“Who is the slayer, who is the victim? Speak.”
-Sophocles
Today on one of my social media feeds someone posted memes implying that our current government is the equivalent of Nazi Germany and asserting that now is the time for people to show what they would have done/will do if given the chance to stop the “Third Reich.” Memes that imply anyone who does not stand against President Trump or his policies is the guilty equivalent of Hitler or other evils.
In addition to revealing a complete lack of education about or understanding of history (both past and present), these sorts of posts reflect a technique used in classic brainwashing. The question, however, is: are those posting, reposting, and otherwise repeating such sentiments the brainwasher, the brainwashed, or both?
Brainwashing is an extreme form of the social influence that affects all of us daily. Psychologist Robert Jay Lifton, an early researcher into the area, called techniques of brainwashing “mind reform.” He identified specific stages in the process of this mind reform. Looking at the process it is hard not to see it reflected in the anti-Trump rhetoric and behavior that abounds in today’s society.
Brainwashing or Mind Reform begins with assaulting and breaking down the self of the victims in order to convince them that they are not who they think they are. Victims are berated with assertions that deny their beliefs about themselves: You are not a true Christian; not a true patriot; not a good parent; not a good citizen; not truly compassionate; not defending freedom. They are under attack being told: you are wrong; you are stupid; you are racist to think as you do, etc. They are told their beliefs are responsible for suffering, both theirs and others, both past and present.
Under such constant attack the victims become exhausted and confused to the point that their beliefs seem less solid and they (with the brainwasher’s help) begin to feel an overwhelming sense of guilt and shame for the beliefs that make them who they are. With this state of mind it becomes easier to change the values and beliefs of the victims.
The brainwasher will push the victims to denounce family, friends, peers, and others who share the same “wrong” beliefs as the victim. As the victims begin to separate from their past the groundwork is laid for building a new personality. As the constant assault on identity along with the creation of guilt reaches its peak and the victims wonder “who am I? What am I supposed to do?”, the brainwasher will set up the temptation for the victims to convert to another belief system that will save them from their misery. Thus ends the first stage of “mind reform.”
I would argue that the anti-Trumpers are fairly successful at carrying out this phase. Those who do not hold their beliefs are constantly berated for those beliefs in a way that attacks their very identity. They are encouraged to carry guilt for any wrongs in the world that they are led to believe are the result of their “wrong” values and beliefs. Their values and their very selves are demeaned, they are rejected, and as they begin to question who they are, the value system of the anti-Trumpers is held out to them as right, good, and a way to make themselves both right and good.
The second phase of the brainwashing process involves several steps that create for the victims the possibility of salvation from their prior wrongs and from their guilt. As the victims begin to lean toward the new set of values and beliefs offered by the brainwasher, the victims will be shown kindness and reprieve from the assaults they have been experiencing towards themselves. They are thus faced with the contrast between guilt and pain versus the sudden relief they now experience. They will be offered the opportunity to “confess” as a means of relieving their guilt and pain.
Victims will likely not be able to identify specifically what they are guilty of, but will simply feel a heavy burden of being wrong. The brainwasher will encourage the victims to attach the guilt and sense of wrongness to the belief system that the brainwasher is in the process of replacing. The victims will begin to believe that it is the old belief system itself that is the cause of their shame and hurt, and will understand that the new system is, at the very least, a way to escape that agony.
The idea that the root cause of guilt and pain is an external ideology allows the victims to place blame for their pain and “wrongness” beyond themselves: “it’s not me, it’s my beliefs that were externally imposed on me.” The victims can assert that they themselves are not bad and that they can escape their prior badness or wrongness by simply escaping the bad or wrong belief system. All they have to do is denounce the people and institutions associated with that belief system.
This second phase of the mind reform process certainly explains the 100% denouncement and hatred of Trump as well as denouncements of our country, its government, its laws, and anyone who shows any sign of support for those things. Those who have been convinced that their legitimate beliefs are racist or in some way evil or that they are responsible for the suffering of others, now have the opportunity to release their pain by simply denouncing their former beliefs, including those beliefs upon which this country was founded, and joining the anti-Trumpers.
The final phase of brainwashing or mind reform involves the rebuilding of the Self. The rejection by the victims of the old ideology leaves a vacuum into which the new ideology can be placed. That new ideology is presented as the path to good. The victims are encouraged to make a conscious choice in favor of the new system, and, once that is done, the previous attacks on the victims’ identities that caused the victims pain are replaced with welcoming comfort, collegiality, and a sense of belonging. In this way the brainwasher reinforces the positive choice of the new ideology: the new identity is safe and “good” unlike the uncomfortable and “bad” former ideology. The victims will shed all allegiance to the old ideology and fully affirm the new as they are accepted and anchored firmly into the new order.
Lifton and subsequent psychologists who identify the steps of brainwashing and how it leads to a profound state of suggestibility also discuss why some people are more susceptible than others. A strong sense of identity and self-confidence along with faith in a higher power can assist a targeted victim from detaching from and resisting the process. I would submit that in this age of social media and its companion need for social acceptance and group belonging, an age in which social influence has such great power, that taking simple social influence to the next level of actual mind reform is perhaps a not too difficult task for those seeking to do so. That is, for many the need for social approval and acceptance is so strong and so often accompanied by self-doubt, that their very identities will be easy targets for the brainwasher.
I don’t know where those who repost and repeat the ugly anti-Trump rhetoric are in this process of mind reform. Are they fully accepted into the cult of anti-Trump, or are they trying to get there? I do believe they are at least past the first phase and either because they are full members or in an effort to continue assuaging the guilt they feel for their old “bad” ideology, they are trying to impose the same efforts that worked on them on those who still hold those “bad” beliefs.
Regardless of whether they are the brainwasher, the victims, or both, they are filled with either fear or hate of all who do not share the anti-Trump agenda. Moreover, they are incapable of having any kind of dialog about the varying ideologies that must always exist in a democracy. Reposting memes, repeating phrases that attempt to assign guilt to those who hold the “wrong” beliefs, makes them complicit in the brainwashing of new victims.
In nearly any attempt at conversation that I have had with one of these at least semi-brainwashed individuals, rather than carry on a discussion their approach is to repeatedly ask me questions that take this two-part form: (1) How can you hold that view when (2) it reveals you as racist/a white supremacist/without compassion/stupid/ignorant/without humanity or compassion/etc.? Such a question presumes that my beliefs are indeed as labeled (e.g. they are racist, etc.). If the questioner has already determined that, then there is little room for dialog. I am immediately put on the defensive, expected to feel guilt and shame (sounds like the first phase of brainwashing, doesn’t it?). If the second half of the question already has an answer (the view is racist) then the first part also already has an answer – I could only hold that view if I am indeed racist.
And so, the attempt at brainwashing begins. Sadly, these questions too often find victims that are likely susceptible to the anti-Trump brainwashing. They will begin to question their identity and their beliefs and are thus well on the way to the guilt and shame that will make them willing victims of mind reform.
A real dialog might instead include questions such as: “I don’t understand your view, could you explain it to me?” Or even “I don’t understand why that view is not racist, but I’d like to hear why you believe it is not.” Anything that would open up a discussion about differing views and differing ideologies. That is far different than calling something a discussion or dialog when it is actually an attempt to create shame and guilt combined with a predetermined judgment about a view and anyone who holds that view as being in some way “bad.”
With apology to Sophocles, I ask: Who is the brainwasher, who is the brainwashed? Are you a victim? Are you knowingly or unknowingly assisting in brainwashing others? Without honestly asking these questions of ourselves and others and honestly answering, there is little hope for dialog or tolerance, two key pieces of a free and democratic society.
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