I want to start by saying that everyone is brainwashed to some degree in my opinion.
Even the most intelligent and rational individuals are still somewhat indoctrinated and irrational. Whether we’re conscious of that uncomfortable fact, or not.
Yet, it’s happening all around us. The government, the media, business owners, and even our peers we consider friends are part of the problem at times. I say occasionally because I’m generalizing, and not everything the government, the media, and other outlets tell us is wrong or poor advice.
Without further ado, let’s get into it.
It benefits certain people
The one true reason why we’re living in a brainwashed society is because it benefits certain people. And those folks I’m talking about are typically in a position of power since they reap the most rewards by trying to control the masses through various means.
Yet, it’s not just exclusive to individuals with a lot of money, influence, and consequently, power. Even the ones we consider to be our colleagues and good friends can attempt to brainwash us if it fits their narrative.
Easier to control
People might attempt to condition you because it makes you easier to govern, perhaps they’re jealous of what you possess, or because you are daring enough to try something novel. That’s why they might attempt to deceive you, if only not to feel miserable alone. Needless to say, that’s a despicable, and immature thing to do. But unfortunately, that’s far too common.
Well, then you might ask yourself, what’s the value of trying to socialize anymore? And how are these people able to convince us without noticing?
Just because some individuals intentionally persuade you doesn’t mean that everyone out there is bad, or out to get you. Some wonderful people genuinely want the best for you.
By manipulating your insecurities
The reason they’re capable of brainwashing you without observing is that they manipulate your insecurities, fears, and biases against you.
They feed those negative and vulnerable parts of your personality since they’re easy to influence. And no matter how strong you are, everyone has their weak spots.
By deluding you
Manipulators accomplish this by straight up deluding you, or more sneakily, by eating away and corroding your values and ethics into a sinful manner of living without any critical morals such as respect and empathy for each other.
As a result, you’ll waste your money, time, and energy on insignificant things that you don’t need to be happy or feel fulfilled.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
How does society brainwash you?
By thinking for you
While groupthink can be advantageous since we don’t have to allocate as many resources to reasoning ourselves, it can be particularly dangerous when following malicious individuals, or those who are straight-up wrong and deluded.
We’re creatures of habit. And if we’re used to following the lead of others, and letting our colleagues reason for us, then it’s likely that we won’t ponder for ourselves anymore by applying our critical thinking abilities.
That makes it even easier to keep us in line since we’re lulled in this false sense of security due to having too much convenience at our disposal. That’s because we don’t have to think any longer since someone else will do that hard work for us.
While that’s true in some instances, and even a benefit at times, that also makes us more liable to make mistakes since we’re blindly following the herd. I’m not saying that you need to consider everything a trap, but you must remain open-minded enough to consider it a real possibility, no matter who the person in question is.By taking your attention away from the truth
Societies brainwash you by taking your attention away from the truth. If you don’t know what genuineness is anymore because you can’t separate reality from fantasy, then it’s easy to deceive you.
That’s why manipulators typically try to take your attention away from the clear truth that’s right in front of you by misdirecting, or simply denying what the audience is saying.
They accomplish that feat by taking your thoughts away from what’s essential and what the big picture is. By trying to get you caught up in insignificant details in an attempt to make you forget the facts.By intentionally misleading you
It’s easy to manage someone who doesn’t know what’s right, or wrong. That’s exactly why certain despicable people who are looking to control people will intentionally mislead you to make you an easier target to trick.
Sure, they get caught occasionally. But chances are large that they’ll have an excuse ready, such as saying that they weren’t aware that what they were saying wasn’t true, that they were misinformed, or that it was an honest mistake.
Now I get it. Honest, unintentional faults do happen all the time. But you must lay all the pieces of the puzzle together to figure out whether it was a truthful mistake, or if it was a deliberate choice. Guessing their hidden motives and what they could gain by making you believe those lies can be of assistance in discerning truthful errors from malicious intent.By offering quick, convenient solutions
Quick and convenient solutions aren’t necessarily wrong and can be great if there aren’t any negative, yet concealed detriments to those speedy answers.
But sometimes, when something seems too good to be true, you should be suspicious of it since that’s typically not the case. It’s regularly correct that fast and easy solutions work well in the short term but rarely remain advantageous in the long term. The reason is that these fixes don’t address the true cause since they involve taking a shortcut.
The main point should always be to resolve the issue, rather than putting a temporary band-aid on the wound that’s not solving anything instead of simply delaying the problem from surfacing. What’s even worse is that concerns tend to become larger over time if left unaddressed.By influencing your subconscious mind
We’re not aware of everything that happens around us, and much of what does come about is taken in involuntarily by our unconscious mind.
That certainly has its perks such as preventing our brain from getting overloaded by the uncountable decisions it has to make each day and freeing up valuable energy to make the critical choices to optimize our chances for survival.
But that also means that media platforms are employing this psychological fact to manipulate you by showing attractive advertisements time and time again to influence your thoughts, even though you might not be conscious of it. And seeing how much companies tend to spend to market their products today, it’s working. Or else they wouldn’t be doing so.By misusing religion
While I have absolutely nothing against religion, it can be used as a tool to control the masses if used incorrectly, or rather, with the wrong intentions.
Religious folks are typically trying to go through their lives within the rules of their faith because they deem that to be necessary, or because they’re afraid of possible repercussions if they don’t. That’s perfectly fine, but that can be used against believers by those who recognize that it’s a possible means to exploit for their benefit.
What you find valuable might give you the strength to keep going in difficult times, but it’s also fragile and easily used against you since it’s so valuable to you.
Examples of how society brainwashes you
“It’s rude to speak your mind”
One of the many examples of how society brainwashes you is by letting you believe that it’s rude to speak your mind. That’s not to say that you should misuse the situation trying to offend the other party intentionally, or by using offensive language banned by the law.
But you should be able to express your feelings about the circumstances. I feel like others telling you that it’s offensive to speak your mind is an attempt to diminish your human rights such as free speech, and the right of expression. It’s trying to take your power away by acting like you’re the bad person for being an honest and stand-up individual.
Yet, it’s the insecurity and the inability to entertain a different idea from theirs that’s talking. Never let someone control your speech when you’re not breaking the rules, but always remain respectful, regardless of what you’re saying, or what situation you’re in.“You should care more about others than yourself”
While I do agree that we should look out for each other, you can’t do so properly if you don’t take your much-needed self-care seriously enough to feel good.
Ask yourself this: How are you going to help others when you don’t have the energy, or optimistic mindset to do so?
Keep your mental health in check by reducing tension, and by making sure your goals and desires are being met. Otherwise, you’ll just end up vengeful, pessimistic, and angry at the world.“Life is just about paying the bills and acquiring material wealth”
It’s certainly true that a sizable part of life is about making enough money consistently to pay the bills. Nevertheless, it’s not the only thing that matters.
What good is having a lot of cash when we don’t have loved ones who watch over and care about us? But that’s regularly what our parents tell and teach us to do from a very young age. To get a degree, to get a job so that we can pay off the fees, and that’s what life’s all about.
We only have one life, so we should live a little while we have the time and capacity to do so. And without our mental and physical health, that just isn’t possible. So always make sure to take care of your mind and body.“Getting a degree means you’ll get a high-paying job”
Just because you get a degree doesn’t mean you’ll automatically get access to a high-paying job.
I would say that it’s probably a good safety net because you’re more likely to get a foot in the door at multiple companies. That’s because getting an academic degree means that you at least have some degree of discipline and persistence. These are all qualities a good employer searches for in their employees.
Yet, many high-paying careers do not require a degree or even prior experience. But you’re probably going to be required to do some things the majority isn’t willing to do. Be it working hard or doing dirty jobs that almost nobody wants to perform.“Social media is all about socializing and interacting with others”
While social media can be an incredible opportunity to connect with people from all over the world and to keep in touch with our loved ones living far away, it’s rarely used for solely that reason anymore.
Nowadays, it’s more of a tool to garner attention and receive external validation from others, even those we don’t know personally. It’s about posting the best, most beautiful pictures to gather the most likes and comments so that we can obtain a dopamine rush that makes us feel better.
Yet, relying that much on other folks to gain our much-desired confirmation, especially from those we don’t know, is something I don’t consider a viable way of living, nor a healthy one. Only those we care about, and who genuinely want the best for us should have some influence over our moods and actions.“Politicians serve to protect you”
Those chosen to represent the public should indeed look out for everyone’s best interest. Some do, but most are self-serving, and only looking out for their own best interest.
Sure, they might make it seem like they’re watching out for your sake and acting on your behalf. Yet, they already have so many excuses ready for when something doesn’t happen or pans out. But they typically do so to get the least amount of resistance and backlash possible from the masses.
Ultimately, there’s just one person you can always rely on, and that someone is you. That’s why you should learn to apply your critical thinking skills to figure out what the best course of action is for you instead of depending on someone else.“You can’t become successful if you’re not born into a wealthy family”
I’m sure it helps in certain ways to be born into a wealthy family since money makes more money, which means it’s easier to earn big bucks when you already have the capital needed to invest to earn more cash.
Factor in the probable social connections that having a lot of coin typically brings along, and it’s easy to see how advantageous it is to be born into riches.
Still, just because you’re born into prosperity doesn’t mean that you can’t become successful on your own, even though you might have nothing at the beginning. Plenty of people have done so before you, yet it’s quite a rare ability since it requires hard work, intelligence, luck, discipline, and many other virtuous traits that are difficult to develop.“You can only make money online by scamming people”
Technology is evolving at such a rapid pace that it’s hard to keep up. Yet, our brain doesn’t always adapt that quickly, and we’re stuck with the delusion that making money online isn’t possible unless you scam others.
But it is feasible. If you know what you’re doing, that is. Is it easy? No. But is it attainable? Most certainly yes, if you put in enough work hours and effort.
But I do agree that it’s not as easy as a lot of influencers on social media platforms such as YouTube and Instagram make it out to be. That’s because they have something to gain from feeding you lies and deceit by telling you what you want to hear and believe. Because who wants to consider that they must put in countless hours of hard labor to make that dream a reality?“Politicians work for you”
We might like to believe that the politicians work for us since we’re the ones who elected them and put them into a position of power and privilege.
But the reality is different. They work for the government since they are the employers who pay their salary. As a result, they will typically do what’s best for them by carrying out what the government wants. Be it attempting to gain more power, money, or influence.
But not every politician is like that. And some take their job seriously and try to represent their audience as best as they can. Unfortunately, they must work with the system and the other people in it, or they’re not going to last very long, nor will they get anything done.“There’s too much competition to start a company”
There’s indeed more competition these days when you want to start a company from scratch, but the earning potential and the capacity of the buyers have increased a lot as well.
What you need to do is gain an advantage over your competitors. Either by doing something unique or by performing better than them by improving the existing systems.
Deliver a better service and you’re likely to be rewarded. It’s that simple. However, going against established brands and names isn’t particularly easy either since you’re at a disadvantage in that area.
Are we brainwashed?
Whether we’re brainwashed or not depends on your definition, but I think that everyone is indoctrinated to some degree.
No matter how rational, intelligent, and conscious you might be living, everyone falls victim to certain biases at times. We’re only human, after all, and not computers who always have the benefit of remaining impartial.
But that also means that other people have a certain amount of influence over us. More so than we usually realize. This isn’t always that bad if those around us are well-meaning and aren’t looking to misuse that power, but some like nothing more.
Manipulative individuals are often keenly aware and adept at governing those around them and will not hesitate to abuse that control to their advantage, even if it hurts you personally. Be it emotionally, physically, or financially.
Final note
I believe that we are all brainwashed to a certain degree, whether we realize it or not.
That’s not always terrible if people don’t misuse it to manipulate us. But we’re only human, and not as virtuous as we like to portray ourselves to the public at all. Some like nothing more than to misuse the control they possess over us for their benefit.
That’s why we need to understand that we’re prone to groupthink and that we must learn to think for ourselves by employing our capacity to think critically to prevent ourselves from falling victim to devious individuals.