…so speak again.
Item #: SCP-7957
Object Class: Safe
Special Containment Procedures: Item SCP-7957 is to be kept in a locked container at all times. Entry into SCP-7957's container is forbidden outside mandatory bi-weekly cleaning. Forming a complete understanding of SCP-7957's attributes is strictly forbidden to staff of all clearance levels. Assigned janitorial staff are to be placed under indefinite surveillance for risk of potential SCP-7957-B contaminants, and are forbidden from accessing this document.
Following a widespread and continued mass-manipulation campaign targeted at the global news cycle and social media platforms, SCP-7957-B has been neutralized to a degree sufficient to establish herd immunity; no longer able to surface independently.
Description: █████ ██ ███████ █████ ██████ ██ ██ ██ ███ ████████ SCP-7957 is a piece of anomalous art which, upon either extended exposure or close scrutiny by an individual, might implant SCP-7957-B into one's worldview. Object is reported to [DATA EXPUNGED]. SCP-7957-B designates a vague set of multifaceted, dangerous ideas which existed at one point within the majority (~51–67%) of the human population.
How precisely SCP-7957 effectuates its dissemination of SCP-7957-B is, as of yet, unknown. Even so, research suggests that the object's mysterious origins, novel characteristics, and implicit context itself functions as a vector. Likely these attributes, when consciously or unconsciously observed, leave the human brain in a primed state in which to experience an involuntary sense of 'wonder'. Per research, 'wonder' is a prime suspect in the constituent makeup of SCP-7957-B.
It is believed that aspects of SCP-7957-B include, but are not limited to, the notions of:
- Agency beyond one's immediate surroundings, such as in major world events or politics;
- Concern regarding the past, present, or future state of the world;
- Alterations in the perceived status quo;
- Cynicism or Quixotism;
- [REDACTED];
- Progress in the arts, culture, and society;
- Collective good outweighing collective bad;
- Hope or despair in the face of overwhelming adversity.
Continued circulation of the above was estimated by Foundation sociologists to have been an imminent threat to the Foundation's existence and established status quo — sure to have resulted in its complete collapse within a decade if not addressed.
The notions composing SCP-7957-B were excised from the human zeitgeist through the inspiration of a prevailing apathy via mainstream news channels and social media platforms. Through a strategic influx of excess and overstimulating negative and unverifiable information throughout global communication networks, any complete comprehension of the world could be averted and mental defense mechanisms against SCP-7957-B could be triggered on a global scale, allowing for a natural rejection of its anomalous ideas.
This mechanism is reinforced by and functions in tandem with a nurtured paradigm shift of the human emotional response system. Where neighborhood communities infected with SCP-7957-B would once respond to disasters, such as one caused by an anomalous entity, by banding together to administer aid to the community, establish lines of communication, and investigate causes for the purpose of informing others — all of which invariably served to interrupt Foundation responses to emergent threats — communitive responses to such events now consist primarily of alerting the authorities, followed by seclusion.
Online communities similarly infected with SCP-7957-B would utilize modern global interconnectivity to collaborate in various dangerous manners. Examples include investigations into anomalous trends and phenomena, non-normative collaborative fiction, live participation in circulated media content of emergent anomalous threats, and the sharing of novel individual experiences — all of which invariably served to hinder Foundation efforts to maintain the status quo, threatening both public safety and established Foundation authority. Participation in these activities is now down an estimated 98%. The human response to the unknown is now apathy, in place of wonder or concern.
It is not known for certain whether SCP-7957-B originated from SCP-7957 or if the anomaly functions merely to reinforce an already pre-existing set of anomalous ideals. Contemporary theory however postulates that SCP-7957-B is unlikely to be naturally occurring within the human mind. Despite this assurance, and following widespread neutralization of SCP-7957-B alongside complete administrative confidence in the inability for its ideas to ever resurface even if left unsupervised, it has been decided that mass-manipulation of media and online discourse is to continue with one centralized ideal: Complacency — that the world can only be as it is.
We would like to remind readers of this document that SCP-7957-B can not resurface.