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Books > Reference & Interdisciplinary > Controversial knowledge > Conspiracy theories
Since 1933, when a completely drugged and trial-conditioned human
wreck confessed to having started the Reichstag fire in Berlin, Dr
Joost A M Meerloo has studied the methods by which systematic
mental pressure brings people to abject submission, and by which
totalitarians imprint their subjective "truth" on their victims'
minds. The first two and one-half years of World War II, Dr Meerloo
spent under the pressure of Nazi-occupied Holland, witnessing at
first-hand the Nazi methods of mental torture .on more than one
occasion. During this time he was able to use his psychiatric and
psychoanalytic knowledge to treat some of the victims. Then, after
personal experiences with enforced interrogation, he escaped from a
Nazi prison and certain death to England, where he was able, as
Chief of the Psychological Department of the Netherlands Forces, to
observe and study coercive methods officially. In this capacity he
had to investigate not only traitors and collaborators, but also
those members of the Resistance who had gone through the utmost of
mental pressure. Later, as High Commissioner for Welfare, he came
in closer contact with those who had gone through physical and
mental torture. After the war, he came to the United States, where
his war experiences would not permit him to concentrate solely on
his psychiatric practice, but compelled him to go beyond purely
medical aspects to the social aspects of the problem. As more and
more cases of thought control, brainwashing, and mental coercion
were disclosed -- Cardinal Mindszenty, Colonel Schwable, Robert
Vogeler, and others -- his interest grew. It was Dr. Meerloo who
coined the word menticide, the killing of the spirit, for this
peculiar crime. His knowledge of these totalitarian procedures has
been officially acknowledged; he served as an expert witness in the
case of Colonel Schwable, the Marine Corps officer who, after
months of subjection to physical and mental torture following his
capture in Korea, was made to confess to having taken part in germ
warfare. It is Dr Meerloo's position that through pressure on the
weak points in men's makeup, totalitarian methods can turn anyone
into a "traitor". And in this book he goes far beyond the direct
military implications of mental torture to describing how our own
culture unobtrusively shows symptoms of pressurising people's
minds. He presents a systematic analysis of the methods of
brainwashing and mental torture and coercion, and shows how
totalitarian strategy, with its use of mass psychology, leads to
systematised "rape of the mind". He describes the new age of cold
war with its mental terror, verbocracy, and semantic fog, the use
of fear as a tool of mass submission and the problem of treason and
loyalty, so loaded with dangerous confusion. The book is written
for the interested layman, not only for experts and scientists.
Ever since the Warren Commission concluded that a lone gunman
assassinated President John F. Kennedy, people who doubt that
finding have been widely dismissed as conspiracy theorists, despite
credible evidence that right-wing elements in the CIA, FBI, and
Secret Service-and possibly even senior government officials-were
also involved. Why has suspicion of criminal wrongdoing at the
highest levels of government been rejected out-of-hand as paranoid
thinking akin to superstition? Conspiracy Theory in America
investigates how the Founders' hard-nosed realism about the
likelihood of elite political misconduct-articulated in the
Declaration of Independence-has been replaced by today's blanket
condemnation of conspiracy beliefs as ludicrous by definition.
Lance deHaven-Smith reveals that the term "conspiracy theory"
entered the American lexicon of political speech to deflect
criticism of the Warren Commission and traces it back to a CIA
propaganda campaign to discredit doubters of the commission's
report. He asks tough questions and connects the dots among five
decades' worth of suspicious events, including the assassinations
of John and Robert Kennedy, the attempted assassinations of George
Wallace and Ronald Reagan, the crimes of Watergate, the Iran-Contra
arms-for-hostages deal, the disputed presidential elections of 2000
and 2004, the major defense failure of 9/11, and the subsequent
anthrax letter attacks. Sure to spark intense debate about the
truthfulness and trustworthiness of our government, Conspiracy
Theory in America offers a powerful reminder that a suspicious,
even radically suspicious, attitude toward government is crucial to
maintaining our democracy.
Machiavelli is one of the most famous strategists of all time. In
this collection he discusses the dangers of conspiracies, and the
component parts of an army, vital for gaining and holding power in
his day. He also gives advice on tactics and discipline, and
explains why promises made under force ought not to be kept. GREAT
IDEAS. Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They
have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They
have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have
enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched
lives - and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the
great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas
shook civilization and helped make us who we are.
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