I have replaced the word group with the word Republican to show how Bush & co have used DDD( Deception, Dependency & Dread- The Conversion Process) to gain control of voters.
Although the process here described is complex and varied, the following appears to occur in the prototypical cult conversion:
The Repub (leader[s]) deceptively presents itself as a benevolent authority that can improve the prospect's well-being.
- The prospect responds positively, experiencing an increase in self-esteem and security, at least some of which is in response to what could be considered "placebo" The prospect can now be considered a "recruit".
- Through the use of "sharing" exercises, "confessions," and skillful individualized probing, the group [leader(s)] assesses the recruit's strengths and weaknesses.
- Through testimonies of Repub members, the denigration of the Repub's "competitors" (e.g., other religious groups, other political parties), the tactful accentuation of the recruit's shameful memories and other weaknesses, and the gradual indoctrination of the recruit into a closed, nonfalsifiable belief system, the Repub's superiority is affirmed as a fundamental assumption.
- Members' testimonies, positive reinforcement of the recruit's expressions of trust in the Repubs, discrete reminders about the recruit's weaknesses, and various forms of Repub pressure induce the recruit to acknowledge that his/her future well-being depends upon adherence to the Repub's belief system, more specifically its "change program."
- These same influence techniques are joined by a subtle undermining of the recruit's self-esteem (e.g., by exaggerating the "sinfulness" of experiences the recruit is encouraged to confess"), the suppression or weakening of critical thinking through the repetitive message that only disaster results from not following the Repub's "change program." These manipulations induce the recruit to declare allegiance to the Repub's and to commit to change him/herself as directed by the Repub's. He or she can now be considered a convert embarking on a path of "purification", "enlightenment", "self-actualization", "higher consciousness," or whatever. The recruit's dependency on the Repub's is established and implicitly, if not explicitly, acknowledged. Moreover, he/she has accepted the Repub's authority in defining what is true and good, within the convert's heart and mind as well as in the world.
- The convert is next fully subjected to the unrealistically high expectations of the Repub's. The recruit's "potential" is "lovingly" affirmed, while members testify to the great heights they and "heroic" models have scaled. The Repub's all-important mission, e.g., save the world, justifies its all-consuming expectations.
- Because by definition the Repub's is always right and "negative" thinking is unacceptable, the convert's failures become totally his or her responsibility, while his or her doubts and criticisms are suppressed or redefined as personal failures. The convert thus experiences increasing self-alienation. The "pre-cult self" is rejected; doubts about the group are pushed out of consciousness; the sense of failure generated by not measuring up to the Repub's expectations is bottled up inside. The only possible adaptation is fragmentation and compartmentalization. It is not surprising, then, that many clinicians consider dissociation to lie the heart of related distress and dysfunction (Ash, 1985).
- The convert's self-alienation will tend to demand further psychological, if not physical, alienation from the non-Repub world, information from which can threaten to upset whatever dissociative equilibrium the convert establishes in an attempt to adjust to the consuming and conflicting demands of the Repub's. This alienation accentuates the convert's dependency on the Repub's.
- The Repub. supports the convert's dissociative equilibrium by actively encouraging escalating dependency, e.g., by exaggerating the convert's past "sins" and conflicts with family, by denigrating outsiders, by positively reinforcing or other "thought-stopping" activities, and by providing and positively reinforcing ways in which the convert can find a valued role within the Repub's .
- The Repub's strengthen the convert's growing dependency by threatening or inflicting punishment whenever the convert or an outside force disturbs the dissociative equilibrium that enables him or her to function in a closed, nonfalsifiable system (the "dread" of DDD). Punishment may sometimes by physical. Usually, however, the punishment is psychological, sometimes even metaphysical. Certain fringe Christian groups, for example, can at the command of the leadership immediately begin shunning someone singled out as being "factious" or possessed of a "rebellious spirit." Many groups also threaten wavering converts with punishments in the hereafter, for example, being "doomed to Hell." It should be remembered that these threats and punishments occur within a context of induced dependency and psychological alienation from the person's former support network. This fact makes them much more potent than the garden-variety admonitions of traditional religious, such as "you will go to hell if you die with mortal sin."






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