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"Restriction of free
thought and free speech is the most of all subversions.
It is the
one un-American act that could most easily defeat us all."
–
Supreme Court Justice William O.
Douglas
"It is the innovators who have difficulty in
being allowed to exist and work. Each generation
believes that this difficulty is a thing of the
past, but each generation is only tolerant of past innovations. Those of its
own day are met with the same persecution as though the principle of toleration
had never been heard of." - Bertrand
Russell
intuition
subconsciousness
intention;
purpose
a
product of
thinking
fantasy; imagination
consideration;
attention
consciousness;
awareness
expectation or conception
the faculty of
thinking or
reasoning
the
act or process of
thinking;
cogitation
the intellectual
activity or production of a particular
time or group: ancient Greek
thought
"We cannot
think what we cannot
think; so what we cannot
think we cannot say either."
-
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Thought cannot produce
ideas for which there are no non-mental
correlates.
"One way of
looking at human
thought is to see it as a
progression towards rationality:
everything
else is like a computer virus in the brain. But this is very hard to justify.
Rationality is not much in evidence in the
history of conscious life on
Earth.
On the
other hand,
mystical, symbolic, and 'religious'
thought - all those ways of
thinking that the
rationalist would condemn as 'irrational' - seem to characterize
human thought everywhere and at every time.
Rationality breeds caution; irrationality,
emotional fervor, and
blind belief do not.
In a world where hostile
conflicts were common and a matter of
life or death, too
much rationality might not be helpful.
The
fearless zealot who feels guided by
supernatural powers is a difficult opponent to overcome.
If
you believe that your territory is the abode of
gods you will defend it more passionately than
if it is merely your home.
Rationality is
undoubtedly advantageous when you have lots of information to apply it to.
But when
your understanding of
things is fragmentary, and
requires considerable interpolation to build up a wide-ranging
view, it may not be as effective as uninhibited
boldness." - John D.
Barrow
"A bad usage can spread by
tradition and
imitation even among people
who should and do know better.
Phrases
like a not unjustifiable assumption, leaves much to be desired,
would serve no good purpose,
a consideration which we should do well to bear in mind, are a
continuous temptation, a packet of aspirins always at one's elbow.
This
invasion of one's
mind by ready made phrases - lay the
foundations, achieve a radical
transformation - can only be prevented if one is constantly on guard
against them as every such phrase anaesthetizes a portion of one's
brain.
When you think of a
concrete object, you
think wordlessly, and then, if you
want to describe the thing you have been
visualizing you probably hunt about until you find the exact
words that seem to fit it.
When you
think of something abstract you are
more inclined to use words from the start, and unless you make a
conscious effort to prevent it, the
existing dialect will come rushing in and do the
job for you, at the expense of blurring or even changing your
meaning.
Probably it is better to put off using words as long as possible and get one's meaning as clear
as one can through pictures and sensations.
Afterward one can choose -- not simply accept -- the phrases that will
best cover the meaning, and then switch round and decide what
impressions one's words are likely to make on
another person." -
George Orwell
"The
thought came to
me as I was sitting in front of
my computer just
thinking.
After a
while, I felt
guilty that I was thinking and not doing.
When I write a paper, work a calculus problem or feed the homeless,
I can easily note that on a college application - 500
hours community service, 50
hours as a mentor to math
students and so on. Colleges reward
applicants for doing. But how do I get credit for just
thinking?
Didn't
Albert Einstein have to just
think for hours on end? Had
someone passed by Einstein's
window as he sat thinking, he
might have wrongly accused Einstein of being a slacker.
I have had
teachers
explain the
mysteries of physics, calculus and
chemistry. I have had teachers get
wildly excited as they talked
about the words of Ernest Hemingway. I
have had teachers who have urged
me to develop the habit of giving to the
community. I appreciate all that they have done. But no
teacher has taken the time to tell me that it is important
sometimes to just think.
College professors say their students do not know how to
think critically. But how can
they think critically if they
haven't yet experienced
thinking?
How can they
think critically before they
have learned how to formulate good
questions, and then spent hours trying
to answer them?
Adam Smith, the 18th century
economist, wrote a
book about why some nations are
rich and other nations are
poor. Economic growth, he said, depends on
free markets, limited
government and a
system of
natural liberty.
My guess
is that it also depends on people with ideas -
good ideas.
Good ideas are grown in the
garden of the human
mind. And thinking is the
water that makes that garden grow."
- Daniel
Arnold, written as a junior in high school.
"For our society to
succeed and thrive, people must be able to come to
conclusions through some sort of deductive process."- Charles W.
Buckman
why is 'just
thinking' not rewarded?
"Thinking isn't rewarded because
it isn't wanted. The idea of creating the need to gain admission to an
elite university is to make sure bright
students channel their energies in
approved ways, leaving as little
time as possible for independent study and
thinking. And the same
thing will
happen at the university level.
The need for people who actually use
physics and calculus in any
significant way is very small. Yet
elite school applicants must study these subjects
and get A's. Their study is just a test of ambition, endurance and
intelligence.
If a student puts
up with such study, he is hooked and will do whatever it takes to get ahead.
The expected result of such Pavlovian training is the
ideal corporate,
government or university employee. One who
will automatically think only
along approved lines, going along with whatever is demanded of him to get
along. "- Raymond J. Rostan
"Thinking is an
endangered activity. The
fact is president
George W. Bush's
No Child Left Behind
law discourages
thinking. It is all about test
scores, Stepford-childlike school
behaviors and
controlling the curriculum (a.k.a. setting
standards).
The law
forces
public
schools to cram concept after new concept
into our children, overload them with
homework, take away their childhoods,
their imaginations and their
thoughts and then, under the
guise of standards, remove time for synthesis and
reflection, the foundation of
learning, and instead measure learning by a test score.
Those in
control want our children to grow up to be
robots, not
thinking, questioning
beings; it makes them easier to control. It's just so much easier to goose-step our
way into a theocracy if no one asks
questions. "- Diane Kroker
"Instead of creating a
new internal state which shall exhibit itself in better deeds,
coercion can manifestly do nothing but
forcibly mold externals into a coarse semblance of such a state.
Coercion in all its forms,
educational or other, is essentially vicious." - Herbert SpencerThought control refers to all
coercive
psychological systems,
such as brainwashing, thought reform,
and coercive persuasion.
Thought control shapes of a person's attitudes,
beliefs, and personality without the person's
knowledge or consent.
Extreme
thought control employs
deceptive and surreptitious
manipulation, usually in a close group
setting, for the economic or
political (in the case of religious cults both)
profit of the
manipulator.
"What are the hallmarks of unhealthy, aberrant
churches? The key indicator is control oriented
leadership, ministers who have a need to "lord it over
the flock." Abusive leaders demand
submission and unquestioning
loyalty. The person who raises uncomfortable questions or does not "get with
the program" is cast aside. Guilt,
fear, and intimidation are used to
manipulate and control vulnerable members, especially those who have
been taught to believe that questioning their pastor
is comparable to questioning God." - Ronald Enroth
Thought control techniques are totally at
odds with genuine Christian teaching.
God makes his appeal to the
mind and heart of a
person without pressure, coercion or
control.
God asks for a thoughtful, reasoned,
perceptive response to
the Truth, not the knee-jerk reaction
of a mindless
slave.
Only men of evil intent are
interested in creating
automatons
programmed to act,
think and believe alike,
forbidden from thinking critically.
Only a man of evil intent is interested in
dominating others with
coercive
psychological
systems.
"The relationship between the person and
coercive persuasion tactics are
dynamic in that while the force of the pressures,
rewards, and punishments brought to bear
on the person are considerable, they do not lead to a stable, meaningfully
SELF-CHOSEN reorganization of
beliefs or attitudes.
Rather, they lead to a sort of coerced
compliance and a situationally required elaborate rationalization."- FactNet
Coercive
psychological systems
are behavioral change
programs which use psychological force in a
coercive way to cause the learning and
adoption of an ideology or designated set of
beliefs, ideas,
attitudes, or
behaviors. In a
coercive
psychological system the
victim is forced to adapt in a series of tiny "invisible" steps. Each tiny step
is designed to be sufficiently small so the
victims will not notice the changes in themselves or
identify the
coercive nature of the processes being used.
Coercive
psychological influence
aims to overcome the individual's critical
thinking abilities and free will - apart from
any appeal to informed judgment. Victims gradually
lose their ability to make independent decisions and exercise informed consent.
A victim's critical thinking, defenses,
cognitive processes, values, ideas, attitudes, conduct
and ability to reason are undermined by a
technological process rather than by meaningful free
choice, rationality, or the inherent merit or
value of the ideas or
propositions being presented.
Seven tactics of thought
control in closeted groups: First -
Increase suggestibility and "soften up" the target individual through specific
hypnotic or other suggestibility-increasing techniques such as:
extended audio, visual,
verbal, or tactile fixation drills; excessive
repetition of routine activities; sleep restriction and/or nutritional
restriction such as fasting.
Second - Establish
control over the person's social environment, time
and sources of social
support by a system of often-excessive rewards and punishments.
Social isolation is promoted. Contact with
family and friends is abridged, as is contact with
persons who do not share group-approved attitudes.
Economic and other dependence on the group is
fostered.
Third - Prohibit opposing information and non supporting
opinions in group communication.
Rules exist, possibly
unspoken, about permissible topics to discuss with outsiders. Communication is
highly controlled.
An "in-group" language is
usually constructed.
Fourth -
Make the person re-evaluate the most central
aspects of his or her experience of
self and prior conduct in negative ways. Efforts are
designed to destabilize and undermine the
subject's basic consciousness,
reality awareness, world view,
emotional control and
defense mechanisms. The subject is guided to
reinterpret his or her life's
history and adopt a new version of
causality. (Used in KUBARK Counterintelligence Interrogation manual to "break"
victims.)
Fifth - Create a sense of
powerlessness by subjecting the person to
intense and frequent actions
and situations which undermine the person's confidence in himself and his
judgment. (Used in KUBARK Counterintelligence
Interrogation manual to "break" victims.)
Sixth - Create strong aversive
emotional arousals in the subject by use of
nonphysical punishments such as intense humiliation, loss of privilege,
social isolation, social
status changes, intense guilt,
anxiety, manipulation and other techniques.
Seventh - Intimidate the person with the force of group-sanctioned
psychological threats.
For example, it may be suggested or implied that failure to adopt the approved attitude, belief or
consequent behavior will
lead to severe punishment or dire
consequences such as physical or mental illness,
the reappearance of a prior physical illness, drug
dependence, economic collapse,
social failure, divorce,
disintegration, failure to find a mate, rejection by
God, etcetera.
When these seven tactics of
psychological
coercion are applied in severely the
individual's capacity to make informed or free
choices becomes inhibited. Victims become unable to make the normal,
wise or balanced decisions which they most likely
would have made, had they not been unknowingly manipulated by coordinated technical
conditioning. The cumulative effect of these processes can be an even more
effective form of undue influence than pain, torture, drugs
or the use of physical force and physical threats.
Psychological
coercion has been used by masters of
oratorical rhetoric throughout history to
create cohesion in the target social cultural group. Anyone
who is a master of oratorical rhetoric can confuse or
bewitch the target audience to the point
were they believe they have seen
magic; a miracle;
signs and wonders;
outpourings of the Holy Spirit in
rain,
waves,
rivers,
fires,
harvests,
vineyards,
rocks and all sorts of other "manifestations".
The psychological
coercion that is practiced by
religion is also practiced by
mass media conglomerates that want you to
purchase consumer products
and by the political establishment that wants
you to approve of the next preemptive invasion.
And all are willing to
put on quite a show to con-vince
you.
See intuition
See consciousness
See
subconscious
See memory
See meditation |
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