Is “brainwashing” even real? (CT Scan, Episode 86)

“Brainwashing” is a highly emotional word that makes for effective propaganda. But what IS brainwashing, anyway? Is it even real? Not everyone thinks so. Originally used to describe communist ‘re-education’ techniques, “brainwashing” can now mean anything from sneaky salesmanship to hypothetically hijacking and restructuring another’s mind.
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DIGGING DEEPER
🔹 Mitchell, T. (2016). Are We Brainwashing Our Children? https://answersingenesis.org/apologetics/critical-thinking/are-we-brainwashing-our-children/
🔹 Bergman, J. (2001). The Darwinian Foundation of Communism. https://answersingenesis.org/charles-darwin/racism/the-darwinian-foundation-of-communism/
🔹 Ham, K. (2009). Who is Doing the Brainwashing? https://answersingenesis.org/blogs/ken-ham/2009/06/28/who-is-doing-the-brainwashing/
🔹 Logic topic: https://answersingenesis.org/logic/
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CITED REFERENCES
• https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/brainwashing [Retrieved 09-28-2020]
• Many attribute the earliest reports of “brainwashing” to journalist Edward Hunter, but some researchers suggest the term appeared in slightly earlier documents likely written the same year (1950). [Holmes, Marcia. “Edward Hunter and the origins of ‘brainwashing’” May 26, 2017. http://www.bbk.ac.uk/hiddenpersuaders/blog/hunter-origins-of-brainwashing/#_ftn2]
• Wurmbrand, R. (1982). Preparing for the Underground Church. Christian Mission to the Communist World.
• Richardson, J. T., & Introvigne, M. (2004). Brainwashing theories in European parliamentary and administrative reports on cults and sects. In Regulating Religion (pp. 151-178). Springer, Boston, MA.
• Richardson, J. T. (1996). Brainwashing Claims and Minority Religions Outside the United States: Cultural Diffusion of a Questionable Concept in the Legal Arena. BYU L. Rev., 873.
• Coates, D. D. (2016). Life inside a deviant “religious” group: Conformity and commitment as ensured through ‘brainwashing’or as the result of normal processes of socialisation. International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice, 44, 103-121.
• Zimbardo, P. (1997). What messages are behind today’s cults. APA Monitor, 28(5), 14.
• Zimbardo, P. G. (2002). Column: Mind Control: Psychological Reality or Mindless Rhetoric. Cultic Studies Review, 1, 309-311. https://www.apa.org/monitor/nov02/pc
• Zablocki, B. (1997). The blacklisting of a concept: The strange history of the brainwashing conjecture in the sociology of religion. Nova Religio, 1(1), 96-121.
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