Gerday TeeJay,
Thanks for the welcome. :-)
Quote
>Got a question for ya, Aussiemanhunter (welcome, btw),
>If Lifton hadn't mentioned humor as a method for helping people who >are down "in his clasic text 'Thought Reform and the Psychology of >Totalism'", would it still be true?
Perhaps my choice of the word "down" in reference to Liftons documentation of the use of "humour" is in need of some clarification.
Lifton documented the "brainwashing" techniques used by the chinese communists on indeginious peoples of China and also on some Western prisoners who were released to Hong Kong where he met them.
In this work, he also documented successful psychological strategies used by those prisoners to combat and reduce the effect of the "brainwashing".
Of those successful strategies, humour was a major one, found to be very successful in rebuttal of the psychological crap that the prisoners were immersed in for the majority of their waking hours.
Humour has been found equally effective in aiding the recovery of cult victims who have been subject to "mind control".
The Watchtower is a cult that has been documented to use "unethical psychological manipulation techniques".....ie "mind control"
In a forum such as this one, where there are numerous victims of WT "mind control".....it is entirely appropriate for there to be lots of humour.
>I mean, if you'd never read that classic book but it was a bum on >the street who said, "hey, humor is a good way to cheer people up," >would you believe it? Would the bum saying it make it more true or >would the bum saying it make it less true?
If Lifton had not documented the benefit of humour in fighting "mind control", I would still believe in its benefit, for when we laugh, the brain releases endorphins which help wash away physical and psychological pain (published neuro-science articles, not just my personal opinion )
So, whoever gives us a laugh when we are "down" is actually assisting our "recovery"......The fact that Lifton has documented case studies of the effectiveness in fighting "mind control" just adds to its creditbility and usefulness on this forum.
If a person trys to generate some original humour, this requires intense independant thinking.
Independant thinking is exactely the opposite of what the Watchtower teaches and wants its clones (members) to exercise. All destructive cults actively seek to crush a persons sense of humour, its a threat to the leaders ability to "control"
If you doubt my opinion about humour requiring intense independant thinking, then you try creating a completely new funny story or a joke to post to this forum. Notice that I said "Completely new".
Its a great exercise for your intellect that will benefit others on this forum.
A far better use of time and intelligence, than all of the bickering and personal attacks that have appeared here recently.(my opinion)
Thanks again for the welcome
Michael (The Magnificent Aussie Hunter)