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having in your house a refrigerator more than nine months old. They invite you
to worship at the shrine of materialism. Miss Scott, the headmistress of the
Lady Eleanor Holies School has recently visited Canada and U.S.A. At the prize.
distribution she said she was alarmed at the influence these techniques might have
on adolescents. It is said that the Motivational Research Institute is to opend
branch in London.
Their methods have long been known to religious fanatics and in our time
to the secret police. And for our peace of mind and mental health it behoves us to
understand what this technique is, and not be caught out unawares. Such knowledge
will stand us in good stead, either in the self-help store or in the interrogation
cell if ever we find ourselves there behind the iron curtain.
Brain Washing
The theory is quite simple. Our conduct, aided to some extent by out
intelligence, is governed mainly by emotions such as love, hate, fear, envy, protectiveness,
and so on. A threat to our well-being from any source and in any
manner arouses an emotion. The most urgent demand is to keep in good standing
with the group, otherwise the animal is in grave danger of either injury or death
because of the lack of the group protection given by the herd. If the threat is
continued and the emotion goes on and on, there comes a stage with all animals
and humans where the stress can be withstood no longer. The mind then begins
to react in one of three ways. (1) The stage when, for anyone who is paralysed by
fear, extra scoldings or beatings produce no further effect; (2) the stage when a
small stimulus produces a violent emotional reaction, and (3) the stage when a
stimulus will produce conduct the very opposite of what you would expect.
Interrogation
The secret police know these stages. The victim is subjected to intense
emotional strain prolonged beyond endurance. He is weakened physically by
starvation, brutality, solitary confinement, lack of light, the attacks of insects and
rats. Then come the prolonged interrogations under bright lights going on and
on for hours and hours. The struggle of the victim to retain his original beliefs
creates an emotional stress which, under intense severity and prolonged duration,
becomes intolerable. Then the person passes to the stage in which the mind
permits intense reaction and the behaviour and beliefs become the reverse of what
you might expect. A conservative will become a communist; an eminent divine
will sign a confession extolling the virtues of communism. A person will confess
to crimes he never committed. It makes you wonder how many innocent persons
have been convicted wrongly.
The prevention lies in trying to avoid getting emotionally upset. We do not
get angry or frightened if our minds are on something else. If, during the interrogation
the victim can think of other things, then the interrogator will make little
progress.
So when you are tempted into buying something which ultimately you might
regret, or when you are in danger of being converted to a faith which you know is
not for you, or when your emotions are being played upon for the very purpose of
converting you to a different way of thinking, take care that you try to remain
master of the situation; you will come to little harm if you can divert your mind to
some more immediate or pressing problem or some more fanciful or pleasant
reverie whilst the brainwashing is going on. If you can remember this in times of
stress it will make a contribution to our mental health well worth achieving.
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