BRAINWASHING STARTS EARLY , AND NOT USUALLY BY 'EVIL' PEOPLE

Ir shocked me to learn how deeply my toilet training (over 2 decades at the time) was ingrained when I was giving birth to my first child. If the nurse who was attending me had any sensitivity to my pleas to get up (from the huge prison in the form of crib in which I was confined) she might have told me I was catheterized and would make no mess from my painful bladder being assaulted by a little being kicking to get out.  In that era, I had been given what was called 'twilight sleep', a concoction which included scopolamine (which allows the person to be awake, respond to commands, hurt, and later remember nothing about it).

The scopolamine did its job because I have no memory of the delivery room or the delivery.  I only remember what happened after I was handled this little bundle of life to whom it was difficult to relate as coming from me or belonging to me.  All I could remember was the nurse telling me to 'do it in the bed'.and how that horrified me.  I can only imagine what my Kegel muscles.were trying to accomplish, in vain.

Then, in the Greek Orthodox church, priests spoke in a pure Greek which was like Latin is to modern Italian.  Thus, whatever I was learning about God and Jesus came from my mother. I ceased believing in a God and the rest of what came out of church between the ages of five and ten as it made no sense to me.  My mother's admonition that one must not be flatulent in the face of God (that is with your posterior pointing to Heaven) as it was a sign of sinful disrespect.  Many decades later, that bodily function never happens while I am lying on my stomach despite often difficult gyrations to get there...a totally unconscious movement..

Having grammar drummed into me in.grade school is another example.  I am totally unable to read a book without correcting the grammar, particular the use of 'I,me, and myself'.  "It is 'me'" absolutely grates so much I have taken to correcting it in books I read to 'It is I"  When I say that to other people I am sure they think I am grammatically incorrect is is so commonly misspoken .  Nevertheless, I will continue to follow the edicts placed in my brain so long ago.  It is painful to listen to the media and journalists who so frequently demonstrate they either didn't have grammar training or slept through the exercises I endured because I had not yet learned to dissociate in class.  'Who' and 'whom' are more of the same..
. 

MANIPULATING EMOTIONS

Emotions are not really a short topic but here is a thumbnail sketch on some of what I have been considering.  Emotions work to try to keep us feeling pleasure instead of pain.  Thus, when someone tries to decide whether a person on trial showed the proper (or sufficient) emotion, it is as useful as the people who made determinations as to whether a woman having visions was a witch centuries ago.  Clinically depressed people have flat facies (general appearance;  an appearance and expression of the face characteristic of a particular condition especially when abnormal) and show a 'deadpan'.  Many people have schooled themselves in a defense mechanism, to not show emotion so that they will be less vulnerable to people using their emotions to hurt or torture them.

Some people have an ability to 'read' other people's emotions quite accurately.  I'm assuming this is done by filing away data associated with particular expressions then the brain does a search on the 'symptoms' and concludes the feelings (emotion).  For example as to how confusing this can be and how easily misread, people may cry from sadness, pain, exhaustion, stress, frustration or happiness.  This suggests the importance of context in determining emotional response.  Often when one sees a person who has been hurt, one may show an identifying sadness, though some people (who feel no joy) cannot resist laughing when they see a pratfall or similar accident.  The sadist may show laughter and real pleasure at witnessing the pain of the tortured.

My basic point is, emotions are too easily misread and conclusions are reached by assumption. with insufficient evidence.  In courts, media often picks up that the defendant didn't show enough remorse.  Terror and anxiety often masks other emotions which can include remorse and shame.  Denial may also obscure what might have been a different emotion felt.

Thus, those who play on people's emotions may be real masters at manipulating to get people to 'feel' what they want them to feel.  The TV appliance demonstrator convinces people they cannot live without this latest widget which will make all work easier; the elixir salesperson convinces the public that they are missing the fountain of youth if they don't rush to eat, drink, rub on, or otherwise use their product.  There are groups in the United States currently who are inflaming anger, like Glenn Beck who has mentioned revolution more than 170 times in around 250 of his shows. through lies.  Anti-abortion zealots have raised the sense that abortion is so bad, it is justifiable to take the life of a doctor (an adult, teacher, parent, on whom many rely) to save the life of an unborn fetus.  It is unconscionable to make a choice to take one life to save another when no crime has been involved.  Sarah Palin, who seems to charm many, is another who is inflaming towards Revolution and works on the gun-toting crowd.

Those in the media and public view have no idea that they will be responsible for any violence that erupts as result of these inflammatory speeches they give.  Will they be held responsible for the consequences?  If we examine precedent, it may be unlikely.  The poor brainwashed soul who takes illegal action will be the one to pay the price. For some sense of the thinking that allows someone to fall prey to the inciting to action when otherwise helpless and not understanding that 'government', we often see a paranoia. Read the letter from Timothy McVeigh to Fox News as to why he bombed the Murrah building. It speaks to the point.