desired one.
since the subject is a clean slate and very eager to learn how to be and feel better. There are two steps that are seen during this stage including harmony and the final confession before starting over.
Harmony
The agent will use this step in order to convince the subject that it is their choice to make a change. They might tell the subject that they have the choice to choose what is good and make a change that will help them to feel better. The agent will then
introduce the new belief system and present it in a way that makes it the good or the right choice. During this
stage, the agent will stop the abuse and instead make a point of offering the subject mental calm and physical comfort. The point of doing this is to align the old beliefs with the pain and suffering while aligning the new beliefs with happiness and relief.
This stage is set up so that the subject is given the choice of which road to take, even though it really is not up to them. The subject must use this stage to choose between the old beliefs and the new beliefs, effectively
determining how they are going to feel for the rest of their lives. By this point, the subject has already gone through the process of denouncing their old
beliefs due to the leniency and torment that they have gone through. Because of this, it is fairly likely that they are going to make the choice for the new system of belief in order to relieve their guilt. The new identity that has been presented is desirable and safe because it is completely different than the old identity that led to the
breakdown in earlier steps. Using logic and considering the state of mind that the subject is in, it is easier to see that the only identity that the subject is going to choose for their own peace of mind and safety is the new one.
Final Confession and Starting Over
Even though the choice is really not theirs at all, the agent has strategically worked the whole time to lead the subject to feeling like they have the free will to choose the new identity. If the brainwashing process is done correctly, the subject will think logically about the new choices and determine that the best one is to take up the new identity. They have been conditioned to think this way and in their new state of mind, it is the one that makes the most sense. There are no other choices; choosing the new identity allows them to be relieved from the guilt that they feel and leads to happiness while choosing the old identity leads to pain and guilt. If for
some reason the subject did deny the new identity, there would be a
backtracking in the whole
brainwashing process and they would be forced to undergo it all again in order to end up with the desired results.
During this stage of the process, the subject gets to decide that they will choose good, which means that they get to choose to go with the new identity.
When the subject contrasts the agony and pain of their old identity with the peacefulness that comes with the new, they are going to choose the new identity. This new identity is like a form of salvation. It is the thing that helps them to feel good and not have to
deal with guilt and unhappiness
anymore. As this stage completes, the subject is going to reject their old identity and will go through a process of pledging allegiance to their new one, knowing that it is going to work at making their life better.
Many times, there are ceremonies and rituals that occur during this final stage. The conversion from the old identity to the new identity is a big deal since much time and energy has been used on both sides. During these ceremonies, the subject will be
inducted into the new community and embraced with the new identity. For some brainwashing victims there is the
feeling of rebirth during this period.
You are allowed to embrace your new identity and are welcomed with open arms into the new community that is now your own. Instead of being
isolated and alone, you have many new friends and community members on your side. Instead of feeling the guilt and pain that has plagued you for many months you are going to feel happiness and peacefulness with everything that is around you. The new identity is now yours and the brainwashing
transformation is complete.
This process can take place over a period of many months to even years.
Most people are set in their identity
and the beliefs that they have; it is not possible to change all of this in just a few days unless the person was already willing to change and that would make the brainwashing techniques
unnecessary. Isolation would also be necessary because outside influences will prevent the subject from relying on the agent during this process. This is why most of the brainwashing cases occur in prison camps and other
isolated instances; the vast majority of people will not have the chance of encountering brainwashing due to the fact that they are always surrounded by people and technology that would
hinder the whole brainwashing process.
Once the person is in isolation, the
process takes a long time due to the many steps that must be taken in order to change the ideals held by the
individual for many years so that they will embrace the new identity as their own while also feeling that the choice has always been theirs.
As can be seen, there are quite a few steps that must be taken in order to go through the brainwashing process. It is not something that is going to happen just by running into someone on the street and exchanging a few words. It requires the isolation and time to convince the subject that everything they know is wrong and that they are a bad person. It then continues on with
trying to force out a confession that the subject is bad and that they want to renounce all of the things that they have done that are bad due to their old identity. Finally, the subject will be led in the direction of believing that they can change for the better if they just abandon their old ideas and instead embrace the peacefulness and rightness that comes with the new identity that is presented. All of these steps must
occur for the brainwashing to be
effective and the new identity to be put in place.
Brainwashing as Court Defense
Throughout history, people have been claiming that they committed terrible wrongs because they had been
brainwashed. It was an excuse that many would claim hoping to save their own lives or to get away with a mass murder or some other crime against humanity. It might even be something as simple as stealing from another person. Whatever the action was, brainwashing was an easy defense because it took the responsibility of the action away from the accused and it was difficult to prove whether someone had been brainwashed or not.
Whether brainwashing pleas can be used as a defense in the courtroom is up to some debate. Many experts feel that by allowing this defense into the courtroom, the courts would become overwhelmed with false claims of brainwashing and the resources for proving or disproving this defense would be more than the courts could handle. Despite this, there have been some cases brought to court that may show the validity of brainwashing as a defense for crimes committed.
The first example of this happened in 1976. Patty Hearst, the heiress to a large publishing fortune, used the defense of brainwashing when she
stood trial for a bank robbery. In the early 1970s, Hearst was kidnapped by the SLA, the Symbionese Liberation Army, and ended up joining this group.
During the trial, Hearst reported that she had been locked up in a closet for at least a few days after she had been kidnapped. While in the closet, Hearst stated that she was afraid of her life, brutalized, tired, and was not fed while members of the SLA bombarded her with their ideology against a capitalist country. Within the two months of her kidnapping, Patty had changed her name while also issuing a statement saying that her family were “pig- Hearsts” and then appeared on the security tape of a bank robbing it along
with those who had kidnapped her.
In 1976, Patty Hearst stood trial for this bank robbery and was defended by F. Lee Bailey. In the defense, it was claimed that Hearst had been
brainwashed by the SLA. This brainwashing had forced Hearst to commit a crime that she would have never done under any other
circumstance. In the mental state that she was under with the brainwashing, she was not able to tell the difference between right and wrong and therefore should not be found guilty of the bank robbery. The court did not agree with this analysis and instead found her guilty and placed her in prison for
seven years. Just a few years later, President Carter commuted her
sentence so she only ended up spending two years in total in prison.