A brief history of mind control

[The Johnny]

(This version I'm presenting here is nowhere near the quality or lenght of what i will publish eventually, but here it goes)

A BRIEF HISTORY OF MIND CONTROL

From doing a lot of research, I have come to the consideration that there have existed 3 main theoretical/practical lines that have given birth to modern "mind control" (loosely defined ofc):

THE MESMER LINE

One of the most earlier lines relates to Franz Anton Von Mesmer, whom in 1775 cured a case of "demonic possession" thru other means than exorcism, thus opening up a new understanding of the processes behind such incidents (historiographically this event is sometimes designated as the birth of dynamic psychiatry).

This line was further develoved by Abbé Faria and James Braid, speaking of hypnosis and suggestion rather than "animal magnetism".

Even further down the line, this was picked up by Ambroise Lieaubeault which was the founder of the Nancy School of Hypnosis (Hippolyte Bernheim became his student and collaborator)... meanwhile in France, Jean Martin Charcot founded the Salpetriere School of Hypnosis, but more focused on the study of hysteria... and Sigmund Freud was influenced by both of these schools and lines of thought, he actually practiced hypnosis and suggestion before his theorical and practical modifications that later on resulted in psychoanalysis.

And from Sigmund Freud, sprang out Anna Freud and Edward Bernays... Anna Freud developed this thing called "Ego Psychology" which promoted "social adaptation", which would imply that the criterion for mental health would be being "well adjusted to social and moral norms" and influenced a lot of thinkers/authors alongside public policy... meanwhile, Edward Bernays turned the uses of political propaganda from the use against enemies, towards the utilization of the same methods domestically in times of peace - his works were utilized by Goebbels for the orchestration of the campaign against the Jews in Germany, influenced public opinion during elections in favour and against presidential candidates and basically got everyone on board for the invasion of Guatemala and the coup d'etat against Jacobo Arbenz, and helped the CIA with its propaganda operations.

China

"Re-education" and "thought reform" have its origins in China, and it can be traced back to Confucianism (or at least an adaptation of it), principles of purity of thought, sincerity being equated as absolute submission, the forced confessions of prisoners before their trials, etc etc

But the more solid origins can be traced to the time of the communist uprising of Mao, in which they adopted soviet strategies of "agitation and propaganda", but developed some of their own: when they captured low rank enemy soldiers, instead of brutalizing them, they would treat them well and have hours upon hours of conversation with them, inciting them to vent their frustrations with the regime and chain of command they served, and then they were told the Kuomintang's failures and deficiencies, and were given the option to join the cause or to support their efforts as a civilian; with higher ranked officials they talked about their specific place and position in the context of the civil war... and thru these trial and errors they developed an intricate methodology that got refined over time.

When the war was over and they were victorious, these techniques took a turn from friendly persuasion into pure violence and torture, which was utilized over foreign prisoners, domestic intellectuals and any trouble-maker they deemed as deviating from the glorious revolution. They were imprisoned, forced to confess to false crimes, criticized until they were a broken shell of a person and started to believe in anything they were fed... on average, prisoners that went thru "re-education"/"thought reform", graduated after 3 years on average... of course some never made it out.

And even though these camps allegedly stopped functioning a long time ago, there's an entire book dedicated to interviews of victims of this process that is documented in Robert Lifton's book "Thought reform and the psychology of totalism: a study of brainwashing in China", which although published in 1961, it details interviews from 1953 that he did with some 40 different people that suffered thru the process.

Perhaps after the 60's they toned it down, but how can we even know? As of today, in Xinjiang the practice of "re-education" camps still prevails, althought it is mainly directed against chinese Uighurs, as documented by the BBC:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/China_hidden_camps

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-china-48667221/inside-china-s-thought-transformation-camps

The Soviets

There's a line of thought that is attributed to Stalin called "transformism" which may or may not predate him, but there's also Lysenkoism, Minchurism, and Neo-Pavlovism

Transformism is the idea that all objects (which includes humans) have no inner drives or motivations, and that their form or behaviour or even ideas, are the consequences of the external forces of reality that act upon them... which has parallels to Lysenkoism/Minchurism in the realm of genetics, which minimizes the importance or relevance of genetics, while overemphazising the "environment".

This is where Neo-Pavlovism comes in, as a mindset of what should be done to the population at large, which is conditioning them and creating an environment that would determine their configuration... either thru education, psychological treatment, propaganda or public policy. Overall with the motto of "Adapt or die".

CIA and MKULTRA

The newly formed CIA learned from all of these experiences and events... the russian Show Trials had high profile officials confessing and admitting their (alleged) crimes shamefully and with regret...american pows that came back from the Korean War presented this ideological change, apparently having become communists themselves even after being liberated and coming back to their homeland... the Guatemalan operation was a resounding success...

So the CIA formed their own program in 1953, MKULTRA, allegedly to experiment with advanced interrogation techniques, but their scope was much broader, they wanted to develop techniques of "brain-washing" and how to control someone beyond their conscious will.

The new invention of LSD was a godsend, so they setup dozens of safehouses to experiment with the homeless, prostitutes and drug addicts... then they moved on to experiment with their own, with members of the army, and funded research programs in universities.

They also funded Dr. Donald Ewen Cameron in Canada, in his Allan Memorial Institute, where he drugged patients to sleep for up to 2 consequtive months, while playing tape recorders in an infinite loop, and doing electro-convulsive therapy... all with the supposed purpose of curing peoples mental disorders, thru what he called "depatterning" and "psychic driving".

Conclusions

Manipulating people has always existed, and perhaps religion has historically been the greatest offender... but mostly they play a game of abusing people's illussions, hopes, desires and fears, etc.

What changed from Mesmer onwards in the late XVIIIth century, lead to what happened between 1860 and 1973... the calculated and scientific technification of manipulation of human thoughts and the mind.

I really do wonder what kind of bullshit has happened from 1970's onwards that we don't even know about.

[rong]

the minds of men

[Doktor Howl]

One thing worth mentioning is the Reid Technique, used by police.  It is more subtle than your standard "nightstick to the kidneys," but is still an effective form of mental manipulation.

[rong]

A+ thread
Much enjoy
Seems a fine line between coercion and control
Penn and Teller et al probably have some relevant insights

[The Wizard Joseph]

One thing worth mentioning is the Reid Technique, used by police.  It is more subtle than your standard "nightstick to the kidneys," but is still an effective form of mental manipulation.

Just looked this up. It sounds like some form of weaponized confirmation bias. Nasty.

[The Johnny]

One thing worth mentioning is the Reid Technique, used by police.  It is more subtle than your standard "nightstick to the kidneys," but is still an effective form of mental manipulation.

Just looked this up. It sounds like some form of weaponized confirmation bias. Nasty.

"The demeanor of the investigator during the course of an interrogation is ideally understanding, patient, and non-demeaning."

YEAH im sure interrogators dont jack off to Jack Bauer of tv series "24" after every single procedure. 

From what I read about in the chinese "re-education/false confession" procedure, its not a matter of WHO breaks, but rather WHEN... some people break down within the first hour of being violently fed false confessions and admit everything they are told... and merely being harshly talked down, while handcuffed and secluded is enough for a lot of people.

It's basically a politically correct version of how the chinese pried confessions out of prisoners.

[The Johnny]

A+ thread
Much enjoy
Seems a fine line between coercion and control
Penn and Teller et al probably have some relevant insights

The thing about "mind control" or however you want to call it, is that its insidious and covert. If you use brute force and violence to force someone to do your will, it's very obvious and gives the agressor a bad reputation.

But if you manipulate someone to do your will, while they think they are exerting their own will, it can go unnoticed... these are the preferred methods of nations that are pseudo-democratic, the ones that want to keep up an appearance that they listen and follow the "will of the people", but given any opportunity they want to mold and direct the same "will of the people".

What could we learn from Penn and Teller? I mean, theyre atheists and experts of misdirection of attention in some of their tricks, but?

[Doktor Howl]

One thing worth mentioning is the Reid Technique, used by police.  It is more subtle than your standard "nightstick to the kidneys," but is still an effective form of mental manipulation.

Just looked this up. It sounds like some form of weaponized confirmation bias. Nasty.

"The demeanor of the investigator during the course of an interrogation is ideally understanding, patient, and non-demeaning."

YEAH im sure interrogators dont jack off to Jack Bauer of tv series "24" after every single procedure. 

From what I read about in the chinese "re-education/false confession" procedure, its not a matter of WHO breaks, but rather WHEN... some people break down within the first hour of being violently fed false confessions and admit everything they are told... and merely being harshly talked down, while handcuffed and secluded is enough for a lot of people.

It's basically a politically correct version of how the chinese pried confessions out of prisoners.

Mostly not, really.  The Reid technique, with absolutely no violence or the threat thereof, would eventually make Gandhi confess to being the Boston Strangler.

[rong]

A+ thread
Much enjoy
Seems a fine line between coercion and control
Penn and Teller et al probably have some relevant insights

The thing about "mind control" or however you want to call it, is that its insidious and covert. If you use brute force and violence to force someone to do your will, it's very obvious and gives the agressor a bad reputation.

But if you manipulate someone to do your will, while they think they are exerting their own will, it can go unnoticed... these are the preferred methods of nations that are pseudo-democratic, the ones that want to keep up an appearance that they listen and follow the "will of the people", but given any opportunity they want to mold and direct the same "will of the people".

What could we learn from Penn and Teller? I mean, theyre atheists and experts of misdirection of attention in some of their tricks, but?