Meredith is a hot mess’s Reviews > Brainwashing: The Science of Thought Control > Status Update
Meredith is a hot mess
is 90% done
...try to reduce the associated beliefs which lend them support or the emotions
which give them force, or attempt to prevent them from taking hold in the first
place.
— Feb 20, 2024 03:40AM
which give them force, or attempt to prevent them from taking hold in the first
place.
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Meredith is a hot mess’s Previous Updates
Meredith is a hot mess
is 95% done
What about prevention? One way of reducing the influence of ethereal ideas
is to provide plenty of competition & widespread public debate. A common feature of brainwashing situations, from terrorist training camps to cults to
domestic abuse, is not simply that they instil a (usually small) number of strongly
held beliefs, but the narrowing of horizons which accompanies the process.
— Feb 20, 2024 03:49AM
is to provide plenty of competition & widespread public debate. A common feature of brainwashing situations, from terrorist training camps to cults to
domestic abuse, is not simply that they instil a (usually small) number of strongly
held beliefs, but the narrowing of horizons which accompanies the process.
Meredith is a hot mess
is 90% done
This slow chipping away is unlikely to succeed on its own. To work, it needs assistance from another approach: trying to reduce the emotions which give Sam’s ethereal ideas their force. This is probably the most unpopular method because it is the hardest.
— Feb 20, 2024 03:48AM
Meredith is a hot mess
is 90% done
Educational and political initiatives may be able to open up his cognitive horizons, presenting alternatives to his current, constricted world and giving him incentives to follow a more peaceable course of action.
— Feb 20, 2024 03:46AM
Meredith is a hot mess
is 90% done
More subtle work, over longer time periods, is required. One approach is to treat Sam’s ethereal ideas as a network of interlocking cogwebs, in which certain core principles gain their strength in part from being supported by other beliefs. It may be possible to weaken these supports. Sam may simply not have met many members of the enemy tribe, in which case publicizing their humanity may be useful.
— Feb 20, 2024 03:45AM
Meredith is a hot mess
is 90% done
one of the joys of ethereal ideas is their apparent explanatory power, their capacity to make everything look simple. Dividing the world into clearly-marked ‘us’ and ‘them’ groups puts much less strain on one’s cognitive resources than acknowledging the details of human difference
— Feb 20, 2024 03:42AM
Meredith is a hot mess
is 90% done
Ethereal ideas gain their power partly from their abstract, unchallengeable simplicity, partly because they fit with other beliefs already present, and partly by being linked to strong emotions. To defuse them (at least until technology gives us
more direct methods of brain change), we can either challenge them directly,..
— Feb 20, 2024 03:40AM
more direct methods of brain change), we can either challenge them directly,..
Meredith is a hot mess
is 90% done
A person infected with an ethereal idea becomes, in the extreme case, that most awe-inspiring of human deformities, the single-issue fanatic. The dominant cogweb drains energy from competing beliefs, gradually shutting down the person’s
horizons. The cognitive landscape warps and its scope narrows. Everything
becomes interpreted relative to the dominant idea, producing a ‘dark contracted Personallity’.5
— Feb 20, 2024 03:38AM
horizons. The cognitive landscape warps and its scope narrows. Everything
becomes interpreted relative to the dominant idea, producing a ‘dark contracted Personallity’.5
Meredith is a hot mess
is 90% done
Unlike most viruses, ethereal ideas may be welcomed by their targets, who may fiercely resist attempts to purge the infection. Many of the more hostile reactions to cults underestimate the degree to which they are actually fulfilling their members’ needs, and thereby attracting genuine, consensual commitment.
— Feb 20, 2024 03:37AM
Meredith is a hot mess
is 90% done
How to defuse brainwashing in others:
Like viruses, ideas often come in several strains of varying potency. The most powerful strains—certain ethereal ideas—are so dangerous that they can come to dominate, or even destroy, the infected brain.
— Feb 20, 2024 03:36AM
Like viruses, ideas often come in several strains of varying potency. The most powerful strains—certain ethereal ideas—are so dangerous that they can come to dominate, or even destroy, the infected brain.
Meredith is a hot mess
is 87% done
Some used their imagination to dream up plausible lies to tell their interrogators, making a game of this high-risk strategy of fooling the enemy without getting caught doing so, boosting their own confidence
and clarity of purpose every time a falsehood was believed. Some even studied
the aeronautics of passing flies in an attempt to stave off boredom.
— Feb 20, 2024 03:30AM
and clarity of purpose every time a falsehood was believed. Some even studied
the aeronautics of passing flies in an attempt to stave off boredom.
