Just as the Climate Change debate is over whether Global Warming is man made or part of a natural cycle, so the political conversation is about whether we are in control over our politics or is it being shaped by global forces of change. God, Man or Chaos Theory.

Political dogma is fragmenting as a consequence of changes in people’s perception of government due to the Media and the Internet. There are no simple questions and answers these days with persuasive and bullying opinion being raised on every conceivable issue. Why is this? Is it because we are in the pre-ordained End of Days as foretold by religions or is it due to changes in our psychology?

Carl Jung, in his explorations of the nature of religion and human psychology, was one of the first to postulate the existence of ‘group minds’ or group (un)consciousnesses. He considered that there were four group psychologies (mindsets) that were roughly geographically based on continents ie. the Western, Eastern, African and possibly Aboriginal. We can now extend this theory to propose a new and different pan geographical and global group consciousness – the Internet. This Internet consciousness has a very loose and undetermined shape at the moment but it has all the classic characteristics of a group mind as explored and prefigured in science and fantasy fiction (cf. Tad Williams). It is a  vast tag cloud of information, music, video clips, imagery, blogs, comment threads and random thoughts difficult to define and wholly unregimented.

Or is it? Just like the oceans, there are patterns and currents to this seemingly vast sea of infojunk. I find it is is sometimes useful to employ artistic analogies/visualisations to help with this concept.  For example, even the UK government’s Dept of Trade and Industry has drawn from the imagination of the graphic artist M.C. Escher to try and get a handle on this in its publications of the role of the Internet in commerce. This new mind is constrained not by geographical and traditional societal boundaries but by access and technology and human psychology  so this is the key to understanding how to use it. The politicians that can understand this fully and utilise it predictively , will be the powerful men and women of the future. Barack Obama and his campaign team exemplifies this new understanding.

These group minds are peculiarly susceptible to music (melody patterns). The Beatles were a music phenomenon which unconsciously gave expression to changes in the (Western) group mind. We find it very difficult to comprehend these days why the Beatles simple lyrics and melodies were so popular but it can be understood if explained in terms of being in tune or resonating with an unconscious mind. at a particular time in its evolution. It’s the vibes Man! Similarly today, it is no accident that music drives a large part of the Internet and is a powerful medium for disseminating music both old and new.

Peer to peer systems, the stock markets, blogging and the social networking phenomenon are manifestations of the new consciousness. These ‘viral channels’ are a kind of nervous system or ocean current and look how fast they react.

Politically, the important questions of today are how do the traditional mind sets of the West interact, use or merge with this new mindset. How does a politician locked into old ways of doing things – knocking on doors, holding surgeries, attending conferences, dealing in smoke filled rooms, troughing in pork barrels approach what is now a new paradigm? The politician of the present now needs to understand how the Internet works, not the techie bits, but the psychology of it. It’s not about issues but about surfing the wave breaks of the group mind  – being in tune with the Internet  and other  group (un)consciousness. In Wales, most of the politicians are ‘old school’, and have little or no understanding of the Internet or its political and marketing tools.  Well, except maybe for  Chris ‘Pants’ Bryant! Some, like Peter Black and Adam Price are starting to use blogging as a means of communicating (mainly to political anoraks) but most only have their staff monitor blogs or news websites for stories that might be attacking them.

The political and economic climate is set to change and change fast. It is clear that none of our current crop of politician either here in Wales or the UK is ‘ahead of the curve’. In the US, Barack Obama is probably the closest. McLuhan was partially right. The Medium is now the Message is now the Mindset.

There will be much Tribulation.