Brainwashing

Wikipedia coverage: Read the full Wikipedia article, including its references. The material below is the existing Deep Politics Wiki article.

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Brainwashing link (Mind control, propaganda)
File:Brainwashing.jpg

Brainwashing or coercive persuasion is a slow, repeated, covert process of undue influence. Mind control has similar goals, i.e. intercepting the target's rational thinking but in contrast, the coercion and violence is more overt in mind control, often plainly visible.

When the process is hidden from the target's consciousness, however, it may have little capacity to resist.Template:Cn

The term brainwashing has been abused by the CIA to cover up biological warfare in the Korean war by equating it with torture based mind control some POW's have been subjected to on both sides of the conflict.

Full article: Korean_War/CIA_brainwashing_spin

The psyop backfired as the neologism "brainwashing" became a synonym in popular culture for what the US government themselves were doing, namely lying, deceiving, surveilling and controlling their own citizens with questionable motives in what might be called the greatest streisand effect in history.

Definition

Brainwashing is an umbrella term and may be approached by the formula: extreme harassment + attacks on identity + isolation, thus:

• gaining control of the victim's time, activities, and mental life;
• placing the victim in a position of powerlessness; and
• suppressing the victim's former identity (Ventegodt, Zerin).

The distinguishing factor from other forms of coercive environments is, that the process is designed to remain hidden from the target's consciousness, mainly by inducing stress by covert means: psychological or "white" torture. It is a slow process with often seemingly innocent beginnings, slowly rising "in temperature".

Common features of include:

• isolation,
• humiliation (shame induction),
• accusation (guilt induction),
• threats, and
• unpredictable attacks.

The abusive environment produces real and anticipated fear, which contributes to the brainwashee's belief that his situation is hopeless and that he must depend on his abuser, who takes on the role of a parental punishing figure in his mind. He develops coping strategies to deal with his oppressive environment, but eventually exhibits symptoms of "battering fatigue", eventually mental breakdown, transmarginal inhibition (Pawlov), a mental blank state, or "zero state", or deconstructed state where new information is absorbed like in a sponge. (Lesly Tamarin Mega)

Dimensions of psychological coercion

Techniques for coercive education, stressing obedience are known for centuries. In ancient times religious rites such as animal and human sacrifice, as well as initiation rites may have contributed to the knowledge of the effects of shock and stress - i.e. increased suggestibility - on the attendant's psyche.

Cults, schools, large group awareness trainings, assessment centers, foster homes, psychiatric wards,Template:Cn campuses, or POW camps may become coercive, even totalitarian, institutions and mold behavioral outcomes.

All programs share the utilization of coercive persuasion's key effective-influence mechanisms: a focused attack on the stability of a person's sense of self; reliance on peer group interaction; the development of interpersonal bonds between targets and their controllers and peers; and an ability to control communication among participants.

The phrase "coordinated programs of coercive influence and behavior control" was introduced by (military) psychologists Richard Ofshe and Margaret T. Singer to "...escape any suggestion that this form of influence and social control depends upon the unique historical circumstances under which it was previously studied. Further, and of equal importance, our introduction of a new term is motivated by a desire to separate this analysis from some of the connotations which have become associated with the terms "thought reform," "coercive persuasion, and "brainwashing." "Brainwashing" is the least satisfactory of the common names for the phenomenon.

It conjures up, at least for the non-professional reader, ideas of mindless automatons deprived of their capacity for decision-making. "Thought reform" is a more neutral term but has an historical connotation linking it to a range of attempts to propagandize, indoctrinate, and re-educate as well as coercively influence and control China's population after Mao's revolution. As generally used, "coercive persuasion" connotes a substantial reliance on physical abuse and imprisonment. It is a term developed to describe procedures used on U.S. and U N. military personnel who were captured during the Korean War."

Assault on identity

Typical targets are: 1) gender identity and sexual humiliation 2) self-worth and degradation 3) work and professional competencies 4) spiritual/religious identification 5) core values and convictions 6) political orientation 7) vulnerabilities such as phobias or naivité. ^{[Citation Needed]}

Research

Full article: Mind control/Research

The word "brainwashing" is an example of psychological projection, since the CIA, with other US government agencies, was at that time active in "mind control research", most infamously though Project MK-Ultra. Methods included electroshock and other torture, use of drugs such as LSD and hypnosis; both on adults as well as children. Their claim, widely believed in USA at the time, was that the Chinese were using comparable methods on prisoners to induce them to lie about what they did before being captured.

Their official narrative about that project (not well documented since CIA Director Richard Helms ordered the destruction of all paperwork regarding the project Template:Cn) is that it was ultimately unsuccessful.

Ineffective nature?

The spin the CIA puts around the whole subject of torture based mind control is reflected in the repeated claim that it is ineffective. Wikipedia echoes this, citing Lifton:

Lifton found that when the POWs returned to the United States their thinking soon returned to normal, contrary to the popular image of "brainwashing."

This flies in the face of victims. People who were repeatedly brought beyond their breaking point - as described in US Army Field manuals to prepare soldiers for communist POW camps - will almost certainly not return to a normal state of mind after torture ever again. They may abandon "implanted ideas" very soon; but this notion of "functioning" is superficial to say the least. For lasting effects, see mind control. For treatment of survivors, see the books of Collin Ross.

Moreover, behavior change is effective if a certain amount of pressure or stress is kept up, or if programming is re-enforced periodically.

In addition, the CIA had maximalist goals with it's mind control programs; a 1952 document from subproject ARTICHOKE put it most directly:

Can we get control of an individual to the point where he will do our bidding against his will and even against fundamental laws of nature, such as self-preservation?