A brief, weird history of brainwashing
technologyreview.com
A brief, weird history of brainwashing
1–10 of 56 posts
Re: A brief, weird history of brainwashing
#2Compare the use of RLF's lines in Telefon (1977) as an example of The Paranoid Style in American Po^H^HCinema:
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Re: A brief, weird history of brainwashing
#3SNL's Stefon character on this article:
"This one has everything:
AI, ALAMY, America, American, American GIs, American Mind, Annalee Newitz, Atlanta, Birkbeck, Brain, Brainwashed, Brainwashing, Buddhist, California, Canadians, Catholics, Central Intelligence Agency, China, Chinese, Church Committee, CIA, Cold War, Colin Dickey, Communists, Confucian, Cybernetics, Dark Persuasion, David Seed, Dianetics, Dickey, Dimsdale, Donald Cameron, Douglas Fields, Dwight D Eisenhower, Edward Hunter, For Liang, Frank Schwable, Frank Sinatra, Hidden Persuaders, Hikvision, Homeland Security, Hong Kong, Hong Kong University, Hungarian, Intelligence Activities, Iron Curtain, Ivan Pavlov, Joel Dimsdale, Joost Meerloo, Juliette Kayyem, Kathleen Taylor, Korea, Korean War, L. Ron Hubbard, Lavrentiy Beria, Liang Qichao, Liverpool, London, LSD, Marcia Holmes, Maryland, McGill University, Meerloo, Merrill Root, Military, Mindszenty, Mitchell, MK-Ultra, Montreal, Myth, National Portrait Gallery, National Security Council, Nature, Norbert Wiener, NSC, Online, Operation Midnight Climax, Operations Coordinating Board, OSS, Other, Over, Patty Hearst, Pavlov, Policy, POW's, Power, Psychological Warfare, Psychopolitics, Quanta, Red China, Republic, Russians, Ryan Mitchell, San Diego San Francisco, Scientists, Scientology, Secret Societies, Senator Frank Church, Shirley Chong, Sidney Gottlieb, Soviet Union, State, Stories Are Weapons, Strategic Services, Study Governmental Operations, Symbionese Liberation Army, The Dutch, The Manchurian Candidate, The Science, They, Thought Control, Time Magazine, Today, Tom Burrell, UCSD, United States, University, US, US Senate, US Senate Select Committee, Wayne Williams, West, Western, Wikimedia Commons, William Randolph Hearst, World War III, Worried, Xinjiang, You..."
:-) :-)
https://www.google.com/search?q=snl+stefon
Disclaimer: Submitted for comedy purposes only! :-) :-)
Related (how I generated the above word list from the article text):
https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/671487/grep-to-extr...
Re: A brief, weird history of brainwashing
#4If you want to see effective brainwashing, you need to look for instances where Pavlovian conditioning and enhanced states of suggestion (essentially “hypnosis”, but think of the clinical definition, rather than stage performance tropes) are combined over the course of years in a way that self reinforces the thoughts to be held. Works best when the person is offered something that they think they need (validation, community, sexual release, security) and if the person is already or can be isolated from interfering peers.
Basically look at what cults do, though it doesn’t even need a machiavellian mastermind involved, people can and will accomplish the same largely by their own initiative. This is what happens when you get online communities radicalizing themselves.
Re: A brief, weird history of brainwashing
#5The author seems not merely uninformed but a mix of unaware and unconcerned that they don’t know what they’re talking about. No discussion of hypnosis, Stockholm syndrome, and a general vibe that psychology is like not really a thing unless it coincides with cherished narratives. And then little chestnuts like, “the idea of brainwashing continues to be a powerful metaphor for the effects of systemic racism.” Say what?
Re: A brief, weird history of brainwashing
#6The author seems not merely uninformed but a mix of unaware and unconcerned that they don’t know what they’re talking about. No discussion of hypnosis, Stockholm syndrome, and a general vibe that psychology is like not really a thing unless it coincides with cherished narratives. And then little chestnuts like, “the idea of brainwashing continues to be a powerful metaphor for the effects of systemic racism.” Say what…
The article literally refers to the case for which Stockholm Syndrome is named and offers a simple explanation; that torture and privation work to align a person's goals and motivations to minimise pain.
I'm not sure what you are finding so contentious about this article. We have accepted that people under torture will admit to anything for centuries.
Re: A brief, weird history of brainwashing
#7The author seems not merely uninformed but a mix of unaware and unconcerned that they don’t know what they’re talking about. No discussion of hypnosis, Stockholm syndrome, and a general vibe that psychology is like not really a thing unless it coincides with cherished narratives. And then little chestnuts like, “the idea of brainwashing continues to be a powerful metaphor for the effects of systemic racism.” Say what…
The article literally refers to the case for which Stockholm Syndrome is named and offers a simple explanation; that torture and privation work to align a person's goals and motivations to minimise pain. I'm not sure what you are finding so contentious about this article. We have accepted that people under torture will admit to anything for centuries.
I gave one quote that is an example of the lack of thought, here’s another,
“by spending millions of dollars on research into manipulating the human brain. But while the science never exactly panned out, residual beliefs fostered by this bizarre conflict continue to play a role”
In what sense did the science “not pan out”?
What “residual beliefs” could she mean? The text implies that it’s the idea that the human brain cannot be manipulated.
Almost every sentence has that level of inanity and incoherence. Advertising meanwhile is a billion dollar industry built on manipulating brains.
Re: A brief, weird history of brainwashing
#8Re: A brief, weird history of brainwashing
#9About a fifth of the economic activity in the USA is brainwashing. And quite a bit of other activity, such as most consumer internet services, exist to facilitate this brainwashing.
Re: A brief, weird history of brainwashing
#10there's a fine line between brainwashing, propaganda, and meaningful communication which motivates and drives us (and ideals and so on)