Can you really change someone? : . : Indoctrination : . : Are we all really that gullible?


: . : So, after a few topics of friendly things that just make you feel nothing but warm and fuzzy inside, how about we move on to one of more disturbing coersion. No, I'm not sure if I spelled that one right, but need i remind you again that this is my article and not yours? I didn't think so. Indoctrination, the fact is that we, as humans, do not really believe what they want to. We think that we do, but we really don't. Our worldviews and interpretations of reality are almost entirely based upon what we learned as children. This is not neccessariy passed on to us by our parents, although it usually is, sometimes it may be passed on by another member of the family, a friend, or even a tv show that we see often enough. When one is learning at a very young age, what is learned is considered to be truth, and nothing but truth, there is no concept of deception. So, am I implying that everyone believes nothing but exactly what their parents taught them? By no means, that would be a foolish assumption. Many people do find a way to change what they think, or what they believe, whether it be by a great deal of personal determination, or by some unexpected event that has deep and changing effects on one's life, such as the death of a friend, or even a pet (there are many other things, but I don't want to be depressing here, whether or not you may think that that is my intention).

: . : You may want to first know what indoctrination is. Firstly, a doctrine is a belief or a set of governences that a person holds to with their life. It is what one would truly base their life upon, if anything. Indoctrination is the intentional changing of one's doctines, into something else, something specifically chosen by the one administering the indoctrination. Usually indoctrination is not used on willing participants, and so is usually looked upon as a bad thing, if not criminal. Indoctrination is used by cults, although I will not talk about them, because they are too diverse and hard to talk about or generalize because of this, and the cult itself has little meaning these days.

: . : It has been known that a person's beliefs may be changed by outside sources for quite some time, and some people have chosen to capitolize on that (funny how that word came in there). There are obvious examples of this, such as the Nazi regime or the Third Reich. Their concentration camps were just that. One a person loses contact with the outside, and is made to lose all hope they will believe anything. You may think that you have had points in your life when you have lost all hope, but you really have no idea what that means, in comparison to what went on in these places. Being suicidal doesn't necessarily warrant a complete and total loss of hope. You see, when one commits suicide, that means that they have hope that dying will improve things. In a concentration camp, you are taught that there is no hope either here or in death, so you might as well stay here and sweat out your last bit of precious water as a worthless lump of flesh, an animal that has been imprisoned. When all hope is lost in such circumstances, one will believe whatever they are told by those who have no lost hope, sticking with the example, they will believe whatever their Nazi captors tell them. Such things as "Hitler has won the war," "Your family is all dead," "There are no Jews in the world other than you," "You have no worth, you are but a violent animal." Such things are immediately grasped on to, and believed, because they are the only thing worth believing. Those who were able to cling to their faith while in concentration camps defy all logic.

: . : We all know of Einstein, and we all hear that he was a firm believer in God, when in fact that was not exactly the truth. Einstein, although having never spent time in a 'Camp', or any indoctrination facility, had great trouble believing in a God that would allow things such as the suffering of the Jews. He was Jewish himself, but that did not necessarily make the events closer to his heart. Einstein was one of the most shockingly brilliant men of our era, easily, and obviously. He studied not only physics and mathematics, but held enough knowledge in such fields as political sciences, religion, science, biology and others, to have the equivilant of a PHD in any of them. He desperately wanted to believe in God, and sought after the world's greatest religious thinkers, and questioned them as to the nature of God. After facing his questioning and religious interrogation, almost every 'father of the faith' went away either inwardly or outwardly in tears. He was too smart, too intense, too devout in his search for the truth to be satiated by any earthly source. None would ever have Einstein truly believe in God.

: . : Perhaps that was a little off topic, but it points out just how atrocious the events of the holocaust were, and how horrible the methods of indoctrination can be. Now, while that is what we typically view as being indoctrination, there are many, much more subtle ways of going about it. The next to be discussed is sensory depravation. Sensory depravation is exactly what it sounds like, the depravation of the senses. When one removes all sensory stimuli from another, after a surprisingly short time, they will believe anything they are told. Methods of this include immersing someone in an insulated tank of luke-warm water, with no light or sounds. The person must be softly restrained from motion. After a few hours, or even days, depending on how sure one wants to be of the procedure, they are given sounds and speech. The words become absolute truth to the subject, even such things as "You won't remember any of this having happened." become truth. This is a quick and easy way, but it takes much more work, and is not as punishing a method as Hitler was looking for.

: . : I realize that what I'm talking about is considered the same thing as hypnosis to some people, but I would like to draw a strong distinction between the two. True indoctrination and hypnosis are by no means the same thing. In hypnosis, one is making another's subconscious believe something, and it wears off as a dream would, and in a few days at the most, any effects of the hypnosis are gone. Well done indoctrination lasts a lifetime, or until another event that changes one's worldview takes place. Those were the two most obvious forms of indoctrination, now, how about a couple that you probably have not thought about.

: . : Summer camp. I'm not kidding here, I'm truly being serious. When a child is at summer camp, they are cut off from the outside, and for a week or two, they are usually fed one point of view. Beyond all rationality, that view becomes the correct one in their mind, unless they simple have not been paying any attention. Because of the passive nature of this treatment, that's all one really has to do to not suffer it's effects. Like when you are left in a place with one person for long enough, you are bound to fall in love with them, because you begin to believe that they are the best, and the only for you. If you are left with only one available idea, it becomes the best and the only for you. You may think that I'm just being foolish now, but unfortunately we are weak enough in spirit for it to be true. Although, if we did not have this weakness, we wouldn't learn very much at all, we would be hardened to the world, and would not be able to function in society. What does it mean to function in society if we would not function without the ability to change our beliefs with the tides of society? (You probably didn't notice the chain of logic that just went by, so I'll go over it again. Society changes, gets newer, and different. With changes like that, society has to change it's most basic beliefs to accomodate the new things, it has to restructure thought to incorporate the changes, tweak morality for people to relate to each other with highest efficiency, with the highest possible illusion of happiness. For us to work with society, we have to change our beliefs with it).

: . : That brings me to my final indoctrination place, society. Much like summer camp, but on a much grander scale. Here we find a system of belief and morality that has become necessary to the functioning of society, and so has become the norm (the 'norm' is basically anything that is readily accepted, or even expected from a person). What becomes the norm, becomes the only thing that we are in contact with. Since we are only in contact with the norm (at least 95% of the time we are), then we are indoctrinated by the norm. You may be asking how people are influenced by the norm when they are what make up the norm. The fact is that it changes in tiny increments, allowing each person to add their bit, their tiny bit. Change in society is not like a downhill skiier, but instead a cross country skier. One ski pushes in front of the other, then the other can push farther than the first, and so on. Each person is restricted by the norm, but when each person changes the slightest bit, the norm changes, allowing for greater change on everyone else's part. We may not all be moving in the same direction, but it is only the average direction that counts in any way when we're talking about the norm.

: . : So what am I saying here? Well, as always, that's for you to decide. Am I insisting that there is just no hope for any of us? Perhaps. Perhaps that is the reason that it is so easy for any of us to change the opinions or beliefs that make up our most basic nature, without even knowing it. Maybe we all lacked enough hope in what we believed in the first place to resist the change. Now, if this is true, than what does that say for us? Pretty sad aren't we? Attributing our lives to beliefs that we don't have sufficient faith or resolve to stick to. In my opinion it comes down to one thing. Have the strength to stand up for what you believe, and what you base your life upon, give it your all. If you can't do that, find something else. If you don't have that something else, you are nothing more than a clean slate, a smooth patch of water in the ocean of waves, gliding wherever it goes. Does it really make sense to make a ripple anyway? Is it useful to stand up for what you believe, and to keep your thought system consistent and not change with society? That's an interesting question right there. Why don't we try to answer it, since there's a little room left for writing in this article?

: . : If we simply change with society, will all willingness, and if that point of view is the norm, then society will change much faster than it ever did before. Strangely enough, more any more people are this way, and society is changing. After a couple hundred years, north america is removing God from wherever they can, and making the profane desirable. It took a long time for these changes to come around, and now they have come suddenly. Basically the decision is yours. Do you think that the end result that society is working towards is good? Then sway your belief all you want. Do you think that society is heading down, or away from the true utopia that we should be able to achieve as human beings? Then hold firm to your belief, and let people know that it is the best way to be. If others do not know that you are holding on to your anti-societal beliefs (which could be anyone of many beliefs, such as Anarchist, Conservative Christian, Islamic, Communist, Facist, Monarchist, and many others, in no particular order), your beliefs really don't count for all that much in the long run. It's the voicing of your opinion that makes it valid in any way. Eastern Mysticism allows for change, and for the progress of morality and justice, so it follows with society and does not run against it. So also do liberal Christian movements, and many new religions arising all over the world. Ones that allow for global change.

: . : It's up to you really. What do you think is right? I can't decide for you. You'll be convinced of something, one way or another. Perhaps you'll be convinced to think the same way I do if you spend enough time on this page, reading the articles. Maybe that's why the backgrounds are black, and there are no images, to deprive your senses, and make my information more relevant to your subconscious. Would I really do that? That is also for you to decide.