The Negative Effects Of Brainwashing

Some people turned to extremism. For example, the Flagellants, based in Central and Northern Europe, believed that the plague was sent upon the people due to their moral corruption disobeying of God’s will. The extremists traveled from village to village, and whipped themselves in hopes of repenting for the sins of those around them. The population, noticing how many people were dying, and believing it to be caused by God’s unhappiness, began to believe that the clergy had failed them in showing citizens how to be pious. They also saw the clergy’s deaths as proof of the failure of the clergy, as God was angry with them as well. This anger and distrust of the clergy carried on to the next great crisis of Europe, the Great Schism.

A little more than 35 years ago, a man named Jim Jones shocked the world when he led almost 1,000 of his followers in an act of mass suicide; amongst those dead were more than 270 children1. On November 18, 1978, Jones and his followers drank Kool-Aid laced with cyanide in what he had presented to them as a peaceful escape to injustices of this world. The Jonestown Massacre was an incredible tragedy that sent waves through the whole world. Though the event was tragic, scholars have used our knowledge of what happened in order to deepen our understanding of cults, religions, and how both can influence people’s decisions.

Integrative Approaches to Psychology and Christianity allowed me to comprehend fully the past occurrences of psychology and theology. The book displayed the faith and confidence that both psychology and Christianity must be combined in order for it to have a better understanding and allowing the client a better chance of healing. In order to do this there must be a complete understanding of each component in and of itself. Entwistle’s (2010) book presented all the facts from history as it has shaped society today (pp. 18-34). As he discussed these historic events, it shows just how the wisdom that is held today is a reflection or reaction of what happened then. Christianity has always had a huge impact on world history

Throughout history many things have happened that included people who will blindly obey to orders given to them. Events where people have blindly obeyed orders, such as mass killings of innocent people or groups, were called genocides. The people leading genocides were trying to destroy a certain race or ethnic group by either killing them or dehumanizing them. One of the biggest genocide in history was the Holocaust which targeted Jews, disabled people, homosexuals, Jehovah witnesses, etc. The leader of the Holocaust was Adolf Hitler, who had the Germans kill more than six million Jews and many other kinds of people that were not considered the perfect German. People will follow orders blindly because they want to feel powerful or superior, the events relate to an individual's religion or beliefs, and because the individual wishes to appear as obedient.

It inspired people to speak out against the religious government on aspects they did not believe in.

One of the many ways that chairman Mao could gain control and brain wash people was through the media. This media is very important when brainwashing a group of people. In Mao’s case, he takes control of the newspaper and makes sure that there is plenty of propaganda everywhere, all over the paper. Mao uses a very smart tactic to lure out and shut down anyone who opposes him in the media. He bombards the common folk with quote after quote from his books that is basically just crammed with propaganda. A modern example of the media being a very important tool when brainwashing a nation is North Korea. The dictatorship at North Korea has complete control over the media and there is absolutely no hope of telling the citizens that their entire lives were lives since they were constantly fed propaganda all the time, everywhere. Mao’s control of newspaper during the cultural revolution help his cause a great deal.

One of the reasons propaganda has such power is because of it, in a way, brainwashes people to believe something over the other. People can easily use propaganda to control people or convince them to believe that they are correct even if they were talking complete nonsense. Document

Far too often in history, a person’s negative or evile views have influenced others to commit terrible atrocities. In the 1930s, Adolph Hitler hated the Jews and blamed them for the declining economy, high unemployment rate, and other ills in the world. Because he was a master orator , he easily convinced the German citizens to agree with his views, including the belief that the Jewish people should be punished, causung their mass execution during World War II. In recent years, leaders of various terrorist cells have used similar tactics of vengeance, brotherhood, and patriotism, recruiting impressionable young adults, promising eternal salvation as a reward for torture, murder, and even suicide. Closer to home , in Massachusetts during the 17th century, a few people negatively influenced normally snae, religious, and honorable Puritans into believing witchcraft had taken a hold over the community. What evidence convinced such religious people it ironically and hypocritically offer torture and mass hangings as a

One of the most discussed topics in the modern world is children indoctrination into religion. Children aren't developed enough to decide in what to believe or disbelieve. Everyone is born without believing in a religion until it is either forced on them or they are developed enough to decide if one of the religions ''works'' for them or not. Mostly, parents are the most influential part in a child life. They decide what a proper education is to their successor and they impose their ideas to their child.

“Prior to the 9/11 attack, the tragedy at Jonestown marked the single largest loss of U.S. civilian lives in a non-natural disaster”(Jonestown Massacre 2). Jim Jones, a cult leader of the Peoples Temple, was responsible for the loss of the 900+ people that died in Guyana on November 18, 1978. Before all of this Jim Jones was a normal man living a life as a preacher who preached against racism. Throughout his life he was very popular by “currying favor with public officials and the media, donated money to numerous charitable causes and delivered votes for various politicians at election times”(History Staff). Jim Jones was a cult leader that preached to 900+ people of the Peoples Temple, made hundreds of people commit suicide, and made history of the biggest loss of U.S. civilians before 9/11.

Religious terrorism is a sort of political viciousness inspired by a flat out conviction that an extraordinary force has endorsed and charged terrorist violence

Jim Jones started as a reverend who started his own racially-mixed church whose main goal was to eradicate racism. This church became known as the people’s temple and was well known throughout Indianapolis for their work. The People’s Temple opened an orphanage and soup kitchen; they also provided assistance to disabled people in the area. In addition to his church’s good work, Jim Jones and his wife became the first couple in Indiana to adopt a black child (Wunrow, Rose). Everything seemed to be going well for the People’s Temple and Jim Jones; however, this seemingly wholesome church would eventually lead to as assassinated congressman and one of the largest mass suicide events in history.

Australia, a land that was long bound in superstition and the lower type religions, hosted a Billy Graham crusade and it was able to draw the largest crowd ever for a world Crusade (Smart, 7). Now, none of these actions are bad, in fact there could be a good argument that these are all good things. However, the attitude that all these actions created when they were performed in such a close sequence was one of competition. It made many religious zealots want to prove that their form of religion was the only true one. This has caused much resentment and resulted in a differing approach to the missionary work. When these missionaries could not convince people with words, they resorted to actions. One example of this religious retaliation that America is still suffering from is the mindless destruction of the twin towers on September 11

Since then conservative ideology and federal laws have prevented research or studies into entheogens and the human mind. To understand whether or not entheogens can produce religious experiences it important to understand the parameters and definitions that make up the typology of religious experiences, the effects of entheogens like lysergic acid diethylamide on the human mind, and previous case studies that tried to understand the relationship between entheogens and religious experience.

Martin Wong was born in, Portland Oregon and raised in Chinatown district of San Francisco. He studied ceramics at Humboldt State University. He graduated in 1968. Through college, he was active in the San Francisco Bay Area art scene. In 1978, he moved to Manhattan, settling in the Lower East Side, where his attention turned exclusively to painting. Wong made ceramics, and did drawings at art fairs, he was also known as the Human Instamatics. In August 1999, he died.