#54) Good and Bad Brainwashing
Hello, and welcome back to "Always Be Better" with Mel Windham. Today we're going to explore more of the world of brainwashing. Four years ago, I produced three introductory videos on this topic. If you haven't already seen these videos, I highly recommend them, as watching these three videos alone could change your life, and help alert you to what's going on around us. Though, I'm hoping this video will do fine as a standalone, so if you like, keep watching, and then you can go back and watch these other three videos later.
As a quick summary, the first video talks about our autopilot -- how we can train the brain to remember macros, so we can do multiple things at the same time. In the second video, I explain how we can train, trust, and retrain our autopilots, and increase our own effectiveness. In the third video, I talk about how we can corrupt other people's autopilots using the very same techniques, only in this case, it's called brainwashing.
Some key concepts from these three videos include:
- We can't function without our autopilots. They are necessary.
- Repetition is key to programming our autopilots.
- Repetition is also key to brainwashing others.
- Some brainwashing is benign and necessary.
- But other brainwashing is manipulative and seeks to destroy or control us.
And the candidate responded, "Yes I do believe in God." And the politician proceeded to ridicule him for believing in a being that no one else could see nor hear.
And I thought this was very interesting on different levels. For one, at the time, a majority of Americans believed in some kind of god or religion, so I found it strange that a politician thought he could successfully attack a candidate for holding such a belief.
At another level, he was making some intriguing observations. No -- I can't point to this God. I can't show him to others. Taken further, I can't even prove that God exists using logic and evidence alone. So, if someone were to challenge me asking, "Why do you believe in this invisible being without logic and evidence?" Of course, I could bear my testimony and explain all the spiritual evidences I've witnessed throughout my life. But ultimately my challenger would say, "That's just a bunch of hokey. Why do you really believe that?" And in the end, I can only say truthfully, "I just do."
But yet, the vast majority of people accept this belief as being normal. I believe, and no one is trying to lock me up in some funny farm.
But some people will call this "brainwashing." After all, the only way I know about Jesus is because I've heard all the stories, read all the scriptures, and have lived decades having these beliefs reinforced as I attend church. And it all makes sense in my head. I could go on for hours about all the consistencies, and why everyone else is wrong.
And yes -- other people go to different brands of religion. Even Christianity by itself has several different denominations with slightly different views on the Trinity, or whether children need to be baptized, and whether we live as spirits after death. This comes from hearing different stories while attending church, or temple, or mosque, or other.
On the most part, each religion teaches mostly the same core principles of good living and how to be a good person people would like. So, even though the logic and hard-core evidence may not be there, the end result usually tends to be a good thing. The good fruits appear to justify the means. For today's discussion, I would like to call this "benign" or "good" brainwashing.
It isn't much different than the teachings each parent teaches their children as I discuss in the third video I mentioned earlier. And I'll say this again: that most of these teachings are necessary so that our children can function in society when they grow older. As parents, there's just no way around it -- we must submit our children to benign brainwashing -- otherwise known as "teaching." And sometimes some bad teachings sneak in, but in most cases, our children can handle these discrepancies when they get older and learn how to think independently.
And while religion can help us in general and collectively become better people, religion can also be a source of "malicious" or "bad" brainwashing. These are usual social in nature. You must give me money. If someone doesn't believe, we must cast them out. If someone sins, we must punish them. Sometimes religions are used politically to control the people. "God demands that you listen to your leaders and do what they say. Give us money!"
With this in mind, we can look at each church or religion, both on the local level or worldwide level, and judge how much of it has good brainwashing, and bad brainwashing. And from my experience, I see a combination of both in all religions.
In my own church, on a worldwide level, they seem to do a good job in encouraging independent thought. The scientific method is even instilled in our core doctrine. (Alma 32). And some of our doctrine is considered radical in comparison to the traditional Nicene denominations, which by itself may trigger critical thinking.
My local church unit, I believe, scores very high in the area of independent thought, actually helping each other, and not casting out people for being different. But as I lived closer to our headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Provo, I got to witness more "bad" brainwashing. Not so much from the doctrine or our highest leaders, but rather from the culture, itself -- where the people seemed to adhere to more Pharisaical interpretations of scripture, even to go as far to dictate which political party we should follow. I'll talk about this a little more in a couple of weeks when I switch back over to politics. But for now, I'd like to point out that the "bad" brainwashing appears to come more from policy, rather than doctrine.
And I realize that I've talked this whole time about religion, but that was only because it lends itself quite nicely to this discussion. And believe me -- we're not done yet. Later this year, we'll come back to this topic, possibly several times, because it isn't just in religion where we see good and bad brainwashing.
Before we wrap up, here's a quick summary. In our life, we are all subject to good and bad brainwashing. The good is necessary, because otherwise, it would take us forever to learn how to function in society. The bad often comes sprinkled in with the good, even when taught to us with good intent, but most of us can deal with this. However, bad brainwashing can come to us in heavy doses from entities with malicious intent, who are trying to use a good tactic to control or hurt us. How can we tell the good from the bad? Mostly by the fruits, but we'll talk more on that later.
For now, I highly recommend the three videos I mentioned earlier, and even if you've seen them before, you can watch them again for a refresher. They also happen to be some of my more entertaining videos, featuring the piano and my son. I promise that the minutes spent will go by quickly, and again I say: it could change your life.
And over the next two weeks, I'd like to ask you to keep an eye open for examples of good and bad brainwashing. You can go ahead and brainstorm. How can you tell the good from the bad? How can you break free from the bad brainwashings? How could you help others? We'll answer these questions later this year.
While you're still here, feel free to Like and Subscribe. And I'll see you here next time on "Always Be Better."
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