Mass Hypnotism in War, Politics & Daily Life

Most times when they show on the History Channel films about Hitler's days in Germany they usually show this picture of flaming torches in the dark of night moving around in a circle. This still is from Google. It is overtly hypnotic.

<== Brainwashing in the madrases. See the movie Obsession for more on the madrases & mass hypnotism. Whether you like the point of view or their conclusions in the movie or not you will be able to note techniques & behavior which resemble a lot of those of hypnosis.

Japanese Kamikaze pilots were brainwashed into thinking that they were dying for the Emperor.

To require the faithful to bow 6 times a day to Mecca is brainwashing & hypnotism!

The pattern is simple! Appeal to the unconscious with repetitive ideas of what is desired behavior. Bypass conscious thinking.

Marines marching in boot camp constantly being shouted at (See Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket) if you need a clue! The hypnosis is unquestioning authority in the face of pain, exhaustion & convention in order to follow superiors' commands. This "training" will also bypass the social taboo of killing.

Most religions bypass the thinking & go for faith & belief! But, in a theocracy the state enforces & requires it!

Mass Media does the same from product advertisement to drama. As I watch TV or a movie I escape into the movie & usually, if it is well done, I subsume my critical faculties & thinking in order to enjoy the experience (otherwise it would be like explaining & dissecting a joke). Note a lot of drama on TV is now terrorism (24), revenge, courtroom & crime drama etc.

The Hashshashins & their successors used drugs & visions of paradise (72 mansions with 72 virgins in heaven) to motive youths to become suicide bombers & blow themselves up in the midst of their enemies.

Sometimes it is hard to draw the fine line between defending a country, motivating, religious fervor & the evils to which hypnosis can & is being used today.

Where I draw the line is whether I can summon my conscious & rational thought processes to counteract the hypnosis and/or choose to go into the trance in the first place. In most cases today I can; that being the reason I studied hypnosis for many, many years. I'm not so sure about others.

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Mark de LA says

IMHO, the ultimate test as to whether the line is drawn properly is the one I stated earlier. I will paraphrase a little:

Can those who are tranced-out, in whatever manner, summon conscious & rational thought processes to counteract the hypnotic trance and/or did they choose to go into the trance in the first place.

...

I think this test would fail for a lot of people in America today.

Mark de LA says

seth 2007-01-31 09:52:58 5889

source: above
Where I draw the line is whether I can summon my conscious & rational thought processes to counteract the hypnosis and/or choose to go into the trance in the first place.

Yes it is definitely hard to draw the line.

The part quoted above is not hard at all for me. The part below is what I find difficult.

source: ... Sometimes it is hard to draw the fine line between defending a country, motivating, religious fervor & the evils to which hypnosis can & is being used today.

...

Seth says
It is hard for the science of psychology and sociology to draw the lines; but when you mix in religious and political beliefs into the process it is impossible to draw these lines in any reliable and reproducable manner. Of course we all draw those lines in our own heads quite readily.

Mark de LA says

seth 2007-01-31 13:54:26 5889

Usually a person who is in the grips of passionate belief in some propoganda script will not be able to think outside of that script. It does not really matter whether it is a religious script or a political script. This applies to Natzies, Islamic Fundamentalists, Mormans, Liberals, and NeoCons alike. What are you saying that goes beyond that?

I am saying NOTHING like what you are saying. Passionate beliefs are not the same things as hypnotic trances.

Seth says
Usually a person who is in the grips of passionate belief in some propoganda script will not be able to think outside of that script. It does not really matter whether it is a religious script or a political script. This applies to Natzies, Islamic Fundamentalists, Mormans, Liberals, and NeoCons alike. What are you saying that goes beyond that?

Mark de LA says

If you can keep your rational faculties & still subscribe to a faith or religion & not act like a zombie then you are probably OK. Otherwise check your pulse, belly button & circuit boards.

Seth says
Here are 2 other behaviors that need to be related to be related to your "trance" behavior: (1) partisan (2) fire walk. This distinction of "trance" is certainly very interesting and well worth a study, but easily drawn and objective, it is not.

Seth says

M 2007-01-31 16:41:28 5889

I am saying NOTHING like what you are saying. Passionate beliefs are not the same things as hypnotic trances.

Perhaps not, but then you need to distinguish. Can you describe how one distinguishes between behavior that is to be called a "trance" and the repetative behavior that is to be called "passionate belief" ? So far you have not done so. Can you also distinguish between behaviro that is normally termed "habitual" and that which you call "trance" ? And while your at it how do we distinguish between behavior that is considered "tribal" and that which is considered "trance" or "habitual" or just "passionate belief" ?

Mark de LA says

seth 2007-02-01 05:53:34 5889

M 2007-01-31 16:41:28 5889

I am saying NOTHING like what you are saying. Passionate beliefs are not the same things as hypnotic trances.

Well I have made the hypnotic distinction that I consider important 2 times before & will here for the 3rd time:

(I quote myself): Can those who are tranced-out, in whatever manner, summon conscious & rational thought processes to counteract the hypnotic trance and/or did they choose to go into the trance in the first place.

...The phenomena of hypnotic trance are to be found many places on the internet & elsewhere. I am not talking about stage hypnotism. The parts I am concerned with are in the domain of the "will" & self-consciousness. Some have said hypnotism does not exist! Others say everything is hypnotism. This is not a scholarly presentation. I know it when I see it. I have experienced it. I can choose to be in the state or not (most of the time). The hypnotic state tends to be like day-dreaming &/or REM sleep. The phenomena of post-hypnotic suggestion tends to invade the will & consciousness of the subject. Habitual, tribal & passionate things could perhaps go somewhat in that direction but would lack the invasion of the "free will" & subconscious & self-conscious domains.

Seth says

source: Mark
Can those who are tranced-out, in whatever manner, summon conscious & rational thought processes to counteract the hypnotic trance

So if you are doing behaviro-A and you can choose not to do behavior-A, then behavior-A is not a trance?

Mark de LA says

seth 2007-02-01 08:06:01 5889

Here are 2 other behaviors that need to be related to be related to your "trance" behavior: (1) partisan (2) fire walk. This distinction of "trance" is certainly very interesting and well worth a study, but easily drawn and objective, it is not.

There is nothing objective in any blog!

Bandler has said that he can fire walk without going into a trance. Tony Robbins overtly makes it an hypnotic experience. I have done both. Partisanship just means that you have chosen a side in some matter.

One could say that the biggest trance of this era is the RWG. Can you get out of it ? Does it invade your will? Can you enter it voluntarily or do you not have a choice ?

Mark de LA says

seth 2007-02-01 08:30:08 5889

source: Mark
Can those who are tranced-out, in whatever manner, summon conscious & rational thought processes to counteract the hypnotic trance

So if you are doing behaviro-A and you can choose not to do behavior-A, then behavior-A is not a trance?

That is too narrow a definition. The salient points of my discriminator are:

self-consciousness
voluntary entrance to the state
ability to think rationally
ability to change or counteract the state and/or exit the state
no post-hypnotic suggestability , "free will" (used here without quibbling about it)

Mass Hypnotism in War, Politics & Daily Life

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