What exactly does brain washing entail?
I can remember being around the age of 8 or so and hearing the term and it conjured up an image of a brain in a washing machine spinning around.
According to my dictionary:
make (someone) adopt radically different beliefs by using systematic and often forcible pressure.
Well I'd say some religions could fall under that category depending on the level of pressure they excert, Scientology whatever its label certainly seems to.
From my understanding of what they do (however limited that knowledge is from reading dianetics and reading reports) they basically start by interviewing you. By giving people tests they determine weaknesses that they can target and exploit. They convince you that you are broken and that they can fix you.
In my mind I am sure that some of their techniques probably do help by putting people into a mindset that can make them feel good. A positive mind is a powerful tool, just look at the difference a positive outlook can effect health for example.
As people have said above comparing them to a more tradional religion it works in a similar way. Making you feel good which in turn creates positive things, however I don't know how thin this happy veil manifests. I can imagine when you are no longer useful to them, or transcend their teachings realising how empty it is that it can cause tremendous mental anguish. See the people who have comitted suicide after leaving the "religion cum cult cum money making scam" for evidence of this.
Can they be stopped? Who knows, but people thinking for themselves is the priority for me. Sadly your average human is a sheep and will ally themselves with whatever societal machinations are currently in their social groups.
I'm not entirely sure what banner I would put the society in UK under, but overall I would say its a secular plague of hedonistic materialism. Whether your average member of society can transcend that current level of thinking is another matter, but it is a sad hypothesis.
The strong prey on the weak and I would fathom fragile egos boosted by material possesions are the perfect target for Scientology and their agenda.
I can remember being around the age of 8 or so and hearing the term and it conjured up an image of a brain in a washing machine spinning around.
According to my dictionary:
make (someone) adopt radically different beliefs by using systematic and often forcible pressure.
Well I'd say some religions could fall under that category depending on the level of pressure they excert, Scientology whatever its label certainly seems to.
From my understanding of what they do (however limited that knowledge is from reading dianetics and reading reports) they basically start by interviewing you. By giving people tests they determine weaknesses that they can target and exploit. They convince you that you are broken and that they can fix you.
In my mind I am sure that some of their techniques probably do help by putting people into a mindset that can make them feel good. A positive mind is a powerful tool, just look at the difference a positive outlook can effect health for example.
As people have said above comparing them to a more tradional religion it works in a similar way. Making you feel good which in turn creates positive things, however I don't know how thin this happy veil manifests. I can imagine when you are no longer useful to them, or transcend their teachings realising how empty it is that it can cause tremendous mental anguish. See the people who have comitted suicide after leaving the "religion cum cult cum money making scam" for evidence of this.
Can they be stopped? Who knows, but people thinking for themselves is the priority for me. Sadly your average human is a sheep and will ally themselves with whatever societal machinations are currently in their social groups.
I'm not entirely sure what banner I would put the society in UK under, but overall I would say its a secular plague of hedonistic materialism. Whether your average member of society can transcend that current level of thinking is another matter, but it is a sad hypothesis.
The strong prey on the weak and I would fathom fragile egos boosted by material possesions are the perfect target for Scientology and their agenda.
However they'll probably have a distaste for anything BBC now.
