Wednesday, August 25, 2021

#175: Isolation: A Totalitarian Technique

“Pavlov made another significant discovery: the conditioned reflex could be developed most easily in a quiet laboratory with a minimum of disturbing stimuli. Every trainer of animals knows this from his own experience; isolation and the patient repetition of stimuli are required to tame wild animals. Pavlov formulated his findings into a general rule in which the speed of learning is positively correlated with quiet and isolation. The totalitarians have followed this rule. They know that they can condition their political victims most quickly if they are kept in isolation. In the totalitarian technique of thought control, the same isolation applied to the individual is applied also to groups of people. This is the reason the civilian populations of the totalitarian countries are not permitted to travel freely and are kept away from mental and political contamination. It is the reason, to, for the solitary confinement cell and the prison camp.”*

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*Meerloo, Dr. Joost A. M.. The Rape of the Mind: The Psychology of Thought Control, Menticide, and Brainwashing (Kindle Locations 625-631). Hauraki Publishing. Kindle Edition. (Bold emphasis added.)

Joost Abraham Maurits Meerloo (March 14, 1903 – November 17, 1976) was a Dutch/American Doctor of Medicine and psychoanalyst. He authored Rape of the Mind, an analysis of brainwashing techniques and thought control in totalitarian states.  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joost_Meerloo