Binary Brainwashing Has Been Going on for Decades
When our minds are preoccupied with binary choices, we avoid critical thinking. And so, binary thinking is abused to control people by keeping them emotional and preventing them from thinking critically.
The most effective propaganda isn’t spreading lies, it’s spreading binary choices, explains Greg Reese.
In The Origins of Totalitarianism , Arendt wrote: “The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.”
Daniel Kahneman’s “Dual Process Theory” identifies two cognitive systems of the human mind: System 1 is fast, automatic, and emotional, while System 2 is slow, deliberate, and logical. You can experience this right now: take a true/false test and you activate your System 1; take a multiple-choice test and you activate your System 2.
When the human mind is confronted with binary choices, System 1 processes the decision with its automatic emotional response, without further analysis.
System 1 harkens back to our most basic survival instincts and is suitable for processing binary choices like fight/flight, edible/poisonous, alive/dead, but it’s not suited for processing complex issues. That’s what System 2 is for. In contemporary psychology, it’s common knowledge that when the human mind is presented with only two options, it automatically shifts to System 1, avoiding critical thinking.
The purpose of these two cognitive systems is efficiency. Once the brain recognizes a binary choice, cognitive load is minimized by sending it to system 1. And when cognitive load is minimal, people are even more susceptible to external influence and groupthink.
The key to successfully influencing people is to keep them in this binary world, so that their critical thinking is rarely, if ever, activated. And this is best achieved by keeping them emotional. Both anger and fear are suitable for this. “With us or against us?” – “Patriot or traitor?” – “Support this policy or do you want people to die!” are all binary choices used over and over again to keep people in binary thinking and blind them.
Published experiments show that when people are reminded of their mortality or an existential threat, they cling more strongly to their beliefs and worldview, and become more hostile toward those who challenge them. This is why apocalyptic language is used in political discourse.
In psychology, it is believed that people’s beliefs become stronger when they are attacked; this is called “attitude entrenchment.”
The human mind tends to divide people into in-groups and out-groups, favoring in-group members and disparaging out-group members to enhance the status of one’s own in-group. And it’s well known that very little is needed to trigger this tribalism. In some experiments, a simple coin toss has been used to steer people toward acceptance of their own group. This innate human tribalism has been weaponized through politically engineered divisions designed to divide people and make them see the world as the designers intend.
In ” Propaganda: The Formation of Men’s Attitudes, ” Ellul wrote that propaganda works best when it simplifies complex realities into binary choices, because people crave the cognitive enlightenment of simple answers. And that the most effective propaganda is not spreading lies, but spreading binary frameworks that make certain conclusions seem inevitable.
This binary brainwashing has been going on for generations, and for many people, political views have become their identity. Their social belonging, self-identity, and status are based on them. And for many, the discomfort of questioning their own beliefs and admitting mistakes is too much to bear. It’s much easier to opt for simple binary choices and go along with the crowd. But if you have any desire for the truth, you will have to learn to think critically about everything, and above all, learn how your mind is being manipulated.
https://www.frontnieuws.com/binaire-hersenspoeling-vindt-al-tientallen-jaren-plaats