A Random Reflection on Brainwashing

One of the most contemptible human behaviors is brainwashing others. Two kinds of people are the most enthusiastic about brainwashing others. The first are those who, once brainwashed themselves, become puppets; driven by prejudice and fanatical, religious-like fervor, they are eager to help brainwash others. Thinkers, writers, doctors, religious believers, and indeed believers in every kind of social prejudice all belong to this group. The second kind are those who, driven by profit and desire, deliberately set out to brainwash others; politicians, salespeople, pyramid-scheme operators, and all sorts of people with vested interests belong to this group.

Those of us who write articles should constantly examine ourselves to see whether we are, intentionally or unintentionally, trying to brainwash others. When we read articles and receive various information, we should also be on guard against others trying to brainwash us.

The more one has seen and experienced, the less easily one is brainwashed. The more knowledgeable a person is, the stronger his spirit of self-reflection, and the less he cares about scrambling for personal gain, the less he likes to brainwash others. Both those who love brainwashing and those who are brainwashed have their own defects.

Gradually, I have come to realize that I need to be on guard against being brainwashed myself, and also on guard against intentionally or unintentionally trying to brainwash others.

There is a line in a song: "Love not so much, only a little; others' love runs deep, mine runs shallow." My attitude toward all so-called truths can be expressed by slightly modifying that lyric: "Believe not so much, only a little; others believe deeply, while I believe shallowly."

This is the attitude of a skeptic. In the world of a skeptic like me, there is no ultimately correct truth, no unshakable authority, no god; even one's own immediate judgments are held in doubt. Thus one is not easily brainwashed, nor does one become arrogant and full of oneself, loving to brainwash others.

What others say is not necessarily correct; what I myself say is not necessarily correct either. We are all like blind men touching an elephant, having grasped only a tiny patch of skin. If you touch the skin and say it is skin, that is a relatively honest attitude. But if you touch the skin and howl that you have grasped the whole elephant, that is rather absurd. In the real world, however, honest people are few and absurd people many.

Being fond of playing the teacher is an annoying fault. Taking a piss and looking at oneself in the mirror can cure this ailment. Many people suffer from it, but few are willing to cure themselves of it. Those who love playing the teacher are the most likely to brainwash others, intentionally or otherwise.

People who love playing the teacher do not easily doubt their own pitiful knowledge and clumsy judgment, so they readily become followers of some opinion or of some person. What followers love most is using their own limited understanding to brainwash others.

I used to be passionate about writing articles on grand principles; now I am ashamed of that behavior, because some of the articles I wrote back then were themselves guilty of trying to brainwash people.

If you want to counter brainwashing, the most important weapon is independent thinking. Independent thinking has two layers of meaning. The first is to maintain independence when thinking, undisturbed by others. The second is to treat thinking itself as something an individual does on his own, not to expand it so that others are also influenced by our thinking.