04-15-2024, 01:01 PM
The object of forcing someone to do someone else' will has been a preoccupation for some for many centuries. Whether driven by paranoia, or purposeful disinformation, the idea of it has become a powerful tool for others.
I remember the old tales of the Voodoo witchdoctor who could, in legend, cause a person to become a 'zombie;' as if whoever they may have been in the past was gone and replaced with a single-minded machine for carryout out tasks (usually violent.) I suspect that has older roots, from a more ancient past. But whatever the source, the common theme within the tales seemed to be that the original personality is gone.
This newer "brainwashing trope" seems to have added the "undetectable" element, where the person is outwardly normal, but inwardly "programmed" in such a way as to defy detection. Several more recent criminal events have sometimes hooked into that story... often citing the actual innocence of victim despite witnesses and evidence to the contrary (of whatever crime they had allegedly committed.) It became a way to say "It was not me who committed that crime... I was brainwashed (or I was 'hexed.')"
Many say it can be done. Many say it can't. Perhaps the truth is somewhere in between.
But from being compelled by "magic" or "potion" to mentally 'check out' on behalf of some controller, to being "unknowingly" altered and totally unaware of the imposed control is a large leap... The only continuous tone tales is that it involves purposeful cruel and abusive treatment of the victim...
Hopefully, some other interested members can join our conversation and add some ideas we haven't touched upon yet.
I remember the old tales of the Voodoo witchdoctor who could, in legend, cause a person to become a 'zombie;' as if whoever they may have been in the past was gone and replaced with a single-minded machine for carryout out tasks (usually violent.) I suspect that has older roots, from a more ancient past. But whatever the source, the common theme within the tales seemed to be that the original personality is gone.
This newer "brainwashing trope" seems to have added the "undetectable" element, where the person is outwardly normal, but inwardly "programmed" in such a way as to defy detection. Several more recent criminal events have sometimes hooked into that story... often citing the actual innocence of victim despite witnesses and evidence to the contrary (of whatever crime they had allegedly committed.) It became a way to say "It was not me who committed that crime... I was brainwashed (or I was 'hexed.')"
Many say it can be done. Many say it can't. Perhaps the truth is somewhere in between.
But from being compelled by "magic" or "potion" to mentally 'check out' on behalf of some controller, to being "unknowingly" altered and totally unaware of the imposed control is a large leap... The only continuous tone tales is that it involves purposeful cruel and abusive treatment of the victim...
Hopefully, some other interested members can join our conversation and add some ideas we haven't touched upon yet.
