The Use Of Censorship On The Human Brain

Now that you understand the inner workings of brainwashing, I can explain how we as a society, are brainwashed to believe many different things. We are brainwashed to believe we need a certain car. There are not many differences between automobiles nowadays, besides maintenance and the cost of the car itself. Car advertisements brainwash us into believing their model will bring us joy, power, luxury (whatever they want us to believe). This makes us feel the need to own their car and puts that thought in our mind. In reality the vehicle won’t bring us joy past the first couple weeks of the

The history of the world has undoubtedly been dominated by an endless struggle for power. However, after a brief glimpse into the pages of history it should not take long to realize that the trick to maintaining power lies in the control of information. Even the most fearsome military generals of the past acknowledge the power of the mind and ideas over lethal force. Former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin once said “… [Ideas] are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, then why should we let them have ideas.” Stalin’s quote personifies the main concept of this literature review which will be discussing the history of government censorship and its effects that are

Matthew W. Dunne’s A Cold War State of Mind: Brainwashing and Postwar American Society, Dunne attempts to reconsider the history of postwar America through the idea of brainwashing and look at the mind-set the idea created. Very early in the novel he reminds the audience that this is not a piece of work written to examine the legitimacy of the method of brainwashing to control minds. Rather, he focuses on not only why brainwashing was so accepted by the American public, but also how it had many generations of the United States thinking that their individuality was under attack. The book spans from a time of external fears of the Communists using brainwashing techniques on Americans, then shifts to where the fear turned to the state of American

The late 1940s and 1950s saw the rise of political and cultural hysteria among Americans following fears of an impending Soviet threat on American soil. The effect was that Americans thought soviet communists were working behind the scenes to ensure the downfall or harm of the United States (Lovett). As a result, there was regular charging among each other that one was either a communist or a sympathizer of communists, thereby continuing this trend of fear. Under this threat then, several American politicians withdrew their political ideas, values and lived communist-free lives (Schrecker). It was during this rise that McCarthyism was at its peak. This was a movement that would use communism

The way the fascist and totalitarian regimes of the past used mass propaganda techniques to “brainwash” their people was

The author then directs our attention to the Eisenhower and Truman years, in the work of Walter L. Hixson, Parting the Curtains: Propaganda, Culture, and the Cold War, 1945-1961, in which Washington, D.C. officials sought to weaken countries controlled by the Communist Party through the execution of psychological warfare and measured cultural intervention through American propaganda.

In the political environment of the 1950s, the fear of communism was prevalent. Due to the Korean War and disagreements with the Russian government, a Second Red Scare developed. As a result, “McCarthyism” was a primary influence on American lives. McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of communism without proper evidence. This act of accusation without evidence was made famous by american Senator

Imagine if a society controlled what people see, hear, or did. This type of censorship is harmful to a society. Everyone needs to understand each other’s freedoms. This issue is discussed in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. In this society, they can not read certain things and people decide to commit suicide over it. Censorship takes away our rights as individuals. It violates the First Amendment, keeps people from learning, and gives the government total control.

What would life be like without censorship? Though there might be upsides to it, such as more freedom of speech, it could also cause some problems. Not only would we be exposing children to many horrors of the world, we also would be doing nothing to prevent offensive and oppressive content in the media. Therefore, some censorship is necessary for all people; however, in most cases, we should be allowed access to most information in society.

The first to worry about is what is brainwashing? Brainwashing is “the process of forcing people to fundamentally change their beliefs” (“How Things Work: Brainwashing” n.pag). Because brainwashing is so controversial, most government try to limit the way they try to brainwash. The most popular are propaganda. Propaganda is most used by countries to make the country look better, and make others look bad.

The act of brainwashing in this sense is the same thing that Hitler did during the Holocaust. He did this by giving loud, convincing speeches and warping one mind after another, creating a domino effect. The swindlers did almost the same thing by confidently telling the whole city how wonderful they were at their job. Once people saw their cloth,

This science could be used to change people’s thoughts and coerce them into behaving a certain way. This is for two major reasons: people are fueled by self-improvement and rewards and people are influenced by other people around them. In Nazi Germany, the general public’s psyche was shaped by the propaganda used by the Nazis. The officials in the Congo Free State, however, provided their soldiers with incentives. Employing ideas rooted in psychology, the Nazis and the officials of the Congo Free State were able to control and manipulate people in order to warrant the

Moreover, the State brainwashes citizens through the conditioning and hypnopaedic processes. Correspondingly, the DHC says, “‘Till at last the child’s mind is these suggestions... But all these suggestions are our suggestions!’” (23). Through conditioning, individuals’ minds are preset into a singular ideology.

There are many individuals who view brainwashing as a disease that spreads like wildfire. But what exactly is brainwashing and how does it work? According to Merriam- Webster Dictionary, brainwashing is defined as a forcible indoctrination to induce someone to give up basic political, social, religious beliefs and attitudes and to accept contrasting regimented ideas. According to journalist Julia Layton, from How Stuff Works, “In the brainwashing process, the agent systematically breaks down the target's identity to the point that it doesn't work anymore. The agent then replaces it with another set of behaviors, attitudes and beliefs that work in the target's current environment.” But it’s not like brainwashing is a brand new invention that

Monkey see, monkey do, a simple phrase relevant to today’s society. Those in society that simply do not know any better, such as children, are inclined to imitate what they see being done. Without censorship daily television shows are increasingly exhibiting more violence, foul language and sexuality to susceptible youth. Due to lack of censorship, explicit music lyrics and inappropriate images on music videos are being introduced to impressionable children. There is a lack of control on the internet leading to internet addiction and forces vulnerable adolescents to face cyber bullying. In a variety of mediums not enough censorship is used, which influences impressionable youth to think and behave negatively.