A tale as old as Lee Atwater

Objectively this is a better place

In other words: at the end point, the “pretend” has stopped functioning as glue. People aren’t really fooled anymore, but there’s no stable replacement yet, so you get an atmosphere of absurdity, cynicism, and fragmentation.

5. Emergence of parallel realities.
Since the old shared narrative collapses, society fragments into competing micro-realities. Online echo chambers, alternative media ecosystems, or even decentralized economies form not just subcultures, but full rival “truth-worlds.”

4. Surreal transparency.
What once had to be hidden is now displayed openly- corruption, surveillance, disinformation, elite maneuvering- but without consequences. The exposure no longer breaks the system; it just confirms its absurdity.

3. Collapse of middle ground
It relies on everyone playing along. At the end point, people either disengage entirely (retreat into apathy, distraction, or private life) or attach to extreme, simplified alternatives (radical movements, conspiracy systems, strongman politics, techno-utopian salvation)

This doesn’t necessarily create rebellion, it creates surreal compliance, where people shrug at contradictions because they’ve given up on consistency as a standard

2. Authority openly contradicts itself.
Rules are applied inconsistently, power structures shift rapidly, and leaders no longer even try to maintain coherence.

Cynicism becomes the default, but also exhaustion: people stop arguing about what’s true because the performance is transparent.

1. Official narratives lose traction
When governments, corporations, or media outlets say something, fewer people believe or disbelieve, they treat it as noise. The gap between “what is said” and “what is experienced” is too obvious.

For decades, people and institutions could maintain a veneer of stability even when everyone knew the story didn’t match reality. But at the end point, cracks overwhelm the façade. A few markers of that phase: