Meghan Rowland - Brainwashing for Beginners: Read This Book. Read This Book. Read This Book.

Kim Jong-Il, despite his prescription aviators and obvious hormone imbalance, rules an entire country. Jerry Falwell, noted loon, had his own accredited university that still thrives today. Nick Nolte, Father Times redheaded stepchild, was People magazines Sexiest Man Alive in 1992, well after his youthful good looks were replaced by a tense, haunted expression. Even taking into account alternative explanations like Thems the breaks and voodoo, some events are only explicable if everyone involved wasnt thinking clearly. Sure, we could blame food additives or Scorpio rising, but isnt it simpler or ultimately funnier to think that everyones been brainwashed? Brainwashing isnt just a war crimeits a life management strategy. If you think Dianetics is for suckers, then this is the book for you.

Brainwashing is the use of indirect means to manipulate people to do what you want, while maintaining the illusion of free will. This can be as elegant as the gradual creation of a false reality, or as brutal as a cricket bat to the skull. The key element is that the subject doesnt know that he or she is being controlled, or at least not by whom.

Brainwashing as we know it today was developed during the Cold War, the Renaissance of human cruelty, because somehow hydrogen bombs, nerve gas, and weaponized anthrax werent enough.

Over the years, brainwashing has only become more innovative and advanced in its outreach. Today, brainwashing influences everything from advertising to a commander in Afghanistan ordering a psychological operations team to manipulate U.S. senators. Everyday lunatics suddenly have a way to turn their own private madness into their own unpopular little religions, still obnoxious but now tax-exempt. That pesky Betty Friedan convinced Americas women that they were bored at home and would have more fun changing their dress shields and swapping Bundt cake recipes at the office than at home around the daiquiri pitcher. And, bored with actually having to argue their products benefits, advertisers now incorporate subliminal messages into mass media, prompting the phrase, What is it about David Schwimmer that makes me want Taco Bell?

With so many different options for your brainwashing needs, you need a little more direction than the youre getting very sleepy clich. With a helpful icon for each brainwashing technique (see How to Use This Book that follows), Brainwashing for Beginners is the guide to assure youre the brainwasher, not the brainwashee.