Sunday, February 5, 2017

Stimulus-Response, Associationism and Fake Rightwing Extremism



The left is at it again. Let's face it, this new communist movement is not going away and despite the election of Donald Trump, they still have the full support of the media and a heavy influence in education. The riots at UC Berkeley have reminded America that there is indeed, a hard core, militant left wing movement intent on tearing down America's institutions and implementing a socialist type government. They justify their violence by claiming they are in a fight against rightwing extremism and in some cases, such as the Robert Reich interview on CNN, they even suggest  the right wing is responsible for this violence. This is nothing new, the left has long tried to portray the right as extremist in nature and has even referred to them as Nazi's. This is ridiculous because Nazism is National Socialism which is really no different than Communism. Communists tend to think globally; in other words, Communism is National Socialism on a global scale with no single nation at the lead. Besides, Adolph Hitler's ideas on governing were way more in line with todays left wing ideologies than the right's, which promotes human freedom and dignity. What's happening here is a full blown effort to completely discredit American Conservatism and create the impression in people's minds that rightwing extremism is the biggest threat the nation faces.

At the beginning of the Obama Administration the Department of Homeland Security, headed by Janet Napolitano, who just happens now to be the president at UC Berkeley, released a report entitled Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment. This report referred to everyone of a rightwing leaning as a potential extremist and was deliberately released in an effort to discredit all opposition to the Obama agenda. Gun owners, returning war veterans, pro lifers and anyone who stood in defiance of expanding government power was targeted in this report. The reasons given were in and of  themselves proof that this report served an agenda to silence opposition. Gun owners were listed because of fears of increased gun control and restrictions on their rights. Remember, this report was released at the very start of Obama's first term, before any mention of gun control. Returning veterans, as another example, were listed as potential extremists because they would be returning home to no jobs and lowered living standards. How did they know, unless they had a specific agenda, that there would be no jobs? Essentially, this report was released to silence and discredit those that would stand in opposition to this agenda. All throughout the Obama years the so called right wing was referred to as extreme and angry while excuses were made for the radical Islamists who were actually committing acts of terror. No where in this report is there any mention of Islamic terrorism or leftwing radicalism for that matter.

In truth, the issue of Islamic terrorism has served the former administration well in creating an association of ideas between acts of violence committed by radical Islamists and opposition to government they attempt to portray as rightwing extremism. The association of ideas, otherwise known as Associationism, or associative theories of learning, suggests that people's idea's are shaped and guided by past experiences. In other words, if the constant shock of Islamic terror has the right effect on the psyche of the population then it will not be difficult to create a mental connection between those memories of terror and the attitudes portrayed as rightwing extremism. Another way to explain this is through the stimulus response mechanisms discovered by Ivan Pavlov. Classical conditioning is the process in which an organism is trained to respond to a certain stimulus. In Pavlov's experiment it was found that the organism in question, a dog, would salivate every time meat was present and it was fed. Slowly, a bell was introduced at feeding time and eventually the salivation would occur simply with the sound of the bell even though the original stimulus was removed. The dog began to associate the sound of the bell with the presentation of food which at this point, his response became a conditioned behavior. Over the past eight years we have seen a refusal on the part of the Obama administration to refer to Islamic terrorism as Islamic in nature. Instead, it has been referred to as a type of hateful ideology that leads to violence. The shock of constantly being fed images of terrorism while hearing the words "hateful ideology" has led to the masses reacting to those same words in much the same way Pavlov's dog reacted to the bell. In other words, fake rightwing extremism is being created through mental trickery and the association of ideas. Through the stimulus-response mechanisms people are being conditioned to react with emotion and fear as opposed to reason. The fear of rightwing extremism is being created through the images of actual terrorist events and the refusal to label them what they are while at the same time, gradually connecting words like hateful and racist with the rightwing movement.

Many people will question this theory because after all, we are human beings not dogs. What they fail to understand is that the left has been in pursuit of mastering human behavior for over a century and fields like psychology and psychiatry are firmly in their control. Truthfully,  human beings can be conditioned in much the same way as a dog but first they have to be demoralized and brought to believe that everything they thought they knew was wrong. For decades the left, firmly in control of America's educational institutions, have been programming students to believe that America is the world's biggest problem. Concepts like white privilege and feminism have broke down the idea that America is the greatest country in the world and replaced it with one that suggests we are nothing but a bunch of racist, sexist Islamaphobes and that our founding documents are rooted in rightwing extremism.

In the book Brainwashing-A Synthesis of the Russian Textbook on Psychopolitics Laventia Beria, former KGB agent and instructor at Lenin University, states that the stimulus response mechanisms of man have long been used to bring about an acceptable behavior within any given population. He goes on to explain the stimulus response mechanism by stating that a person's experience in response to a traumatic event, such as the constant exposure to Islamic terrorism for example, will manifest itself when the proper command is given. For example, after years of witnessing the horrors of Isis and the replacing of words like Islamic terrorism with terms like hateful ideologies, the association between such a term and attitudes identified as rightwing extremism produce the same response demonstrated by the original stimulus; Islamic terrorism. Furthermore, Beria goes on to suggest that the pain of the traumatic event is greatly alleviated by simply following the commands of the new stimulus. So, it is easier for people to simply go along with the idea that rightwing extremism poses the same danger as Islamic terrorism or leftwing radicalism for that matter than it is for them to admit the truth. This is partly due to the fact that they would feel as if they were displaying a racist, Islamophobic attitude by admitting radical Islam poses a real and viable threat to their safety. This of course is due to the education they are receiving which is based in stimulus response mechanisms itself.

In order to fully grasp this idea it is important to understand that the left does not view man in the same way we do. The rightwing, for the most part, believes in God and is rooted in Christian morality. The left, on the other hand has been developing it's scientific approach to understanding human behavior based on stimulus response mechanisms and the way human beings respond to the environment around them; which of course can be manipulated to serve as a stimulus. Consider B.F. Skinners explanation of pre and post scientific man and how it applies to what we are witnessing today in the way we are being governed.

In what we may call the pre-scientific view (and the word is not necessarily pejorative) a person's behavior is at least to some extent his own achievement. He is free to deliberate, decide, and act, possibly in original ways, and he is to be given credit for his successes and blamed for his failures. In the scientific view (and the word is not necessarily honorific) a person’s behavior is determined by a genetic endowment traceable to the evolutionary history of the species and by the environmental circumstances to which as an individual he has been exposed. Neither view can be proved, but it is in the nature of scientific inquiry that the evidence should shift in favor of the second. As we learn more about the effects of the environment, we have less reason to attribute any part of human behavior to an autonomous controlling agent. And the second view shows a marked advantage when we begin to do something about behavior. Autonomous man is not easily changed: in fact, to the extent that he is autonomous, he is by definition not changeable at all. But the environment can be changed, and we are learning how to change it. The measures we use are those of physical and biological technology, but we use them in special ways to affect behavior. (Skinner, 101)

When we hear leftwing activists try to discredit the rightwing movement understand that they are attempting to draw a correlation between the so called anti-government attitudes of those that believe in limited government and the radicalism we have been witnessing in the media. The goal is to get the masses to believe that anyone going against the mainstream narrative has the potential to become radicalized. Once the initial fear of terrorism sinks into the subconscious the association between the horrors seen on television and words like hateful ideologies become permanently rooted in the brain. Therefore, people become conditioned to react to the same way when they simply hear words that they associate with the terrifying images of terrorism. The end goal is to get the masses to believe that rightwing extremism, even though it has been the left responsible for all the violence, is the biggest threat the nation faces.

Source: BRAIN-WASHING A Synthesis of a Russian Textbook on Psychopolitics Chapter VII
Source: B.F Skinner Beyond Freedom and Dignity pp. 101
Image Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Right_wing_extremists-_2013-08-14_21-56.jpg
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

2 comments:

  1. Wow! This is text book perfect. This knowledge is most important to impart to every person on earth. Humanity needs to evolve before we destroy ourselves with our wars and ignorance. Know thy self is the first key to knowledge and responsible living. Conditioning is mans greatest mental weakness. Only through study and energetic effort can the veil be lifted. Also the emotional need to be valued by others leads us to give up the struggle for self knowledge and settle for worldly fame, wealth, or authority over others. Authority over others is also a false source of confidence that we know we are correct because others believe we are correct. A dangerous trap of self delusion.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Karl, thanks for your support and your well written thoughts on the issues we face. I enjoy reading what you have to say.

    ReplyDelete

Analyzing the Attempts to Normalize Pedophilia.

  December 18, 2023   by  David Risselada Sometimes I find myself at a loss. The past few years have been quite an experience for me as I ha...