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THE CHRISTMAS LIE: It's Bigger Than You Think

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TITLE:                   "Brainwashing": Cult-psychology used in the enforcement of "Christmas"

 
 

SYNOPSIS:

Psychologists have written extensively on the "psychology" of "cult-brainwashing", and while "brainwashing" as an "official diagnosis" is no longer considered a "clinically true" diagnosis, psychologists still have plenty to say about "cult psychology". The "cult" stereotype has been often featured on a variety of television shows, from "crime dramas" to "comedies".


But it turns out that the very same "cult psychology" that is used to describe "religious cults",  is also very present in the social mechanics, of what is used to "enforce" conformity to "Christmas", in mainstream society.  In fact, "Cult psychology" and "cult brainwashing", be can be found in many surprising places, including right at the heart of the enforcement of "Christmas", by dominant religious groups. The following article explains how those very same "Cult-markers" are fully "present" and "accounted for", in enforcing "Christmas" on "individuals", in a society.

 

The word "cult" has several different definitions. Most of the time it is used in an indiscriminate derogatory way, to refer to different "religious minorities", which would have been previously known by the term "sects", such as "Seventh day Adventists", or "Jehovah Witnesses", or "Mormons". (All of which, theologically, are very different kinds of groups) and probably should not be equated under a derogatory "umbrella term" as "cult". "Sects" would be the more "theologically" appropriate term for these groups.  There are many different problems with using the term "cult" in a theological sense.


Generally, people use the word "cult" in a religious sense, in the same way racial epitaphs are used for racial minorities, to insult, dismiss and denigrate them, out of hand. (Primarily, as a derogatory term, the word "cult" likewise, is mostly used in common speech to disparage any "religious minority").  But in the general and more academic technical sense, (which is not used exclusively as a derogatory term for "religious minorities"), the term "cult" is more accurately used as a sociological term, without regard to either the "theology" or "size" of a group.


In the theological sense, the term is at best meaningless, since "Christianity" itself, was openly referred to as a "religious minority" (a sect) within the New Testament (Acts 24:5) and was prophesied by Christ himself, (in it's true form) to never really be destined to be the object of ownership, by the dominant religious "majority" (ever) at any point in history future. (Luke 18:8) So according to the teaching of Christ, "Christianity" (in it's truest form) would never be anything more, than a "cult" itself. 
Secondly, what is "defined" as a "cult" (in this sense of the word) is always relative by "size", to what is bigger. When a "Southern Baptist" calls "Mormonism", a "cult", they do not realize that the "Southern Baptist Convention" in relation to the "Roman Catholic Church", is also a "cult".  And the "Roman Catholic Church" in reference "Pagan Imperial Rome" (was a "cult"). The "smaller" and/or "newer" thing, is "always" "the cult", by "definition".
So for "Christians" to even be using the term at all, in this derogatory way, is very problematic. Because it is in reality, an "indictment" against Christ. Thus the problem with the term, "theologically". The term does not "distinguish" theological "truth", from "error". It only refers to "polling" statistics, and "dominant religious majorities", and it's use, implicitly makes them "the standard" by which all "theological" or "religious" things are to be "judged" forward.  So what's the problem with that?
"Dominant religious majorities", are very often, in "religion" (all over the world), the very worst expressions, of any "religion", and often represent the "lowest common denominator" in a society.  In Afghanistan, that would be the "Taliban" (everything NOT the "Taliban", would be "the cult", including the Nobel Peace prize winner, Malala Yousafzai and her supporters). In WW2 Germany, that would be the "Nazis" and their ecumenical "positive Christianity".  Everything NOT the "Nazis" would be "the cult", including the Theologian Dietrich Bonheoffer and his supporters.  In medieval Europe, that would be the "Inquisition".  Everything NOT the "Inquisition", would be "the cult". (Including the both the "Anglican Church" and the Protestant reformers)  In 1700s England, that would be the "Royalist Anglicans" and the "Masons". Everything not part of the English "Masonic" establishment, would be "the cult", including the Puritans that founded America.  In the 1800s America, that majority would be the Jesuit's Valadolid Catholicism, and the Quakers and their "underground railroad" would be "the cult".

In fact, throughout much of history, the "dominant religious majority" would actually be the "problem". And the "religious minority" would be the inevitable progressive "future" (that was both "true", "correct" and "right"). But... "the cult".

So that word, in that sense, is not being used here. The word "cult" is being used in the subsequent 4 definitions.  But it is being shown, that the "charge" that is stereo-typically advanced by "Apollo-gists" with their use of the derogatory term "cult", that there is some sort of nefarious "cult brainwashing" occurring, is actually really truly the case with the "Apollo-gists" own "Christmas-Christianity".

Both Dickens and Geisel were "Christmas propagandists" that had backgrounds in "high-pressure" persuasion methods.  Dickens was obsessed with "Mesmerism" which morphed historically into the modern field of "Hypnosis" and it's technique of "post-hypnotic suggestion". "Geisel" worked with the U.S. Government to create "De-nazification"  propaganda for Post-WW2 Germany and Japan.


Not only have both these methods been applied to the wholesale spread of "Christmas propaganda" within society, the "culture" surrounding their spread has taken on the recognizable "ethos" and "psychology" of  what psychologists and sociologists have commonly referred to in the past, as "religious cult brainwashing". Below is a description of how these "cult-psychology" techniques are used in religious "Christmas culture", as well.


Many people "exiting" Christmas discover it is much easier said than done. In fact, people have reported not only "going through addiction withdrawal" but experiencing "cult-like" recriminations from family members.  The experiences are so similar in nature, they cannot be dismissed, as non-existent or insignificant.

KEY COMPONENTS IN "MIND CONTROL" "CULT" PSYCHOLOGY

 

"CONTROL OF BEHAVIOR" - Fulfilled in "Compulsory Christmas Law"

 

"CONTROL OF THOUGHTS" - Fulfilled in Christmas Propaganda / Compulsory observance through the work place & educational institutions

 

"CONTROL OF EMOTIONS" - Fulfilled in Mass Media monopolizing, with "Emotion" based messages (Prohibition of "critical thinking')

Each component has a powerful effect on the other two: CHANGE ONE AND THE OTHERS WILL TEND TO FOLLOW. When all three change the individual undergoes a complete change. Festinger summarized the basic principle:

"If you change a person's behavior, his thoughts and feelings will change to minimize the dissonance."

"When there is a conflict between thoughts, feelings or behavior, then those in conflict will change to minimize the contradiction. This is because a person can only tolerate a certain amount of discrepancy between these components which make up his identity. In cults this dissonance is created to exploit and control them."


- Steven Hassan, author of Combating Cult Mind Control, added a fourth component to Festinger's:

  • "CONTROL OF INFORMATION" - Accomplished through CENSORSHIP of "negative messages"
By controlling the information one receives you can control and restrict the individual's ability to think for himself. You limit what he is able to think about. Robert J. Lifton's research showed that:

"These criteria ...are predominant within the social field of the thought reform milieu. Each has a totalistic quality; each depends upon an equally absolute philosophical assumption; and each mobilizes certain individual emotional tendencies, mostly of a polarizing nature. Psychological theme, philosophical rationale, and polarized individual tendencies are interdependent; they require, rather than directly cause, each other. In combination they create an atmosphere which may temporarily energize or exhilarate, but which at the same time poses the gravest of human threats."


- (Thought Reform & the Psychology of Totalism, p. 420)

Marks noted by Lifton  include the following:

1. MILIEU CONTROL -- Control of the Environment and Communication.

The control of human communication is the most basic feature of the thought reform environment. This is the control of what the individual sees, hears, reads, writes, experiences and expresses. It goes even further than that, and controls the individuals communication with himself -- his own thoughts. Everything other than "Christ-Mass" is excluded from the individual , the media and the public square. "Christmas" is made to be "omnipresent". Reality is their exclusive possession. In this environment the Child is deprived of the combination of external information and internal reflection required to test reality and to maintain a measure of identity separate from his environment. The Child or even dissenting adults can feel victimized by his controllers and feel the hostility of suffocation -- the resentful awareness that his striving toward new information, independent judgment and self-expression are being thwarted.

 

2. MYSTICAL MANIPULATION -- The "Miracle" and "Magic" of "Christ-Mass".

This seeks to provoke specific patterns of behavior and emotion in such a way that these will appear to have arisen spontaneously from within the environment. For the manipulated person this assumes a near-mystical quality. This is not just a power trip by the manipulators. They have a sense of "higher purpose" and see themselves as being the "keepers of the truth." By becoming the instruments of their own mystique, they create a mystical aura around the manipulating institution -- the "Church", "Secret Santa's","Toys for Tots", etc. They are the chosen agents to carry out this mystical imperative.

 

 3. DEMAND FOR PURITY -- Everything must be "Merry Christmas".

("Merry Christmas", not "Happy Holiday", or ELSE! )

Pure and impure is defined by the Christmas defenders of America. Only those ideas, feelings and actions consistent with "Christmas" ideology and policy are good. The individual conscience is not reliable or valid. The philosophical assumption is that absolute conformity to Christmas is attainable and that anything done in the name of this purity is moral. By defining and manipulating the criteria of purity and conducting an all-out war on Christmas dissent (especially), the Christmas-Solstice cult creates a narrow world of guilt and shame. This is perpetuated by an ethos of continuous demand for more and more public conformity, the demand that all Americans strive permanently and painfully for something which not only is not legally possible but is alien to the American way of life.

Under these conditions the dissenters can expect humiliation, ostracism and punishment because of their inability to live up to the totalitarian religious demand of Rome's Idol worship and are expected to live in a constant state of guilt and shame, inflicted and reinforced on their own children through Christmas propaganda like "Scrooge" and "Grinch". Since "Christmas" is the ultimate judge of good and evil, this guilt and shame is used to manipulate and control Americans. "Christmas" becomes an authority without limit.

All impurities are seen to originate from "outside" (America's pluralism and Protestantism). Therefore, one of the best ways to relieve himself of the burden of guilt is to denounce these with great hostility. The more guilty he feels, the greater his hatred, the more hostile is his denouncement. Organizationally this eventually leads to purges of "heretics" in politics, business, and social organizations, inciting mass hatred and religious "Christmas" wars. 

 

4. CULT OF CONFESSION -- Reporting to leadership "Christmas" activity of other Americans.

"Going to CHURCH" on "Christ-Mass" is closely related to the demand for "Christ-Mass" by all society. "Christ-Mass" is carried beyond the ordinary religious, legal and commercial expressions to the point of becoming a cult in itself. In totality hands, "Christmas" becomes a means of exploiting, rather than offering solace.  "Christmas" is an act of self-surrender, the expression of the merging of the individual and environment. There is a dissolution of self, talents and money. Conformity  to "Christmas". The cult of "Christmas" has effects quite the reverse of its ideal of total conformity; rather than eliminating personal depression in society, it increases and intensifies it.  The individual becomes caught up in continuous conflict over which "Christmas traditions" to preserve and which to surrender, over ways to surrender lesser demands and ways to protect more important ones.  The cult of "Christmas" makes it virtually impossible to attain reasonable balance between worth and humanity.

 

5. LOADING THE LANGUAGE -- Use of "thought terminating cliches".

Everything is compressed into brief, highly reductive, definitive-sounding phrases, easily memorized and easily expressed.  There are "good" terms which represents the groups ideology and "evil" terms to represent everything outside which is to be rejected. To those outside the group this language is tedious -- the language of non-thought. "Christmas is about 'Christ'", Christ is "The Reason for the Season", America is a  CHRISTIAN COUNTRY! Peace on earth, goodwill toward men! Etc., etc., Christ-Mass has a whole catalog of these propagandizing (thought terminating) slogans.

 

6. DOCTRINE OVER PERSON -- Doctrine supersedes human experience.

It really doesn't matter whether you want to do "Christ-Mass" or not, you MUST... or be fired, alienated from family, attacked by your "Church", etc. 


The ideological myth merges with their "truth" and the resulting deduction can be so overpowering and coercive that it simply replaces reality. Consequently past events can be altered, rewritten or even ignored to make them consistent with the current reality.


This alteration is especially lethal when the distortions are imposed on the individual's memory. They demand character and identity of a person be reshaped to fit their clone of mentality. The individual must fit the rigid contours of the "Christmas" mould instead of developing their own potential and personality. The underlying assumption is that the doctrine -- including its mythological elements -- is ultimately more valid, true and real than is any aspect of actual human character or human experience.


The individual under such pressure is propelled into an intense conflict with his own sense of integrity, a struggle which take place in relation to polarized feelings of sincerity and insincerity.  Absolute sincerity is demanded by the "Christmas" group yet this must be put to one side when changes take place the individual has to deny the original belief ever existed. Personal feelings are suppressed and members must appear to be contented and enthusiastic of "Christmas" at all times.

 

7. DISPENSING OF EXISTENCE -- Who is worthy to live.

The DEATH that Christ-Mass causes, is seen as "just providence" and it really doesn't matter if the practice is actually killing people.  They also decide which history books are accurate and which are not.  Family members live in fear of being pronounced "dead" to the rest of the family, if they renounce "Christ-Mass". They have a fear of annihilation or extinction.


The emotional conflict is one of "being vs nothingness". Existence comes to depend upon the "Christmas" creed (I believe, therefore I am), upon mission (I obey "Christmas", therefore I am) and beyond these, upon a sense of total merger with the hierarchy of the secret society, or "Christmas Church". Should he stray from "Christ-Mass" his right to group approval or even membership, his right to employment, his right to custody of children, or even legitimacy of existence within a family, may be "terminated".

CONCLUSION

As you can see from the "markers" of "brainwashing" by a "religious cult", given from Lifton, "Christmas" enforcement clearly displays traits of all the markers listed. By this metric, it is clear, "Christmas" religious enforcement, displays all the same characteristics as any "religious cult". And people who attempt to "escape it", experience all the same kind of inhumane treatment, as those who try to "escape" what has been commonly referred to by academics, as dangerous or self-destructive "religious cults". Thus, i.e., the "Christmas cult", is a "real thing".


If you are considering an spiritual "exodus" from the Roman Solar-mass, you will need to be aware, that you will be, for all practical purposes, attempting to escape "a cult". And you have to be spiritually, emotionally and mentally ready, to confront the same challenges and pressures, just as if you were attempting to escape any other "religious cult".


But, the "escape" will prove worth the temporary trouble, in the long run. (But be ready and know what to expect, in your "escape").  The "good news" is that "cult-psychology", despite it's "force", has also shown to be "unsuccessful" in the "long term", if someone truly wants to be "free" from it.