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Culture
Cults In Our Midst: Patty Hearst And The Brainwashing Of
America
By Stella Morabito
API! "#$ %&"'
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(+actly forty years ago Patricia Hearst stunned the nation when she turned u) as a ban, robber$ a mere two months after
she was ,idna))ed by the -iolent cult that called itself .The Symbionese !iberation Army/0 Her astonishing transformation
was documented by ban, cameras on A)ril "#$ "12'/
There she was 3 granddaughter of 4illiam andol)h .Citi5en 6ane0 Hearst 3 wielding a sawed7off assault rifle and
terrori5ing )eo)le in a ban,/ She had recently announced in a ta)ed S!A communi8ue that she had -oluntarily 9oined the
S!A in its fight against the .fascist0 :nited States/ She too, the nom de guerre .Tania$0 in honor of a Che ;ue-ara
comrade/ Before all that$ she was 9ust li-ing the life of a "17year7old college student$ loo,ing forward to getting married/
4e ought to ta,e this moment to reflect on how little Americans really understand about the )rocesses and
techni8ues of brainwashing$ also ,nown as coerci-e )ersuasion or mani)ulati-e thought reform$ and how they may relate
to us today/
Criminal or <ictim of Brainwashing=
4hile I followed the case in real time$ I naturally wondered how much Patty Hearst had really changed her attitude and
lifestyle/ I was in awe of the Hearst legacy$ ha-ing 9ust watched Orson 4elles> Citizen Kane, a re8uired .lab0 assignment
for my Cinema class at the :ni-ersity of Southern California/
Possibly$ I su))osed$ after Hearst li-ed the insulated life of a rich girl$ and then as a student at :C Ber,eley$ the S!A may
ha-e awa,ened her to some hard facts about income ine8uality$ racism$ and so forth/ Maybe she felt guilty and wanted to
ma,e re)arations by being a )art of a re-olution= ebellious youth= It didn>t really add u)$ but I mulled this o-er as a
young and diehard liberal is wont to do/
And then I watched in awe footage of a horrendous firefight after the S!A was trac,ed down at a house in south central
!os Angeles$ 9ust a cou)le of miles from where I li-ed at :SC/ It was one of the biggest shootouts in )olice history$ with
about 1&&& rounds e+changed by !AP? and the fren5ied$ armed7to7the7teeth S!A members inside the house$ which by
the end was engulfed in flames/ Miraculously$ no )olice or bystanders were hurt in the crossfire$ though all si+ sus)ects
inside died/
It turned out Patty Hearst wasn>t there/ But$ in s)ite of it all$ she stuc, with the S!A remnant$ communicating her
determination to continue fighting$ and li-ed as a fugiti-e for "@ more months until her arrest in Se)tember "12#/ After
arrest$ she )ublicly acted with defiance$ calling out su))ort to all of her .brothers and sisters0 in the .re-olution0 and listed
her occu)ation as .urban guerrilla/0
Hearst describes in her boo, how her attorney$ the renowned A/ !ee Bailey$ slo))ily handled a defense based on
brainwashing/ The 9ury didn>t buy it$ and neither did many Americans/ Hearst was con-icted of ban, robbery and
sentenced to B# years in )rison$ a sentence soon reduced to se-en years/ According a California )oll$ 2# )ercent belie-ed
the sentence was .about right0 or .too lenient/0 I )ersonally had some mi+ed feelings$ but the brainwashing defense
resonated with me/ In any case$ her sentence was commuted to two years by President Carter in "12C/ And President Bill
Clinton )ardoned Hearst 9ust before he left office in %&&"/
The Aundamental Transformation of Patty Hearst
So that>s what it loo,ed li,e to an im)ressionable$ )olitically unseasoned contem)orary/ But what was going on in the
bac,ground=
Hearst>s "1CB boo, Every Secret Thing describes the ,idna))ing and the aftermath in meticulous$ ghastly detail/ Hearst
also granted a fascinating inter-iew with !arry 6ing in %&&%/
Aor se-eral wee,s$ she was blindfolded$ confined to a smelly closet$ tormented$ )eriodically ra)ed$ and sub9ected to a
coarse Maoist style )rogram of indoctrination and re7education/ Her life de)ended on antici)ating and meeting the
demands of her ca)tors/ The leader ?onald .Cin8ue0 ?eAree5e and the others )ro)agandi5ed and interrogated her
constantly$ e+)laining that .Ameri,,,a0 was a racist and e-il society$ re)eatedly calling her a )ri-ileged .bourgeoise bitch0
and her father a .)ig0 of the .cor)orate fascist state/0 But then her ca)tors would let u) a bit$ offering food or tea3then
continue more intensely with cruelty and degradation/
This cycle3isolation$ threats$ and humiliation$ )unctuated by a little )eace DrewardE for com)liance3bro,e down Hearst>s
sense of self/ As she later told !arry 6ing$ .Most of the time I was with them$ my mind was going through doing e+actly
what I was su))osed to doF I had no freewill/0
The S!A members stimulated in her an o-erwhelming sense of de)endency$ which induced her finally to acce)t their
-ersion of reality$ and )ut her )ast life out of her mind/ Hearst e-entually became such a reliable con-ert that she not only
robbed ban,s with them$ but did not consider esca)ing later$ when she had many o))ortunities to do so/
Many -iew the Patty Hearst case as a classic e+am)le of Stoc,holm Syndrome because of similarities between her bonds
with the S!A and those of hostages who$ 9ust the year before in Stoc,holm$ had sym)athi5ed with the ban, robbers who
held them$ e-en defending their ca)tors after they were released/ Battered )erson syndrome is another e+)lanation/ A
-ictim of domestic -iolence may stay in a relationshi) and ta,e blame for the abuse$ and then enter into a cycle of
.learned hel)lessness0 in which esca)e is not considered an o)tion/
Hearst told !arry 6ing: .The thought of esca)ing from them later sim)ly ne-er entered my mind/ I had become con-inced
that there was no )ossibility of esca)eF It sim)ly ne-er occurred to me/0
Gor did she reali5e during the )rocess that she was being so decisi-ely mani)ulated/ 6ing as,ed her: .A brain7washed
)erson doesn>t ,now from time element when they>re being brainwashed$ do they=0 Hearst res)onded: .Go/ Go they don>t/
F I was so far gone I had no clue how bad it was/0
After her arrest$ Hearst s)ent time with two )sychiatrists widely ,nown for their e+)ertise on cults: ?r/ Margaret Thaler
Singer and ?r/ obert Hay !ifton/ After 9ust a cou)le of wee,s of se)aration from the S!A$ Hearst became free of what
!ifton referred to as the accumulated .gun,0 of thought reform$ and reco-ered her self conce)t/ She told 6ing: .I had no
freewill until I was se)arated from them for about two wee,s/ And then it suddenly began to dawn that they 9ust weren>t
there anymore/ I could actually thin, my own thoughts/0
The Transformation of America=
Iou>d thin, the American )ublic would be interested in learning a thing or two about how coerci-e )ersuasion wor,s/ In
fact$ you don>t need to be loc,ed in a closet with a gun to your head to be -ulnerable to coerci-e )ersuasion/ Being
isolated$ de)endent$ and indoctrinated will suffice/
So is it )ossible something e-en bigger is in the ma,ing= Other nations in history ha-e seen o-ernight .transformations0 in
character/ 4hy not us= In fact$ can we be transformed en masse so that we all conform to more .beneficial0 ways of li-ing
our li-es$ ways that are in accordance with those who dub themsel-es .choice architects=0
Beha-ior modification has in fact gone mainstream$ e-en though its tactics often seem a well7,e)t secret/ !ast year$ the
4hite House launched a .beha-ioral insights team0 assigned with the tas, of .im)ro-ing )olicies0 through insights into
human beha-ior/ These insights into our beha-ior$ )lease note$ are not for us to understand for our own benefit$ but for
the go-ernment to use for us$ as it sees fit/
4e ta,e as a gi-en that )olitical )ersuasion is )art of )ublic life/ But li,ewise we ta,e as a gi-en that deliberate
go-ernment mani)ulation of the )o)ulace using the techni8ues of unwitting or coerci-e )ersuasion re)resents a gra-e
threat to our freedoms/ If we wish to reduce our susce)tibility to coerci-e influence$ we must begin by understanding
its processes and techniques.
6ey Aeatures of Coerci-e Persuasion
In her "11# boo, Cults in our Midst$ Margaret Thaler Singer Dd/ %&&BE e+)lores in detail the methods and )rocesses of
coerci-e )ersuasion/ These methods are used not 9ust by cult leaders$ but by anyone who mani)ulates the beha-ior of
others in order to )romote a hidden agenda$ often in-ol-ing the consolidation of )ower/ DBy the way$ some -ery telling
e+)eriments that re-eal the -ulnerability of our minds to mani)ulation and social influence include those of Stanley
Milgram$ now labelled contro-ersial$ and Solomon Asch/E
According to Singer$ the tactics of a thought reform )rogram are organi5ed to do three things: destabili5e a )erson>s
sense of selfJ get the )erson to alter his or her world-iew and acce)t a new -ersion of realityJ and de-elo) de)endency in
the )erson$ turning him into a de)loyable agent for the controller or the agenda/
Singer also lists si+ conditions that create an atmos)here conduci-e to coerci-e )ersuasion:
6ee) the )erson unaware that there is an agenda to control or change the )erson and their thoughts
Control time and )hysical en-ironment
Create a sense of )owerlessness$ fear$ and de)endency
Su))ress old beha-ior and attitudes
Instill new beha-ior and attitudes
Put forth a closed system of logic/
The atmos)here of coercion is reinforced by )eer7modeled beha-ior/ Basically$ this means that in a room full of )eo)le
who whis)er$ you will li,ely whis)er too/ Or if you are e+)osed to a slogan often enough$ you will re)eat it$ e-en if you
don>t understand what it means/
Another feature of coerci-e )ersuasion$ according to obert Hay !ifton$ is to )romote a climate in which the agenda is
seen as an elitist mo-ement for those who are enlightened/ Those who o))ose the agenda are labeled as lesser beings/
The uni-ersal human fear and )ain of social isolation stands at the core of these methods/ Consider that the S!A
members did not 9ust )hysically se)arate Patty Hearst from her friends and family/ They made a )oint of mentally and
emotionally se)arating her as well$ by re)eatedly labelling them as .bourgeoise0 and .fascist/0 In her mind$ the only human
bond )ossible was with her ca)tors/
Political Correctness is Coerci-e Persuasion Dor
.PCKCP0E
The frightening reali5ation is that these techni8ues wor, on mass audiences as well/
4e can see hints in the )henomenon we call .)olitical correctness$0 because it directs )eo)le to censor their s)eech and
their beha-ior in order to line u) behind )olitically correct agendas/ In a sense$ )olitical correctness$ though more subtle$
is analogous to the dar, closet in which Patty Hearst was isolated$ blindfolded$ and incessantly )ro)agandi5ed/ It ser-es
to silence us and create the conditions in which the arbiters of correctness can tear down the old world -iew and rebuild it
in their image/ 4e>re told being one of them is to be morally su)erior$ on the right side of history/ Those who o))ose it are
labeled$ re)eatedly and loudly: bigot$ racist$ homo)hobe/
A so)histicated model of coerci-e )ersuasion is illustrated in Cass Sunstein and ichard Thaler>s boo, Nudge: Improving
Decisions aout !ea"th, #ea"th, and !appiness/ It e+)lains how to use )eer )ressure and information access in order to
influence others into ado)ting an agenda/ Nudge ser-es simultaneously as a )layboo, for mani)ulators and an
indoctrination manual for not7so7sa--y recruits to the boo,>s )ower7centrali5ing agendas/ Cass Sunstein also outlined a
model for .collecti-e belief formation0 Ldescribing how im)lausible o)inions can be manufactured through a system of
socialMre)utational )unishments and rewards L in a "111 Stanford !aw e-iew article about A-ailability Cascades/ His co7
author Timur 6uran$ wrote a whole boo, about how .)reference falsification0 wor,s/
4hen we>re in a -ulnerable state of isolation and sub9ect to degradation$ the brain>s defenses ,ic, in$ e-en if we sense
we>re being mani)ulated/ Self7doubts$ re9ection$ and degradation culti-ate the yearning for e-en the illusion of human
acce)tance/ So when !arry 6ing as,ed Patty Hearst if any of the S!A members were .li,able$0 she res)onded that being
.treated well0 usually means you .weren>t ,illed/0 Translation for e-eryday life in a PC world: Being treated well usually
means you>re not being socially shunned/
4hen a ca)ti-e of )olitical correctness feels that there is no way out$ 8uite often the only way to ma,e it sto) is to bond
with the ca)tors and try to fit in/
.The Psychotechnology of Thought eform is Got ;oing
to ;o Away0
The seismic and manufactured )ublic o)inion .shift0 on same se+ marriage in the )ast se-eral of years is a glaring
e+am)le of how coerci-e )ersuasion wor,s/ As )eo)le become increasingly fearful of e+)ressing a heretofore innocuous
understanding of marriage as a man7woman institution$ they silence themsel-es and thereby fuel the o))osing agenda/
The threat of isolation L labeling$ shunning$ and firings L is a )owerful moti-ator because human sur-i-al is tied to it/ Aor
(+hibit A$ see this article on one (ich$ Brendan$ of Mo5illa/
If we ste) bac, and ta,e this all in$ there should be no 8uestion that coerci-e )ersuasion can ha))en on a mass scale in
America/ Those )ushing the agenda first culti-ate a climate that creates social )unishment for dissent and social rewards
for com)liance/ !abel anyone who disagrees as a bigot or a .hater$0 a non7)erson/ eward those who agree with )ublic
accolades/ Before you ,now it$ e-en well7,nown old conser-ati-e )undits who fear becoming irrele-ant sign on to it$ and
thus contribute to the 9uggernaut/
In Cu"ts in our $idst$ Singer warned that cult techni8ues .should be studied and re-ealed so that citi5ens can be taught
countermeasures in order to a-oid being e+)loited by such grou)s/0 She also cautioned: .The )sychotechnology of
thought reform is not going to go awayF (ducation$ information and -igilance are constantly needed if we are to ,ee) us$
and our minds$ free/0
Are we doing that= Hardly/ In fact$ it seems we may be using education and information to hel) ,ee) our minds closed/
Consider Common Core curriculum$ which actually enforces conformity in education/ DMaybe it should be dubbed
.Common Cult=0E S)eech codes on college cam)uses s8uash inde)endent thought/
As for information$ the media in general has its agenda$ as does Hollywood and academia/ Iou>re not going to get
ob9ecti-e information about the )rocesses and techni8ues of brainwashing from them/ Mar,eting in general has become
e-er more so)histicated$ with e-er more subtle forms of e+)loitati-e seduction/
Academia has e-en su))ressed the whole idea of brainwashing as )olitically incorrect/ Singer was a))ointed by the
American Psychological Association to head u) a tas, force on ?ece)ti-e and Indirect Methods of Persuasion and
Control D?IMPACE/ But a funny thing ha))ened on the way to a))ro-al/ In "1C2 the APA une+)ectedly re9ected the
-ery ?IMPAC re)ort they re8uested/ They urged it not be made )ublic and critici5ed use of the term .brainwashing0 as
.not a recogni5ed theoretical conce)t/0
And what about -igilance= 4ell$ without education and information$ -igilance can>t root itself/ :nfortunately$ that means if
you as, for information about brainwashing$ chances are you>ll be told to ,indly remo-e your tinfoil hat/
The 6ey to Areedom: (ducation and Information by
Indi-iduals
So the road ahead will be rough/ But the forces controlling centrali5ed education and information still do not control our
one7on7one )ersonal relationshi)s and con-ersations/ This is where our )ower lies$ in what dissidents of the So-iet era
called the .hidden s)here/0 And that is the ,ey to building a culture of awareness and rebuilding ci-il society/
The irony of remaining silent about our beliefs when we are being abused is that we actually dig our own hole dee)er/
(-ery dissenter feels alone$ )erha)s e-en in a roomful of dissenters/ (-ery fence sitter resigns himself to signing on with
the )ercei-ed .ma9ority/0 And those who identify with the PC agenda become e-er more hardened and intolerant of
dissent/ An interesting aside is that )artnering with one )erson can ha-e a huge effect in brea,ing down social conformity$
as the Asch e+)eriment noted: .4hen unanimity is )unctured$ the grou)>s )ower is greatly reduced/0
4hile in 9ail$ Patty Hearst re8uested boo,s by ?oris !essing$ a Mar+ist leaning feminist icon$ who ended u) later
becoming a cham)ion of )ersonal freedom/
!essing said it this way:
We can stand in a room full of dear friends, knowing that nine-tenths of them, if the pack demands it, will
become our enemies But there is always the minority who do not, and it seems to me that our future, the future
of everybody, depends on this minority. And that we should be thinking of ways to educate our children to
strengthen this minority and not, as we mostly do now, to revere the pack But if governments, if cultures, dont
encourage their production, then individuals and groups can and should.!
How do we begin to do this= Perha)s the answer is -ery sim)le/ Maybe it>s really all about reaching out and building
ha))y )ersonal relationshi)s without e+)ecting anything in return/ Maybe it>s about letting others in your )ersonal s)here
3 wor,$ school$ or neighborhood L ,now what you belie-e$ es)ecially those who li,e you and trust you/ 4e each ha-e the
)ower to ma,e more friends and reach out beyond our insulated circles to build real communities based on real trust Dnot
fa,e communities built on self7censorshi)E/ 4e could get to ,now our neighbors$ share some good laughs$ and o)enly
e+change ideas/
By doing these things each indi-idual breaches the walls of isolation built by )ower bro,ers$ and culti-ates a cascade of
trust$ goodwill$ and ci-ility for all/
Ste""a $oraito can e %o""o&ed on T&itter here. She "ogs at &&&.ste""amoraito.net
Photo NPatty Hearst MTanya mugshots$ "12#N by Simon Mur)hy
brainwashing Doris Lessing Patty Hearst Symbionese Liberation Army
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