RogerB
Crusader
Reading the article linked below caused me to realize thought control and "brainwashing" can be one and the same thing.
Of course folks who have been unwittingly subjected to "Thought Control" routinely don't know that their ability to think and analyze is impaired. The linked following article quite brilliantly makes this clear.
This information applies to folks who've been through or are still in the Scientology parade where they only get one source of information and access to the internet and the "entheta" press are prohibited. It also very much applies to those we see arguing on political issues/threads here on ESMB . . . too many of these folks unwittingly have been indoctrinated by one source of information and agenda (as in MSM dominated by the "One-Worlder Money Masters).
I have long held in high regard the intellect of Jewish thinkers . . . and certainly the honest ones . . . though it is equally true this intellect can be used to destructive ends. I make this point in reference to the author of this article I am citing and linking.
By Uri Avnery
June 11, 2018 "Information Clearing House" -
Snipped . . .
I do recommend reading the whole article . . . it should, among any honest souls here, lead to greater understanding of why it is such polarized opinions are in conflict on certain of our threads here on ESMB.
/
Of course folks who have been unwittingly subjected to "Thought Control" routinely don't know that their ability to think and analyze is impaired. The linked following article quite brilliantly makes this clear.
This information applies to folks who've been through or are still in the Scientology parade where they only get one source of information and access to the internet and the "entheta" press are prohibited. It also very much applies to those we see arguing on political issues/threads here on ESMB . . . too many of these folks unwittingly have been indoctrinated by one source of information and agenda (as in MSM dominated by the "One-Worlder Money Masters).
I have long held in high regard the intellect of Jewish thinkers . . . and certainly the honest ones . . . though it is equally true this intellect can be used to destructive ends. I make this point in reference to the author of this article I am citing and linking.
By Uri Avnery
June 11, 2018 "Information Clearing House" -
IT'S FRIGHTENING. Unprincipled psychologists, in the service of a malignant regime, use sophisticated techniques in order to control the mind of a person from afar.
The term "brainwashing" was born in 1950. It is a Chinese word ("xinao", literally wash brain). Originally it served to describe a technique used – so it was claimed - by Chinese masterminds to manipulate the minds of American prisoners in the Korean War. They changed their unconscious mental processes and turned them into agents of sinister forces.
Many books and movies purported to show how this works. For example, the classic film "The Manchurian Candidate" shows how the communists take an American prisoner-of-war in the Korean war, an officer, manipulate his mind and give him an order to kill the US presidential candidate. The American officer does not know that he has been turned unconsciously into a communist agent. He does not remember the order given him under hypnosis and does not know that he acts accordingly.
THIS PLOT is ridiculous, like most of the pseudo-scientific descriptions. In practice, it is much easier to manipulate the minds of people, individuals and collectives.
For example, the Nazi "propaganda". It was invented by Adolf Hitler himself. In his book, "Mein Kampf", he describes how, as a soldier on the Western front in WWI, he witnessed the extremely successful British propaganda. The British dropped leaflets over the German trenches and shattered the soldiers’ confidence in their leadership.
When Hitler came to power in Germany, he entrusted one of his faithful henchmen, Joseph Goebbels, with the creation of a Ministry of Propaganda. Goebbels turned propaganda into an art form. Among other means he turned all the German media – newspapers and the radio – into government agencies. In German that was called "Gleichschaltung" – connecting all components to one electric line. Thanks to this, Nazi Germany continued fighting long after it was clear that it had lost WWII.
One of the means was the disconnection of the German public from any other source of information. The official propaganda was blared from every medium. Listening to a foreign broadcast was a major crime, punished severely.
Thus it happened that the Germans still believed in their final victory – the Endsieg - even after the Soviets in the East and the Anglo-Saxons in the West had already crossed the borders into Germany.
DOES IT take a dictatorial regime – Nazi or Communist – to turn the media into a brainwashing machine? Common sense says that this is impossible in a democracy. Common sense is wrong.
It will be remembered that Hitler attained power by democratic means. Even now, fanatical nationalists are winning democratic elections in many countries. All their leaders are busy destroying the courts, stuffing the parliaments with useful idiots and – especially – turning the media into brainwashing instruments. In our country, too.
How is this done? It's quite simple, really: one has to suppress all other voices. One has to make sure that the citizen hears only one voice. One that repeats a few messages over and over, endlessly. This way the lie becomes truth.
In such a situation, the ordinary citizen becomes convinced that the official line is really their own personal opinion. This is an unconscious process. When one tells a citizen that they are brainwashed, they are deeply insulted.
Snipped . . . .
EVENTS REACHED a climax with the murder of the 21-year old female paramedic Razan Ashraf al-Najjar, when she was trying to save the life of a wounded demonstrator. The sharpshooter who shot her in the chest saw that she was a medic treating a wounded person. It was a clear war crime.
Was there a public outcry? Did the media demand an investigation? Did the media report this event in their page one headline? Did the Knesset observe a minute of silence? Nothing of the sort. A minor news item in some papers (by no means all). An excellent article by the admirable Amira Hass in Haaretz. And that's that.
A few days passed, and abroad there were outcries. The Argentine soccer team, with the admired Messi, canceled a friendly game against the Israeli team in Jerusalem.
The brainwashers realized that it was impossible not to react. So the army spokesman published a statement saying that an investigation had taken place. What did it discover? Ah, well. It was clearly established that nobody had shot Razan. She was hit by the ricochet of a bullet that had hit the ground far from her. That is such a blatant lie that even the army liar should be ashamed of producing it. It was accepted by the brainwashed public.
One of the hallmarks of brainwashing is a phenomenon that everyone can notice: the total absence of a second opinion. When a commentator voices the official line on an event, does anyone express an alternative version? Is there a debate between the official spokesman and a contrary commentator? In the democratic media, that would be commonplace. Here it is very, very rare.
WHAT CAN be done to counter such brainwashing?
Not much.
First of all: there is a vital need for a second voice. Brainwashing can be efficient only when the official voice enjoys a complete monopoly. That was one of the aims of Haolam Hazeh, the weekly which I edited for 40 years. It met every untrue government version with a contrary version. Although our voice was weak, compared to the powerful government machine (even in those days), the very fact that there are two voices, however unequal, prevents a total brainwashing. The citizen hears two versions and wonders "who is right?"
If all the peace and human rights groups in Israel set up a joint center for information, which will be heard, perhaps the monopoly of official propaganda can be broken. Perhaps.
Snipped . . .
I do recommend reading the whole article . . . it should, among any honest souls here, lead to greater understanding of why it is such polarized opinions are in conflict on certain of our threads here on ESMB.
/
