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What Happened to Liberals? Brainwashing

AP Photo/Minnesota Opera, Michal Daniel

yBrainwashing is a loaded term and really doesn't describe a lot of what is attributed to it. A lot of people trusting the mainstream media's description of an event is not the same thing as being brainwashed; it is just being misinformed. 

On the other hand, what we call brainwashing really does exist. Putting people in an information bubble, repeating narratives, and phrases, as well as "debunking" every challenging narrative or fact can fundamentally distort people's view of the world and make them reject all information that contradicts the narrative they have been fed. 

If you watch the "news," you will soon notice certain phrases and narratives get repeated endlessly, including attaching negative adjectives to every Trump statement, mischaracterizing things he says like the "fine people" hoax and the "bloodbath" hoax, and using the constant repetition of phrases to implant ideas. 

"Weird." "Joy." "Hateful." "Hitler." "Debunked." You can cruise through Twitter or watch the news and see certain phrases pop up time and again in a steady drumbeat, to the point that people accept things whether they reflect reality or not. 

Millions of people believe the Russia collusion hoax despite it being an obvious fake. Same with the Hunter Biden laptop being Russian disinformation, that Trump called neo-Nazis "fine people," that he told his supporters to break into the Capitol, that he has called for a "bloodbath" if he loses, and a million other falsehoods. 

They have just heard these claims so often that no amount of evidence can dislodge these claims. 

After the second assassination attempt this weekend, you can find hundreds of otherwise decent people claiming that Trump getting shot was his fault. 

People keep trying to kill Trump, and you know, it is because he says stuff. Not violent stuff, but incendiary. 

I had a Twitter spat with a moderate today on just this topic, and she truly believes that Trump calls for violence against people and no Democrats do. The opposite is the case, of course. 

The folks at MSNBC likely know they are lying, although I suppose they could be brainwashed. But millions of their viewers simply take these authorities at their word and, since this is all the information they get, they believe it. 

That is brainwashing. Removing all contrary information and feeding people a steady stream of similar words, phrases, and a consistent stream of information shapes people's view of the world. 

"Democracy is on the ballot" is one of those phrases, and Ryan Routh used it to explain why Trump should be assassinated. This is no accident. The left pushes out this phrase hundreds of times a day, and many people believe it. 

"Hate speech is not free speech." "Democracy is on the ballot." "Donald Trump is an existential threat to America." 

Millions of people are brainwashed by these phrases. Now people are acting on them. 

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