Brainwashed

I do not have the power to reverse the decades of brainwashing going on in America today. I cannot change what others have been strategically programmed to believe. All I can do is share the truth and hope someone will listen and maybe seize control of their own mind. I understand that most will choose to remain prisoner to the system - to exist in blissfull ignorance.

Throughout history, people have been compelled to commit atrocities while under the influence of mind control. Whether witch trials, Brownshirts of the Nazi’s, Islamic Jihadists, Japanese Kamikazes, or US white nationalist militias, barbarous acts in the name of religion, ideology, cults, and despot are common. The sad truth is that people’s minds and behaviors are easy pray for a skilled manipulator.

When I tell you that, right here, today, this very minute, otherwise good US citizens are being radicalized with lies, that they are under the influence of mind control by political Party propaganda augmented by corporate media and extremism fomented in social media, you know it is true.

Representatives, candidates, pastors, journalists, celebrities, teachers, athletes, your friends, and your family are brainwashed. Most likely, so are you. Is there hope?

Over the years, everyone I know has lost a friend, family member, mentor, or their own mind to Fox News and right-wing brainwashing.  I am not suggesting that political brainwashing is a strictly one-sided phenomenon, but it is more pervasive, insidious, and efficacious on the right.  For those of us rationally grounded, the breadth and depth of the lies from the right is disturbing and incomprehensible. We are stunned that anyone, let alone our friends, are deceived by and believe the outrageous fake news.  

We have watched helplessly as people we know have become part of the 'conservative' herd, trading their compassion for paranoia; their thoughtful opinions for manufactured outrage; their values for hate, and their empathy for callous disregard.

Our friends - our moms, dads, aunts, uncles, grandparents, brothers, sisters, pastors, athletes, stars, politicians, and friends have lost reason, reality, and compassion to the brainwashing by Fox News, right-wing media, and the pressure to conform to a social media tribe.

I feel helpless, lonely, and increasingly scared as I watch more and more good people being drug into these dangerous cults of deception and hate.

I can make a difference in the life of at least one starfish.