Brainwashing exists and it is more common than you think

Brainwashing is a strategy to manipulate people’s minds. It makes use of specific techniques, systematically applied for the first time during the so-called “Cultural Revolution” in China and later copied by almost all the powers in the world.

Nowadays we know of people who join a religion or a certain sect, and suddenly it is as if they were someone else. They neither think, nor act, nor feel as before. We say then that they were brainwashed, but we do it colloquially. The truth is that, more literally, the phenomenon does exist and also has very defined protocols.

Brainwashing has been talked about since the 1950s, but attempts to manipulate the human mind go back much further. However, It was not until this time that a method was systematized that would allow people’s minds to be “reprogrammed”continuously and effectively.

The term brainwashing was first used by journalist (and CIA agent) Edward Hunter in 1950.. Later, it was the subject of great novels such as 1984or from movies, like The snake egg. This kinship with fiction led many to think that it was a fantasy. But it’s not like that.

“Isolation, control, uncertainty, repetition of the message and emotional manipulation are techniques used to brainwash”.

-Eduard Punset-

Story about brainwashing

During the Korean War, Americans were surprised by the behavior of soldiers returning from prison. His ideas and behavior were strange. Some They defended the communist regime after having fought against it. Others even did not return, but changed sides.

Edward Hunter dedicated himself to studying the phenomenon. He found that the Chinese had developed a series of mechanisms to reprogram the mind from his town, part of the famous “Cultural Revolution”. The Chinese transmitted these mechanisms to the Koreans and they applied them to prisoners of war.

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This is how it was discovered that brainwashing is different from torture although it frequently uses this in some of its phases. The big difference is that in the first one a specific objective is sought. A confession or denunciation, for example. In the other case, the aim is to restructure the mind of an individual in its entirety.

How to wash a brain?

It has been discovered that there are four mechanisms to make a person change their beliefs and attitudes towards the world. These are the rational persuasion, suggestion, torture and brainwashing.

Only in persuasion “is there a relationship between equals.” In other cases it is necessary to submit the other. To carry out brainwashing The following mechanisms are used:

Full control of communication of an individual with the external world.Imposition of physical or psychological punishments against disobedience. Behavioral guidelines are imposed and if they are not followed, some form of torture is resorted to.Induction to confess. The individual is prevented from having a private life.Rewards for obeying. They are made to believe that by obeying a power the person is protecting themselves from greater evils.Propaganda of dogmas, which make themselves look like perfectly rational. They are very precise mandates.Simplification of intellectual activityto prevent abstraction and critical thinking.Granting to another the right to control life and destiny, for “our own good.”

These mechanisms manipulate human needs for safety, belonging, and protection.. The loss of freedom depending on another ends up being seen as a necessary evil, to gain stability and tranquility.

The role of coercion

No brainwashing is possible without the use of coercion.. Naturally, human beings resist losing their autonomy and the identity that they have built. That is why extreme pressure is required to induce changes in his behavior.

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The way to break an individual’s resistance is by introducing very strong emotions. Along with this, stress levels also increase significantly. It takes a highly emotional and very stressed person to be permeable to pressure. exercised by those who want to wash your brain.

Unfortunately, The powers have become so sophisticated that they now exert their pressure and their ability to shape the mind in an almost imperceptible way. Many individuals voluntarily submit to these powers, with little resistance.

Consumerism is a good example. Also the dependence on social networks. If you look, the principles of brainwashing apply in both realities. They are so effective that people do not even realize they are being subjected. On the contrary, they believe that shopping and sharing their private lives online are examples of their free will.