You know, I used to think that, because of what I went through, I was somehow more impervious to mind control. "Yeah, man. Now I can spot that shit a mile away."
I've done a 180 on this.
I think it makes us more vulnerable.
We may cognitively understand the inherent flaws and blatant abuse that are what make up this industry, but brainwashing doesn't rely on that. It relies on causing your fight/flight/survival instinct to overtake your rationale.
Now that we have the scars, that means we have buttons. Triggers. When we are triggered, we immediately feel fear, vulnerability, a desire to retreat, to get away from what is scaring us. We lose functionality. We question our defenses, our perception. In short, we pretty much become useless, because our ability to think clearly and rationally is compromised.
I think that this is the same for any victim of PTSD, of course. But we went through organized, systematic abuse. Abuse which can maybe cause predictable results in a subject who is triggered.
This country is currently producing a generation of people who are like this.
Chew on that.