The Cult of the Self Took Over the World

Описание: Was the 20th-century Modernist art movement a sophisticated psychological operation run by the CIA? This lecture explores the provocative theory that the difficult, elitist, and inward-looking art of figures like James Joyce (Ulysses), Virginia Woolf, and Pablo Picasso was intentionally promoted to shape Western consciousness during the Cold War.
The video argues that the "stream of consciousness" style and the focus on self-discovery in modern art created a "cult of the self." This radical individualism, in stark contrast to the community-focused philosophies of writers like Dostoevsky, was allegedly weaponized to make populations incapable of the collective action required for communism.
Drawing on the anarchist philosophy of Mikhail Bakunin—who argued that true freedom is only possible through others—the lecture critiques this hyper-individualism as a form of slavery. Finally, it connects this century-old cultural shift to the present-day mental health crisis, suggesting that the "cult of the self" has been democratized by social media, leading to a global epidemic of depression and suicide.

Timestamps:
0:00 - Modernism & the Elitism of James Joyce's Ulysses
4:21 - Virginia Woolf & the Inward Turn of Literature
5:50 - The Modern "Cult of the Self" vs. Dostoevsky's Community
7:21 - Was Modern Art a CIA Sciop to Fight Communism?
8:50 - Mikhail Bakunin's Critique: Why Individualism is a Form of Slavery
12:03 - The Modern Epidemic: Social Media, Depression & Suicide
13:13 - Conclusion: Killing the Cult of the Self
Tags:
#predictivehistory #jiangxueqin #Modernism, #CIA, #ColdWar, #PsychologicalWarfare, #JamesJoyce, #Individualism, #MikhailBakunin, #SocialMedia