{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,7]],"date-time":"2026-08-07T17:07:06Z","timestamp":1786122426045,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":12,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,27]],"date-time":"2026-05-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1779840000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,27]],"date-time":"2026-05-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1779840000000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["International Journal of Risk &amp; Safety in Medicine"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,8]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Individual autonomy is fragile.<\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>We must ask whether we have been swept up with \u2018 a crowd \u2018; perhaps trapped within a ' thought window ', carried by mass narrative, or entranced by the certainty of the totalitarised mind.<\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>Loss of the individual to the group can occur on any scale, from ' group-think ' cognitive bias, through the eager madness of a literal crowd, to the modern global reach of propaganda and technocratic totalitarianism.<\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>Milgram electrocution experiments show potential for the mind to be rapidly totalitarised \u2013 the hypnotic, focal enthusiasm of ' engaged followers '.<\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>This work was performed at the time Hannah Arendt coined the term ' banality of evil ' and described a new form of criminal, the bureaucrat.<\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>Totalitarianism is an ever present under current in society and the scientific community is not exempt from the dangers. Strictly enforced bed rest for patients is one of the best known medical mass narratives, responsible for the loss of many lives.<\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>Responses to the COVID pandemic years echo the ideologies of history.<\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>Healthy curiosity, dissent from the main stream and open debate are essential to progress in science and must be welcome at all times.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/09246479261456462","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,27]],"date-time":"2026-05-27T15:57:16Z","timestamp":1779897436000},"page":"443-445","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Medical science and the madness of crowds; context for our COVID pandemic years"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"37","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0000-9946-0434","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Peter","family":"Rhodes","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Cambridge"},{"name":"Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine, University of Queensland, QLD, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,27]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_3_2_2","volume-title":"Beyond good and evil","author":"Nietzsche F","year":"1990","unstructured":"Nietzsche F. Beyond good and evil (Tanner M, intro. and Hollingdale RJ, trans.). Penguin Books, 1990."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_3_2","unstructured":"Mackinac Center for Public Policy. The overton window. https:\/\/www.mackinac.org\/OvertonWindow (accessed 20 March 2026)."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_4_2","unstructured":"Le Bon G. The crowd: a study of the popular mind [Psychologie des foules]. T. Fisher Unwin p. 1896. (Original work published 1895)."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_5_2","volume-title":"The origins of totalitarianism","author":"Arendt H","year":"1951","unstructured":"Arendt H. The origins of totalitarianism. Schocken Books, 1951."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_6_2","volume-title":"The psychology of totalitarianism","author":"Desmet M","year":"2022","unstructured":"Desmet M. The psychology of totalitarianism. White River Junction: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2022."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_7_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1037\/h0040525"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_8_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev-lawsocsci-110316-113710"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_9_2","volume-title":"Eichmann in Jerusalem: a report on the banality of evil. Revised and enlarged","author":"Arendt H","year":"1964","unstructured":"Arendt H. Eichmann in Jerusalem: a report on the banality of evil. Revised and enlarged. Viking Press, 1964."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_10_2","volume-title":"The human condition","author":"Arendt H","year":"1958","unstructured":"Arendt H. The human condition. University of Chicago Press, 1958."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_11_2","volume-title":"Mengele: the complete story","author":"Posner GL","year":"1986","unstructured":"Posner GL, Ware M. Mengele: the complete story. McGraw-Hill, 1986."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_12_2","volume-title":"Doctoring data: how to sort out medical advice from medical nonsense","author":"Kendrick M","year":"2014","unstructured":"Kendrick M. Doctoring data: how to sort out medical advice from medical nonsense. 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