Having grown up during the Cold War, I often saw movies and heard stories about ‘brainwashing’. On hearing about it, I was intrigued. Questions ran through my mind as to how something like that happened.
On taking the advanced psychology courses, I finally learned the secrets of brainwashing. I read and re-read how those being brainwashed were so radically transformed. Over time, I pieced together the other various nuances of brainwashing, including hypnosis, Neuro-Linguistic Programming, and other methods of brain transformation.
I even took a course on how television is used in shaping people’s behaviors. Prior to that, I had never realized the power of programming. There is a reason they refer to the shows as ‘programs’. Up to that point, I thought I watched television for entertainment. After taking that course, I looked at television and other forms of media in a completely different way.
I have to say that my understanding of brainwashing changed the very foundation of how I saw the world. It was no longer as simple as good vs. evil. There were many shades of gray. People could be easily manipulated given the right circumstances and crisis.
The surprising thing about brainwashing is how the subject finally accepts a whole new reality given to them. No matter how bizarre, they accept it without questioning it. It astounded me.
When I see some of those same techniques employed in changing society and culture, it bothers me. The fire alarms really go off when I see attempts at changing culture regarding marriage, family and affairs. The social engineers are using every trick in the book. There’s now the idea being promoted that ‘children don’t belong to their parents’, instead, they belong to the community. The latest is that YOUR children don’t belong to you when they are at school. At that point, they belong to the teachers.
I figure that marriages have enough challenges without some ‘know-it-all’ social engineer using brainwashing techniques in getting the culture to accept affairs and divorced families as ‘normal’ and routine.
I saw a recent article about how a couple was getting divorced so as not to offend the nanny lover by making her feel left out. When the story broke, within hours, it was international news. It occurred to me that this was intentional. The writers of the story are openly working at ‘normalizing’ the affairs and lifestyle of this family. They’re using brainwashing techniques to get the culture to accept it.
The group was presented in the news in a ‘family portrait’ pose in order to change your thinking about them. When they change how the cheaters are presented, they end up changing the whole message. The really bizarre thing is that the family portrait was taken ‘in the bed’! (Talk about double-messages).
Did your marriage troubles make international news? Did your spouse’s affair make headlines? Was a family portrait made of you, the cheater, the lover where the affair happened?
Unless your marriage problems or affair can be exploited to advance someone else’s agenda or change society, it probably didn’t. The papers weren’t filled with stories about my family when we faced an affair. The reporters didn’t take pictures of the “One Big Happy Family” complete with lovers and their attached ‘bonus children’.
The problem is I recognize brainwashing and propaganda techniques when I see them. The redefining of marriage and what’s normal is nothing more than another attack on your family and home. If you feel under attack at times, it’s because you are.
The good news is that you can do something about it. Rather than feel like you are ‘weird’ or ‘not normal’ by all the redefining going on, you can do something about it. You and your spouse can take advantage of the “30 Days to a Better Marriage Program“, which strengthens your marriage. With a stronger marriage, you can make yourself immune to the cultural brainwashing of redefining what it means to be married.
Keeping It Real.
Jeff
