What will be assembled here is a library of articles for interested persons to read and ponder.
The quotations are small excerpts from cited documents.
To get the reader's attention, have a look at this:
Quote
The most important aspect of the brainwashing process is the interrogation.The other pressures are designed primarily to help the interrogator achievehis goals. The following states are created systematically within the individual . These may vary in order, but all are necessary to the brainwashing process:
1. A feeling of helplessness in attempting to deal with the impersonal machinery of control.
2. An initial reaction of "surprise."
3. A feeling of uncertainty about what is required of him.
4. A developing feeling of dependence upon the interrogator.
5. A sense of doubt and loss of objectivity.
6. Feelings of guilt.
7. A questioning attitude toward his own value-system.
8. A feeling of potential "breakdown," i.e.,that he might go crazy.
9. A need to defend his acquired principles.
10. A final sense of "belonging" (identification).
A feeling of helplessness in the face of the impersonal machinery of controlis carefully engendered within the prisoner. The individual who receives thepreliminary treatment described above not only begins to feel like an "animal"but also feels that nothing can be done about it. No one pays any personalattention to him.
His complaints fall on deaf ears.
Everything that happens to him occurs according to an impersonal; timeschedule that has nothing to do with his needs.
Any of you who have been routed through an LGAT -- does any of this match up with what you remember?
Okay. Where did that checklist come from?
Not from a description of an LGAT. It is from a document compiled in 1956 entitled A Report on Communist Brainwashing
[
www.ncoic.com].
A large quantity of literature on this subject was published in the 1950s and 1960s after the Korean War, when American POWs returned and brought first hand descriptions of the powerful methods of indoctrination and group control used by their captors.
The difference is the brainwashing techniques were applied to persons who knew they were an indoctrinational setting
In LGATs one is not aware of being in an indoctrinational setting.
During the Cold War a lot of material was published describing Communist methods of group management and indoctrination.
Corboy just has to wonder if any persons studied up on this when creating large scale encounter groups of the 1960s and 1970s.
Research Article
’Brainwashing’ and Managed Group Experiences: Converging ‘New’ Techniques?
By William F. Marina | June 15, 1975
Also published in Reason Papers
[
www.independent.org]
1957 Communist methods of interrogation
“Abandonment of Direct Brutality”
Alternating approval and disapproval
Bulletin New York Academy Medicine. 1957 Sep; 33(9): 600–615.
PMCID: PMC1806200
PMID: 13460563
The Methods of Interrogation and Indoctrination Used by the Communist State Police*
Lawrence E. Hinkle and Harold G. Wolff
[
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]
Communist Interrogation Indoctriantion and Exploitation of Prisoners of War
[
palmm.digital.flvc.org]
Brainwashisng by EH Schein 1960
[PDF]BRAINWASHING Edgar H. Schein - DSpace@MIT
[
dspace.mit.edu]
by EH Schein - ?1960 - ?Cited by 15 - ?Related articles
Quote
The prisoner's social and emotional supports were undermined by his being
completely cut off from any communication with the outside (no incoming or outgoing
mail was permitted, and no non-Communist newspapers, etc. were available),
by the prohibition of any close emotional relationship with another prisoner
except in the context of reform, by the introduction of testimonials of various
sorts in the form of confessions by others whom the prisoner respected or simply
by surrounding the prisoner with cell mates who were enthusiastic about reforming
themselves and who condemned all the values to which he adhered.
The prisoner's image of himself and his sense of integrity or inviolability
were undermined primarily by the humiliation, revilement, and brutalization he
suffered at the hands of his cell mates in the process of "struggle." Most
prisoners were put into a cell containing several Chinese prisoners who were
further along in reforming themselves and who saw it as their primary duty to
"help" their most backward member to see the truth about himself in order that
the whole cell might advance. Each such cell had a leader who was in close contact
with the authorities for purposes of reporting on the cell's progress and
getting advice on how to handle the Western member. In this setting the cell
mates found ways of putting extreme pressure on their unreformed member, particularly
since he was often completely dependent upon them for help in feeding
himself, eliminating, etc.
.
and
Quote
Other facets of the environment undermined the prisoner s self-image. The
prisoner was identif'ied only by number; his every action during the day wans_
carefully prescribed -- when to eat, when to go to the toilet, when to wash, etc.
The time allotted to these activities was usually far too short to allow for
their satisfactory completion (e.g., two minutes for running out to the toilet,
18.
eliminating, and returning at a given time of day);
[
www.ncoic.com]
A REPORT ON COMMUNIST BRAINWASHING
MEMORANDUM FOR: The Honorable J. Edgar Hoover
Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation
SUBJECT : Brainwashing
The attached study on brainwashing was prepared by my staff in response to the increasing acute interest in the subject throughout the intelligence and security components of the Government. I feel you will find it well worth your personal attention. It represents the thinking of leading psy- chologists, psychiatrists and intelligence specialists, based in turn on interviews with many individuals who have had personal experience with Communist brainwashing, and on extensive research and testing. While individuals specialists hold divergent views on various aspects of this most complex subject, I believe the study reflects a synthesis of majority expert opinion. I will, of course, appreciate any comments on it that you or your staff may have.
(signed)
Allen W. Dulles
Director
ENCLOSURE
OA 53-37
What follows are just a few excerpts from a lengthy document.
Quote
b. Elicitation for the purpose of brainwashing consists of questioning,argument,indoctrination,threats,cajolery,praise,hostility, and a variety of other pressures. The aim of this interrogation is to hasten the breakdown of the individual's value system and to encourage the substitution of a different value-system.
The procurement of protected information is secondary and is used as a device to increase pressure upon the individual.
The term "interrogation" in this paper will refer, in general, to this type. The "interrogator" is the individual who conducts this type of interrogation and who controls the administration of the other pressures. He is the protagonist against whom the victim develops his conflict, and upon whom the victim develops a state of dependency as he seeks some solution to his conflict.
Quote
4. Control of Communication.
This is one of the most effective methods forcreating a sense of helplessness and despair.
This measure might well beconsidered the cornerstone of the communist system of control.
It consistsof strict regulation of the mail,reading materials, broadcast materials, andsocial contact available to the individual. The need to communicate is sogreat that when the usual channels are blocked, the individual will resort toany open channel, almost regardless of the implications of using thatparticular channel. Many POWs in Korea, whose only act of "collaboration" wasto sign petitions and "peace appeals," defended their actions on the groundthat this was the only method of letting the outside world know they werestill alive. Many stated that their morale and fortitude would have been increased immeasurably had leaflets of encouragement been dropped to them. When the only contact with the outside world is via the interrogator, th eprisoner comes to develop extreme dependency on his interrogator and hence loses another prop to his morale.
Quote
7. Criticism and Self-Criticism. There are mechanisms of communist thought control. Self-criticism gains its effectiveness from the fact that although it is not a crime for a man to be wrong, it is a major crime to be stubborn and to refuse to learn. Many individuals feel intensely relieved in being able to share their sense of guilt. Those individuals however, who have adjusted to handling their guilt internally have difficulty adapting to criticism and self-criticism. In brainwashing ,after a sufficient sense of guilt has been created in the individual, sharing and self-criticism permit relief. The price paid for this relief, however, is loss of individuality and increased dependency.
RESTRICTION OF ACCESS TO TOILETING -- Corboy emphasis
Quote
9. Other methods of control, which when used in conjunction with the basicprocesses, hasten the deterioration of prisoners' sense of values andresistance are:
a. Requiring a case history or autobiography of the prisoner provides a mine of information for the interrogator in establishing and "documenting" accusations.
b. Friendliness of the interrogator , when least expected, upsets the prisoner's ability to maintain a critical attitude.
c. Petty demands, such as severely limiting the allotted time for use of toilet facilities or requiring the POW to kill hundreds of flies, are harassment methods.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/18/2018 12:00PM by corboy.