Matt Wong

Professor Mattias Desmet is the author of The Psychology of Totalitarianism – a book that describes a world in the grips of ‘mass formation’.
Under the correct conditions, the professor believes that a specific type of group formation can emerge, and has emerged in 2020. He cites historical examples where masses formed such as ‘concentration camps to deal with the Jews, crusades to deal with the Muslims and witch-hunts to deal with the witches’ but makes the distinction that in a technocratic era it ushers in totalitarianism.

Professor Desmet notes that totalitarianism, understood as a ‘diabolical pact between the elite and the masses’, is not the same as dictatorships where power is exercised in one direction. Totalitarianism always starts with an ‘obsession and illusionary idea that a new society should be created according to a certain pseudo-scientific theory. It will create a new technologically, scientifically based paradise’.

We covered:

• What is the difference between dictatorships and totalitarianism?
• Is Trump Derangement Syndrome, or Trump is Our Saviour sentiment, related to totalitarianism?
• Will there be future mass formations?
• Is the climate change movement a mass formation?
• A new, technocratic totalitarianism
• Real problems with climate
• Criticisms of mass formation theory
• Rational, mechanist materialism that creates a new ‘elite’
• The result of violent revolution
• Klaus Schwab, the W.E.F. and the W.H.O
• Destroying the elite will not work
• Proof that the madness exists
• It is never safer to remain silent
• Where should ethics come from?
• The problem of religions and dogmas
• How mass formations end
• Non-conformists will bring the solution
• The greatest risk of all: silence and violence
• How to survive the next mass formation
• Who influences Mattias Desmet?
• Mattias’ message to Australia

MATTIAS DESMET
https://biblio.ugent.be/person/801001743835
https://bookshop.org/books/the-psychology-of-totalitarianism/9781645021728
https://p-nt-www-amazon-com-kalias.amazon.com/Psychology-Totalitarianism-Mattias-Desmet/dp/1645021726
https://wordery.com/the-psychology-of-totalitarianism-mattias-desmet-9781645021728

Amar Singh is the founder of Turbans 4 Australia and a practising Sikh. Growing up in the same area as Matt (Campbelltown, NSW) he sat down with Discernable to discuss what it was like growing up in South West Sydney and his embrace of Sikhism and everything it represents.

TURBANS 4 AUSTRALIA
https://www.t4a.org.au

Professor Joseph Camilleri is one of Australia’s leading International Relations scholars, publishing over 15 books and contributing hundreds of chapters and refereed articles in academic journals.

He joined Discernable to explain where Australia sits in the world, and whether Australians perceive their place in the world.

We explored:

• Whether and how China would invade Australia
• Why China wants Taiwan back (and what will happen)
• Why Australians are unaware of international politics
• The influence of UK and USA anglo-centric culture
• The failure of the Academy to educate Australians
• The failure of Australian politics
• The Doomsday Clock
• The spectre of nuclear war
• Human rights in lockdowns
• Balancing the rights of the individual against the rights of the collective
• Chinese society as a cultural role model
• The values of competing societies

PROF JOSEPH CAMILLERI
https://www.josephcamilleri.org

Ryan Smith MP was the Minister for Environment and Climate Change and Minister for Youth Affairs in Victoria between 2010 and 2014. He remains a sitting member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly as the Shadow Minister for Finance, Planning & Heritage and Suburban Recovery. He will be contesting to retain the seat of Warrandyte in the November 2022 election.

He joined Discernable to face the popular accusation that the Liberal Party ‘doesn’t stand for anything’. With no time limits and no topic limits, we asked Ryan about:

• Climate change policy
• Failures of Liberal leader Matthew Guy MP
• The Coate Inquiry into Hotel Quarantine
• The health and hospital crisis in Victoria
• The Operation Watts report into corruption inside the Labor Party
• High-taxing and high-wasting
• Election swings when people get sick of arrogant, corrupt governments
• Balancing the competing demands of Victorians
• Left wing party hypocrisy
• How the Liberals would have handled lockdowns
• The obvious weakness of Daniel Andrews
• The secret of long term Liberal governments
• The future quality of politicians
• Government contracts for small businesses
• Speed camera revenue raising in Victoria
• The stacked bureaucracy in Victoria
• The biggest weakness of Daniel Andrews: ridicule

RYAN SMITH MP
https://www.ryansmith.com.au
https://www.facebook.com/RyanSmithMP
https://www.instagram.com/RyanSmithMP

Clare Pain is a medical journalist. During the first two years of the pandemic her work involved writing up scientific papers for doctors in Australia – to keep them up to date with the science.

She started to notice some strange changes to the culture of the medical profession and medical journalism in Australia and had increasing doubts about the way the pandemic was being handled by governments. She was particularly disturbed by mandates for vaccination and the TGA’s approach to ivermectin. She left her job in December 2021 which freed her to carry out the Australian Survey of Reasons for COVID-19 Vaccination – a survey of nearly 27,000 people.

Clare’s personal journey includes being laughed at in an Australian hospital in February 2020 for wearing too much PPE (masks and gloves), and anxiously awaiting Covid-19 vaccinations, to January 2022 in Sheffield, England where she tried – unvaccinated – to catch COVID-19 to acquire immunity. It was three months before she was successful.

In this interview we discussed:

• Behind the scenes of medical journalism throughout the pandemic
• The differences between UK and Australian culture
• The Australian ban on Ivermectin for COVID-19
• Pharmaceutical companies’ conflicts of interest
• The Australian Survey of Reasons for COVID-19 Vaccination

Note: The 25 minute long credits to this interview display raw statements from Clare’s survey where Australians shared why they received a C-19 vaccination. The statements on screen are uncensored and do not necessarily represent the views of Discernable or Clare Pain.

CLARITY ON HEALTH SURVEY
https://clarityonhealth.org

Scott Morrison mandate quote
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/scott-morrison-says-a-coronavirus-vaccine-would-be-as-mandatory-as-you-can-possibly-make-it/mcg55d7r1

Merck press release on ivermectin
https://www.merck.com/news/merck-statement-on-ivermectin-use-during-the-covid-19-pandemic

Merck press release on molnupirivir
https://www.merck.com/news/ridgeback-biotherapeutics-and-merck-announce-preliminary-findings-from-a-phase-2a-trial-of-investigational-covid-19-therapeutic-molnupiravir

FDA Emergency Use Authorisation rules
https://www.fda.gov/emergency-preparedness-and-response/mcm-legal-regulatory-and-policy-framework/emergency-use-authorization

UK COVID inquiry
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-covid-19-inquiry-terms-of-reference

Ken Phillips is the founder and executive director of Self Employed Australia. He joined Discernable to lay out the long history of governments and powerful interests attacking the right of Australians to remain self-employed.

Ken dived deep into the basis of commercial contracts upon which self-employed Australians rely versus the encroachment of employment contracts that everyone is being pushed into.

We discussed:

• The Albanese government forcing gig contractors and self-employed to be classified as ’employees’ and imposing all of the associated compliance measures
• The difference between earning your money through commercial contracts vs employment contracts
• The historical balance between self-employed and institution-employed
• Predictions of future power struggles for employment
• The corruption in Australian states, judiciaries and police forces
• Obvious momentums in Victoria against Daniel Andrews

SELF EMPLOYED AUSTRALIA
https://selfemployedaustralia.com.au
https://www.facebook.com/selfemployedaustralia
https://twitter.com/selfemployedau