| A Story of Cult Indoctrination | ||
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Roles of Women and Abraham in LDS and Islam |
Picture a young boy, age 14 or so. For the sake of argument, we’ll call him Johnny. Johnny was once a straight “A” student. He liked reading, listened to country western music, and enjoyed cartoons on Saturday mornings. He never bothered with dressing to impress because it never occurred to him that it might matter. His hair is usually a ragged unkempt mop, and he usually looks and smells like he needs a bath. Needless to say, he is also a social outcast. He has two friends, neither of which ever amount too much in life. Now Johnny hardly ever goes to school, and when he does, his presence is more of a disruption than anything else. He dresses in ripped jeans and heavy metal t-shirts, has his ear pierced many times, and has his head shaved except for a thick, long lock that reaches from his forehead to just below his chin. What hair he has is bleached blonde, and on various days is died red, blue, green or yellow. His favorite article of clothing is a denim jacket upon which are scrawled many witty comments, various drawings, song quotes, and various religious symbols including a Star of David, a pentacle, and a cross of St. Peter, all chosen not for their meaning, but for the perception others have of them. He is still a social outcast, but instead of being ostracized for it, he is now the nominal leader of a small group of kids, mostly impersonal girls about his age. He now has many people he calls friends, including the same two from is outcast days. Those friends are now heavily into drugs and alcohol. Johnny’s opinion of these substances is neither for nor against. He hasn’t tried either for himself, even though most people assume that he has. Eventually, he becomes curious about these substances. He doesn’t understand their attraction and wants to know for himself what it is about these things that makes people act in strange ways. He decides to experiment with drugs and alcohol for himself, but before he does, he researches various drugs in use by teens of his age. After some careful reading, he discoverers that heroin, when it is pure and not mixed with other substances, is non-lethal, yet highly addictive. Cocaine he discovers can kill the first time it is tried regardless of its quality. Marijuana he discovers is non-addictive, non lethal, produces an extreme euphoric state, is inexpensive and relatively long lasting, and has no long lasting side-effects. He also discovers that mescaline, and it’s man made cousin LSD, are quite similar in their effects and properties. While Johnny is researching these things, his girlfriend hits him with the news that she is going to a rehabilitation clinic for alcohol abuse. Shortly there after, another friend also enters a rehab. And another. And another. And the thing that startles him the most is not that these friends are being sent away by their parents, each has issues of their own that they usually deal with by talking to him. What startles him the most is that the ones going away are the ones who do not drink or do drugs. Even the one extreme case has simply been caught sneaking into their parent’s liquor cabinet on two occasions, but by no means was this girl an alcoholic. Sometime in the spring of his 15th year, this boy finally decides it’s time to find out what it’s all about. He first tries alcohol, and after a night spent stumbling, vomiting, and being dizzy he decides that the effects are unpleasant, and the aftereffects even worse. The following afternoon he calls his girlfriends house to find out when she will be back. Her mother tells him that he is the reason her daughter is so messed up with drugs and alcohol, the he introduced her to it, that everything was his fault and that she will not be allowed to associate with him when she returns. This is part of the contract she has signed with her parents, apparently a part of the rehabilitation process. Along with this, she also has agreed to stop listening to heavy metal music, stop watching MTV, stop going to the roller skating rink or the mall on Friday and Saturday nights, and various other significant life changes. Her time will instead be taken up with going to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and time spent with her sponsor. Johnny is quite confused by all of this because he doesn’t understand how this mother, who up until just three weeks ago had seemed to quite like him, can believe that her daughter sneaking a few drinks from the liquor cabinet qualifies her as an alcoholic. He also cannot understand why the girl would tell her parents that he was responsible for all these things he is now accused of; things that he has never tried himself, and to his knowledge, neither had the girl! Above all, he can’t understand why such significant changes in her life must now be made in order to “cure” her alcoholism. In response to this, he decides that since the parents of all his friends now think he is a junky and alcoholic, he might as well become one. He begins experimentation in earnest. By January of his 16th year, he has become fed up with his own experimentation, and wants to stop, but finds that whenever he is exposed to these substances, he wants them. Finally, an accident while high convinces him that he needs help, and he signs himself into a rehab. Indoctrination Johnny has checked himself into an alcohol and drug rehabilitation clinic in Shawnee on the Delaware called Marworth. In his first hours at Marworth, he learns some interesting things. First, he learns that the bracelets he wears are indicative of association with a satanic cult operating in the area. He also learns that music of any kind is counter productive to the rehabilitation process. He learns that for the first few weeks, he will not be allowed to contact anyone outside of the clinic, that all jewelry is to be removed and confiscated, and that reading material is to be limited to either AA literature or religious literature. Johnny loves music, loves to read, two of his bracelets are remembrances for two friends who had died in the past year, and knows that Satanism is something made up by Catholics during the Inquisition and embellished by Hollywood in the 70’s and 80’s. Johnny was aware of the reading restrictions in advance, but he feels that what he did bring should be safe, because it is of a religious nature: A copy of Anton LaVey’s “Satanic Bible”, a copy of “The Necronomicon,” and a copy of the Qur’an. (Johnny was always a smart-a$$ when it came to authority). Needless to say, the first two books do not pass, but interestingly enough, neither does the Qur’an. Johnny spends the next 28 days being inundated with AA literature, and learning that in his entire life, he has never been “sober”. After a while, he starts to believe the things he is being told. He learns that his friends are all against him and will stop at nothing to get him to do drugs when he returns (most of his friends at this point do not drink or do drugs). He learns that the only was to become sober is to attend AA meetings on a regular basis, or he will eventually start drinking and doing drugs again. He learns that heavy metal music, hip-hop music, Folk Music, tie-die t-shirts, hemp pullovers, and Stephen King novels will eventually lead him back to drugs and alcohol. He learns that his life is forever different, and will never be the same again, all he has to do is submit to the 12-step process of regaining sobriety. (He also comes to some conclusions about Alcoholics Anonymous that will be discussed in much greater depth later on) In effect, what has happened to him is the same thing that had happened to his ex-girlfriend and her parents, he has been (temporarily) brainwashed. His perceptions of reality have been forcibly changed to match those of the society he is now a nominal member of. His beliefs have been molded, his looks have been tailored, his attitude has been adjusted, and his actions have been corrected in order for him to fit into a new society which, good intentions, has for the most part tried to tear down and destroy what was once young Johnny. The point Alcoholics Anonymous is an example that I have personal experience with, but it is by no means the only organization which uses the tactics associated with “brainwashing” to meet it’s goals. In fact, most religious, political and social organizations use these tactics to influence their members and to try and convert those outside of its sphere. But “brainwashing” as it is portrayed in the media and in movies isn’t real. Those portrayals are extreme to say the least. Most people have an intrinsic system of values and beliefs built into them that has been instilled by those who raised them. Changing those beliefs and values is not an easy process, and changing them through forcible indoctrination is next to impossible. A person will only change their beliefs if and when they feel that the new set of beliefs is the correct one. The term “brainwashing” is a modern invention, as are the techniques associated with them. The term was first used by Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950’s to as part of his anticommunist propaganda. His vision of brain washing envisioned an Orwellian revamping of an individuals mindset. He believed that communists kidnapped individuals and, with the use of drugs and psychological techniques, destroyed the beliefs and values of an individual while implanting those of the communists. Probably the most famous example of this kind of “reprogramming” is the case of Patty Hurst, the heir to the Hurst millions. Kidnapped by the “Symbionese Liberation Front”, many people believe that she was brainwashed into fighting for their cause. If true, this would be a textbook example of “brainwashing”. However, Hurst was more likely threatened, beaten and otherwise coerced into following along with the plans of this group. Even if it was true, the techniques used are not dissimilar to those that have been used by Christians for hundreds of years to convert others. Cults seldom would have to resort to this type of action in order to convert members (keeping members, as in the case of Jonestown or Aum Shinrikyo may be another story). The typical cult member is between the ages of 14 – 25, is highly intelligent, comes from a middle class family, and is more confused about their own beliefs than anything else. These people join a cult as a means to an end, even if they do not see it that way themselves. They are looking for a beliefs system that allows them to act and feel the way that they want. Others may simply be experimenting to learn on their own some universal truth. Still others may simply have family members or friends who belong to the cult. In the end, it is generally not the cult who is “brainwashing” an individual, but more likely those who see it as their responsibility to “reprogram” these individuals out of their cult beliefs who are using techniques which amount to “brainwashing”.
Etymology: translation of Chinese
(Beijing) xina<hacek>o
1
: a forcible indoctrination to induce someone to give up basic
political, social, or religious beliefs and attitudes and to accept
contrasting regimented ideas
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