I have yet to find a webpage I can link to for support on the stages of cult indoctrination. Or at least, a site that provides the same steps that I remember having to deal with while in my first 6 months of Army training.
Recruitment. Any group that has the intention of continuing on past its current members needs additional members. Thus the need to recruit individuals. Cults all have their recruitment grounds and the Military is no different. I met my recruiter in my high school cafeteria. (Quick aside, how fucked up is it that this guy was given permission to go into a high school, spew a bunch of bull to a bunch of kids who don't know any better?)
Warming Up To. Any good recruiter will say and do any number of mostly reasonable things, so long as he, or she believe you will sign up. Yes, the Army will help make you the best version of you possible. Just do everything you're told, don't ask questions, and you'll be everything you can be. It's also the same 'Salvation Pitch' any good cult uses.
Separation. After the paperwork is signed, it is time to isolate the individual from their friends, family, and familiar surroundings. Cults will take the initiate into a commune of sorts. Probably a massive building, a lack of windows, in a disorientating location. Can't let these initiates know 'where' they are, physically, or mentally. I was flown to Butt-Fuck-Nowhere, OK, by way of TX. Even if I wanted to run away, I wouldn't be able to find the front gates. My Basic Training unit wasn't allowed to make the first call home until 8 days after our arrival, which was the second Sunday we were there.
Loss of Individuality: Shaved heads, enough said. But for the sake of thoroughness, every individual wears the exact same article of clothing, head to toe. Every individual must act in concert with the rest of the group. Just think of any military movie in which all members exercise in a nearly identical manner. That is a grotesque loss of individuality.
Physical Exhaustion & Sleep Deprivation. Used in tandem, these two items are a lot to overcome. I don't even know how many push-ups and sit-ups I did the first day we showed up for Day 1 of Basic Training. It was ridiculous. But then of course, it was lights out at 10 p.m., knowing full well we would all be up until at least 11 p.m.. Our Drill Sergeants gave us a trash can wake up call at about 3:30 a.m. with tons more running, push-ups and sit-ups. After that, I don't really remember Basic.
Controlling the Food. We really had no ability to control when we could eat. Breakfast and dinner were at set times, MRE's could be spread out through the day, if our Drill Sergeants weren't making sure we ate all of it that is. I think we were finally allowed to store a snack or two in the final two weeks of our twelve week Basic Training.
Dependency. This is the end result of Basic & MOS Training and cult indoctrination, turning individuals into replaceable parts. I had to say and do the right things to end negative conditioning in order to earn the privilege to eat, shower, and sleep. Every individual had to demonstrate enough similarity to one another, in thought and action. Once the agreement has been made in full between the system (military/cult), the individual no longer exists and is now part of the whole. The individuals well being, mentally and physically, depends on approval from the group.
Next time around I'll get into some issues I have with the military, in general, but for now, I'll leave you with one of the best movie quotes ever:
"Suck on this at one time" - Bones Conway (played by Polly Shore) in the movie, In The Army Now.
Monday, August 26, 2013
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Possession, Possessions, and Theft
Possession - 1) The act of having or taking into control. 2) Something owned, occupied, or controlled. (Meriam-Webster's dictionary.)
An ex-girlfriend of mine once remarked it was really difficult to buy me presents because I don't "like stuff". I did have cd's, dvd's, t.v., clothes and books. But I never invested myself in things. My pictures were in a box, my clothes on hangers, books on shelves and so on. If one were to see my room, they would notice blank walls more than anything else. They would eventually see the total lack of knick-knacks and so on.
My ex's comment was said to me on my birthday, at dinner with my mom. My mom nodded in agreement with her. She didn't say how long she tried to find the gift she gave me, which was a box set of early George Carlin dvd's (I still have that one). While she totally nailed that present, it got me thinking on the nature of possessions and why specific things matter to us.
When we buy things, we are imbuing those objects with our energy. We had to work to obtain the money to buy the thing. It's an energetic trade. Those things we care about most (not people, nor pets) we wind up putting more of our energy into.
When we have our things stolen, the common response is emotionally painful to one degree, or another. The things that were stolen from us aren't the cause of the pain, rather it is the theft of the energy we have placed in these objects that hurts. The trinket holds small parts of ourselves. When the theft occurs, it is small parts of ourselves that is being stolen.
This leads to the question, what is it doing the possessing? Us? Or the object?
An ex-girlfriend of mine once remarked it was really difficult to buy me presents because I don't "like stuff". I did have cd's, dvd's, t.v., clothes and books. But I never invested myself in things. My pictures were in a box, my clothes on hangers, books on shelves and so on. If one were to see my room, they would notice blank walls more than anything else. They would eventually see the total lack of knick-knacks and so on.
My ex's comment was said to me on my birthday, at dinner with my mom. My mom nodded in agreement with her. She didn't say how long she tried to find the gift she gave me, which was a box set of early George Carlin dvd's (I still have that one). While she totally nailed that present, it got me thinking on the nature of possessions and why specific things matter to us.
When we buy things, we are imbuing those objects with our energy. We had to work to obtain the money to buy the thing. It's an energetic trade. Those things we care about most (not people, nor pets) we wind up putting more of our energy into.
When we have our things stolen, the common response is emotionally painful to one degree, or another. The things that were stolen from us aren't the cause of the pain, rather it is the theft of the energy we have placed in these objects that hurts. The trinket holds small parts of ourselves. When the theft occurs, it is small parts of ourselves that is being stolen.
This leads to the question, what is it doing the possessing? Us? Or the object?
Saturday, August 3, 2013
Clipboard Obedience
Before diving into what Clipboard Obedience is, take a second to glance through, and listen to, Mark Dice and some of the craziness he presents as a petition and still manages to get people to sign. The video linked is for repealing the Bill of Rights, something he does not actually believe in doing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0he0cqHH20&feature=c4-overview-vl&list=PLa8S4GilqogQILnrvxLgZREFkebrMfJ3f
A few other individuals operate in the same manner as Mark Dice, but I believe the one man provides sufficient information for the topic. A friend, who will remain anonymous (but not THAT anonymous), and I, have been having an email conversation about this and he suggested that Clipboard Obedience is akin to Pluralistic Ignorance. Apologies for the second link, but Pluralistic Ignorance is an interesting concept by itself: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluralistic_ignorance
To deal with the idea of Clipboard Obedience, here are some ideas on why The Clipboard is so important in petitioning the population:
1) Lack of a clipboard signals a lack of seriousness of the individual.
2) It is difficult sign anything without support for the paper, or pen. Laziness and impatience would kick in with the understanding of how hard it is to sign an unsupported piece of paper.
The following is just the enumeration of ideas that would lead someone to sign a petition, on a clipboard:
1) Easiness. Individuals may sign just because they think it'll only take 2 seconds.
2) Surprise. The petitioner is usually in an area that is uncommon to individuals standing around. Petitioning in such an area would leave the individual without sufficient time to adjust their train of thought enough to pay attention to what's being said.
3) Distraction: If the person has a phone in their hand, they aren't paying attention to anything being said by the petitioner.
4) Other Signatories (Pluralistic Ignorance possibly ties in here): If other names are on the petition, the illusion of the rationality of the petition is created.
5) Listening for Keywords / Lack of Familiarity with Petitioner: This is the least defined idea, and is based on my personal experiences. As an Army Veteran, I encounter plenty of linguistic difficulties when speaking with a new person. I do not know how they use their words. This lack of familiarity with the person will cause me to listen to certain words to grasp the broader understanding of what the stranger is saying. I do not doubt others can be tricked into signing petitions through use of certain words, regardless of the context.
6) Social Media Narcissism: I consider it to be normal for an individual to want to leave their imprint in the world (usually done through procreation). However, in the Age of Information, we now have MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other ME orientated websites, including all the petition based websites. It becomes common practice to leave a personal imprint in as many places as possible. This would have plenty of real world carry over.
7) Illusion of Authority: The clipboard itself tends to signify the authority of the holder. Here is every job I can think of in which a person has a clipboard: Doctors, nurses, teachers, researchers, political staffers, scientists, foremen, secretaries, coaches, shrinks, and so on. All positions in which authority is given over to the individual with the clipboard.
8) Lack of Expectation / Value of Privacy: This ties into Social Media Narcissism. We put our names on so many things beyond just the internet, like new employee paperwork, government forms, frequent shopper discount card forms and so on. Giving our name away so frequently to unknown persons and entities is a very frequent event in our lives.
That is the end of Clipboard Obedience today. I will revisit this after I have spent more time on the subject matter with my nameless amigo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0he0cqHH20&feature=c4-overview-vl&list=PLa8S4GilqogQILnrvxLgZREFkebrMfJ3f
A few other individuals operate in the same manner as Mark Dice, but I believe the one man provides sufficient information for the topic. A friend, who will remain anonymous (but not THAT anonymous), and I, have been having an email conversation about this and he suggested that Clipboard Obedience is akin to Pluralistic Ignorance. Apologies for the second link, but Pluralistic Ignorance is an interesting concept by itself: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluralistic_ignorance
To deal with the idea of Clipboard Obedience, here are some ideas on why The Clipboard is so important in petitioning the population:
1) Lack of a clipboard signals a lack of seriousness of the individual.
2) It is difficult sign anything without support for the paper, or pen. Laziness and impatience would kick in with the understanding of how hard it is to sign an unsupported piece of paper.
The following is just the enumeration of ideas that would lead someone to sign a petition, on a clipboard:
1) Easiness. Individuals may sign just because they think it'll only take 2 seconds.
2) Surprise. The petitioner is usually in an area that is uncommon to individuals standing around. Petitioning in such an area would leave the individual without sufficient time to adjust their train of thought enough to pay attention to what's being said.
3) Distraction: If the person has a phone in their hand, they aren't paying attention to anything being said by the petitioner.
4) Other Signatories (Pluralistic Ignorance possibly ties in here): If other names are on the petition, the illusion of the rationality of the petition is created.
5) Listening for Keywords / Lack of Familiarity with Petitioner: This is the least defined idea, and is based on my personal experiences. As an Army Veteran, I encounter plenty of linguistic difficulties when speaking with a new person. I do not know how they use their words. This lack of familiarity with the person will cause me to listen to certain words to grasp the broader understanding of what the stranger is saying. I do not doubt others can be tricked into signing petitions through use of certain words, regardless of the context.
6) Social Media Narcissism: I consider it to be normal for an individual to want to leave their imprint in the world (usually done through procreation). However, in the Age of Information, we now have MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other ME orientated websites, including all the petition based websites. It becomes common practice to leave a personal imprint in as many places as possible. This would have plenty of real world carry over.
7) Illusion of Authority: The clipboard itself tends to signify the authority of the holder. Here is every job I can think of in which a person has a clipboard: Doctors, nurses, teachers, researchers, political staffers, scientists, foremen, secretaries, coaches, shrinks, and so on. All positions in which authority is given over to the individual with the clipboard.
8) Lack of Expectation / Value of Privacy: This ties into Social Media Narcissism. We put our names on so many things beyond just the internet, like new employee paperwork, government forms, frequent shopper discount card forms and so on. Giving our name away so frequently to unknown persons and entities is a very frequent event in our lives.
That is the end of Clipboard Obedience today. I will revisit this after I have spent more time on the subject matter with my nameless amigo.
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