How Long Does It Take To Become Brainwashed?

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I was just studying the BITE model for cults and thought of this question. Also, how would you know if you or another person was brainwashed? I’m curious to hear your thoughts.
 
Not very long. Look at all the college kids who want to abolish free speech.
 
I can only really speak of the Jehovah’s Witness cult as I was raised in it. For the Witnesses, it usually starts at the door and is quite non-threatening. They spend most of their time in their Kingdom Halls learning how to be effective at the door and with their Bible studies with prospective members. Thus, they start off really innocent and small at the door and don’t rock the boat. They usually take a few Bible passages out of context and ascribe new meaning to the text to wow the prospect with their knowledge and to show them what the Bible “really teaches.” Other than that, they usually ask prospects if it would be nice to have a world without suffering and death, really innocent stuff at the beginning. If they told the prospective member everything they believed right off the bat, they wouldn’t be successful at all. If they get a Bible study, then they get a little deeper in Jehovah’s Witness beliefs, but they mostly keep away from the controversies at this point. If the Bible study is going well, they then invite them to start attending “meetings” (services) at the local Kingdom Hall. With regular attendance at the Kingdom Hall, their belief system starts to get flushed out more fully for the prospective member. Eventually what the Watchtower Society says starts to take over the thoughts and opinions of the new member completely.

It is a slow brainwashing process and should be a major red flag that beliefs have to be hidden until the prospective member is “ready” for them. I think most cults use this technique. With the rise of the internet, it has become much harder for Witnesses to witness and their retention rate is horrible.

Telling if someone is brainwashed or how brainwashed they are can be tricky. That said, if a person is devoid of most/all independent thought, that is a good clue that something is amiss. If a person has to check with their "superiors " to see how they should think or feel about something, another good clue. Lastly, if they reject facts/reason when it stares them in the face and become quite hostile, another good clue that something may be amiss.
 
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Well to play devil’s advocate (no pun intended) many people think religion in general is the ultimate form of brainwashing. As children, we all obviously will believe anything our parents or friends tell us, and as we get older it becomes dangerous to isolate oneself around just one type of world view. Which is why I recommend traveling as much as possible and experiencing other cultures and yes other religions or lack thereof.

On another serious note, as stated above, with the internet it is even easier to find ANY crazed beliefs to support one’s brainwashed view. The biggest group in my opinion would be 9/11 conspiracy “truthers”. These people have been brainwashed so much to the point they’re convinced that the US government somehow orchestrated 9/11, killed 3000 of it’s own citizens to start a war. Even some of my family members have become brainwashed like this.

So to answer one’s question, it does not take long at all to become brainwashed. Thus, always search for and question the “truth.”

Sorry I sound like Mulder or Scully from the X-files. The truth is out there! 🙂
 
Good point about the internet being a double-edged sword. That is why it is so important for people to do their due diligence when researching a subject and seeking out the truth.

I certainly agree with you about 9/11 truthers and I think they are effective because they mix in some truth with a lot of non-truth. For example, governments around the world have been using false flags to achieve their goals/interests throughout history. Our own government has even proposed false flags to achieve their goals. Operation Northwoods is probably the best known. Operation Northwoods - Wikipedia

At the end of the day, it all goes back to being careful when researching and try to look at anything from all sides, perspectives, and checking sources for accuracy.
 
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Jamie5 said:
Which is why I recommend traveling as much as possible and experiencing other cultures and yes other religions or lack thereof.
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Absolutely, though not everyone has the resources to travel widely; but listening to the experiences of other would help. Certainly experiencing another culture or religion locally is within the reach of most people.
 
seanman611 said:
With regular attendance at the Kingdom Hall, their belief system starts to get flushed out more fully for the prospective member.
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I love this! That’s probably why most high control groups are persistent when it comes to inviting others to their services.
 
Not very long. It took only a few years for a whole society to come to believe that homosexuality is normal and healthy. In the Toronto area, homosexuality is practically a religion.
 
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Depending on the target, and the methods used, it could take a relatively short period of time (months), or years, or in the case of the West, the ongoing brainwashing program has been going on for decades and will continue until all planned goals are achieved.
 
To the OP: could you give some examples of how you mean? I am not understanding
 
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Patty Hearst’s legal defense claimed she had been brainwashed. It was a two month time period from when she was kidnapped to when she robbed a bank.

Non-academic speculation, is the time period would vary based on the methods employed and the intensity with which they were employed. Also individual psychological weaknesses and strengths and probably a bunch of other variables.
 
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normal and healthy are quite vague and subjective when it comes down to it. Since you don’t know them, it’s quite offensive for you to say “they can’t be normal.” What exactly does that mean?
 
So true drac16. There is nothing normal about going against nature.
 
How Long Does It Take To Become Brainwashed?

Depends if it’s on gentle cycle and if there is an extra rinse involved.

Seriously, it is to a great extent dependent upon how amenable the individual is psychologically (age and predisposition would be factors) and the technique being used.
 
Do you really think that just by being friends that you know about their health?

And no—health is really not subjective.

Also, you seem to like to talk about all of these different groups of friends you have. Maybe you should assess people as individuals and not with group identity so often.
 
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