SEF News-Views Digest No. 131 (5-18-16)
Clifton Ware, Editor-Publisher
Citizens for Sustainability: Meeting-Forum, Sat., May 14, 10am-noon, Silver Lake Village Community Center, 3301 Silver Lake Rd. Free & open to public.
This topic has been uppermost on my mind 24/7 this week. You see, I underwent a root canal a week ago, followed the next day by catching what has developed into an insufferable cold, with all of the typical symptoms—off-on chills and overheating, lethargy, sensitive skin, runny or stuffy nose, and coughing. Ugh! After considering possible coping strategies, I think I’ve recalled the most effective one: maintain an attitude of gratitude!
A provocative, powerful new film, titled “Disobedience”, motivates this commentary (see the first listing in Views). [Note: This film is not to be confused with a 2003 film based on a story about a Mozambican peasant woman accused and put on trial for having caused her husband’s suicide by failing to obey him.]
Brainwashing is an intensely exaggerated form of mind control, but there are subtler conspiratorial ways of manipulating people’s thinking and beliefs. Indeed, we are all being manipulated, either kindly or unkindly, by individuals we respect—family members and relatives, friends, teachers, bosses, and politicians—as well as by our honored institutions (church and state), socio-cultural beliefs, traditions, and practices. These more subtle forms of psycho-emotional manipulations (indoctrinations) may be considered as “brainwashing lite”.