Who can Resist the Pull of the Crowd?

Who can Resist the Pull of the Crowd? by Berit Kjos – February 24, 2010 For background information, read Brainwashing and Education “Reform”

Part 2: How to Resist the Pull of the Crowd     Home

“All around us, we see the ripening fruit of seven
decades of increasingly psychologized education. Tolerance of evil and
”group thinking‘ are closing minds to God-given wisdom. And
since today’s collective ‘holism’ is incompatible with God’s holiness,
few dare take a contrary stand on truth. Such courage might even be
viewed as intolerance. Neither individualism nor God’s grace has any
place in this horrendous system of mind control. Yet, Hitler’s pragmatic
concept of ‘mental health’ — equating ‘health’ with collective
thinking and conformity to the ‘right’ kind of group
— is transforming churches as well as cultures around the world.”I[1]
Kate Zernike

 

“You shall not follow a crowd to do evil….”


Exodus 23:2

Through the ages, human cruelty and crowd
behavior have perplexed moral leaders but inspired the ruthless. Man’s
natural inclinations to do unthinkable things when part of a passion-driven group
has, through the ages, grieved the merciful while it empowered tyrants.
Though the “positive” side of this crowd mentality
is now valued as synergy by visionary change agents, its negative effects can be seen in the mindless
brutality that would incite murderous
riots, lynchings, pogroms and persecution around the world.

“Little adapted to reasoning,
crowds are quick to act,” explained Gustave Le Bon in
his 1899 book called The
Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind.
“How powerless they are to hold any
opinions other than those which are imposed upon them….
[They are led] by seeking what produces an impression on them and what seduces them.”
He continued:

“[Crowds
possess] a collective mind which makes them feel, think and act in a manner
quite different…. a sentiment of invincible power which allows [him] to yield to
instincts which, had he been alone, he would… have kept under restraint.”[2]

In Brainwashing, a 1956 expose of brainwashing tactics used by
Communist prison guards on Western prisoners-of-war, Edward Hunter echoes
Le Bon’s warning:

“Brainwashing is a system of befogging the brain
so a person can be seduced into acceptance of what otherwise would be
abhorrent to him. He loses touch with reality. Facts and fancy whirl round
and change places…. However, in order to prevent people from recognizing
the inherent evils in brainwashing, the Reds pretend that it is only another
name for something already very familiar and of unquestioned respect, such
as education or reform.”
Brainwashing
and Education ‘Reform‘

The moral weakness of the collective mind has been researched
and exploited throughout history. Lenin, Hitler and countless other tyrants
saw psychology as an essential tool for managing the masses, for eradicating
or reinventing Christianity, and for ruling the world. And today, the 
psycho-social strategies that served their purposes so well have been
fine-tuned and strengthened by digital data systems that put their
detestable old spy tactics to shame.

All around us, we see the ripening fruit of

seven decades of increasingly psychologized education. Tolerance of evil
and “group
thinking” are closing minds to God-given wisdom. And since
today’s collective “holism” is incompatible with God’s
holiness, few dare take a
contrary stand on truth. Such courage might even be viewed as
intolerance. Neither individualism nor God’s grace has any place in this horrendous system of
mind control.
Yet, Hitler’s pragmatic concept of “mental health” — equating “health” with
collective thinking and conformity to the “right” kind of group — is transforming churches
as well as cultures around the world.

So while Specialist Darby
refused to conform,
[1] most people condoned, concealed or
carried out the abusive tactics. But we shouldn’t be surprised.
“Thirty years before the sadistic humiliation of
Iraqi prisoners, the same behavior was exhibited at Stanford University,”
according to Pat Nolan, President of
Justice Fellowship.[3] In his article, “Iraqi Prisoner Abuse and the
Importance of Self-Restraint,” he compares the brutal images from the Abu Ghraib prison with similar sadism among graduate students during a notorious
1971 research project. In this experiment, the participating Stanford
students were divided into two groups: prisoners and guards. Nolan begins
with a quote from the New York Times  by John Schwartz: ….

“’Within days the ‘guards’ had become
swaggering and sadistic, to the point of placing bags over the
prisoners’ heads, forcing them to strip naked and encouraging them to
perform sexual acts.’ Their professor was so profoundly shocked by this
behavior that he stopped the study after six days, rather than two weeks
[as]
he had planned.

“None of us should feel smug. While we all hope we would not have taken
part in such abasement of our fellow human beings, we are all stained
with original sin. Alexander Solzhenitsyn said that ‘the line dividing
good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.’ It is only
by restraining these base impulses that we can be civilized.”[3]

It’s shocking, isn’t it? So is a study done ten years earlier.
Back in 1961, Yale
psychologist, Dr. Stanley Milgram, divided paid volunteers into two groups: teachers and learners. The “teachers” were
told to punish slow
“learners” with electric shocks that would rise in intensity with each wrong answer:

“Dr. Milgram wanted to obtain an insight as to why the Nazi war criminals who committed atrocities against humanity willingly participated in the deaths of millions of people. Often their excuse was,
‘I was just following orders and doing my job, sir.’ Were these men and women abjectly evil, following orders, or was there another reason?

     “Dr. Milgram’s experiments gave some insightful answers that help show why Hitler and other tyrants throughout recorded history have often had
the popular support of the population. The willingness of ordinary people to commit cruel acts against their fellow man exists today in all nations as it has in the past….

     “At 75, 90, and at 105 volts the learner would groan with pain. At 120 volts the learner complained that the pain of the shocks was unbearable. When the teacher showed any reservation about administering the higher voltages for wrong answers, the scientist would explain that the shocks are not lethal and the learner will suffer no permanent damage from the shocks.”[4]

The “learners” didn’t
actually feel the electric shocks. They had been coached to act the
role of a victim and pretend they felt excruciating pain. But the “teachers” who followed orders and administered the cruel punishment
didn’t know that. They heard the “learners” cry out in
agony. Many felt uncomfortable pulling the levers. Yet, few
resisted the seemingly heartless commands of the “scientist” who facilitated the
project. To most participants, complying with the group project and
obeying their leader overshadowed any sense of wrong.

Why few resist

Thank God, not all would submit to ruthless orders and mindless
team performance. Referring to the Yale study above, Ahanad O’Connor
wrote,

“In numerous studies over the past few decades,
psychologists have found that a certain percentage of people simply
refuse to give in to pressure — by authorities or by peers — if they
feel certain actions are wrong. …
    “In the noted experiment 40 years ago when Dr. Stanley
Milgram showed that most people will deliver a lethal dose of
electricity to another subject if instructed to do so by a scientist in
a white lab coat, a minority still said no.
    “‘These people are rare,’ said Dr. Elliot Aronson, a
professor of psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who
studies social influence. ‘It’s really hard for us to predict in advance
who is going to resist by looking at things like demographic data or
religious background.’[5]

Do you wonder why moral courage is so rare these days? Then,
take a look at our education system —  the culmination of long-term
plans to merge
Education,

Labor and
Mental Health
programs in a common effort to prepare “healthy” human resources for the
global community. Starting in elementary school, children learn to
conform to group values. They must think and act
holistically, and measure their own worth in terms of their value to the
group or “greater whole.” Individualism and offensive Biblical
values are out; collective thinking and group
conformity are in. If
children refuse to comply, the state’s mandatory assessments will expose the
problem, and their permanent (lifelong) digital data file will record their lack of
“cooperation” and failure to be “a group player.”
[See Character Training for
Global Citizenship]

The ultimate goal was exposed by Professor Raymond Houghton
in To Nurture Humaneness
(published by the curriculum arm of the
massive National Education Association in
1970). He wrote:

“…absolute behavior control is
imminent…. The critical point of behavior control, in effect, is sneaking
up on mankind without his self-conscious realization that a crisis is at
hand. Man will… never self-consciously know that it has happened.”[6]

Hard to believe? Ahanad O’Connor
explains an important part of this problem: “The power to resist coercion reflects what
psychologists call internal locus of control, or the ability to
determine one’s own destiny. People at the other end of the scale, with
external locus of control, are more heavily influenced by authority
figures.”[5]

Interesting that he would mention “Locus of Control”
— a significant factor in today’s student data file. While change agents want students to have an
internal locus of control with regard
to their parents, they also want them to yield their individual choices to
the external control of the peer
group. In other words, they want students to be released from the external
control of traditional authorities who might hold them accountable to
Biblical
values. Yet they want to build dependence on the “group” and its
facilitator, since peer pressure will be the primary means of changing the
student’s values
and molding the collective thinkers needed for the 21st
century workforce. Complex as it sounds, this concept is familiar to those who have followed education
technology during the last decade.

In
Brave New Schools,
Chapter 3,
we included a question from Pennsylvania’s state assessment that illustrates this
point. Since
the new government tests match national and international standards, they
expose what all students must learn to fit into the planned society.

Anita Hoge, a concerned mother, exposed these
connections in the early nineties. When researching
Pennsylvania’s EQA (Educational Quality Assessments) and its relationship to
the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), she noticed an
alarming emphasis on group conformity as a mark of good
“citizenship.” While emphasizing the new attitudes needed for citizenship,
the NAEP left out factual
objectives concerning the American form of government.

She noticed that in the following NAEP’s test assignment, students were not given the option of saying
“no” to vandalism — only to the three incentives. The context
seemed to assume that — given the right
incentives — all students would
participate in the suggested lawlessness: 

Guess
what the “right” answers were?  Hint:
The state seeks responses that demonstrate “willingness to honor
self-made commitments to individuals or groups.”[7]
This response falls into the “citizenship” category which
measures “Personal responsibility and integrity.” Knowing that
today’s global values give new meaning to words like
responsibility and integrity, one can begin to
understand why the desired answers would be “Yes” to 1 and 2. 

The
key is control, explained Anita Hoge. To
transform nations, trained leaders must manage group behavior.
And
periodic assessments of the student’s
locus of control and rate of change are needed to continually update a student’s IEP
(Individual Education Plan). By using computers programmed according to each
child’s needs, weaknesses, interests, felt needs, and resistance (or
locus of control), they hope to mold citizens who can be managed through
group pressure  — even as the students are assured that they
“own” their choices and think independently.  

As churches become increasingly dependent on
similar technology and continual assessments, they gradually adapt to the government process of surveillance, control and
psychosocial manipulation through facilitated groups and dialectic thinking.
The following chart could apply to any social institution involved in
systems management and data tracking. The words used are inadequate to
explain all the differences between the three categories, for words such as
“citizenship” are are redefined to fit each new paradigm.

 [See Character Training for
Global Citizenship]

From Personal Freedom to Collectivism and
Control

“The great democratic danger,” wrote Alan Bloom
in The Closing of the American Mind, “is enslavement to public opinion.”[8]
This is no small threat in today’s marketing atmosphere where high tech
pollsters and opinion masters know all about our wants, needs and resistance
to tempting thrills and tastes. And now trained facilitators everywhere can
use similar information to appeal to the felt needs of their clients or
group members.
If Americans yield to amoral group opinions, who will take charge? Who
will inspire those opinions? Who will control mass behavior?

  

The answer might lie in the vast global networks
of leadership training systems that mold pastors as well as leaders and
facilitators for schools, governments, corporations and non-profit institutions. One of the most influential training grounds is the
Aspen Institute where little

Elian Gonzales was remediated before he could return to Cuba. One of its
former lecturers was Bob Buford, the founding President both
of the Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management[9]
and the
Leadership Network.[10]

The latter trains large churches to follow
the latest business management techniques. Those tactics include the dialectic
process conceived by
occult
philosopher, Georg Hegel, then used by Karl Marx to break down walls
between the holy (Christianity) and the unholy (communism). Now leaders
around the world use it as a means to replace Biblical separation with
feel-good unity and group synergy. In other words, this “unity in
diversity” creates the “spiritual energy” needed to motivate the masses to
go along with “continual change.”

The negative side of such synergy is obvious: minds are
closed to unwanted facts, rational arguments, and unpopular Scriptures — but
open to group values and opinions. Those opinions are likely to include hostility toward any Christian who refuses to become part of
the dialectic process or conform to the crowd mentality.

Do you still wonder why so few are willing to take a moral stand
and resist such group thinking? Or how someone might be released from the seductive grasp of this
sought-after group synergy? 
Half a century ago,
Dr. Solomon E. Asch helped answer the second question. His experiments on
“compliance” showed that…

“…people are more likely to break from a group if
they have an ally. Subjects in his experiment were asked to look at
different lines on a card and judge their lengths. Each subject was
unknowingly placed in a group of “confederates” who deliberately chose a
line that was obviously wrong. About a third of the time, the subjects
would give in and go along with the majority.”
    “But if one confederate broke from the group and gave another
answer, even a wrong answer, the subjects were more likely to give the
response they knew was correct.
    “The more you feel support for your dissent, the more likely
you are to do it,” said Dr. Danny Axsom, an associate professor of
psychology at Virginia Tech.”[5]

Such support has been sadly lacking in many classrooms,
purpose-driven churches and corporate teams. The cost of resistance has
seemed too
great! People who conform are rewarded
with acceptance, appreciation, applause and celebration. They belong
in the group. But resisters face rejection and exclusion, which brings more
emotional pain than most are willing to endure. (See
the personal testimonies in “Dealing
with Resisters).”
 

God’s strength in our weakness

Many look to psychologists for
insights and solutions, but our Lord says, “Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world?” 1 Corinthians 1:20

Only our
Maker can truly understand our natural inclinations, our personal weaknesses
and our need for His grace. (Psalm
139:1-16) That’s why He
gave us ample warnings that show us how to triumph in Christ no
matter what pressures we face. Consider these:

“… in the last days
perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers
of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents,
unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without
self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors…. From such people turn away!
      
“…all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer
persecution. But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse,
deceiving and being deceived. But you must continue in the things which
you have learned…”  2 Timothy
3:1-5

 

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and
acceptable and perfect will of God.”
Romans 12:2

“Do not be deceived:
‘Evil company corrupts good habits.”
1 Corinthians 16:33

 

“…if
sinners entice you, do not consent.”
Proverbs 1:10

 

“Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on
the whole armor of God, that you
may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not
wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against
spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
      “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that
you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to
stand.”

Ephesians
6:10-13

Along with His wise and unchanging guidelines, God also
provides the strength needed to endure any rejection we might face for His
sake. What He promised Paul, He will also do for us when we put Him first.
He said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect
in weakness.”
2 Corinthians 12:9-10

In the last two thousand
years, millions of faithful Christians have relied on that amazing grace. They
faced beatings, humiliations,
torture and death for choosing to follow God rather than man. Through it
all, they were conformed, not to human crowds, but to the life and death of Jesus
Christ. They knew that their beloved Lord, Himself, was put to death through
the consensus of a crowd driven to murderous hatred by the religious
establishment:

“Now at the feast
[Pontius Pilate] was accustomed to releasing one prisoner to them,
whomever they requested. And there was one named Barabbas, who was
chained with his fellow rebels; they had committed murder in the
rebellion. Then the multitude, crying aloud, began to ask him
to do just as he had always done for them. But Pilate answered them,
saying, ‘Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?’ For he
knew that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy.
       “But the chief
priests stirred up the crowd, so that he should rather release Barabbas to
them. Pilate answered and said to them again, ‘What then do you want
me to do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?”
       “So they cried out again, ‘Crucify Him!’ Then Pilate said to
them, ‘Why, ‘what evil has He done?’ But they cried out all the more,
‘Crucify Him!’” Mark
15:6-14

Did you notice the
irrational responses from a crowd that spoke as one, stirred to anger by
clever leaders? That’s the collective mind, driven by negative synergy (syn
= together + energy), which makes ordinary humans set aside moral
standards and home-taught values. It’s the dark side of solidarity, and it makes
“nice” civilized people all too vulnerable to evil behavior.

But once again,
God’s unchanging Word shows the safe and victorious way. Take
Psalm 1 to heart and teach it to your children. The last half would fail today’s
political correctness test, but we would be wise
to heed it:

“Blessed is the man who
walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of
the scornful;
But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he
meditates day and night.
He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water….

The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind
drives away.
Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners
in the congregation of the righteous.
For the Lord knows the way
of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.”

---

Part 2:
How to Resist the Pull of the Crowd

    Part 2 will
deal with specific ways to resist today’s subtle forms of brainwashing.
Some will be based on Edward
Hunter’s interviews with former prisoners-of-war in Communist prisons in
Asia and Eastern Europe during the 1950s.  All will be validated
through God’s Word. In his book,
Brainwashing
and Education ‘Reform,’
Edward Hunter
wrote,

“Indoctrination, persuasion, explanation, publicity and public
relations, education, examination and re-examination, criticism
and self-criticism — each of these only cover a single facet of
brainwashing.”

 

“What
was evident out of  the experiences of the brainwashed was that
two men could undergo similar pressures under the same set of
circumstances and one would crack and the other not. But why was
it that the man who seemed to possess most of the advantages
was frequently the one to break?….

 

“I
began asking…. To what do you attribute your survival?’ The
replies showed how a mind could defeat the most subtle pressures
ever devised by a witch doctor or a corticovisceral
psychiatrist.“

[11]