{"id":81,"date":"2023-04-06T15:56:58","date_gmt":"2023-04-06T21:56:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/06\/big-brother-depends-on-little-brothers\/"},"modified":"2023-04-06T18:00:58","modified_gmt":"2023-04-07T00:00:58","slug":"big-brother-depends-on-little-brothers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/06\/big-brother-depends-on-little-brothers\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Brother Depends on Little Brothers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aier.org\/people\/barry-brownstein\/\">Barry Brownstein<\/a> \u2013 May 12, 2021<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\">[<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ygTxeYEyFi4\">Companion YT video<\/a>, narrated by Kate Wand]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How Totalitarian Societies Brainwash Their Citizens | Kate Wand | Barry Brownstein\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ygTxeYEyFi4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ygTxeYEyFi4\">How Totalitarian Societies Brainwash Their Citizens | Kate Wand | Barry Brownstein &#8211; YouTube<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thanks to the CDC, many children will be robbed again of a formative summer camp experience. According to 2021 CDC irrational Covid summer camp guidelines, \u201cEveryone at the camp\u2014including staff and every kid over the age of two\u2014must wear masks at&nbsp;<em>all times<\/em>, unless they are eating or swimming.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The guidelines include continued social distancing, limited interaction, and bans on some sports. Reactions from health experts have been harsh. One called the guidance \u201ccruel to our children.\u201d Another added, \u201cIrrational recommendations will do no good, could in this case do harm, and really discredit federal agencies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>The pressures of daily life impel more and more people to seek an easy escape from responsibility and maturity.<\/p><cite>Joost Meerloo<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Will the summer camp directors follow the CDC guidelines? We can empathize with camp directors; they are walking a tightrope. State health authorities may demand compliance with CDC guidelines. Their insurance carrier may demand compliance. Campers\u2019 parents may have conflicting views. We can understand why camp directors are likely to avoid potential liability and follow CDC guidance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNobody gets fired for buying IBM\u201d is an old adage in business. Play it safe and make the choice others are making. Or, rock the boat and suffer potential repercussions because you didn\u2019t follow the herd. Will camp directors \u201cbuy IBM,\u201d follow the CDC\u2019s Big Brother guidance, and become little brothers? Big Brother has no power without many little brothers willing to follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How Not to be a Little Brother<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Joost Meerloo was a Dutch-American psychiatrist who escaped from a Nazi prison in occupied Holland. His book, <em>The Rape of the Mind: The Psychology of Thought Control, Menticide, and Brainwashing,<\/em> explores how totalitarian societies brainwash their citizens. Although written in 1956, Meerloo provides timeless lessons for resisting authoritarian pressures in contemporary Covid times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meerloo explained how Stalinist Russia, Nazi Germany, and other totalitarian societies used primitive Pavlovian strategies to control the population: \u201cHe who dictates and formulates the words and phrases we use, he who is master of the press and radio, is master of the mind.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meerloo writes, \u201cFreedom of discussion and free intellectual exchange hinder conditioning. Feelings of terror, feelings of fear and hopelessness, of being alone, of standing with one\u2019s back to the wall, must be instilled.\u201d For many today, \u201cfear and hopelessness,\u201d are frequent companions. In our cancel culture, free intellectual exchange is difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Why is Big Tech scrubbing even the most innocuous of alternative views? Meerloo explained why: \u201cThe mind that is open for questions is open for dissent. In the totalitarian regime the doubting, inquisitive, and imaginative mind has to be suppressed. The totalitarian slave is only allowed to memorize, to salivate when the bell rings.\u201d Meerloo adds:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cTo the degree that the individual is made an object of constant mental manipulation, to the degree that cultural institutions may tend to weaken intellectual and spiritual strength, to the degree that knowledge of the mind is used to tame and condition people instead of educating them, to that degree does the culture itself produce men and women who are predisposed to accept an authoritarian way of life. The man who has no mind of his own can easily become the pawn of a would-be dictator.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>Free men in a free society must learn not only to recognize this stealthy attack on mental integrity and fight it, but must learn also what there is inside man\u2019s mind that makes him vulnerable to this attack\u2026<\/p><cite>Joost Meerloo<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The Pavlovian strategy encourages herding behavior as people are \u201cconditioned more and more to ask themselves, \u2018What do other people think?\u2019\u201d Meerloo continues, \u201cAs a result, a common delusion is created: people are incited to think what other people think, and thus public opinion may mushroom out into a mass prejudice. Expressed in psychoanalytic terms, through daily propagandistic noise backed up by forceful verbal cues, people can more and more be forced to identify with the powerful noisemaker.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chillingly, Meerloo writes, \u201cBig Brother\u2019s voice resounds in all the little brothers.\u201d Today, \u201clittle brothers\u201d are all too ready to repeat bromides they have heard from Dr. Fauci and media-favored \u201cexperts.\u201d Meerloo writes, \u201cThe specialists in the art of persuasion\u2026 may water down the spontaneity and creativity of thoughts and ideas into sterile and streamlined clich\u00e9s that direct our thoughts even though we still have the illusion of being original and individual.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The result of this, as Meerloo observes, is \u201cIn totalitarian countries\u2026 the self-thinking, subjective man has disappeared\u2026Peaceful exchange of free thoughts in free conversation will disturb the conditioned reflexes and is therefore taboo. No longer are there any brains, only conditioned patterns and educated muscles\u2026 The mental automaton becomes the ideal of education.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meerloo has advice for those not living in totalitarian countries. We must avoid the personal mindset temptations that lead the way to totalitarianism:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cFree men in a free society must learn not only to recognize this stealthy attack on mental integrity and fight it, but must learn also what there is inside man\u2019s mind that makes him vulnerable to this attack, what it is that makes him, in many cases, actually long for a way out of the responsibilities that republican democracy and maturity place on him.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Escaping from responsibility seduces many. Meerloo writes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cThe pressures of daily life impel more and more people to seek an easy escape from responsibility and maturity. Indeed, it is difficult to withstand these pressures; to many the offer of a political panacea is very tempting, to others the offer of escape through alcohol, drugs, or other artificial pleasures is irresistible.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Meerloo warns, \u201cUnknowingly, we may become opinionated robots:\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cWe search for situations that create superficial fear to cover up inner anxieties. We like to escape into the irrational because we dislike the challenge of self-study and self-thinking. Our leisure time is occupied increasingly by automatized activities in which we take no part: listening to piped-in words and viewing television screens. We hurry along with cars and go to bed with a sleeping pill.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Meerloo warned that \u201cmany \u2018free\u2019 minds have given up the struggle for decency and individuality. They surrender to the \u2018Zeitgeist,\u2019 often without being aware of it. Public opinion molds our critical thoughts every day. \u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As an antidote, Meerloo counsels \u201cspiritual bravery, a mental courage that goes beyond the self. It serves an idea\u2026 It asks for a hyperconsciousness of the self as a thinking spiritual being.\u201d He writes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cSpiritual bravery is not found among the conformists or among those who preach uniformity or among those who plead for smooth social adjustment. It requires continual mental alertness and spiritual strength to resist the dragging current of conformist thought. Man has to be stronger than the mere will for self-protection and self-assertion; he has to be able to go beyond himself in the service of an idea and has to be able to acknowledge loyally that he has been wrong when higher values are found. Indeed, there is a spiritual courage that goes beyond all automatic reflex action.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Financial, social, or other pressures might make you feel that you can\u2019t resist Big Brother. Resistance starts gently by recognizing our own mental processes that make us vulnerable to the current of conformist thought. With mental alertness we attune ourselves to spiritual strength. With self-study, we prepare for peaceful exchange of ideas with those currently choosing to be little brothers. There is still enough freedom in America that without the support of little brothers, Big Brother will find it has no power of its own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[\u2026]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read more at: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aier.org\/article\/big-brother-depends-on-little-brothers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.aier.org\/article\/big-brother-depends-on-little-brothers\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dutch-American psychiatrist, Joost Meerloo escaped from a Nazi prison in occupied Holland. His book, <a href='https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/TheRapeOfTheMind1961'><em>The Rape of the Mind: The Psychology of Thought Control, Menticide, and Brainwashing,<\/em><\/a> explores how totalitarian societies brainwash their citizens. Written in post-WWII 1956, Meerloo provides timeless lessons for resisting authoritarian pressures in contemporary times. [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":80,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-deep-dive"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Big Brother Depends on Little Brothers - News Scraper Sandbox<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/06\/big-brother-depends-on-little-brothers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Big Brother Depends on Little Brothers - News Scraper Sandbox\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dutch-American psychiatrist, Joost Meerloo escaped from a Nazi prison in occupied Holland. His book, The Rape of the Mind: The Psychology of Thought Control, Menticide, and Brainwashing, explores how totalitarian societies brainwash their citizens. Written in post-WWII 1956, Meerloo provides timeless lessons for resisting authoritarian pressures in contemporary times. [\u2026]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/06\/big-brother-depends-on-little-brothers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News Scraper Sandbox\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-04-06T21:56:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-07T00:00:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/lighthope.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2048\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/06\/big-brother-depends-on-little-brothers\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/06\/big-brother-depends-on-little-brothers\/\",\"name\":\"Big Brother Depends on Little Brothers - News Scraper Sandbox\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-06T21:56:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-07T00:00:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9b5b55260d162f35cb237b7b99399e5b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/06\/big-brother-depends-on-little-brothers\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/06\/big-brother-depends-on-little-brothers\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/06\/big-brother-depends-on-little-brothers\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Big Brother Depends on Little Brothers\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/\",\"name\":\"News Scraper Sandbox\",\"description\":\"A test of WP scraper plugins\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9b5b55260d162f35cb237b7b99399e5b\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5255eb3e8b2061c4a09823ed7a6f08ebd26a5fab189b2569e1e74f73e24b660b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5255eb3e8b2061c4a09823ed7a6f08ebd26a5fab189b2569e1e74f73e24b660b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/index.php\/author\/paskainos\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Big Brother Depends on Little Brothers - News Scraper Sandbox","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/06\/big-brother-depends-on-little-brothers\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Big Brother Depends on Little Brothers - News Scraper Sandbox","og_description":"Dutch-American psychiatrist, Joost Meerloo escaped from a Nazi prison in occupied Holland. His book, The Rape of the Mind: The Psychology of Thought Control, Menticide, and Brainwashing, explores how totalitarian societies brainwash their citizens. Written in post-WWII 1956, Meerloo provides timeless lessons for resisting authoritarian pressures in contemporary times. [\u2026]","og_url":"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/06\/big-brother-depends-on-little-brothers\/","og_site_name":"News Scraper Sandbox","article_published_time":"2023-04-06T21:56:58+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-04-07T00:00:58+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2048,"height":1300,"url":"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/lighthope.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/06\/big-brother-depends-on-little-brothers\/","url":"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/06\/big-brother-depends-on-little-brothers\/","name":"Big Brother Depends on Little Brothers - News Scraper Sandbox","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-04-06T21:56:58+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-07T00:00:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9b5b55260d162f35cb237b7b99399e5b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/06\/big-brother-depends-on-little-brothers\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/06\/big-brother-depends-on-little-brothers\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/06\/big-brother-depends-on-little-brothers\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Big Brother Depends on Little Brothers"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/","name":"News Scraper Sandbox","description":"A test of WP scraper plugins","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9b5b55260d162f35cb237b7b99399e5b","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5255eb3e8b2061c4a09823ed7a6f08ebd26a5fab189b2569e1e74f73e24b660b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5255eb3e8b2061c4a09823ed7a6f08ebd26a5fab189b2569e1e74f73e24b660b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com"],"url":"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/index.php\/author\/paskainos\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108,"href":"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81\/revisions\/108"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.paskainos.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}