism

At a formal ceremony for retiring professors at my university, each retiree got an opportunity to make a short speech. In my own speech, I mentioned that my last few years coincided with the Covid panic. Far more than the disease itself, what shocked me was the worldwide mass mind that sprang into existence seemingly overnight.

All over the world, suddenly people were subjected to all-encompassing propaganda and pressures to conform to the same Covid policies. In contrast, a university should be a place to protect and encourage individual thinking, I maintained.

Aside from the Covid phenomenon, in recent years I have often observed the tendency for novel ideas to spread rapidly around the world and quickly become established orthodoxy that precludes debate and criticism. This amounts to a kind of toxic global conformism.

“Toxic conformism” can be defined as aggressively promoted compliance with evil and/or harmful behavior in order to remain in good standing with others. In response to Covid, the universal, rapid implementation of toxic conformity may be unique in history.

There is nothing wrong with conformity per se, as long as it represents adhering to the reasonable expectations of a sane society. For example, conformity to norms of politeness has great merit in most circumstances, as anyone can appreciate who participates in a civil society, such as Japan’s. Only the immature and maladjusted believe that defying reasonable norms of behavior is somehow always commendable.

However, the kind of conformity we currently observe on an international scale is not organic or reasonable. It is imposed by fiat from those with power and influence, despite the doubts and objections of many. It is not the product of wholesome social development and rational, willing acceptance.

These days a great problem for Japanese people–as well as for citizens of other nations–is not conformity to their own society and culture; it is mandatory conformity to powerful international organizations like the UN and the WEF. Since their agendas are often foolish and unreasonable, conforming to their expectations often causes great harm.

Whenever I hear about a new idea rapidly spreading in Western media and cultural circles–e.g., “People should eat bugs”–I know that in a matter of weeks or months, I will be hearing the same idea in the Japanese media and elsewhere. News stories about bug farms, recipes for preparing meals with bugs, and propaganda explaining that bugs are not repulsive but rather tasty and nutritious will soon be everywhere. Actually, this very thing is happening at present.

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Obediently, most in Japan will think and do as they are told, or at least they will accept the superior wisdom and virtue of bug-eating, though they may not personally feel inclined to embrace a diet of bugs.

A few years later (or even sooner), the Gospel of Bug Eating will likely also be widespread in the religious world, especially among academic pundits and megachurch/parachurch leaders. They will go through the Bible and church history with a magnifying glass looking for texts and traditions to support insect consumption. Since he subsisted on a diet of locusts and honey (Mark 1:6), even John the Baptist will find himself on the bandwagon (more on this phenomenon later).

The pace of global conformism has been immeasurably amplified through the power of social media and the Internet. Therefore, international bodies like the WEF and the UN, along with national governments, are very anxious to control online communication. As the French thinker Jacques Ellul put it, “Propaganda must be total” or it fails in its goal of making people “psychologically unified.”

Long before the Internet, Ellul analyzed powerful modern influences tending to create a mass mind in his books Propaganda and The Technological Society. Instead of serious reading, which develops rational thought, in modern times people are often swayed by emotionally charged (but often misleading) visual images and verbal sloganeering from movies and TV. More recent technological innovations have made Ellul’s observations and warnings even more pertinent.

Largely as a result of social media, somehow it became “cool” to be a global conformist in the eyes of many. During the Covid experimental injection mania, many posted “I got my Covid 19 vaccine” on Facebook, even in their profile pictures.

Similarly, trendy buzzwords from abroad like diversity and sustainability were quickly adopted in business and educational circles in Japan, even though many native English speakers have found such terms to be vague and irrational. In regard to the “sustainability” bandwagon, one Japanese think-tank consultant commented to me recently about his business-world associates, “These people really believe putting SDG badges on their suits is such a cool thing to do–I think it’s embarrassing.”

Japanese adoption of the overseas term diversity seems especially odd in light of Japan’s obviously monocultural society. In reality, uniformity has often been their strength, for better or worse. Moreover, a fixation on diversity has been a pretext for discriminating against Japanese and other Asians in American university admissions.

In other unlikely places, one meets with striking examples of the new global conformism, such as the traditional religious world. As Meghan Basham reveals in her book Shepherds for Sale, the new globalism has even captured many evangelical Christian elites. Though the Apostle Paul urged in one of his letters “Do not be conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2), many evangelical leaders now eagerly align themselves with various globalist causes.

For instance, bestselling author and megachurch leader Rick Warren brags about his ties to the WEF and the UN. One incentive for these leaders has been to obtain funding from secular globalist institutions and wealthy influencers, such as George Soros and The Rockefeller Foundation.

Likewise, working with the CDC and the NIH, The Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College created the website “Coronavirus and the Church” to promote Covid 19 injections and other governmental Covid policies. Franklin Graham notably declared that Jesus would get a Covid shot.

In my view, such declarations by prominent religious figures and organizations are not only ignorant and foolish but also abusive. No one is under any moral obligation to be injected with experimental substances. Unsurprisingly, some wits lampooned statements like Graham’s with “Woke Jesus” memes depicting him insisting that his followers wear masks and get Covid shots.

Nevertheless, opposition to global conformism does not mean retreating into an attitude of suspicion and hostility to all things foreign, new, or unfamiliar. Even without pressure from the powerful to implement the desires of international elites, the world’s various peoples often influence each other by the attractions and achievements of their respective societies.

For example, Korean dramas and Japanese anime now have a multitude of fans all over the world. Furthermore, innovative, beneficial medical practices in the West eventually have been adopted by many Korean and Japanese doctors. However, nowadays aggressive global conformism often propagates detrimental practices and ideas around the world.