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The
Role of Brainwashing in Current Events
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By
Karima Burns, MH, ND
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18/04/2002
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Perhaps
the most difficult thing the average Muslim deals with on a daily basis since
September 11th is the massive brainwashing techniques and programs
being employed by both Islamic extremists as well as the American government. So
have you fallen victim to a brainwashing technique? You may be surprised to find
out you have without even knowing it.
To
begin with, one must first state the most basic of all facts about brainwashing:
In the entire history of man, no one has ever been brainwashed and realized, or
believed, that he had been brainwashed. Those who have been brainwashed will
usually passionately defend their manipulators, claiming they have simply been
"shown the light" or have been transformed in miraculous ways (Sutphen).
Dick
Sutphen says that “missionary work” is a "nice" term for
brainwashing and any study of brainwashing has to begin with a study of
Christian revivalism in eighteenth century America. He says that Jonathan
Edwards accidentally discovered the techniques during a religious crusade in
1735 in Northampton, Massachusetts. By inducing guilt and acute apprehension and
by increasing tension, the "sinners" attending his revival meetings
would break down and completely submit. Technically, what Edwards was doing was
creating conditions that wipe the brain slate clean so that the mind accepts new
programming. The problem was that the new input was negative. He would tell
them, "You're a sinner! You're destined for hell!" As a result, one
person committed suicide and many another’s attempted suicide or thought of
it. Cults are another famous hotbed of brainwashing techniques.
Brainwashing
techniques are not new, however. Brainwashing has been used for hundreds of
year, but only recently has it been scientifically analyzed and recorded. Ivan
Petrovich Pavlov, famous for his discovery that a dog fed to the sound of a bell
would salivate upon its sound, recorded three distinct phases in a person that
is being brainwashed. He called these progressive states of transmarginal
inhibition. The first stage he identified was the Equivalent Phase, in which the
brain gives the same response to both strong and weak stimuli. The second is the
Paradoxical, in which the brain responds more actively to weak stimuli than to
strong. The third is the Ultra-Paradoxical Phase, in which conditioned responses
and behavior patterns turn from positive to negative or from negative to
positive. With the progression through each phase, the degree of conversion
becomes more effective and complete.
The
way to bring a person through these phases are many and varied, but the usual
first step in religious or political brainwashing is to work on the emotions of
an individual or group until they reach an abnormal level of anger, fear,
excitement, or nervous tension. The progressive result of this mental condition
is to impair judgment and increase suggestibility. The more this condition can
be maintained or intensified, the more it compounds. Once catharsis, or the
first brain phase, is reached, the complete mental takeover becomes easier.
Existing mental programming can be replaced with new patterns of thinking and
behavior.
Other
often-used physiological weapons to modify normal brain functions are fasting,
radical or high sugar diets, physical discomforts, regulation of breathing,
chanting in meditation or prayer, the disclosure of awesome mysteries, special
lighting and sound effects, programmed response to incense, or intoxicating
drugs.
Increasing
the effect of brainwashing is the modern acceptability of this method of
communication. Because the modern citizen of the mass media age is naturally
exposed to brainwashing through television, advertisements, political campaigns
and other means, the techniques have become almost second nature to some people.
Some people so naturally use the techniques that they would be shocked if
someone accused them of employing methods of brainwashing. In addition, many of
the techniques have been purified by including them in seminars on effective
marketing techniques or public speaking skills, or in books on how to win
friends and influence people. In fact, brainwashing has become such an
acceptable technique that the word itself is hardly seen in the press anymore
and thought to be extinct by many except in the realms of the torture chamber or
cult rituals.
Brainwashing,
however, is more alive and well than ever before. This is, in fact, most
apparent in television broadcasting. By the age of 16, children have spent
10,000 to 15,000 hours watching television- more time than they spend in school.
In the average home, the TV set is on for six hours and 44 minutes per day-an
increase of nine minutes from 2001 and three times the average rate of increase
during the 1970s.
David
Finch, in his article “Manipulation of the Media” says that when you start
to combine subliminal messages behind the music, subliminal visuals projected on
the screen, hypnotically produced visual effects, sustained musical beats at a
trance-inducing pace you have extremely effective brainwashing. Every hour that
you spend watching the TV set you become more conditioned.
In the Arab world, where television is less prominent it is often radio, Friday
prayer or schools in which the techniques are most effective. Although these
techniques are also used in the radios, churches and schools of the Western
world, television still remains the number one influence on the Western youth -
while schooling and religious instruction are still the number one influence on
Arab youth.
Techniques
Voice
Techniques
A
"voice roll" is a patterned, paced style used by hypnotists when
inducing a trance. It is also used by many lawyers when they desire to entrench
a point firmly into the minds of the jurors. A voice roll can sound as if the
speaker were talking to the beat of a metronome or it may sound as though he
were emphasizing every word in a monotonous, patterned style (Martin). In
American media news announcers often employee this technique in their delivery
of the news. In the Middle East or in mosques around the world, unscrupulous
users of this technique can even use the rhythmic cadence of the Qur'an to serve
their purposes.
Neuro-Lingustics
Neuro-Linguistic
training is often given to government employees and is readily available to
anyone willing to devote the time and pay the price. Versions of this training
are also given to salesmen and missionaries. The theory behind Neuro-Lingustics
is that the left half of your brain is analytical and rational and the right
side is creative and imaginative, so if one can distract the left-brain and keep
it busy, the right brain would be more susceptible to suggestion. Ideally, the
persuader generates an eyes-open altered state of consciousness, causing one to
shift from beta awareness into alpha; this can be measured on an EEG machine.
They then distract the left-brain by getting it to agree to logical thought and
then they kick in the last persuasive sentence (Sutphen).
Recent
tests by researcher Herbert Krugman showed that, while viewers were watching TV,
right-brain activity outnumbered left-brain activity by a ratio of two to one.
Put more simply, the viewers were in an altered state in trance more often than
not. They were getting their Beta-endorphin "fix." (Sutphen). This
also happens quite frequently in religious sermons.
Another
way to distract the left brain is to bombard the listener with a number of
statements in which they would most likely agree with and then at the end of the
speech to literally sneak in a sentence while the listener is still nodding
their head “yes”. This is common in political speeches in the media
worldwide.
This
technique was used by both sides of the issue immediately following the
September 11th attacks. In the American media the President would start by
stating a number of obvious statements such as, "The attack on the World
Trade Center was a horrendous assault on humanity". He would end with a
statement such as, "We must now show the world that America will stand up
to terrorism”.
In
the camps of Osama bin Laden, he employed similar techniques. First, he would
state a number of popularly agreed upon views of the Western World, add a few
supposed facts to the mix and end with an obvious conclusion that "The
people who have done these horrible things needed to be punished”.
In
an interview with the Qatari satellite channel Al-Jazeera, bin Laden started by
describing the American people as immoral, with no values, using American films
as his ultimate proof. He then expressed his admiration for the implementers of
the U.S. embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salam saying that the embassy in
Nairobi was the center for series of repeated schemes from which an American
invasion was launched into Somalia, leading to the deaths of 13,000 persons. He
then called for targeting U.S. citizens all over the world (Arab News).
Subliminals
Subliminals
are hidden suggestions that only the subconscious perceives. They can be audio,
hidden behind music, or visual, airbrushed into a picture, flashed on a screen
so fast that one doesn’t consciously see them, or cleverly incorporated into a
picture or design. Department stores using this technique reported a 37 percent
decrease in shoplifting by simply imbedding the words don’t steal in their
music tapes. Subliminals are supposedly illegal in advertising and other forms
of media. However, they are not regulated strictly in America and in other parts
of the world are not regulated at all.
A
Play on Words
It’s
not what you say but how you say it is a traditional wisdom. This is nowhere
more obvious than in brainwashing techniques. Recently, however, the power of
correct word choice has also been given more favorable press when it was labeled
as politically correct speech. At this time a number of phrases in the American
language were changed to reflect a more positive and respectful attitude towards
diversity. One example is the change from the word "blind" to
"visually challenged". However, the same play on words can also serve
a more negative purpose. A good example of this deceitful technique was used by
the American government in the Panama invasion by referring to the "aerial
assassination attempt" as "Operation Just Cause" (Martin).
In
the same way, when American soldiers are faced with a "target-rich
environment", it probably means they got to fire into a crowd. But the word
"rich" has an automatic subconscious appeal. The term "surgical
strike" gets used because the term "surgical" brings with it a
positive association with doctors and saving lives. Missiles have also been
called "peacekeepers".
In
recent months the words “War on Terrorism” have been employed to justify a
great number of military actions taken by the American government. In the world
of bin Laden, Americans have been called "The Great Satans" and his
targeting of the American people has been often referred to as a "Fight
Against the Evil Powers of Satan" or "The Evil Empire."
The
First Impression
Most
people form long lasting, if not permanent appraisals of strangers based on
their "first impressions" The same thing happens with news stories,
and other areas of information dispersal. In the American media, the first
impression everyone had of the events of September 11th were photos of planes
hitting the World Trade Center interspersed with photos of Osama bin Laden. In
the world of fin Laden and also in the world of the Palestinian “suicide
bombers”, followers are often carefully groomed at educational institutions
where the first impressions fed to the students are of an evil Western society
attacking and undermining an innocent and pure Islamic nations. In some schools
children are even taught that the words cross, Christian or pig should not even
be uttered or at least be uttered with distain. This first impression left on
the children sets the stage for future susceptibility to suggestion.
Make
Sure Everyone Gets the Same Story
Perhaps
the worst aspect of the media brainwashing is the degree to which the financial,
political and religious elite are able to coordinate and synchronize the various
newspaper and T..V networks. Press releases are the epitome of this phenomenon.
The average newspaper reader still believes that reporters are noble seekers of
information and truth when in reality most reporters stay in their office
reading the news wire feed or press releases that have been handed to them by
large companies, government agencies or other special interest groups. Reporters
are basically told what stories to cover by being given a limited but large
enough choice that they do not have to bother looking for new stories
themselves. In this way the stories are biased before they even reach the press.
In many cases content is also restricted with the popular phrase, "We
wouldn’t want to offend our advertisers."
In
the world of bin Laden, a different technique is used to make sure everyone gets
the same story. News media channels are reduced to one or two or are all
controlled by one central source that insures that all news is synchronized and
censored. This gives more or less the same result of the press release method of
the Western media, but in a more obvious way. However, Americans are not immune
to the same technique. Since the 1920’s, the number of cities with at least
two daily newspapers has dropped from over 500 to 19.
Playing
Down the Facts
Many
times the facts in an issue are downplayed. When Osama bin Laden calls Americans
“Satans” and points out the obvious proof of their immorality on films and
television shows he downplays the fact that many Americans are actually very
religious and moral in character, that American films do not represent the
morals of American people and that, in addition, many Americans are dedicated
Muslims.
The
American government is also famous for downplaying facts. The American
government and media branded as terrorists those Iranians that were holding the
American hostages in the 1970s. But few Americans either know or remember that
the hostages were taken in desperation, as a bargaining tool to get back the
billions of dollars that the U.S. helped the Shah to "REMOVE" from
Iran when he was thrown out by his own countrymen. Moreover, it is not well
remembered that the Shah only came to power in the first place due to the covert
activities of the CIA chief Allen Dulles, and his brother John Foster Dulles who
was Secretary of State. The CIA covertly funded terrorist street gangs in Iran
to carry out operations that purposely led to the overthrow in 1953 of the then
ruling premier of Iran, Dr. Mussadegh, who was not pro-American.
Although
the truth is usually eventually leaked out on all fronts, the rule of first
impressions has already left its indelible mark and the truth is usually greatly
weakened or discarded by the time it is discovered.
So
what is the solution when we, as well as our children are being brainwashed in
the schools, through TV and radio and even in our mosques and churches? Experts
on cult science and brainwashing suggest that the number one weapon against
brainwashing is awareness that it is taking place and the effort to gather ones
own information. They suggest:
1.
Reduce exposure to news. Watching or reading the news on the weekend is usually
enough. One can read headlines during the week if they feel the need.
2.
Reduce exposure to television.
3.
Don’t believe everything you read or hear. Confirm it with at least three
varied, independent and documented sources before you take it as a truth. In
this new age of information this is not as hard as it sounds.
4.
Don’t pass on e-mail messages until you can document their authenticity. This
new forum for brainwashing has become rampant with photo-manipulation,
folk-tales and lies. Many are documented at special research sites, but even the
proven hoaxes are still circulated on a daily basis doing their damage.
5.
Be aware of the techniques being used on you. This simple awareness can often
short-circuit many efforts.
6.
Don’t think anyone is immune. Brainwashing can even be used in the sermons
after the Friday Prayer or by a friend who sends you daily or weekly e-mail
updates. The person may not even know they are using brainwashing techniques. In
some cases they have been so affected by them themselves that they now naturally
employ them as a matter of normal communication.
As
Muslims we know that one of the prime users of the brainwashing technique is the
shaitan (devil). To combat his ploys we need only to recognize them and pray
that we do not fall victim to them ourselves.
Sources:
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