The concept of Brainwashing
Brainwashing is generally referred to as a term of influencing someone’s thinking or behavior by telling them or manipulating their thinking.
Manipulation of someone’s thought processes can be done by giving them false information about the society or about any other topic.
The manipulator can give false information about any subject which he feels like that is the manipulator will change the information which is sensitive to the subject (the person being brainwashed).
For example, terrorist brainwash youngsters or kids about their religion and various other factors which are sensitive to them and manipulate their thinking and behavior towards the society.
It is commonly heard that small children are kidnapped by terrorists and are brainwashed and then their thinking is turned against the society. Thus, making the small children behave violently towards the society and other religions.
In earlier times, brainwashing was used by dictators and colonizers on the common people (native people of that region) to make them forcefully submit to the dictator’s wishes.
Why Brainwashing is used?
Brainwashing is usually carried out by people having a dominant attitude and who think that they have some power or authority over other people.
Brainwashing is mostly seen in Politics and people involved in politics use brainwashing to influence their subordinate people and also the public in believing false information.
Brainwashing was mostly seen in when a lot of Portuguese and British colonizers invaded India. These invaders basically forced the native Indians to convert their religion to Christianity.
This is known as Cult conversion and at that time it was very common and many of the poor villagers were forced to adopt the foreign religion.
Brainwashing is used in case of criminals in order to change their thinking about committing offences. This type of brainwashing is done for hardcore criminals who show higher chances of repeating the crime.
Brainwashing of the criminals is done by the Psychologists which has a strategic pattern depending upon the criminal’s mindset.
Mainly, brainwashing of the criminals is done to alter his violent thinking towards the society and therefore avoiding any chances of recidivism i.e. repeating the criminal act.
Psychological and Physical force can also be used to alter their thinking or behavioral pattern.
The well-known Dictator of Germany, Adolf Hitler used many strategies and stories along with physical force to brainwash the people of Germany against Jewish people.
Different techniques of Brainwashing
There are different methods or techniques which can be a sole method or in combination with other methods to channelize a person’s thinking.
For example, if a person is constantly bombarded with how his thinking about the society is useless, unworthy and how he is incapable of developing the society because of his immature thinking, then it is but obvious that the person will start changing his thinking.
He will first of all try to find out if whatever is told him is true or not and if it is true then why was he thinking in a wrong manner.
Then slowly his thinking will change and with the constant bombarding in the background he will also be subtly told, how to think and behave and therefore, make that person a puppet to the brainwasher’s choice.
A person can be brainwashed in different ways some of which include, bombardment of thoughts to the breaking point of that person, making him feel guilty for his behavior and to constantly make him realize his deeds were unjust to the other people, making the person think that he is a victim and should reciprocate to it by means of violence, etc.
All the above-mentioned methods of brainwashing are well-known to use as they have been used in the history by many great and worst people equally.
Brainwashing in daily life
Is it true that we come across brainwashing in our daily life? The answer is yes, there are many factors which influence our mind and thinking abilities in our daily lives.
We watch a movie, some or the other social matter is highlighted in it which makes us think about it and if we agree with the concept we accept it and think of it correct and change our behavior according to it. This itself is a type of brainwashing but without a human being as a brainwasher.
Similarly, we have one colleague or friend who lives for the attention he gets from the people in his surroundings. They sometimes have an ability to sympathetically gather people around them and put their point of view in front of others and making them believe that it is true.
This a manipulative streak which is strong in some people, and they use it for their benefit. This type of manipulative behavior is not harmful to others but for the person himself as when he loses the attention of others he feels helpless and lonely.
Sometimes, there are also cases where there might be some problems between the mother and father and one of them has the habit of manipulating others thoughts or just telling certain things which might be sensitive to the other person.
So now, this manipulative parent will indirectly brainwash their children against the other parent and thus, adding fuel to the already burning fire and thus, disturbing the family life for the children and themselves also.
There many such aspects and facts in our daily life which may affect our thinking for at least a minute if not for a long time. We ourselves need to differentiate right from the wrong and avoid these disturbing triggers.
Should we avoid Brainwashing?
Yes, definitely, we should avoid brainwashing by any living or objective things. Brainwashing might not affect the society if done in small proportion but will definitely change the life of the person being brainwashed.
After all, it is the brain and its thinking that is getting reorganized which will also affect the other psychological functions of the brain and thus, affecting the person’s daily routine.
Brainwashing done in religious cults might sometimes not be forceful but still the people who follow it or even attend those sessions might get affected because of it unknowingly. This should be avoided as much as possible.
It is said that the effects of brainwashing last only for a certain time but in most of the circumstances the victims of brainwashing are brainwashed continuously (almost every day) due to which they might forget their original thinking or also accept the information given by the brainwasher.
This is very dangerous to the person himself as well as the society as the brunt of his actions is suffered by the society may it be good or bad (violent inhuman activities by the brainwashed person).
Therefore, we need to identify the manipulative message if present in the other person’s sentences and behavior and therefore, identify if it is right or is there any underlying malignance present.
Feature Image Credit: Flickr
Leave a Reply