Where’s the shadowy group that’s meant to secretly rule the world?
This chaos is getting old.
An audio version of this article, by me, is available here:
In the film Leave the World Behind, there's a scene where Amanda (Julia Roberts) and George (Mahershala Ali) discuss the world order. George says, “A conspiracy theory about a shadowy group of people running the world is far too lazy of an explanation… especially when the truth is much scarier.” Amanda asks: “What is the truth?” George replies: “No one is in control. No one is pulling the strings.”
For fuck’s sake, George.
As well as specific atrocities keeping everyone up at night (Israel halting humanitarian aid into Gaza, anyone?), the overarching sense of chaos is getting harder to navigate. News headlines are flabbergasted, reporters can’t stop spluttering the word ‘unprecedented’, and it feels like those in power have been – and keep being – utterly blindsided by events. This is unnerving because surely, SURELY, some of this was predictable? I mean, I saw some of it coming and I’m mostly watching The Killing reruns in my pants. How did entire governments fail to see which way the wind was blowing? IT WAS BLOWING STRAIGHT INTO CHAOS, GUYS. CHAOS.
You know when your mind sometimes wanders into existential wastelands and you find yourself musing, “But what if there truly is nothing after death?” and then that yawning pit of dread manifests in your gut and you have to close that shit down before it swallows you whole? That’s the exact feeling I touch with my fingertips whenever I see western politicians looking gobsmacked at being asked to weigh in on the potential collapse of global alliances. If those who should have seen this coming didn’t, it would seem to confirm that the world order is held together by spit and sellotape rather than a universally agreed-upon moral code. Have we been taken for total mugs this whole time?
If there is a shadowy cabal waiting to take over, NOW'S THE TIME, PALS! PUT DOWN THAT YOGHURT, JANICE, AND PUT ON YOUR BUSINESS SHOES.
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And sure, you might think the lack of a secret confederacy is a good thing. Normally, I’d agree – the Illuminati can kiss my butt. (Only kidding, Illuminati. Loving your work!) But humans need structure. It provides purpose, meaning, and stability. We do not thrive in chaos. It’s why we form cliques, appoint leaders, and why Simon was killed in Lord of the Flies (spoiler). Many of us are struggling to process *gestures vaguely at the world* because it increasingly feels like the people and institutions we trust to fix shit are more clueless (and in many cases, a lot more reprehensible) than we are.
In The Dark Knight (great movie), the Joker says: "Nobody panics when things go ‘according to plan’, even if the plan is horrifying.” He’s right – but we aren’t idiots for trusting this bigger picture. It's part of the unspoken agreement between us and our governments. We run the ship’s engine room, they watch out for icebergs and pirates. Now though, it appears they fell asleep at the wheel and are busy grabbing life preservers, whimpering, “Shit! We’re surrounded by icebergs! This is unprecedented!”
Take the very real fear that the US may leave NATO. Politicians are dealing with this by sticking their fingers in their ears and screaming, “IT WON’T HAPPEN!” because there is zero plan to deal with it if it does. Team – it might happen. Trump has repeatedly criticised NATO, saying only yesterday that he may not defend NATO allies that fail to meet defence spending commitments. Trump often does what he says. He’s not just some lol-athon reality TV star who we can all point and laugh at. So, why didn’t anyone try to mitigate this possibility before we were on the edge of World War III?
The Joker tells Harvey Dent to, “Introduce a little anarchy. Upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos…. I'm an agent of chaos.” Trump is an agent of chaos, and his ‘flood the zone’ tactic – doing everything, everywhere, all at once – has successfully stunned his peers and rivals into inaction (or into holding little protest cards. That’ll learn him!). This is allowing genuinely unprecedented human tragedies and war crimes to happen off-camera or at least off many people’s radar. World leaders are increasingly moving their ‘red lines’ further and further backwards as Trump, Putin, Netanyahu and co. keep striding over them – because they simply don’t know what else to do.
It is staggering that in 2025, world events are still being driven by so few to the detriment of so many. On a planet inhabited by billions, all of us are being held to ransom by the psychopathic whims of about ten blokes. How has it come to this? Which leads to an even scarier thought… maybe the shadowy group are already pulling the strings and things are going exactly according to plan.
Just One More Thing
Hypernormalisation (where everyone knows societal structures are failing but pretends they’re not) is alive and well – which may be why my piece on it from a few weeks back is one of my best read.
Part of establishing hypernormalisation is crafting simplistic ‘good guy vs. bad guy’ narratives, ditching nuance for easy answers. Trump follows this playbook: Zelensky (bad!), Putin (good!), Gaza (bad!), Israel (good!), DEI (bad!), white straight American men (good!), woke (bad!), the Tate brothers (good!), etc. This article itself plays into that instinct. We want there to be a simple plan even if it’s bullshit. Recognising that desire and refusing to accept any old smoke and mirrors scheme is integral to us helping to put a stop to this chaos for good.
(Sorry this piece is such a downer. On a lighter note—IT’S SPRING! SPRING IS HERE! That genuinely cheers me up. Hope it does you, too.)
*Exceedingly modest reminder that I have written eight bestselling mental-health books which have been translated into dozens of languages. I’ve also written a book about the TV show Friends which would make a delightful gift for any Friends obsessives. All are available to buy online or at your local bookshop.
Hello Jo! Just to let you know that I came across your note about how your notes fall into the abyss, it humoured me, I decided to open one of your posts and read it, and in the end decided to subscribe. Hey, sometimes the system works 😉 (or takes 5' and we can actually find someone whose writing we resonate with. Who knows!)