The Manchurian Candidate : Angela Lansbury (1962)
Asked to name the book that had made the biggest impact on her, she singled out “The Brothers Karamazov.” The parable of the Grand Inquisitor in Dostoyevsky’s novel, she said, speaks to the dangers of certitude.
“For a lot of reasons, that was an important part of my thinking,” Mrs. Clinton said. “One of the greatest threats we face is from people who believe they are absolutely, certainly right about everything.”
From there, it was a short rhetorical leap for Mrs. Clinton to encourage Russia to open its political system.
In Moscow, Clinton Urges Russia to Open Its Political System. 15 October 2009
http://view.atdmt.com/TGW/iview/179001038/direct/01/2009.10.15.17.08.13?click=
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Brainwashing - How It Can Be Beat
"How can a person maintain liberal principles if he closed his mind on anything?" he persisted.
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A closed mind, of course is a radical preventative. Fanaticism can easily be confused with it, and this is not what it means. A fanatic not only closes a door in his mind, he cements it shut so it can never be opened again, and shuts every other nearby door the same way, irrespective of where it leads. An intelligent person closes the door when he reaches a conclusion, moving on to other problems, but keeping the key safely in his pocket so he can open it again if he wishes. If he does, it is by his own free will and judgment and not at a brainwasher's insistence.
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The experiences of the brainwashed showed, too, that the ability to keep one's mind busy is an ever-present element in the maintenance of mental stamina. The communists engage in a perpetual duel for the contents of a man's brain. They try to empty it of every thought that is not polarized around communism and its pressures, They seek to weary and worry it by filling it wholly with the fears and the reactions they give it. Their purpose is to drive a mind to distraction. They start off with the emotions that break a man, such as fear, boredom and desperation. They put their victim in agony by arousing an exaggerated sense of personal responsibilty and guilt.
Brainwashing: The True and Terrible Story of the Men who Endured and Defied the Most Diabolical Red Torture. Edward Hunter.
Brainwashing: The Story of Men Who Defied It
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The CIA began its fascination with mind control in 1950, when the term "brainwashing" was coined by CIA propagandist Edward Hunter to explain the experience of civilians in China and later, American POWs in Korea.
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