Tag: brainwashing

CS-CR(*) and Reversing the Brainwash

Health Care, Media, Politics, Reason, Society & Culture

*CS stands for Conditioned Stimulus. CR stands for Conditioned Response. I learned in Pscyh 101 in college that it’s a lot easier to program human beings to respond to a stimulus than it is to reverse that response. The Left has programmed so many people with so much perverted stimulus that it’s going to take a LOT to deprogram them. In College I had the dubious privilege of listening to a guest lecture by the renowned psychologist B.F. Skinner. For those of you who took introductory Pscyh, you may recall Skinner was known for being the pre-eminent “behaviorist”, for the “Skinner Box” and “operant conditioning”. Skinner espoused the notion that free will is an illusion, and that all human behavior is the direct result of conditioning. To prove his point, he stood at the front of our class and began his lecture by explaining his theories about conditioning while holding a revolver in his hand.

Periodically, he would yell “CS” and fire the blank-loaded gun. Our guts would tighten instantly when we heard the loud report. He would then go on with his lecture, and every so often would repeat the “CS” – ‘BANG!” sequence. He did this three or four times and each time it predictably elicited the same visceral response among us, a pronounced tightening of the diaphragm.  

As he neared the end of his lecture, he once again yelled “CS”, only this time he did NOT pull the trigger.

We all nevertheless felt the contraction in our guts, expecting the loud bang.

“That,” explained Skinner with a wry smile, “is conditioned stimulus and conditioned response”. He explained that his cry of “CS” was the conditioned stimulus. The gut tightening was the involuntary conditioned response.

He went on with his lecture for another fifteen minutes or so, repeatedly yelling CS and NOT pulling the trigger. Our gut response continued, however.

During the question and answer period a timid student raised his hand and asked Skinner what it would take to deprogram us from the conditioned stimulus.

And this is where I was shocked to learn that while it took only a few instances of conditioned stimulus to produce the conditioned response of a gut twitch, IT WOULD TAKE AT LEAST TEN TIMES LONGER TO REVERSE THE PROGRAMMING!

Indeed, as we walked from class, all across the campus one would hear the cries of “CS” as we students tried to prompt the conditioned response. Because none of us had guns, the novelty and programming wore off after another class period or two and we went on our merry ways.

Think, however, what the never-ending Conditioned Stimulus of Leftist BS has done to the population! So programmed to respond to, for example, COVID fear-mongering, are grown adults that they cower before their conditioners and obediently comply with their demands, however unscientific, unsubstantiated, unproven or lacking in common sense!

(For a very recent summation, by the way, that dispels the COVID conditioning to which I’m referring, please see the wonderful piece in Off-Guardian.org here. Think you’ll find it a useful reference.)

So, to counter the Leftist drivel, now deeply ingrained in the weak-minded psyches of so many people, will take a WHOLE LOT OF TRUTH TELLING… many times greater than what the Left has conditioned us with.

I don’t point this out to be pessimistic of fatalistic. I do so because the war in which we find ourselves is a war of wits. The only way we are going to be able to reclaim our country and banish the evil among us is by changing hearts and minds…by deprogramming and reprogramming people.

We’ve started this process. The wealth of truth-telling in so-called “alternative” (alternative to the MSM) news sites and the willingness of the “un(brain)washed” to speak out and openly about the falsehoods, lies and deceit constantly emanating from the mouths of Leftist politicians, judicial activists, teachers and people who would otherwise know better but who have been unwittingly programmed, is bit by bit serving as an antidote.

We need to keep it up! It’s going to take a while!

Bizarro

America, Education, Government, History, Media, Morality, Politics, Reason, Society & Culture, Values

You will recall the alter-ego of Superman. Bizarro was the exact opposite of him in every way. Kinda like Trump vs. Biden. And we have now entered a Bizarro-world, where everything is turned upside down. What has transpired on and since last November 3rd has been astonishing and soul-crushing. That the Left could actually pull off what they did says with unequivocal clarity how invasive their infectious cancer has been to all our institutions, not to mention the millions of feeble-minded lemmings who voted for Biden and the two idiots who have become Senators in Georgia.

Much has been said and written in the ensuing days about what happened. Much analysis has been undertaken of how it happened, and now the rhetoric is turning to speculation and strategy as to how things might unfold and/or how the forces of Good can regroup to fight this Evil once again.

And make no mistake. The Left’s ideology IS evil. Taking away freedom is evil. Lording over a people through coercion and intimidation is evil. Obfuscating truth and denigrating Right principles is evil. Cancelling anyone who espouses much less openly advocates traditional principles of Right and Wrong is evil. Doxing people who stand up for Right is evil. Ignoring blatant manifestations of anarchy is Evil. Destroying and rewriting history is Evil. Brainwashing our children is Evil.

As usual, others have stated things much better than I. Today I quote from some of the smartest, most articulate minds extant. For example:

“The old word “science” comes from a Latin word meaning “to know.” The new word “technology” comes from a Greek word meaning “to make.” The transition from traditional to modern science means that we are not so much seeking to know when we study natures as seeking to make things – and ultimately, to remake nature itself. That spirit of making remaking nature – including human nature – greatly emboldens both human beings and governments, Imbued with that spirit, and employing the tools of modern science, totalitarianism is a form of government that reaches farther than tyranny and attempts to control the totality of things.” Larry P. Arnn, President of Hillsdale College in Imprimis December 2020 Volume 49, Number 12, “Orwell’s 1984 and Today“

“…control the totality of things.” Sounds like “The Internet of Things”. Sounds like the invasive and pervasive creep of technology into our lives.

“Totalitarianism will never win in the end – but it can win long enough to destroy a civilization. That is what is at stake in the fight we are in. We can see today the totalitarian impulse among powerful forces in our politics and culture. We can see it in the rise and imposition of doublethink, and we can see it in the increasing attempt to rewrite history.” Ibid.

“Those of us who are over 35 or so years of age grew up in a different America. We were taught, very directly, what it means to be an American. And we absorbed, almost in the air, a love of country and an appreciation of its institutions. If you didn’t get these things from your family you got them from the neighborhood, from the father down the street who fought in Korea or the family who lost someone at Anzio. Or you could get a sense of patriotism from school. And if all else failed you could get a sense of patriotism from the popular culture. The movies celebrated democratic values and implicitly reinforced the idea that America was special. TV was like that, too, through the mid-sixties.

But now, we’re about to enter the [1990s], and some things have changed. Younger parents aren’t sure that an unambivalent appreciation of America is the right thing to teach modern children. And as for those who create the popular culture, well-grounded patriotism is no longer the style. . . . We’ve got to do a better job of getting across that America is freedom—freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of enterprise. And freedom is special and rare. It’s fragile; it needs protection.

So, we’ve got to teach history based not on what’s in fashion but what’s important—why the Pilgrims came here, who Jimmy Doolittle was, and what those 30 seconds over Tokyo meant. You know, four years ago on the 40th anniversary of D-Day, I read a letter from a young woman writing to her late father, who’d fought on Omaha Beach. . . . [S]he said, “we will always remember, we will never forget what the boys of Normandy did.” Well, let’s help her keep her word. If we forget what we did, we won’t know who we are. I’m warning of an eradication of the American memory that could result, ultimately, in an erosion of the American spirit.” Ronald Reagan, ibid.

Right before our very eyes. As we sip our coffee this morning. As we dutifully dress and get ready for work. As we make our way to our jobs (or the dining room table if that’s our office these days…) let us not be complacent about what has and is transpiring. We are at war. Some have argued that there are only two paths forward: secession on the part of people and states that wish to preserve traditional America, or a bloody revolution.

I still have hope that a peaceful push of the pendulum back towards the Right can occur. It will have to be fought in the minds and on the heart strings of the people. It will require NEW leadership. Trump stood up to the cancer and began the process of killing it. Now, others with greater and even more attractive and popular leadership skills must come forth to inspire us and make it “cool” again to be traditional and righteous. Kind of like a Jack Bauer without the flaws. Kind of like a Ronald Reagan for our times (Reagan couldn’t get elected today), one who is a different kind of “woke” and can reach the addled minds of Gen Z and everyone in between them and the Boomers.

We will probably have to replicate the internet backbone or find some way to exploit the Dark Web and Deep Web to create a whole new communication, financial and commerce system to “cancel” the stranglehold of the current tech oligarchs and their political adherents, but it can be done. We will have to band together in new ways to pursue not the utopian fantasy but, tragically, basic freedom. That might require an accelerated migration (it’s already happening…just look at the influx of people to South Dakota!) and a sort of natural secession away from Leftist Blue Strongholds to places where traditional principles can be practiced. And it may see the further wretched demise of the Leftist dominated big cities which will continue to decay and rot, ultimately becoming the cesspools that are already threatening.

But, and this may take some years, things will shake out. The Left will run full tilt into reality, or Armageddon will arrive, but things will never be the same again.

Sounds kind of dreary, but because people on the Right are traditionally independent individuals as opposed to lemming-collectivists on the Left, it takes us time to arrive at consensus, but when we do…we will galvanize and organize to beat back the Evil that befalls us.

Hang in there, and prepare.

I’m At a Loss for Words

America, Economy, Education, Family, Morality, Politics, Religion, Society & Culture, Values

Dear Readers and Patrons of Grumps Report,

I truly am at a loss for words. The emotions coursing through me at this moment are so powerful that I expect anything I write might not reflect what I think and feel even a couple of weeks from now. I’ve run out of adjectives and adverbs to describe the emotions: sadness, fear, disgust, hopefulness, resolve, patience and impatience, anger, compassion, hate and love, just to name a few.

Physically, I’m fine. I had a routine medical procedure last week that required me to visit my doctor. I thus had a COVID test and am negative. I don’t know whether I’ve got antibodies. I’ve stopped watching and reading the news on this topic because my economist/banker/businessman’s critical thinking training has me so put off by the so-called experts, even many whom I’ve trusted and relied on in the past, that I’ve shut them all out.

Spiritually and emotionally I’m sickened by what I see happening to our country. Having grown up in the 60’s witnessing all the rebellion and profligacy of that decade, I never saw anything like the soul-crushing necrosis I’m seeing today. I’m of course referring to the rioting, looting and what’s almost worse, the cowardice, demagoguery and genuflection on the part of Leftist politicians to what truly is domestic terrorism. In the 60’s it was easy to write off the chaos and attribute it to fringe lunacy. The great majority of Americans, while silent, appreciated what we had and were mostly bystanders to what was generally accepted to be foolishness or youthful exuberance. The vast majority of us still cherished and appreciated all that was good about America.

Today we’re seeing the fruits of the dark underbelly of the 60’s, amplified and expanded thanks to the internet and decades of indoctrination by the same losers who lacked self-control and self-discipline then. They now populate academia, law, and above all, government. Even the military and law enforcement haven’t been spared. There are neurotic, unproductive or barely productive adult children in virtually all our institutions.

I’ve already said too much. I will now go back to my bucket-list pursuit of reading all the Great Books. In them I find refuge, wisdom and truth that transcends all the nonsense bombarding me from all directions every minute of every day (were I to allow it).

Keep your seat belts fastened and your seat backs and tray tables in their full upright position. It’s going to be a bumpy ride for some time to come.

But this too shall pass.

Despicable Them

Morality, Politics

With apologies to the producers and directors of the cartoon movie hit “Despicable Me”, the label “Despicable Them” aptly applies to politicians in general, but to Leftist politicians in particular. As always, it’s a question of degree. The degree to which the Democrat leadership (note I say leadership, not ALL Democrats) exhibits despicable behavior and spews despicable rhetoric dwarfs, as Jupiter dwarfs the Earth, anything the Republican leadership has done or said.

Examples abound but probably the best one is that of Nancy Pelosi ceremoniously ripping the State of the Union speech in half and claiming it was all lies. As regards despicable rhetoric: Chuck Schumer, Adam Schiff, Jerry Nadler, Bill deBlasio, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Maxine Waters, Sheila Jackson Lee, Louis Farrakhan, Al Sharpton, Linda Sarsour…the list of those with verbal diarrhea goes on and on. Every time any of these people open their mouths, nothing but despicable falsehoods and bile emerge.

How do they get away with this? Edmund Burke had the answer: The Fourth Estate. In Thomas Carlyle’s book On Heroes and Hero Worship he attributes to Burke: “Burke said there were Three Estates in Parliament; but, in the Reporters’ Gallery yonder, there sat a Fourth Estate more important far than they all.”[i] He was of course referring to the Press, or in today’s language, the “Media”.

The term “fourth estate” and “fourth branch” are both used to describe what used to be journalism, which clearly doesn’t exist anymore. Someone I know with a degree in Journalism from Columbia University, arguably the pre-eminent journalism school in the country, grudgingly admits that the principles taught there are violated continuously.

Fourth Estate as a term is meant to emphasize the independence of the Media, while the related term “Fourth Branch” suggests the Media is an extension of the government. In my opinion, it’s hardly the latter, but the Media’s ability to influence (i.e. brainwash) inattentive or non-critical-thinking minds is obvious. Abandonment of journalistic principles such as three-source corroboration or the vetting of sources to ensure reliability, coupled with the power of the internet to broadcast the most salacious lies and twisted arguments, has fostered an environment where despicable behavior and rhetoric thrives.

Given that the professional Media is predominantly Leftist, as are the indolent with too much time on their hands to do anything productive but tweet and post (I hasten to defend that the reason I have the time is that I’m retired after working hard for fifty years), the Left are provided with overwhelming covering fire. The saturated with Leftist garbage airwaves thus leave little room for any reasonable debate or reflection. That same cover gives impunity to the most despicable, even immoral Leftist behavior in both the commercial as well as political realms.

The Left is guilty too of what I think is one of the most despicable behaviors: Projection. Albeit in its weak-mindedness much of the Left doesn’t even see it, or its hypocrisy, it’s axiomatic that if they are whining about something, accusing the Right of something, falsely claiming credit for or denying culpability for something, it is precisely what they are guilty of. Just today Chuck Schumer sent a letter decrying Attorney General William Barr’s throwing of the BS flag on the Roger Stone sentencing. Said the spotlight-hog/grandstander/demagogue Schumer: “This situation has all the indicia of improper political interference in a criminal prosecution.” Sure, and the Left has NEVER improperly interfered in a criminal prosecution…Schumer’s statement is stupid as the President and Attorney General are empowered to intervene ex officio, and the public knows damn well the prosecutors are piling on a Trump ally. (But put a microphone and a spotlight within a hundred miles of Schumer and he will RUN to it!).

Projection.

Thank God we now have pro-justice leaders like Barr who are willing to wade into the Swamp with a flame-thrower to destroy the truly despicable, poisonous rot of the Left that has festered for so many years.  

[i] Wikipedia: article – “Fourth Estate”

Perception

America, Politics, Society & Culture, Values

I’ve written about this before, but it’s plain to see that two halves of our population can look at the exact same set of facts and firmly believe positions that are 180 degrees apart. But it is astounding that ANYONE in this country can look at the Democrats’ impeachment antics as credible, or the horrifying (to those of us with brains who are paying attention) stupidity coming out of the mouths of the Democrat candidates for President as believable, yet there are many, even if not 50% of the population, who do. THAT’s what’s scary about what we’re witnessing…that ostensibly ‘normal’ people could buy the nonsense the Left is peddling.

Don’t they get it? How is it that they can’t see how perniciously calculating, conniving, dishonest and hypocritical the Left is?

I have a theory. It goes back to the basic principle that our perception is based on our experience (see my post (https://grumpsreport.com/?s=Briggs). In my opinion, the experiences of half the country have consisted of Leftist indoctrination, read brainwashing.

The Left is brilliant at manipulation, false-impression-creation, misrepresentation, and above all, in knowing how to play on human emotions. They cannot appeal to peoples’ left brains so they go after the right hemisphere and heart strings. Play the right music in the background and a horror film becomes a comedy. Set the lights just right and the ugly can appear beautiful. Put just the right amount of quiver in your voice and twist the story line and you can make anyone a victim. Celebrating losers and victims is their stock-in-trade. Disagree with that and you’re a racist, bigot, heartless, entitled, privileged old white person the product of a discriminatory society bent on crushing the less fortunate.  

Hollywood is of course the crucible in which all the leftist soup is created. The world’s greatest experts in deception and heart-string manipulation, Hollywood has fed generation after generation since the Greatest Generation with emotional drivel which, while entertaining, is taken as reality. It is THIS emotional drivel that has been the diet of those, in my opinion, who believe what the Left is saying and doing.

It’s no wonder therefore that the EXPERIENCE of half the country…the half that have swallowed the drivel with little to no critical thinking, are empty vessels into which the current Leftist nonsense can be easily poured. It fills their souls with emotional satisfaction to hear concepts like “Medicare for All” and Welcoming (i.e. ‘Open’) Borders. And it’s what allows them to believe the lies about children in cages and every other lie put forth by the Left.

It’s not FAKE NEWS, it’s blatant indoctrination, messaging with an agenda, subjective twisting of facts, figures, data to push a narrative that anyone with a functional LEFT brain sees as destructive to mankind and the world. The “Media” is just a court jester, pandering to whomever will buy their verbal diarrhea for the highest amount.

Follow the money. Always. The self-righteous and hyper-hypocritical Left will do whatever maximizes the cash in their pockets, and the quickest way to undeservedly do so is to amass and exercise POWER.

To be fair, there are plenty on the RIGHT who subscribe to this strategy and who take advantage of it. But like so many other things, IT’S A QUESTION OF DEGREE. The Left is guilty of lying, cheating, and indiscriminately acting in ways that benefit themselves thousands of times more frequently than the Right.

Not until the weak-minded and gullible face REAL reality ( I can’t believe I’ve had to use such a term ) or have their heart strings pulled by Goodness, Grace, God or the Holy Spirit, or whatever universal positive Force you subscribe to, or, alternatively, have an experience or experiences that wake them up to the real world, will they make their way back to the realm of the grounded human race with traditional values and practices, and will our Country revert to its position as Light Shining on the Hill.

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