Are we brainwashed from birth?
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: UK
Posts: 8
Are we brainwashed from birth?
Hi everyone.Thanks for being here.
This space is proving a valuable resource for me to explore and make sence of what has happened to me and what exactly that i am recovering from.
As i read the ACOA big book and the bradshaw book i mentioned in my earlier post,the concept of brainwashing keeps coming into my mind.Of how is it i find myself 40 yrs old and only now seeing the full and true view of the reality of the situation.
I'm coming to understand this is many facetted and has many componants.
This is from an atical i've just found.
Is brainwashing hogwash or not?
Newspaper journalist Edward Hunter coined the term during the Korean War to describe mind control used on American POWs who defected to Korea and China.
In his 1956 book "Brain-Washing," Hunter, later revealed to be a CIA propagandist, described
"a system of befogging the brain so a person can be seduced into acceptance of what otherwise would be abhorrent to him."
Psychiatrist Robert Lifton, one of a team of U.S. researchers who were the first to interview POWS in China, soon after concluded that the Chinese used a systematic process of
"coercive persuasion"
that involves specific elements: complete control over information and environment, manipulation to erode self-expression, criticism and degradation, confession, discipline, peer pressure, renunciation of values, and coercion by physical force and threat.
This seems identical to the enviroment i grew up in.
Are we brainwashed from birth?
This space is proving a valuable resource for me to explore and make sence of what has happened to me and what exactly that i am recovering from.
As i read the ACOA big book and the bradshaw book i mentioned in my earlier post,the concept of brainwashing keeps coming into my mind.Of how is it i find myself 40 yrs old and only now seeing the full and true view of the reality of the situation.
I'm coming to understand this is many facetted and has many componants.
This is from an atical i've just found.
Is brainwashing hogwash or not?
Newspaper journalist Edward Hunter coined the term during the Korean War to describe mind control used on American POWs who defected to Korea and China.
In his 1956 book "Brain-Washing," Hunter, later revealed to be a CIA propagandist, described
"a system of befogging the brain so a person can be seduced into acceptance of what otherwise would be abhorrent to him."
Psychiatrist Robert Lifton, one of a team of U.S. researchers who were the first to interview POWS in China, soon after concluded that the Chinese used a systematic process of
"coercive persuasion"
that involves specific elements: complete control over information and environment, manipulation to erode self-expression, criticism and degradation, confession, discipline, peer pressure, renunciation of values, and coercion by physical force and threat.
This seems identical to the enviroment i grew up in.
Are we brainwashed from birth?
Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Under the Rainbow
Posts: 1,086
To me, brainwashing involves the changing of a person's views *once they're capable of forming their own ideas of right and wrong*.
with ACoAs, we never had the opportunity to form an opinion of 'right' or 'wrong'. We were raised in an environment which, to us, was 'normal'. We had no outside source of identifying that what we lived in was not normal or healthy.
So I would liken what we go through as similar to growing up in a different culture, say, where women are required to be in purdah. Except that we grew up in this alternate culture while living in a different one. If I was to go into purdah but continue living in the US and attempt to do my job, I would be fired eventually. If I can not speak to men unless they speak to me first, I can not do my job.
But if I lived in a culture where everyone observed purdah, then I would get along just fine.
I don't think it's brainwashing, I think it's a massive culture shock. The world I live in is not the world in which I was raised. I'm now trying to figure out how to "do as the Romans" do now that I've realized I'm living in Rome. It's not easy.
with ACoAs, we never had the opportunity to form an opinion of 'right' or 'wrong'. We were raised in an environment which, to us, was 'normal'. We had no outside source of identifying that what we lived in was not normal or healthy.
So I would liken what we go through as similar to growing up in a different culture, say, where women are required to be in purdah. Except that we grew up in this alternate culture while living in a different one. If I was to go into purdah but continue living in the US and attempt to do my job, I would be fired eventually. If I can not speak to men unless they speak to me first, I can not do my job.
But if I lived in a culture where everyone observed purdah, then I would get along just fine.
I don't think it's brainwashing, I think it's a massive culture shock. The world I live in is not the world in which I was raised. I'm now trying to figure out how to "do as the Romans" do now that I've realized I'm living in Rome. It's not easy.
Member
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Tropical Island
Posts: 76
I was not brainwashed from birth but rather programmed.
If i have to use the "brainwashing" term at all then I would have to say that it is the negative values and attitudes that i learned as a child that has to be relearned
If i have to use the "brainwashing" term at all then I would have to say that it is the negative values and attitudes that i learned as a child that has to be relearned
Awaiting Email Confirmation
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 66
Boy can I relate to this. I was programmed to place other people's need ahead of my own. I was told over and over again that it was selfish to think of myself. I usually rush into a relationship and wonder why I feel so bad about myself. I am slowly getting to know the opposite sex and what their opinions are before getting involved. Recently I met a man and we spoke many, many times. I found out that he believes the man rules the household. That was enough for me to end it. I believe it should be the entire family who makes the rules in the house...more democratic and healthier for all involved.
God's Kid
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 1,820
Great topic.
I think for myself, what I have learned is that at some point in my childhood, the process of being more intersted in fulfilling anothers needs became more important/felt better than fulfilling my own.
I am the 2nd oldest in a family of 5 and I always felt like my older sister was treated better than me, like her needs were more important. This may or may not be true but I learnt to become overly interested in her, as away to stop feeling what I perceived was my parents rejection.
I also learnt to defend my mum against my dad and my dad against my mum, when they fought, which was often and neither of them had the grace to say to the other, maybe we shouldn't fight in front of the kids. And you name it they fought about it.
As a kid I never learnt I was important as an individual/as a person and it is something I am learning as an adult and I don't mean important to others, but important to myself.
I think for myself, what I have learned is that at some point in my childhood, the process of being more intersted in fulfilling anothers needs became more important/felt better than fulfilling my own.
I am the 2nd oldest in a family of 5 and I always felt like my older sister was treated better than me, like her needs were more important. This may or may not be true but I learnt to become overly interested in her, as away to stop feeling what I perceived was my parents rejection.
I also learnt to defend my mum against my dad and my dad against my mum, when they fought, which was often and neither of them had the grace to say to the other, maybe we shouldn't fight in front of the kids. And you name it they fought about it.
As a kid I never learnt I was important as an individual/as a person and it is something I am learning as an adult and I don't mean important to others, but important to myself.
Member
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 36
I think brainwashing is a good term.
My mother made it very clear she would only tolerate me if I shared her view that I was essentially a bad person. She somehow made me feel like if I felt good about myself, something terrible would happen to me as a punishment, an irrational anxiety I still notice creeping up on me at times!
I think she brainwashed that view into me to make sure that I would never have the self-confidence to dare to criticise her drinking, or anything about her. She always wanted to be able to say 'Look who's talking - you're worse than me - here is a list of your faults, in case you've forgotten'.
She also brainwashed me that people who don't drink or have a hedonistic approach to life are deathly boring.
And my brother and I knew how to mix the perfect G&T from the age of about 7. We thought it was normal to drink from the moment you got in through the door from work, until the moment you got into bed (she would carry her G&T to bed) every night without fail. Once I asked her, when I was about 5, if she was an alcoholic because we'd had a lesson at school about it and they said people who drink a lot are alcoholics. I innocently thought of her. I didn't even realise the label carried any stigma. Anyway she made my father tell me I had been very naughty and she would never forgive me for asking such a terrible question. I remember the shock and hurt I felt to this day.
My mother made it very clear she would only tolerate me if I shared her view that I was essentially a bad person. She somehow made me feel like if I felt good about myself, something terrible would happen to me as a punishment, an irrational anxiety I still notice creeping up on me at times!
I think she brainwashed that view into me to make sure that I would never have the self-confidence to dare to criticise her drinking, or anything about her. She always wanted to be able to say 'Look who's talking - you're worse than me - here is a list of your faults, in case you've forgotten'.
She also brainwashed me that people who don't drink or have a hedonistic approach to life are deathly boring.
And my brother and I knew how to mix the perfect G&T from the age of about 7. We thought it was normal to drink from the moment you got in through the door from work, until the moment you got into bed (she would carry her G&T to bed) every night without fail. Once I asked her, when I was about 5, if she was an alcoholic because we'd had a lesson at school about it and they said people who drink a lot are alcoholics. I innocently thought of her. I didn't even realise the label carried any stigma. Anyway she made my father tell me I had been very naughty and she would never forgive me for asking such a terrible question. I remember the shock and hurt I felt to this day.
Awaiting Email Confirmation
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 66
Thank goodness for recovery. I question everything now and am finding the truth. I recently had to go to unemployment to take a test for math and reading skills. I had 2 incorrect answers and something didn't seem right. I went home checked online and asked other people and my answers were correct! I was brainwashed to think I was stupid in Math because I was a female in society. That is NOT true! My career counselor was insinuating that I need to see a doctor because I started questioning his answers to my questions. He told me that I need to come back to reality because I had applied for help online. He said in a perfect world you would be able to apply online, but I needed to go in person. I called and found out that I just needed to print the last page, sign it, and mail it in. The career counselor was projecting his inadequacies on me. I am finding out the truth!! Now it's time for confrontation!!
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