Brainwashing has always been a strong, sometimes evil, but quite successful method for influencing the minds of the targeted people. The brainwashers, be it an individual or an entire country, normally have exact expectations from their prey, and may affect their beliefs, perceptions, and judgments. Though, depending on the level of civilization and the culture, in different societies the brainwashing is done using different techniques, the main approaches remain the same. Let me expose some of the variations of this hideous allurement.
One of the main sources to affect people's minds is the controlled media. It is mainly used for political and personal reasons, and normally has a huge impact on its users. With the growth of the online magazines with increasing number of users, this method becomes more significant over time. If you are seeking true and unbiased information, it is always good to use more than one information source with different political and strategic orientations. The same applies to the individual cases too. It is important to consciously avoid being misinformed and used.
Another brainwashing method is trying to affect person's emotional state, making him/her feel guilty, angry, or satisfied. People are human beings and cannot always disregard their emotions. They may occasionally have emotional imbalance, and this is usually the time when they are the most vulnerable. While emotions are among the main gifts that make our lives meaningful, it is important to be able to control them and always be cautious.
Last but not the least, I would like to talk about the method when people make favorable moves or say things we want to hear or things that coincide with our opinion, in order to extract desired information from us. Having friends and developing trusts with them is an inherent subconscious property for human beings, and we tend to be open to those people who share their opinions and are open towards us. Not questioning the value of the true friendship and the genuine relationships towards other people, it is worthy be alert and do not fall into the trap.
The brainwashing has always been malicious threat to our minds, but this is one of the reasons why the true relationships are so precious... Live honestly!
One of the main sources to affect people's minds is the controlled media. It is mainly used for political and personal reasons, and normally has a huge impact on its users. With the growth of the online magazines with increasing number of users, this method becomes more significant over time. If you are seeking true and unbiased information, it is always good to use more than one information source with different political and strategic orientations. The same applies to the individual cases too. It is important to consciously avoid being misinformed and used.
Another brainwashing method is trying to affect person's emotional state, making him/her feel guilty, angry, or satisfied. People are human beings and cannot always disregard their emotions. They may occasionally have emotional imbalance, and this is usually the time when they are the most vulnerable. While emotions are among the main gifts that make our lives meaningful, it is important to be able to control them and always be cautious.
Last but not the least, I would like to talk about the method when people make favorable moves or say things we want to hear or things that coincide with our opinion, in order to extract desired information from us. Having friends and developing trusts with them is an inherent subconscious property for human beings, and we tend to be open to those people who share their opinions and are open towards us. Not questioning the value of the true friendship and the genuine relationships towards other people, it is worthy be alert and do not fall into the trap.
The brainwashing has always been malicious threat to our minds, but this is one of the reasons why the true relationships are so precious... Live honestly!
One reasonable way to hermetically protect oneself from brainwashing is the Baloney Detection Kit by Michael Shermer: www.michaelshermer.com/2001/11/baloney-detection/. Quite effective, I should remark, especially when applied to claims which are hardly indistinguishable from facts, but are opinions disguised as such...
ReplyDeleteThanks for providing this very useful source. I am impressed at the methods used there for avoiding from the brainwashing.
ReplyDelete