Life Behind Glass

Lynda Elliott
Apr 2, 2020
8 min read

Updated: 5 days ago

With millions of people around the world now in self isolation, I've started to notice some interesting trends and archetypes emerging on social media. Here are a handful of the "Archetypes of the Apocalypse" - based on my observations and interactions.

I'll kick off with the most dramatic archetype :

The Conspiracy Theorist

In recent days, I have seen all manner of weirdness creep into my social feed, my WhatsApp messages and my Facebook messages.

It would appear that, from the dark underbelly of fringe ideologies, a legion of content creators have transformed themselves into an investigative citizen journalist and/or an armchair epidemiologist. From "channelers" with cutesy made-up names, who speak to "spirit guides in the 5th dimension" and broadcast messages for the "star seeds" on planet earth, through to the YouTube rabbit hole horror mongers, with their clickbait video titles and sinister content designed to frighten the bejesus out of their audience. All focusing on The Virus.

I've been informed that the virus was human engineered and that a snake/human hybrid was created. This snake evidently escaped from a lab in China and bit someone, starting the virus. Well that's the 5th dimension's take on it, anyway.

Another genius informs his viewers that people can only get the virus from being injected, that viruses are not alive and they cannot be spread - either from other humans or across species. The content creator then goes on to point viewers in the direction of vaccine patents for corona virus that were filed in 2003 and infers that the outbreak was designed.

What he fails to note is that corona virus has been around for sometime in one strain or another (this particular vaccine was in response to the SARS outbreak), and that the abstract specifically mentions SARS and not the novel corona virus that is around now.

He goes on to mention a November 2019 patent and correlates this with the Wuhan outbreak in December 2019. In fact, this particular patent focuses on specific structural proteins of the corona virus for use in treating infectious bronchitis. The protein structure of SARS-COV-2 (aka the novel corona virus) was only mapped in February 2020.

What was discovered was : "Despite similarities in sequence and structure between the spikes of the two viruses, three different antibodies against the 2002 SARS virus could not successfully bind to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. This suggests that potential vaccine and antibody-based treatment strategies will need to be unique to the new virus."(Dr. Barney Graham, VRC Deputy Director, Vaccine Research Centre).

Doh! Debunked by his own evidence.

In another example, a YouTube "truther" presents an hour long video explaining to his audience that the virus is caused by 5G.

Fascinating to see how easily existing conspiracy theories neatly map to the pandemic.

What's particularly worrying is that this social tribe believe that they are "awake" and that there is a well orchestrated plot by "Deep State" to depopulate the planet. Humans are the cattle of the "elite". This appears to be something they all agree on.

Anyone who disagrees is sleepwalking into a genocide. And experts and data and proper research doesn't matter when American "Meth Witch" on YouTube is presenting "shocking evidence" from an anonymous "whistleblower", narrating the piece in a comforting home counties accent.

It's ghost stories for grown ups. Amygdala activation for spook addicts.

There's no arguing with these people, as they are fiercely superglued to their beliefs. Beliefs that have been engraved into their subconscious minds because :

Confirmation bias : It aligns with similar, existing beliefs they have
Repetition : The messaging and content they are viewing is repeated across different channels and content creators. This repetition is a great method for subconscious programming, because the subconscious mind is the mind of habit
Emotional Anchoring : One of the most effective ways of embedding a belief into the subconscious is to experience a strong emotional response to an event or piece of information. From an evolutionary perspective, this makes perfect sense. Something frightening or dangerous should be installed into the brain computer for future reference
Fear Response : When we are frightened or threatened, our body goes into flight or fight mode and blood supplies are diverted from the brain and digestive tract and into the muscles of the arms and legs. The pre fontal cortex - the part of the brain that is responsible for our executive thinking - is deprived of blood supply, and our ability to think rationally is shelved so that we can get the hell away from the beastly threat. It also makes it difficult for us to learn new things whilst in this state.

A 2016 study shows that the more stress a person is under, the more likely they are to believe in conspiracy theories. Perhaps this stress response is why there appears to be so much engagement with this kind of media at the moment.

Professor Viren Swami (Anglia Ruskin University) who performed the study, says : "Stressful situations increase the tendency to think less analytically. An individual experiencing a stressful life event may begin to engage in a particular way of thinking, such as seeing patterns that don’t exist. In the aftermath of distressing events, it is possible that some individuals may seek out conspiracist explanations that reinstall a sense of order or control.”

UPDATE 3 April 2020 : Perhaps of wider concern is the impact these conspiracy theories can have in the real world - Broadband engineers threatened due to 5G coronavirus conspiracies (Jim Waterson, Media editor 3 April 2020, The Guardian, UK)

The Altruist

Perhaps at the opposite end of the spectrum are the community minded people who are offering to shop for the elderly, provide their services for free and finding creative ways to be of service to others.

I've seen people putting up tips for growing your own vegetables, how to brew probiotic-rich, homemade ginger beer, cleaning tips, self-care tips and a range of other types of practical information.

There are people who are arranging to take food to stray animals in their area. Volunteers taking food and hygiene packs to refugees in their city. Others are setting up Facebook groups that are "positive vibes only". Healthcare and police workers are coming out of retirement to heroically help other humans.

People worldwide - from Madrid to Vancouver - are applauding their healthcare workers from their balconies and sharing videos of city dwellers doing rooftop flash mob deejaying, dancing or singing.

Strangers are reaching out to others to offer emotional support. There seems to be less racism and trolling in comments. I saw a Facebook post the other day from a pensioner expat in Cyprus who said that when he went for his weekly shop, everyone waved him to the front of the queue. As he was packing his groceries, a woman he had spoken to in the queue pushed her way to the front of the queue, placed her card in the reader and paid for his groceries.

Just as Brexit and Trump divided people, it would seem that the novel corona virus is uniting people.

Many of us are connecting with each other more frequently. Some are arranging or attending virtual yoga classes, or group video chats over a glass of wine.

Galleries and museums are opening their exhibits virtually - free to view.

Many, many people, at this time, are choosing to relate to each other with compassion, respect, acceptance and kindness as we adjust to the new normal.

A 2003 study shows how altruistic social behaviours are associated with better mental health, so this cohort appear to be coping better than the Conspiracy Theorists.

Not only that, but the "good hormones" (dopamine, oxytocin and seratonin) are released when we are altruistic, and this is good for our emotional and our physical health. We are designed to be co-operative, caring social animals. Nature meant for us to respond in this way, for our ultimate survival.

The Humorist

Everybody has their own way of reacting to the current crisis. There are a plethora of creative (sometimes darkly comic) jokes circulating at the moment.

A lot of the humour is self-deprecatory, focusing on getting fat, drinking too much alcohol, swapping day-time pyjamas for night-time pyjamas and forgetting which day it is.

People are posting videos of the things they are doing during isolation to amuse themselves - much of it to do with playing pranks on their partner, trying to escape from the kids, or teenagers teaching dads how to throw proper moves on the dance floor. Or giving their toilets a face, complete with cigars jammed between the lid and the seat, and jauntily placed bog roll hats.

There is a new boldness, too, I've noticed. Less attention to "Brand Me", and more of a spontaneous, unselfconscious attitude.

People seem less concerned with looking their best Instagram self, and are doing zany things to make their friends laugh.

I recently took up an isolation challenge to sing on camera. I elected to slaughter Dolly Parton and belted out a demented, desperate version of Jolene. The fact that I sound more like Miss Piggy than Adele didn't bother me as much as it would have done a month ago. The important bit was getting my friends to laugh and take the piss out of me.

Vanity, it would seem, is the province of the old normal.

This new boldness seems to be liberating some people to be their "authentic" selves - to disclose more, to be more creative.

A 2017 study at the University of Ovedio in Spain, shows that consistent "positive" humour can mitigate against depression and anxiety. So it's likely that the humorists are getting it right in terms of creating resilience during extraordinary times.

Blends

A British NHS Dentist sings an amusing parody "Corona Virus, Baby" and gives a serious message at the end of his song. A great example of how some of the archetypes are blends (Humorist/Altruist). He's about to release a song (I Like Your Molars Molars), and the proceeds of the sales will go to the NHS.

Interestingly, the Conspiracy Theorists are also claiming to come from a place of altruism (we want to save humans from XYZ) - although I'm not convinced that this is accurate, and this type of information certainly doesn't do much to productively help anyone. I suspect it has more to do with social validation and/or expressing their panic/stress.

Perhaps this is what a global human reset looks like? Take away the social constructs that form a consensus of reality, and all we are left with are our fundamental human selves.

There are, of course, many other responses and trends in this crisis, but these three have jumped out at me. Not everybody is coping well with being removed from a work environment, losing their income, being physically isolated from others, and watching increasingly horrifying death statistics in the media.

Everyone is focused on their physical health, but not everyone is taking good care of their mental health.

Life behind glass will be with us for some time to come. Perhaps now is the time to develop self-care practices to take us into the world that will emerge once this global trauma has healed.

And maybe - just maybe - we will emerge into a world that is kinder, more compassionate and more grateful than the world that was before The Virus.

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