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How to escape the age of mass delusion
The Federalist ^ | 6-8-15 | Stella morabito

Posted on 06/08/2015 9:38:51 PM PDT by DeweyCA

[Snip]

One of the best books that cracks the code on what we are living through was written by Dutch psychiatrist Joost A. M. Meerloo about 60 years ago. Mull over the first line of his book’s forward, and you will think he is writing about today: “This book attempts to depict the strange transformation of the free human mind into an automatically responding machine – a transformation which can be brought about by some of the cultural undercurrents in our present-day society as well as by deliberate experiments in the service of a political ideology.”

That’s from “The Rape of the Mind: The Psychology of Thought Control, Menticide, and Brainwashing” (1956). There is indeed a war on the private mind, as Kevin Williamson explained in a recent National Review column. Unfortunately, too many Americans have been sleeping through most of its propaganda battles, and for a very long time. When it comes to understanding the inner workings of social psychology and political correctness, we seem to be at a loss.

Meanwhile, the power elites who now control the media, academia, and Hollywood seem to understand social psychology well enough to exploit it on a massive scale. They have engaged in psychological warfare against the private mind by inducing “collective belief formation.” There’s really nothing new here. Conditioning and nudging the masses into groupthink is a very old trick of all wannabe dictators. The bloody twentieth century is filled to the gills with examples.

[Snip]

(Excerpt) Read more at thefederalist.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: academicbias; globalwarminghoax; groupthink; homosexualagenda; media; mediabias; msm; pc; popefrancis; propaganda; romancatholicism
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To: DeweyCA

There is no greater mass delusion than the belief in the supernatural.


21 posted on 06/08/2015 11:46:59 PM PDT by Misterioso (Islam is un-American.)
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To: DeweyCA
Ive been on this same page for awhile....

the point of gay marriage is not gay marriage...

it the 2+2=5 moment...

the state is taking something self-evidently irrational and reprogramming society that any arbitrate idea of the state is to be the accepted “rational” ... it's simply a brainwashing tool...

the point is to break you ...to break logic and reason.. to replace any self-evident truths you should be able to see for yourself with only state declared truth

22 posted on 06/08/2015 11:48:38 PM PDT by tophat9000 (An Eye for an Eye, a Word for a Word...nothing more)
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To: Misterioso
The most common of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably not true. It is the chief occupation of mankind.
— H L Mencken, A Mencken Chrestomathy (1949)
23 posted on 06/09/2015 12:12:30 AM PDT by FredZarguna (It looks just like a Telefunken U-47 -- with leather.)
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To: DeweyCA

Bump for reading later.


24 posted on 06/09/2015 12:30:20 AM PDT by TChad
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To: DeweyCA; a fool in paradise; Texas Eagle; hosepipe; Vince Ferrer; 2ndDivisionVet; familyop; ...
I usually stay on top of what's happening in the world by reading headlines and if they catch my eye, reading the first couple of paragraphs, sometimes the whole story, and pretty quickly get the gist, so I'm informed, and also with headline news at the hour and the half on radio.

Like that Waco biker shootout -- pretty obvious and easy to figure out what happened there, where a bunch of bad-ass bikers were gathered at some "breastaurant" in Texas and got in a gun fight, the cops showed up, and nine bikers ended up dead, another 18 wounded, and about 170 arrested and tossed in jail. Good riddance to bad rubbish and hooray for the cops! That story made me chuckle, because I have a lot of Harley friends who don't have much good to say about dumb-ass bikers of the type that shoot up restaurants in Texas.

And it was the delusion I allowed myself to maintain for TWO WEEKS, until I did some homework and saw a delusion shattered.

Some aspect of the psychology of mass delusion must operate at least on some level with the understanding that people are very apt to think, as I did in this particular case, that they can just read the headlines and the lead paragraphs and have a pretty good idea of what's going on.

The reality is that just reading the headlines and the lead paragraphs, leads one right into the corral of mass delusions. Thanks to the Waco charade, I know better now and will ALWAYS understand that if I really want to know what's going on in a story that catches my eye, I have to treat the story as a mere starting point and take responsibility for doing my own homework. People who rely on the MSM to do it, are going to be led down the garden path to mass delusionville.

25 posted on 06/09/2015 12:49:38 AM PDT by Finny (Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. -- Psalm 119:105)
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To: All
And the MSM includes Fox News.
26 posted on 06/09/2015 12:52:04 AM PDT by Finny (Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. -- Psalm 119:105)
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To: Misterioso

There is no greater mass delusion than the belief in the supernatural.


Thats what flat earthers think...
They only believe in what they see and/or can conceive of..

What they cannot conceive of...... is silly..


27 posted on 06/09/2015 1:13:32 AM PDT by hosepipe (This propaganda has been edited (specifically) to include some fully orbed hyperbole..)
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To: hosepipe

“YET; think you own it.. when you don’t.. a delusion..”

I have quite a bit of trouble getting people to understand that.

Maybe I don’t explain it well.


28 posted on 06/09/2015 2:05:27 AM PDT by dsc (Any attempt to move a government to the left is a crime against humanity.)
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To: DeweyCA

bump


29 posted on 06/09/2015 2:21:58 AM PDT by gattaca (Republicans believe every day is July 4, democrats believe every day is April 15. Ronald Reagan)
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To: DeweyCA

Bfl


30 posted on 06/09/2015 2:23:02 AM PDT by Attention Surplus Disorder
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To: DeweyCA
The book The Rape of the Mind: The Psychology of Thought Control, Menticide by Joost Meerloo is $4 on Amazon.
31 posted on 06/09/2015 2:30:33 AM PDT by CharlesOConnell (CharlesOConnell)
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To: DeweyCA

bkmk


32 posted on 06/09/2015 2:36:19 AM PDT by Oratam
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To: Finny
Some aspect of the psychology of mass delusion must operate at least on some level with the understanding that people are very apt to think, as I did in this particular case, that they can just read the headlines and the lead paragraphs and have a pretty good idea of what's going on.

The reality is that just reading the headlines and the lead paragraphs, leads one right into the corral of mass delusions. Thanks to the Waco charade, I know better now and will ALWAYS understand that if I really want to know what's going on in a story that catches my eye, I have to treat the story as a mere starting point and take responsibility for doing my own homework. People who rely on the MSM to do it, are going to be led down the garden path to mass delusionville.

There is a lot of "push polling" in the headlines. The lead paragraph(s) may even lead some credence to the message being sold. But sometimes you'll find that if you just read the last 2 paragraphs as well as the first 2, the "take away" buried deep in the article back pedals some of the sensationalism and hype.

33 posted on 06/09/2015 4:11:54 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (Funny how Hollywood's 'No Nukes' crowd has been silent during Obama's Iranian nuclear negotiations.)
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To: Excellence

srbfl


34 posted on 06/09/2015 5:10:10 AM PDT by Excellence (Marine mom since April 11, 2014)
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To: DeweyCA

” The totalitarian mind does not observe and verify its impressions of reality; it dictates to reality how it shall behave, it compels reality to conform to its fantasies.”

The latest example of that is a judge in NY declaring a teacher’s test racist because more blacks fail it.


35 posted on 06/09/2015 5:11:23 AM PDT by aquila48
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To: dsc; hosepipe

My definition of ownership ...

“You only own that which you are willing and able to protect by whatever means at your disposal”


36 posted on 06/09/2015 5:25:01 AM PDT by aquila48
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To: DeweyCA

Great piece..... the only way to thwart the massive leftist conglomeration is systematic elimination

The American experiment has failed and classical methods are required to restore what was


37 posted on 06/09/2015 5:28:27 AM PDT by bert ((K.E.; N.P.; GOPc.;+12, 73, ..... No peace? then no peace!)
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To: a fool in paradise

***Vance Packard’s “The Hidden Persuaders” on the recommended reading list.***

Everyone should read this book! It was a staple around my Mother-in-law’s house.


38 posted on 06/09/2015 5:51:41 AM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar
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To: DeweyCA

It is worth noting that Republicans have caved every step of the way at protecting Constitutional rights. Change will not come from Congress or the Presidency, in my opinion. It will come from the States or outside the system - OR IT WILL NOT COME.

The next 5-6 years - and probably less - will decide the fate of our nation. We are quickly headed toward totalitarianism, like Canada.

I post this with sadness.

You will not have free speech.
You will not have free exercise of religion.
Your right to be secure in your property will no longer exist.
You will have no privacy.
Speech and thought and choice will be criminalized.

We are far down the road already.

May God have mercy on our nation.


39 posted on 06/09/2015 6:37:39 AM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion ( "Forward lies the crown, and onward is the goal.")
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To: a fool in paradise
Yes. Sometimes.
40 posted on 06/09/2015 8:14:58 AM PDT by Finny (Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. -- Psalm 119:105)
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