Fornits

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An open discussion about the troubled parent industry

CONDITIONS FOR MIND CONTROL
DR. MARGARET SINGER
(Margaret T. Singer, Ph.D., Emeritus Prof. of Psychology, Univ. of CA, Berkeley)
THOUGHT REFORM = LANGUAGE + SOCIAL & PSYCHOLOGICAL INFLUENCE
In a thought reform program:
the self concept is destabilized
the group/leaders attack one's evaluation of self
SELF: 2 Elements in one's self-concept
Peripheral Sense: adequacy of public & judgmental aspects, social status, role performance, conformity to social norms
Central Sense of Self: adequacy of intimate life, confidence in perception of reality, relations w/family, goals, sexual experiences, traumatic life events, religious beliefs, basic consciousness and emotional control
When you attack a person's self-concept, aversive emotional arousal is created
6 Conditions that need to be present in order to Constitute Mind Control:
Control over time
Especially thinking time
Use techniques to get a person to think about:
the group
beliefs of the group
as much of their waking time as possible.

Create a sense of powerlessness
Get people away from normal support systems for a period of time
Provide models of behavior (cult members)
Use in-group language
Use of songs, games, stories the person is unfamiliar with or they are modified so that they're unfamiliar
New people tend to want to be like others (acceptance, feeling part of a group)

Manipulate Rewards, Punishments, Experiences in order to Suppress old Social Behavior
MANIPULATE: social rewards intellectual rewards
REWARDS: support positive self-concept for conformity to new thought system
PUNISHMENTS: attack person's self-concept for non-conformity
Effects of behavioral modification (reward/punishment):
Deployable Agent:
accept a particular world view
procedures for peer monitoring w/feedback to group
psychological, social & material sanctions to influence the target's behavior

When there is control of external feedback, the group becomes the only source -- there are no reality checks
BEHAVIORS REWARDED: participation, conformity to ideas/behavior, zeal, personal changes
BEHAVIORS PUNISHED: criticalness, independent thinking, non-conformity to ideas/behavior
PUNISHMENTS: peer/group criticism, withdrawal of support/affection, isolation, negative feedback
The person is Dependent upon the Group for External Validation of Social Idenity
RESULTS: confusion, disorientation, psychological disturbances
Manipulate experience:
altered states of consciousness (trance)
hypnosis
Hypnosis: (see Ericksonian hypnosis)
speaking patterns
guided imagery
pacing of voice to breathing patterns
parables, stories with imbedded messages
repetition
boredom
stop paying attention to distractions, focus inwardly to what's going on inside you
the use of one's voice to get people's attention focused
Chanting, Meditation
Teach thought-stopping techniques
Work them up emotionally to a negative state:
re-experience past painful events
recall negative actions/sin in past life
Then rescue them from negative emotion by giving them a new way to live
Manipulate Rewards, Punishments, Experiences in order to Elicit New Behavior
Models will demonstrate new behavior
Conformity: dress, language, behavior
Using group language will eventually still the thinking mind

MUST BE A TIGHTLY CONTROLLED SYSTEM OF LOGIC
No complaints from the floor
Pyramid shaped operation with leader at the top
Top leaders must maintain absolute control/authority
Persons in charge must have verbal ways of never losing
Anyone who questions is made to think there is something inherently wrong with them to even question
Phobia induction:
something bad will happen if you leave the group
if you leave this group, you're leaving God
Guilt manipulation

Persons being Thought Reformed Must be Unaward that they are being moved through a program to make them deployable agents
To buy more courses, sign up for the duration, ect.
You can't be thought reformed with full capacity, informed consent
You don't know the agenda of the group at the beginning or the full content of the ideology
THOUGHT REFORM SYSTEM:
Coordinated programs of coercive influence and behavior control
Use of pop psychology techniques found in sensitivity training and encounters groups

2nd Generation Thought Reform Systems (attacks on central elements of self):
enlist recruit's cooperation, offer something they want (personal growth, salvation, etc.)
obtain psychological dominace by making the target's continuing relations contingent upon continuing membership
use seduction by developing bonds and encouraging targets to believe the group can provide something
develop dependency by direct social pressure to influence a decision that the group has special power or knowledge or can solve a problem; the people in the group are made to seem interested in what is best for the target -- then they "up the commitment level"
shift the target's social and emotional attachments to individuals who have already accepted high commitment and are conforming to the behavior
WHILE
decreasing the target's outside relationships
increase the CHANGES in the target's:
income
employment
personal friends/social life
finances
sexuality
This increases the THREATS to the person if they want to Leave
ARE TO THE INDIVIDUAL'S

stability of identity
emotional well-being
the community standards become the ONLY standards available for self-evaluation
CULTS AND CULTIC RELATIONSHIPS
CULT - the political and power STRUCTURE of a group
CULTIC RELATIONSHIP - those relationships in which a person intentionally induces others to become totally or nearly totally dependent on him/her for almost all major life decisions and inculcates in these followers a belief that he has some special talent, gift or knowledge
PRIMARY IN OUR DISCUSSION OF CULTS IS THE PRACTICE AND CONDUCT OF THE GROUP, NOT ITS BELIEFS
Further references:
Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism. Robert J. Lifton, M.D., University of N.C., Chapel Hill, 1989 Chapter 22
"Attacks on Peripheral versus Central Elements of Self and the Impact of Thought Reforming Techniques" Richard Ofshe and Margaret T. Singer, The Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 3 #1, Spring/Summer 1986; American Family Foundation, P.O. Box 1232, Gracie Station, New York, NY 10028 (212) 533-0538

"The Utilization of Hypnotic Techniques in Religious Conversion" Jesse S. Miller, The Cultic Studies Journal,Vol. 3 #2, Fall/Winter 1986

Recovery from Cults. ed. Michael Langone, Ph.D., W.W. Norton, 1994

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This Page Last Updated: 02/28/2004 11:35:15

Thanks to yOu. My wife has decided that I am one of you and is divorcing me because of you pathetic motherfuckers. You tell me I have problems.  You wallow in your own shit making excuses so you don't have to take responsability for YOURSELVES. I CALL THAT BEING A FUCKING PUSY. To my much despise that I have for you already, I get to hear her call me psycho from Straight, Controller, I restrained her, I'm an Addict. You fucking weak bastards need to mind to your own affairs and leave the ones that stand alone, alone. I will hate ya'll forever like I always have. You are no better than the group, you are the fucking group, the cult, the one's that have separated my wife and I. Is that not what the seed and straight did? Fuckers. Keep crying and I will keep bashing your cultic fucking brains in. Ya'll have brain washed my wife, She wants nothing to do with me as she yells straight driving away in another mans car with my children, surely, I pray for you to pay the consequences of your actions, surely you are the weak and for me the despised. Ya'll definitely are the Sick. Cry, Cry, Cry. You fucking make me sick. Talk to some others about being a skitz, surely you must pay. Pay the price pound for pound. Can you assholes bring me back my children and wife? I mean you have done such a great job. The one with 12 years, you?re a goddamn pro. You fucking bitch, and the rest of you may die. Feel Free. ANYTIME, DIE. Bring it on you fucking bastards; I'm ready this time. I hate. Jenn if you reply I will chomp and devour and spit you out like the rest. Bring it on FUCK HEADS. :rofl:

P.A.

On 2003-07-02 11:25:00, Anonymous wrote:

"I still think you're schizophrenic PA, I really do. This was never said before to be a jab, I was serious. I know, I put it in the wrong thread, but I meant it. My husband is a psychiatrist. I should know after 12 years how to spot this mental disorder. Please look into getting some help. You sound very unhappy. :scared:


I'M CURED; GOSH WITHOUT THIS I WOULD HAVE NEVER SEEN THE LIGHT.  I'M SO GLAD YOU HAVE BEEN DOING THAT FOR TWELVE YR'S I JUST KNEW YOU WERE RIGHT. IM SO THANKFUL, YA'LL REALLY HURT, PLEASE STOP, I JUST CAN'T TAKE IT ANY MORE, NO, PLEASE, THE TRUTH IS UNBEARABLE, DON'T EXPOSE ME, I'M SCARED.
LOVE YA!

I SEE THE CULT STILL LIVES ON, ALL IN YOUR MINDS, ALL IN YOUR HOMES, ALL WITHIN YOUR FINGERTIPS, ALL DOCTORS, ALL ONE BIG HAPPY FAMILY, STICKING TOGETHER TO CONSOLE THOSE COMING IN OFF THE STREETS, WE WERE ONCE LIKE THAT, WE KNOW, WE CAN SHOW YOU, THE STRAIGHT WAY, IT'S A WAY OF LIFE.

JUST A THOUGHT, YA'LL HAVE FUN BUT PLEASE LEAVE ME BE. I CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH,  NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, "STRAIGHT LIVES ON".


LOVE YA........PA

On 2003-04-13 08:51:00, wayeast wrote: "I skim these pages rather than reading every post, so I'm not clear on all of the inter-relationships.  Am I correct in understanding that Powerful Attitude was a Straightling at one time? Having taken that route myself, I'm curious to know whether he feels any cognitive dissonance over his point of view: that anyone who disagrees with him disagrees with God.  P.A. isn't able to see the arrogance of this, because he's let himself be convinced that he's being loyal to a higher power. He might humbly state that he knows very little in the grand scheme of things, but he knows Jesus, and that's all he needs to know.   It's disturbing that he can't see the similarity between his own attitude and that of the Straight founders, but is it really surprising?  When we're under stress, we go to the things with which we are familiar. An abused child will want to stay with the abusive parent because they are familiar.  Maybe this is why so many of us leave one cult for another.   I personally think P.A. *has* to keep sharing his faith, because if he ever stops, he'll see that it is based on fear and whipped air. Only by converting others can he comfort himself that he's got the Truth. "

Oh, Really.

As it is written "there are the WEAK and there are the strong. I have no doubt about the truth and it is pointless to talk to those with no ears. Just like this forum we didn't have it for seventeen years until recently. "We were given eyes to see and ears that hear and given a heart to understand the Truth". This is the way Jesus works. Not until his time and only if you?re looking or until it is given.  If they do not listen it is because I am not in them.  It makes since to me. I know not ya'll.

Anyone good at math? When I was 25 I had my own construction business and I was studying blue prints to figure out how to build a perfect house. I noticed that the slash marks (measurements) on the south side of the print 45% to the west. The west side to the north, the north to the east, the east to the south. What does that spell, a square, and then a square within a square and so on. To keep it short it was gravity, the laws of gravity that is. Anyway, I kept working with the angles for days and days until I came out of a trance and said for it is "equal". That is what God said so I have found God. Oh I forget to say that my friend and I could feel a strange presence in the air, we were searching for forgotten knowledge. We found a book the next day on 4th dimensions. It said, " This book will help you to obtain forgotten knowledge. Anyway, I made this little box, a square within a square, within a square. The numbers worked really well within the box so I liked to show it off.

Anyway, it is a very long story but the point I am making is this. One day the sky was red and that presence we had felt got very ugly indeed and the presence of demons had come upon us. I ran around for three days like this fighting the fucking demons and screaming about the fire, pure fucking hell brothers. So on the fourth day a bible was delivered into my hands and it began to speak " the parable of the sower". Then it said, "you do not worship those things made by your own hands nor do we burn incense unto it". I used to love that stuff (incense). Then it said, " I will throw you in the furnace to test you to see if you will worship them or me", "They are taken in their angle", "Disobedient children".

I could go on but I think you get the picture. One day we will all get to fight for our souls. Good luck. Have you heard that He will baptize you with fire?

So any of my fans out there, oh I mean my personal straight trainers. It is funny to see all the psychologists in here. Do you believe ya'll can really HELP anyone? There are the lost and there are the found. :rofl:

P.A.

[ This Message was edited by: Powerful Attitude on 2003-04-18 09:57 ]

:silly:


I must say Survivor that was a valiant effort as always.  I had a great day today because God gave me some insight to explore a certain avenue.  I have been praying for a while for ways to take care of my children and wife.  She stays home with our nurtured kids while I hit the streets. As we all know the economy has been tough and doesn?t look too good for the rest of this year.  Anyway, he has provided in the most amazing way. Thank you Jesus.  

So you see your venom doesn?t hurt me.  You speak as one who knows all, even though you are blind.  Once again, go have your ?31 flavors? too.  No religion can tolerate someone who is not loyal, someone who is lukewarm.  You can?t even be a team player in here. Can you survivor?  The Jews are the chosen but they will first have to face their ways.  They deny Christ now but they will see him soon.  Then what will you have to say about your Jewish friends.  By the way there are no more prophets to come and teach the world as you say.  They know not the truth.  Compare Proverbs to any written book by MAN.  There is no Comparison.  And if you did read the word you would know that these Christians you talk about are not Christian. I will just give ?Two? examples.  Church and State is considered spiritual fornication to God.  Do you think they want to hear that? You cannot worship two gods; you will esteem one higher than the other.  You cannot worship the mammon of unrighteousness (money) and God. If you knew his word you would not look as a blind man to me ranting what you do not know.

I actually agree with some things that you wrote, so I guess it wasn?t a total loss. Anyway, I?m feeling to good to put much into this Survivor.  I would rather praise Jesus? name.  Got to enjoy this, later.  Ts

I have been working until now and have just read a few more posts and laughed at what you had to say ClayL ABOUT ME PERSONALLY. You seem to know some of the Word and I assume you have read. But you Deny.  Lets talk about your God.  Now that would be ?FREAK?-Y.  Not being able to speak of your God, unless you don?t have one.  Then you would have to worship yourself. Now wouldn?t you?  You quote what the world wants to hear and as a defense.  You can?t handle the meat of the word.  

Keep posting your anti and I will always meet you there.  Poor little Clay & tiny tampa.
Just having fun.  Got a big day tomorrow.  See you then. And to everyone else, I don?t claim to be perfect; interpreter. Or prophet, I just enjoy the Word of Truth.  I deny myself and give it all to Jesus Christ.


P.A.

Yeah I remember the burger day.  It was a day of big excitement.  I acutally have to laugh when I think about how exciting.  When I was brought in, we had the famous PB and honey, and raisins and nuts.  The bologna boat, which consisted of one slice of bologna, one ice cream scoop of mashed potatoes, and a piece of processed cheese - sandwich style, and I think, a 10 oz. glass of something other than water.  Some of the host homes were wealthy as well, and there was no problem having food, all you wanted.  I hooked up with a buddy/host brother while I was in St. Pete, John Dowd.  That was the only peace I had while I was in FL.

P.A.

They killed Christ and his Apostle's because of their righteousness.  Is this the Harmonious Freedom you are mentioning? I don't now who you pray to since you don't worship Christ, that is kind of eerie. No thanks. But I will pray for us in Jesus Christ's name.

Maybe, next time TAMPA.

P.A.

You're such a rebel.Yah.