Americans Are Still Among the Most Brainwashed People on the Planet

Note: This is an updated version of an article published in October 2022.

Here’s a thought experiment: Imagine being in conversation with an ‘average American’ and attempting to explain exactly why Americans are among the most brainwashed people on Earth.

I guarantee: It won’t go well. You might even get yourself beat up or killed. More likely, though, you’ll just be laughed out of town — or maybe cursed, shoved, and verbally attacked as “unpatriotic.” Likeliest of all — you’ll be treated to hostile, disbelieving stares, ‘shut down,’ and utterly ignored.

What you probably won’t experience is any curiosity about, or openness to, your claim. Or your evidence. You’ll just get a knee-jerk, extremely negative reaction.

That’s because Americans are among the most brainwashed people on the planet.

And the fact that most Americans believe with all their hearts they are already “free” and live in a glorious “land of the free” is prime Exhibit A.

Cutthroat Capitalism: Good; Cooperation and “Socialism”: BAD

We Americans are constantly conditioned (groomed) to believe personal, political, economic, and emotional “independence” are good, while cooperation, communal effort, and equitable economic sharing are bad — truly horrific — and lead inevitably to that right-wing bugaboo “socialism”. We adore — and try to embody — the images of the strong, solitary cowboy or ultra-rich, powerful CEO.

But do these ultra-individualistic beliefs and adoration make us “free”? No, usually they make us feel isolated, alienated, and unhappy, rather than strong and “free”. Unless, of course, we add the caveat that we’re all “free” to feel alienated and unhappy — and that’s certainly true.

And there’s this gem: Under our capitalist system, we’re also “free” to abuse, exploit, and dominate other people, other living creatures, and the planet itself.

This is not due to an unwanted “bug” in the system — rather, this IS our system, and it is exactly how our economic system is intended to operate. Competition and ruthless exploitation are the very heart of our capitalist system — and for most of us, it usually leads to pain and suffering, not enhanced freedom and happiness.

Our history proves the US is “the land of the free to abuse others”

In reality, the irrefutable proof of our deep brainwashing has been staring us in the face all along — and it’s been present since the birth of our nation. I’m talking about two foundational actions in the original history of “the land of the free”: the full-scale genocide of the native Americans and our long-term embrace/acceptance of slavery.

From the beginning, our so-called “freedom” has always been based on the abuse and exploitation of non-whites — and non-whites often still face abuse, exploitation, diminished rights, and “inferior” status in our nation.

That was the #1 reason behind our nation’s Civil War — not ‘states’ rights’, as many Southerners still insist — and today it’s becoming more and more apparent that the Civil War never really ended. Many southern whites still glorify the Confederacy, and recently many southern states have re-committed to limiting and restricting the rights of non-whites (a bit more subtly, now, mainly through heavily partisan redistricting). Sadly, for most of our non-white citizens, the pious platitude “land of the free” is more a sick, twisted joke than an expression of truth.

Yet (mainly white) Americans’ unwavering and powerful belief that we are a “free” country and a “free” people always persists… and persists. It’s a huge source of American pride and intense “patriotism,” and has taken on the status of an eternal, indisputable divine truth.

But guess what: That’s brainwashing — by definition. That’s what always happens when people are fully brainwashed: They come to firmly believe — and will defend to the death — ideas or beliefs that simply aren’t true. Or they accept and spread outright lies (oops, I mean facts, ha-ha) that benefit their own economic class or those in power. That’s just the way brainwashing works — everywhere and always.

We have the best system of government, by far… NOT TRUE!

Then there’s our erroneous belief that we have the best and most effective system of government. No, and no. Sure, representative democracy sounds good, but in practice what we’ve really got is a warped, unfair “winner take all” system in which two political parties — and their partisan followers — duke it out for supremacy. It’s an either/or system instead of a cooperative both/and system — and as such, it is inherently divisive and conflict-prone.

It features big-time “winners” and also big-time “losers” — so inevitably, one side’s priorities and goals end up getting trampled or sidelined, while the victorious party and its partisans get to lord it over the minority. It’s dictatorship by slight majority.

Plus, a divisive 2-party system like ours is also horribly ineffectual. Each side is always trying to undo or change what the other side does, and they rarely compromise or cooperate to get things done… even truly vital things that are crucial to our nation’s success and survival, like the fruitless efforts to pass beefed-up voting rights legislation. (Instead, our Supreme Court, Mr. Trump, and Congress are working hard to undermine voting rights and state-run voting procedures.)

Many other nations, including the social democracies of Western Europe, have governments based on a parliamentary, cooperative framework. In those systems, every political group or party is proportionally represented, and they all have to work together cooperatively on their nations’ issues or needs. They can actually get things done.

On a very basic level, their political systems work — while ours increasingly doesn’t. Our system has grown increasingly antagonistic, angry, and oppositional… which has resulted in societal stagnation and increasingly toxic politics: our infamous “Washington gridlock.” Yet somehow, most Americans are still sure that we have the best possible political system. That’s the immense, ugly power of brainwashing.

Sorry, but this antagonistic, vengeful B.S. is NOT “freedom”, nor does it support freedom — though we’re certainly free to act like jackasses, attack our supposed political “enemies,” and piss on our Constitution and our nation’s future. Even our beloved Founders were highly suspicious of political parties and were very apprehensive about giving them too much power in our new system of government.

Unfortunately, their worst fears have come to pass. Partisan politics and partisan brainwashing are totally in control of our governmental systems — with dire, worsening results.

The massive, enduring success of Trump’s ‘Big Lie’

Next on the (long) list of American brainwashing “victories” is the way far-right media, Donald Trump, and most Republicans have adopted and spread the totally disproved Big Lie that the 2020 election was fraudulent and “stolen.” Americans’ gullibility has never been so publicly displayed or as pathetically obvious — for the Big Lie is a well-worn fascist technique that was famously utilized by the Nazis, as well as numerous other dictators or tyrannical regimes.

The methodology of the Big Lie is quite simple: Make up a huge falsehood, a true “whopper” — and then keep repeating and repeating it, ad infinitum, in the media, in the news, on TV, online, and by word of mouth. The constant repetition eventually convinces people that it must be true — because so many sources and people are saying it’s true! (This, despite 60+ court cases that summarily rejected the notion of widespread election fraud.)

That’s how so many Americans — perhaps 40–50 million of us! — came to believe Trump was cheated out of the presidency by Democrat-led voter fraud and ‘know’ that Biden was an illegitimate president. This massive deception has not only successfully warped many Americans’ views of our election system, but has intentionally thrown that system — the heart of our semi-democracy — into chaos and crisis.

That’s how powerful and dangerous brainwashing can be. It’s truly amazing: Today we have thousands of brainwashed Trump supporters, all around the country, actively threatening poll workers, voting officials, judges, good-faith reporters, and other public servants — ALL of it based on the Big Lie and completely erroneous information.

Even worse, many of these supremely confident “brainwashees” believe that they are the “true patriots.” They think they are called to defend our Constitution and our nation… by undermining trust in our most vital systems and attacking the “traitors” who (they believe) abused Americans’ trust by enabling a fraudulent election.

Their hateful paranoia knows no bounds. They KNOW for sure that all this “fraud stuff” is true — and no one can say any different. They’ll tolerate no rational discussion or attempts at open, fact-based dialogue. They’ve become brainwashed “true believers” — and whether we’re talking about politics or religion, “true believers” are often some of the most irrational and dangerous human beings on the planet.

That’s the power of brainwashing — pure and simple. And it’s incredibly effective.

**The massive success of today’s other Big Lie: Climate change denial**

Last, but far from least, there’s the amazingly effective propaganda/ brainwashing campaign against the proven scientific theory of global warming/climate change — which is actually proven science fact, at this point.

Since the early 90s, there’s been a concerted effort — a conspiracy, really — on the part of right-wing groups, pro-capitalism ideologues, and fossil fuel producers to cast doubt on, undermine, and ultimately destroy the credibility of global warming/climate change science. Their efforts have been so successful that the U.S. has lagged far behind other Western nations in its (weak) commitment to combat climate change, while the fossil fuel companies and their supporters run the show and dictate our national policy agenda re: fossil fuels and climate. They’ve even drafted pro-industry laws and regulations and then had supportive Congresspeople submit their suggested laws or regs to Congress verbatim.

Meanwhile, most of the same gullible Americans who bought the Big Lie hook, line, and sinker have also totally bought the other, even bigger Big Lie — namely, that climate change and global warming are a myth, or are just part of a devious liberal/Democratic plan to upend our economy, destroy the fossil-fuel industry, and foist the liberal “Green New Deal” on unsuspecting Americans.

The brainwashing around the issue of “climate change” has been so effective and complete that it spawned a new breed of partisan (mainly Republican) activists: “Climate change deniers”, or “climate deniers” for short. Many of these deniers are active politically, on both state and federal levels, and are working tirelessly to undermine and defeat local and national initiatives to combat climate change. Many are now firmly embedded in our federal bureaucracy, where they — especially Trump and the once-sane EPA — are busy shredding US environmental protections and regulations.

Is the US just the “land of the brainwashed and delusional”?

That’s right. We’re facing the most horrific ecological crisis in human history — one that has been endlessly verified by scientists and is constantly proving itself in real time as the parade of disastrous climatic and weather events intensifies. Yet the active brainwashing behind “climate denial” is still ongoing, and the forces that keep our nation from adequately combating climate change are unrelenting. “Land of the free,” huh?!

NOPE. “Land of the brainwashed and delusional” would be more accurate. And if we, as a society, don’t somehow get a handle on the ease and extent of partisan and corporate brainwashing in this country, then our government, our society, our representative democracy, our vaunted “freedom,” and our future will all go swirling down the drain.

If we can’t or won’t get a handle on all the brainwashing and disinformation infecting our society, ALL the above, cherished aspects of our American lives can easily vanish. If we just sit back and pretend everything is OK, the rate of societal collapse will just accelerate, and our cherished freedom(s) will keep… disappearing.

The writing is already on the wall, for all to see. Will we ever heed it?

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This post was previously published on medium.com.