The Ratchet Effect – The New Normal

The ratchet effect: a process that moves easily in one direction, but resists going backwards.

We suffer through both personal ignorance of reality, and external intervention.

When a major crisis occurs – whether it’s a war, a financial crash, a pandemic … – governments and establishments rapidly expand their power, spending and surveillance to manage the emergency.

Once the crisis passes, power does not snap back to its original baseline. Instead, it ratchets down only slightly, leaving behind a permanent increase in state control, bureaucracy and public compliance. This level of government intervention becomes the new normal.

When people are kept ignorant of how reality works, they don’t notice that they’ve become far more vulnerable to outside manipulation.

Know the system = stop being cog – a tooth in the wheel of Samsara.