How brainwashing works.
(science.howstuffworks.com)
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A lot of people who join cults are actually highly educated. I think it's because those who seek "the meaning of their life" are people who feel empty and lost inside. The religious farmer who lives simply doesn't look for deep answers. Yes, he might be ignorant and stubborn, but contrary to how Hollywood portrays such people, they aren't as prone to cults as one might think. They are not as trapped in the rat race as urban people and not as controlled by others.
I think people who live in cities are among the most easily brainwashed you'll ever meet. Yet Hollywood always treats it as if the opposite is true. As if the little people in the countryside are prone to cult thinking.
A simple farmer with a strong sense of self and faith is not a good candidate for a cult. People raised in suburbs and the urban seem to be molded for cult thinking. They are taught moral relativism and that science trumps faith.
That’s interesting. If you think about it, the more you can rely on yourself (grow food, raise animals, make clothing, furniture, hunt...) the more independent you are. Pushing everyone into suburbia where you can buy everything and watch “programming” with your free time makes you more susceptible. Also to your final point when people are highly educated, they learn to look at information intellectually (based on perceived science) and remove gut or connection to God for answers. It’s been a long range plan.
Yup.
How many times have we found our first instinct to have been spot on?
Society pushes us to gives second chances, but I have always found that my first instinct about was the right one. You may not know rationally what is wrong with someone, but your subconscious mind gets it.
To make people susceptible to brainwashing they had to make us doubt our instincts.
They poison our food, our air, and our water. When our mind is dulled so are our instincts.