by Cyclops, Survival Blog:
(Continued from Part 4..)
NAME CALLING
It never feels good to be called a name, particularly if it is an unjust accusation. It is one of the reasons that the fear of being thought of poorly is a powerful manipulative tool, as mentioned in the Fear section above.
During Covid, some public voices were openly hostile to those who did not get the vaccine. CNN’s Don Lemon was one of these personalities. Lemon would launch into tirades showed unrelenting ridicule, disdain, and a lack of concern for anyone who would even think of not agreeing with the prevailing narrative. He called them “stupid” for having a concern about their own health. He blasted them for hesitating because they didn’t know what was in the shot. He said: “The people who are not getting vaccines who are believing the lies on the internet instead of science, it’s time to start shaming them, or leave them behind.” He said that “conspiracy theorists” who question mask mandates “shouldn’t have even had kids.”
TRUTH LIVES on at https://sgtreport.tv/
Don Lemon was not the only one, as one public personality after another fired off blistering attacks on people who turned out to be right about their concerns. It is hard to stand up to such salvos, and name-calling–or the fear of being called a name–often cause people to first change their behavior, and then change their mind.
SUGGESTION & REPETITION
Suggestion and repetition are brainwashing techniques that strike at the heart of our neurophysiology. In our brain, connections between neurons become stronger when signals are recently used, used more frequently. Consider what happens in our brain when someone makes a suggestion, even if we don’t hear it consciously. Our ears hear their suggestion, sends a signal to the brain, which processes the suggestion. So when the same brain is analyzing information that is related to the suggestion, there is a recently used pathway that the neural signal can follow already available. Voila, the subject is likely to follow the suggestion.
Likewise, the likelihood of the subject following a suggestion is increased when that neural pathway is used repeatedly. Repetition increases compliance.
Chanting and singing repetitive choruses is a variation on the theme of suggestion and repetition. Some cults use chanting repetitive words ingrains those words, and any associations connected to those words, into the hard-wiring of our brain so that it becomes a default thought. In psychology, repetition forms “automaticity” where the repeated word becomes an automatic, default thought or response. One way that automaticity can be accomplished is through thought-stopping phrases, described below.
THOUGHT-STOPPING PHRASES
A thought-stopping phrase is a short, easy-to-remember statement that shuts down any further discussion or debate about a topic. Robert Lifton, Author of the book, Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism, called thought-stopping phrases “the language of non-thought.” They are meant to terminate a conversation, often so that the person being brainwashed does not devote any further analysis. Such phrases do not contain any power or logic in and of themselves, but they can be used by a deceiver to justify logical fallacies and dampen a subject’s rising cognitive dissonance.
During Covid, we heard a number of thought-stopping phrases: “flatten the curve,” “the science is clear,” “pandemic of the unvaccinated,” “nobody is safe until everybody is safe.” Now, after the fact, we can see how these phrases shut down rational thinking at time when it was most needed.
A cult group may make up it’s own slogan or verse to suit its particular needs. Thought-stopping phrases will be repeated frequently, so that they can be –almost unconsciously–recalled and the conversation redirected. Look at some of the common thought-stopping phrases below. Can you identify the types of deception or abuse are covered by such phrases?
EXHAUSTION
Has it ever happened to you that you have become so physically, emotionally, and spiritually overwhelmed that you simply do not care what happens. You have completely shut down. There is no thought going through your head, and you are left curled up on the couch –probably eating ice cream. Deceivers know that humans are not inexhaustible, and they prey upon our inability to process all the inputs to get some idea past our defenses.
Exhaustion can take many forms. In the first case study, Sandy’s lack of protein, lack of sleep, hours of physical labor, and demanding schedule created an exhaustion that decreased his ability to see that he was being brainwashed. Exhaustion may not just be physical, it may be that our emotions are so turned around be activities–such as love-bombing or constant criticism–that our discernment simply shuts down and we accept whatever is given to us. Or, we may be faced with so much information, that we cease to be able to wade through it all, and are not able to process it. Whatever form it takes, exhaustion is a common and effective component of brainwashing schemes.
EMOTIONAL APPEAL
Our emotions come to us from deep in the limbic system of our brain. This is a completely different location than where we analyze data and draw logical conclusions. So an emotional appeal is an effective tool for deceivers who do not want us to use data and logical conclusions. A carefully written story that conjures up emotions can sometimes be much more convincing than providing facts and figures. Be careful of the emotional appeal; it may manipulate you toward a direction you would not otherwise go.
A glittering generality is a statement that appeals to one’s emotions in a convincing way that generates approval and agreement, but does not actually communicate tangible evidence or facts that will support a reasoned conclusion. Barak Obama’s campaign word, “Change,” was a glittering generality in the uplifting manner it was portrayed. But the word itself communicated nothing about the kind of changes that would take place under his administration.
