Millions of Americans Are Indoctrinated And Don't Know It

Sam Osterhout and I covered this indoctrination tactic at Unholy Ground, and Sam made this very handsome slide to outline it.

In psychological operations, one’s politics don’t matter. The tactics are tailored to the target. For purposes of today’s topic, the target is:

ANY PERSON WHO CAN BE CONVINCED TO IGNORE WHAT IS HAPPENING BY TELLING THEM IT CAN’T HAPPEN ANY TIME SOON/IN THEIR LIFETIME.

Let’s break down how indoctrination works more generally so we can then address this specific indoctrination tactic.

For indoctrination to embed, it must target the brain’s amygdala. The amygdala houses the fight-or-flight response and is where profound fear responses, grief, trauma, and very emotional reactions live.

In my White Christian Nationalist indoctrination as a child, the concept of Hell was the gateway to opening my amygdala. Near-constant stories, descriptions, and images of burning for eternity in a lake of fire were served up to me from kindergarten, leading me to be open to any message that offered escape from that fate.

This process of overwhelming the brain’s amygdala is central to effective indoctrination.

In my 8 July newsletter, I covered how WCN extremist theo-bro pastor Joel Webbon called for prosecuting and jailing people who commit blasphemy. He and his ilk absolutely intend to go after anyone who disagrees with them and charge them with crimes. He and his interlocutor are clear about their goals in the interview.

Fear of being targeted for this kind of persecution and oppression can lead some listeners through a fight-or-flight response, sometimes as mundane as the near-constant outrage Americans are conditioned to supply. Let’s call this the trigger statement. This response makes some targets more pliable to whatever message follows the trigger.

In the above example, Webbon immediately follows his trigger statement with:

"That will not happen in Texas, at least in the next 10 years. Who knows what the Lord does? Practically speaking, though, we're very far away from that. You, if you are a politician running for office, don't say that. We have to live in the real world…On this particular topic, you've got to hide your power levels," Webbon added. "The people aren't ready for it."

He negates his own trigger and gives target brains that have been freshly traumatized permission to embed the negation.

The regime also uses this tactic a different way.

For example, Markwayne Mullin floats the trigger: We’re going to close Blue state airports to international traffic. Then Mike Johnson is asked about the trigger: Oh, that’s so unimportant I don’t even know about it. This gaslighting is designed to communicate that it shouldn’t be important to the target. This also acts as a negation of the trigger.

Because human beings want to find reasons to ignore triggers and tell ourselves we don’t have to worry about things, this negation step becomes a very effective indoctrination tactic.

This is why millions and millions of Americans continue to say that won’t happen and they’ll never do that and things won’t go that far, despite the regime going further into fascism than any government in US history. They have been indoctrinated to dismiss the threat by this three-step process, and they don’t even realize it.

Here’s the full video clip from the original newsletter to help readers track how they deploy this tactic:

Especially those who tend to dismiss what’s happening right in front of them.

Because as someone who has been indoctrinated, people DO NOT KNOW it is happening to them. Most are oblivious and become very angry or upset when they are told they are brainwashed.

Don’t accuse them of being indoctrinated. It will prejudice how they listen and process.

Instead, ask them what they think of a specific video or interview. Walk them through how the speaker states the trigger, then negates it, then states it again. Ask them what they think of how it is being used.

You might lead a few of your connections to the conclusion that they have been manipulated. At the very least, you’ll make more people aware of these tactics going forward.