Insanity in individuals is something rare — but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.— Friedrich Nietzsche
THE word ‘brainwashing’ has been used loosely in our media for quite some time now.
It has been employed to describe how the West is trying to westernise us, to point to an Indian conspiracy to promote ‘Bollywoodisation’ and, more recently, to voice concern about the Talibanisation of our youth.
It is believed that the term was originally coined in 1950 and was later used indiscriminately in the western media to describe how communist regimes coercively persuaded their citizens or systematically instilled certain beliefs and attitudes in the masses. There were also reports during the Korean War of the 1950s of captors brainwashing American prisoners of wars. Apparently 21 such POWs refused to go back to the US after release.
There were also movies like The Manchurian Candidate (artificial thought control) and Conspiracy Theory (mind-control drugs) which depicted the use of such practices by the American secret services. But what exactly is brainwashing? Unfortunately, so much fiction abounds that it is hard to differentiate myth from reality.
Some psychologists refer to the phenomenon as ‘thought reform’ or‘re-education’. The three main principles of re-education are repetition, activity pedagogics, and criticism and self-criticism. To elaborate, this would involve repeating things until they have been stamped on the memory; not giving subjects any time to think on their own by keeping them engaged in various activities at all times; and making the person who is being re-educated feel that he or she is under constant threat of being disliked.
This is a contentious concept and even those who believe brainwashing is possible think it occurs in a less severe form than the media portrays it to be. There is no particular drug which can be used to control or brainwash people. However, there have been reports of some security agencies using certain drugs to get the truth out of captured subjects. Known as truth serums, they could include substances like ethanol, temazepam and various barbiturates but the most common drug alleged to be used is sodium thiopental, an anaesthetic induction agent. These are mainly sedatives that impair the individual’s judgment and higher cognitive functions. There is still a lack of true research evidence of whether such intrusive attempts are successful in obtaining the correct information.
Whereas the outright transformation of a person still remains fictional in nature, the possibility of drastic attitude change is something that is more common in our society. Attitude modification can be explained by certain psychological theories. A behaviour heightens or lessens depending on whether it is rewarded or punished, i.e. reinforced positively or negatively. We, and children in particular, also imitate observed behaviour, especially that of people held in high esteem such as pop stars, actors, parents, religious scholars, etc.
Society plays a very important role in shaping our personalities and behaviour towards others. We fear that some religious fanatic might brainwash our children into an extremist, but we forget that social influences are at play every minute of every day. When we try to justify atrocities such as the Wah or Marriott bombings or when we shout out in joy at dreadful events such as 9/11 or 7/7 in front of our children, we are as responsible for creating future suicide bombers as anyone else.
The role of the media in shaping our society cannot be ignored any longer in Pakistan. There are too many talk shows with loose-tongued presenters who should be held responsible for giving reckless statements. There is a particular talk show whose anchor usually tries to present lies as facts. The media also needs to be more responsible when reporting sensitive news or flashing images of terrorist attacks. By repeatedly exposing our children to such gruesome images we are desensitising them and increasing their threshold for tolerating violence and normalising such actions. Parents too should take more responsibility for decreasing their children’s exposure to violent and aggressive movies, TV shows and video games. It is through this combination of ways that we change other people’s attitudes, beliefs and behaviours, or in other words brainwash them.
Our nation also seems to be suffering from a syndrome called the ‘victim mentality’ where individuals believe that no matter what happens they are the victims. This seems to have reached epidemic proportions and is developing into a mass hysteria. We continue to blame others as a reflex, without introspection and an examination of our own fault lines. This has created a nihilist national psyche which is leading us down the road of self-destruction. Instead of blaming any one person, group or country for this mess, we need to stand up and take collective responsibility.
We as a nation can still make it through these turbulent times but we will need to put our house in order first. We need to understand that two wrongs do not make a right. If someone has mistreated us somewhere, retaliating in similar fashion is not the solution. If the American bombings are wrong then the Taliban bombings are wrong. Nothing and absolutely nothing justifies the killing of innocent civilians. We need to fight this fanatical mindset which is creeping slowly and gradually into our society and leaving it plagued. If we don’t teach our children what true justice is now, then there is no stopping them from acting unjustly when they grow up.
During a recent discussion on an internet forum, a friend mentioned 1984, the George Orwell novel about a totalitarian state. It seems that apart from the many similarities between that fictional state and the Taliban mindset, there was one particular thing which was most similar, the three slogans of Big Brother’s regime: “War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength”.
The writer is a psychiatrist based in the UK.
Originally published in Dawn Newspaper in Pakistan on 07/10/2008
