Mind Control Techniques: "TOP SECRET/APOTHEOSIS"
What follows is a portion of a document that purports to expose brainwashing techniques used to indoctrinate people into believing in UFO's. I place no confidence in the central theory of this document, nor do I have any interest in its origins, but I present here only the part that is relevant to my own article on mind-control in the churches.
Extract Begins:
(Page 9)..."However, at some point it is required that a reader drop their attempted impartiality and dispassion in the matter and work, to unconditionally accept for a limited period of contemplation that the story is 'true' and 'real'.
This is NOT to say that it is advisable to drop objectivity completely, and just have 'blind faith', but rather only to embrace subjectively the story 'as if' true and real for deeper exploration of its elements and nuances that cold objective distancing will prevent from ever surfacing. This can provide a setting whereby an individual can apply the more non-logical measures of measuring the veracity of a story.
Only by immersion as a participant may an investigator hope to obtain an 'insiders' view. What they may view from that inner participant vantage point may threaten their entire sense of separateness and distance. However, what they gain is the opportunity to allow perception and conception in the story domain.
This can result in a better understanding of the story's source and their relative viewpoint, and thus point to further more scientific investigation avenues that could assist in increasing the plausible and probable fact base.
It is dangerous however to effect this personal immersion into a story, becoming one of its 'as if true' adherents, since it is possible to be affected on an emotional basis sufficiently to prevent the return to impartial objective explanatory notions and process.
Therefore, if this procedure is not counter-balanced with an immersion into the belief of the negative hypothesis, a return to objective impartiality may become improbable. In actual fact, it is this process of counter-belief immersion and counter-story construction that is the basis for so called 'de-programming' of people who have been swept up into religious and political cults.
The catch here is that it is often possible to obtain objectively satisfying evidence both pro and con to a story, thereby preventing any (Page 10) singular conclusion. Both pro and con studies can meet conditions of acceptable veracity due to the wide berth available in the collective consensus notions of what is acceptable and satisfying evidence.
Brainwashing Techniques and Psychological Control Strategies:
There are a multitude of so-called brainwashing techniques. They can be effected consciously or subconsciously.
The basic common denominator in all brainwashing is some type or level of 'story immersion'. This immersion can require that several conditions be met to achieve the desired result. Let us assume that we want to make someone believe something that is quite contrary to what they may have believed before, which is a lot harder than making someone believe something in the face of no prior or counterbeliefs.The process of immersion of a human subject into a target belief we shall call 'B' proceeds as follows:
1. Do not immerse the subject into the target belief too quickly, for that may arouse negative reactions based on their existing counter-belief. Instead, effect immersion slowly so as to ally the subject to the notion that the brainwashers (P.11) (the subject does not know they are brainwashers but we shall refer to them as such) have beliefs in common with his already accepted beliefs, but not the subject's already existing counter-belief. This produces an atmosphere of companionship, trust, and common belief - i.e. belonging.
2. Once common ground has been established between the subject and the brainwashers, the actual 'washing' process begins.
a. First, the subject must be relatively isolated from those environmental influences which tend to continue reinforcement of their counter-belief. Often a subject may only persist in a given belief by virtue of its continued reinforcement and usefulness as an explanatory notion. Complement this with full immersion into the isolated environment, i.e. do not let the subject have any opportunity to even reflect with regards to any other environment. This can be accomplished by having constant, unbroken companionship between the subject and the brainwasher operative.
b. Second, begin to generate a deeper emotional and subjective alliance and allegiance and trust in the subject towards the brainwashers. Deepen the common ground and sense of belonging and companionship
c. Third, slowly begin to commence the immersion into the 'target belief.' This is not immersion into the target belief directly and explicitly, but immersion into camouflaged forms of the belief, forms which are palatable, and still do not trigger counter-belief argument or positioning. Complement this process with increasing emotional allegiance (friendship or love or other) activity. Alternate activities which focus on the camouflaged target belief indoctrination with activities which deepen the emotional allegiance of the subject.
d. Fourth, as it is assessed that the subject has substantially begun acceptance of the camouflaged version of the target belief, begin to slowly dismantle the subject's previous counter-belief. This is accomplished by 'baiting' camouflaged versions of the subject's counter-belief in a playful manner while in (Page 12) emotional immersion of belonging and companionship with the brainwasher operatives.
e. Engage framing the sensibility of the counter-belief in terms that will later be found to be subservient to terms found in the target belief. Establish that the counter-belief is not effective nor useful any longer now that a more “useful” (in the isolated setting however) way of seeing things exists. All the while, reinforce emotional allegiance intermittently. Immerse the individual into a sense of peacefulness or “just cause” and adequacy regarding the camouflaged target belief.
f. Remove the individuals’ last connections and familiar habits relating to his originating environment. This is accomplished by operating according to a schedule which is relatively unpredictable in contrast to their originating life habits. If necessary, slowly effect, with explanatory justification and positive reinforcement, a reduction of sleep time. If necessary, reduce protein intake and effect dietary changes. In essence, implement a new life patterning such that all relevant previous life pattern habituations that would tend in any manner to reinforce the subject’s counter-belief are eliminated
g. Now for the first time, when the subject has repeatedly, under a variety of mental, physical and emotional conditions, indicated allegiance to the target belief and appears to not reference the counter-belief any longer, begin direct target belief indoctrination. At this point it is important to not even acknowledge the existence of the subject’s non-camoflaged counter-beliefs, but to only focus all energy onto the target belief structure and nuances.
h. As the subject indicates their understanding and emotional and intellectual acceptance of the target-belief in its naked, uncamouflaged form, now begin to more directly address all the subject’s relevant originating environmental references in a manner that allows the target belief to provide acceptable explanation and recontextualisation into the target belief. This process makes certain that once the individual returns to their originating environment and influences that the target belief has adequately (Page 13) provided a means to see such environment and influences totally and only in the light of the newly accepted target belief or belief system. The subject's filter of experience interpretation, and assignment of meaning and reference now is functionally the target belief itself.
The 'brainwashing' process is now 'complete'.
It is often found that this entire above procedure and process may occur in a number of cycles from beginning to end, with each cycle achieving a deeper layer of belief indoctrination.
If the target belief is not too far from the subject's original counter-belief then repetitive cycling at deeper and deeper layers is effective.
If the target belief is quite distant and deeply contradictory to the subject's original counter-belief, then either the brainwashing process must be contained in one singular deep cycle, or the multiple cycles must exclude in g. and h. above (the full non-camouflaged exposure to the target belief).This essentially means never telling the subject what it is they are really being led to believe in explicit terms, or for what purpose, but rather maintaining deep camouflage and cover, until after many increasing deepening cycles are effected and accomplished, after which direct target belief exposure can occur.
Brainwashing can occur on an individual basis or on a mass basis. It can occur subliminally, covertly, subconsciously, and slowly. It can be only slightly influential in the beginning but later controlling without conscious recognition by the subject or group.
Once accomplished to any effective degree, the installed target belief or beliefs will begin to color or filter experience in a manner that provides consistency and reinforcement to the target belief. In that respect, once begun, without counter-programming, the target belief and brainwashing can become self-perpetuating, and in fact even get out of control to the point the subject expands beyond the confines of the (Page 14) target belief and develops a whole set of supporting and expanding beliefs, as is necessary to provide explanatory peace within the developing belief system.Some Components of Mind Control
Robert Lifton discerned eight criteria involved in mind control activities. The basic principle is one of 'ideological totalism’, which is the end state achieved through what has been described above as story immersion process of brainwashing.
The criteria include:
1. Milieu Control: towards total control of the target subjects environment, setting and 'world' of possible perception and experience. The 'milieu control' is essentially the environmental level descriptive for 'story immersion'.
2. Mystical manipulation: also known as 'planned spontaneity', when rigged: this is the process of making certain experiences occur for the, target subject, which experiences cannot be explained in any logical 'linear' terms of of the environment the subject originates from. That is, lead to conclusions of something happening that is beyond the normal worldly and common sense. These are events that are intended to be readily explainable by the subject, except in general "this is beyond my understanding", and yet are explainable in terms of the new target beliefs being indoctrinated.
3. Demand for Purity: in the sense of purity as defined as those behaviors, those personal states of being and doing that are considered in ‘alignment’, acceptable, and appropriate within the context of the target beliefs and ‘sacred’ milieu.
‘Purity’ is used as a dualistic metaphor to imply that anything in the target subject that is not in complete agreement with the target belief and ‘sacred’milieu, is impure, of no worth, a liability and cause for rejection.
To be impure is to be unworthy or polluted or unsuitable or lacking, and therefore anything that is evoked in the target subject that (Page 15) originates from their original beliefs which in any way oppose or diverge from the target beliefs.'Purity' is often used by implication to provide a catch all for any beliefs or feelings or activities on the part of the target subject that are not within the target belief. Hence, the target subject’s nonaligned experiences are subordinated into a ready-made ‘slot’ of ‘the impure’
4. The Cult of Confession: this serves several purposes-
a) to provide a means for the target subject to 'release valve' or 'purge' those nonaligned experiences and behaviours which are in conflict with the target belief system,
b) to provide a means for information collection about target subjects, in essence, an intelligence gathering activity, which can help to identify problem subjects and threats, and
c) to provide a target belief ‘wrapper’ or ‘interface’ or ‘probational reinstatement' process that occurs immediately before and especially after the expression of 'impurities' by the target subject.
5. Sacred Science: the use of frames or reference that are respected by the subject and common to their sense of 'consensus reality' from which they originate. It is images of 'god' that can fit into a high technology worshiping society. The use of science frames to reinforce mystical frames is often an effective means to gain subsumption of the target subject's most powerful source of counterbelief, that is, the consensus reality pillars of objectivity need to be covertly subordinated to the mystical target beliefs. So what better way than to develop a means to ostensibly have those pillars provide validation and support for the mystical?
Of course, those portions of the science frames that are most supportive of the target beliefs are deemed 'sacred', and those which remain which are conflicting are deemed 'profane'. Thus pseudo-science develops.
6. Loading of the language: this is embodied in several ways,
a) literalization of language, where certain words, key phrases, slogans, prayers, ‘mantras'. Texts, statements, words that mean ‘god’, sacred words, etc. are deemed to be sacred and are to be reserved for use only in (Page 16) the contexts desired by the indoctrinators, and
b) where certain new language (lingo) and phrases develop which embody special meaning that is only accessible to the accepted belief participants, that is, codewords, secret meanings, passwords, in’words, and words that convey meaning that the indoctrinators can either find no existing word(s) to convey, or where the indoctrinators need to have a word or phrase that will not be 'polluted' with other common meanings.
7. Doctrine over person: this is a prioritisation of the target belief system itself over the ‘considerations', 'rights', 'values', 'feelings', and person's physical, emotional, mental, and intuitive life.
This allows the belief system to survive any disruption. It provides that the value and importance and worth of the belief system doctrine is greater than the importance of any individual human or humans. This subordinates human rights to only be of value or worth when they function within the confines and frame of the target belief.
Since everything that is outside the target belief doctrine is ‘impure’ and worthless anyway, if a person in comprised of, or polluted with, that impurity then such person and their associated ‘life’ (physical, mental, or emotional)obviously has less value than the belief. Even in circumstances where the person is fully aligned and adherent to the beliefs, their value as a person is less than the value of the belief system itself.
8. Dispensing of existence: this means that the right to exist, the value and worth of existence, can only be granted by the belief system or the source of the belief system. It is often the ‘initiation’ that gives the target subject any value at all, and since to be of no value (impure or evil) is to be virtually 'nonexistent', the right of existence can only be granted by the belief system or 'source' of the belief system.
In the examination of these preceding components of mind control, besides these components being evident in cults, religious groups, and secret societies, we can find corresponding elements in both government (Page 17) intelligence work by agents themselves ('GOV' a non-mystical endeavor), intelligence operations that capture agents ('CAP'), as well a 'UFO' abduction and contactee experiences:
Disinformation Objectives and Strategies: Disinformation is used to accomplish several objectives:
Disinformation Strategies:1. Put people off the scent of the trail to information that somebody wants kept unknown or unpopularized.
2. Develop reactions and dispositions in a populance that can later be used to the disinformers’ advantage. (Page 18)
3. cause or trigger actions and activity that can delay discovery of the true information for purposes of gaining a time advantage.
Offensive Reasons:1. Contrary and opposing false story explanation.
2. Parallel and similar false Story explanation.
3. True story in different or similar domain which diverts attention from a story targeted to be suppressed.
Defensive Reasons:1. 'Head them off at the pass' Exposure or disclosure prevention.
2. Effect belief indoctrination for some later advantage or current purpose.
1. Exposure or disclosure containment.
© 1995-2013 Tricia Tillin of Banner Ministries. All rights reserved. Cross+Word Website: http://www.banner.org.uk/ This document is the property of its author and is not to be displayed on other websites, redistributed, sold, reprinted, or reproduced in printed in any other format without permission. Websites may link to this article, if they provide proper title and author information. One copy may be downloaded, stored and/or printed for personal research. All spelling and phraseology is UK English.
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