How Extreme Could YOU Be?

 

HOW EXTREME COULD
YOU BE?
By Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, July 9, 2025

I submitted a question to ChatGPT:  Can mind control cause someone to do something they otherwise would not do?

What was the reason for the inquiry?  I wondered why so many people create violent acts.  I was born in 1945 and I say this as a disclaimer.  If you believe as I do that Dr. Morris Massey was right when he said that people develop their beliefs and character by the age of 10.  He lectured on the subject and repeatedly said, “You are what you are because of what you were when you were ten!”  https://thecenterforcontemplativepractice.org/2019/02/06/you-are-what-you-were-when-again/   He then gave specific examples to prove this belief.  I was ten in 1955.  What was happening in the world in 1955?  Television was only then becoming more commonplace in the home.  We were taught in elementary school and at home that America was good, Russia was bad, and people were starving in China.  Television shows depicted a home with a husband and wife where the husband worked hard, the wife stayed at home, and every evening there was a happy family enjoying supper around the dinner table.  Now imagine if you were ten in 1965 just ten years later.  You would have seen the death toll from the Vietnam War EVERY NIGHT on television.  You would have seen antiwar riots and students at Kent State being shot by our own National Guard.  You would have seen the age of drugs and sexual activity skyrocket throughout society.  You can do this exercise throughout time and suddenly you realize that Dr. Massie was right on the money.  What was happening in the world when YOU were TEN?

I was curious, hopefully you are as well, so I asked ChatGPT the question.  Is it possible to through mind control, to get someone to do something they otherwise would not do?  I wanted to know if someone could be “pulling the strings” of a person to cause someone to shoot up schools, shoot someone in the back in downtown New York City, to make attempts on the life of the President of the United States, to support political causes that seem to go against everything we had been taught was wrong like killing babies, men playing in women’s sports, mass street violence, mobs breaking into retail stores, the list is endless.  None of these things were even discussed in 1955 let alone perpetrated by so many people throughout America and probably around the world.  We did not have 24/7 news on television in the 50s and no one watched the news except our parents.  There were no sex education classes in primary education schools.  There were no sex changes that I was ever aware of.   What each of us ten-year-olds at the time learned, we mostly learned from our parents, from our school teachers and from our friends “on the street.”  We were also influenced by the new television shows of the time; just like kids are today.  I wore a Hopalong Cassidy Cowboy Hat and carried a cap-shooting gun.  As I moved on to middle school, I began to wear a flat-top hair style mainly because my sports heroes wore such hair cuts in the 1950s.  As I look back. it is obvious that I was being molded less and less by my parents and more and more by what I saw and heard on Television and in the movies.  I’ve seen studies that make the claim that this is simply not true; those studies clearly had their own agenda; it was true then and even more so now!

We see one incident after another where one or several individuals take violent actions including murder against people they don’t even know all in the name of some cause.  I find it very hard to believe that we have raised a bunch of murderers over the past 80 years.  How do YOU explain the rash of violent crimes that have taken place over the past decades?

I am NOT saying that the U. S. Government’s MKULTRA mind control programs of the past had anything to do with it, still, I am curious so I asked ChatGPT the question that I began this Nugget with.  Can mind control cause someone to do something they otherwise would not do?   The following is the answer I received:

Yes, mind control — depending on how it’s defined — can influence someone to do things they might not normally do, but there are important limits.

Here are the key distinctions:

1. Psychological Manipulation / Coercive Persuasion

This is the real-world version of "mind control" — used by cults, abusive partners, interrogators, etc.

• It includes tactics like isolation, gaslighting, sleep deprivation, fear, repetitive messaging, and social pressure.
• Yes, this can make someone:
• Change deeply held beliefs.
• Cut off relationships.
• Commit crimes or self-harm.
• Give up personal autonomy.

Examples:

• Cult members doing extreme acts they never would’ve considered before.
• Victims of human trafficking manipulated into staying with abusers.

2. Hypnosis

• Hypnosis can influence suggestibility but cannot force someone to go entirely against their core values.
• A hypnotized person won’t murder or jump off a cliff just because they’re told to.
• But it can enhance compliance in already willing individuals or influence minor behaviors.

3. Sci-fi / Absolute Control

• No, there is no known technology or drug that gives full "remote control" over someone’s mind like in movies.
• Even powerful hallucinogens or brainwashing programs can’t override all personal resistance or deeply rooted values.

Bottom Line:

Yes, people can be manipulated or coerced into doing things they normally wouldn’t — even extreme things — but not through magical or absolute control. It requires powerful psychological pressure, gradual influence, and often trauma.

There have been multiple studies done to judge the effectiveness of Subliminal Messaging including messages that flash across a movie screen that are unseeable to most people in the audience.  The message may be something as mundane as suggesting the viewers buy more popcorn or drink more Coke.  They also evaluated the subliminal messages conveyed through the strategic placement of products that you can see in movies and television.  Like a well placed can of a popular beer or back in the day, cigarettes.  The book Propaganda, written in 1928 by Edward Bernays explains this in greater detail and causes the reader to take a self-analysis of how much the reader has been programmed to take a certain action because of what they had seen in a movie, or a television show.  Or how the clothing a celebrity wears or the make and model of the cars celebrity’s drive influenced what you would wear or drive.  As an example, I grew up during a period where the ONLY people that got tattoos were men, usually men in prisons or sailors both commercial and military.  Otherwise, tattoos were severely frowned upon.  That is not the case in 2025 because so many celebrities and sports figures now proudly wear their tattoos so it must be a good idea to get one so that you fit in, right?  Wrong!  Doing something to “fit in” is a horrible reason to do anything.  That is the result of propaganda and in a sense, mind control.  Back in the 50s we referred to it as “keeping up with the Joneses”, meaning if the Joneses got one, we should get one as well.  Research the subject at:  https://owdt.com/article/the-science-behind-subliminal-perception-how-does-our-brain-react-to-hidden-messages/

Now comes the part that I am not proud of and that is how much I have come to mistrust the elites of the world including our own government.  How far would someone go in order for them to achieve a goal that for a huge majority of people would be something no one would even think of doing?  What if some of the people who engage in violent acts, acts of terrorism both domestic and foreign, had been singled out as being a person whose mind “could” be molded to the point that they could be influenced to do something that they otherwise would never consider doing? Things like shooting up a school, throwing Molotov Cocktails at innocent people in a parade, or intentionally driving a car or truck into a group of people.  Who would do such a thing other than someone trained, consciously or subconsciously, to do such an act of violence?

To give you an idea as to how this could work, think about your home computer screen.  What if someone were able to hack into your computer and plant subliminal messages that appear on your computer’s monitor screen.  Messages that are repeated, over and over but would be invisible to the naked eye of the user of the computer, you!  Just like the unseeable messages that flashed in a frame of a movie suggesting you want popcorn or a Coke.  Instead of getting you to buy a product, it constantly bombarded you with a message that becomes embedded in your brain that someone like President Donald Trump is a Nazi.  President Trump is Hitler. To a weak-minded person, that message could very easily be transformed into a violent action like the one in Butler, Pennsylvania when a shooter tried to assassinate President Donald Trump.  Again, I am NOT saying that is what happened; I AM saying that it is possible. 

Messages such as the one regarding President Donald Trump are not just subliminal messages, members of Congress have repeatedly called him Hitler, a Dictator, and a Nazi!  We all have heard the outrageous calls by these elected officials.  The politicians would NEVER take action against the President but their continuous and unending vicious rhetoric could land in the head of a weak-minded person who could be influenced to take violent action such as an assassination attempt.  Is that not what a person would have done in the 1930s by taking out Hitler had they been given the chance to do so?  Afterall, Hitler was a very bad person and if YOU were the one who removed him from the world scene, you would be viewed as a hero would you not?

I never trusted Lyndon Baines Johnson when he was President.  I served in the military under the incompetent Jimmy Carter and Johnson.  The first George Bush had a history that few people have ever heard but if they did, they would NEVER trust him, EVER!  You could go down the list of Presidents and almost everyone was seriously flawed and no action was beyond their capability or desire to achieve.  They all used propaganda to get the majority of the public on their side.  They took polls to see how the public would react to an action being considered to see if there would be any serious backlash.  As much as I disliked the policies of so many presidents in my lifetime, I can honestly say I never wished any of them any harm.  That is NOT how people think in 2025!

In the sales business, it is called the shotgun approach to selling.  You send out message after message to as many people as possible asking them to buy your product or service.  You know that very few will ever take you up on your message and buy a product/service but eventually some will buy what you are selling?  The more people you aim at and send your message to, the more likely it becomes that someone will buy your product/service.  Or as in the case suggested above, you might find that lone nut job who would be willing to take a shot at a sitting President.  Is that what happened?  I have no idea but it is certainly possible. 

We have just witnessed a horrible flooding event in Texas where over 100 people lost their lives.  Within 24 hours the lies from the Democrat politicians in Washington began suggesting that the National Weather Service was hit by staff and budget cuts and the deaths were therefore attributable to President Trump.  This is how propaganda works.  This report appears on most of the major news outlets and people assumed, something you should never do, they assumed the reports were true and accurate.  According to statements by the National Weather Service, they were not understaffed as had been reported and the reports were fraught with lies because it served a political agenda to get people to believe something that was simply not true.

I am not the brightest bulb on the tree but even I can see and understand that there are really stupid people on this planet who will take the lies as recently spewed by politicians and reinforced by the media and run with the false reports.  It is not a reach that the person they believe to be responsible for the deaths of over 100 people, should be taken out.  If you, the reader, cannot understand this, you might want to look in the mirror real hard because you may in fact be part of the problem facing America in 2025.  As a reminder, John Wilkes Booth murdered Abraham Lincoln and he honestly thought he would be hailed as a hero for having done so.  Most if not all of the people engaged in conducting violent acts probably feel justified for taking the violent actions by believing that in some distorted viewpoint, they are doing the right thing.

This just in as they say in the newsrooms!  Democrats recently said that they need to see “blood” to get their points across to the masses.  They have condemned ICE Officers for simply doing their job to enforce the laws that the politicians had passed.  An ICE Office was attacked by gunman and one of the gunmen was killed as a result of the attack.  Words mean things and sadly there are people who take the words literally and commit crimes believing they are doing the right thing like attacking an ICE Officer in Texas or shooting a President in Butler, Pennsylvania. 

I am sickened by it all and I don’t see it getting better until such time as people are held accountable for their actions by spending considerable time in prison as a penalty for what they have done!  City after city will not even hold criminals in jail anymore.  Instead, they pursue a policy of cashless bail and the criminals are back out on the street within hours of being arrested.  No one is ever held accountable for their actions!

How will anyone ever fix this?  Personally, I am lost for a solution but I am pretty sure it must start with the termination of violent rhetoric by elected politicians on both sides of the Isle.  America needs a conscious return to CIVILITY FIRST!

PROPAGANDA (BRAINWASHING)

 

PROPAGANDA (BRAINWASHING)

A Book Review by Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, a book by Edward L. Bernays

THIS IS A CRITICAL UNDERSTANDING!  This book by Edward L. Bernays was written in 1928, repeat 1928.  Why is this so critical to understand?  So glad you asked.  

As I read this book my very first thought was that it could have been titled “Brainwashing” by Edward L. Bernays.  The following is a definition of the word Propaganda from the Internet: 

noun

1. A congregation of cardinals, established in 1622, charged with the management of missions.
2. The college of the Propaganda, instituted by Urban VIII. (1623-1644) to educate priests for missions in all parts of the world.
3. Hence, any organization or plan for spreading a particular doctrine or a system of principles.

I have highlighted the last portion of #3 for what it DOES NOT SAY.  “A particular doctrine or a system of principles” can be a good thing or a bad thing.  It would be something that is true or something that is false and therein lies the danger of using the word “propaganda.” 

The second thought I had as I read this book was that I had to check out again WHEN it was written because it could just as easily have been written in 2025.  There was so many topics touched upon like the arts, education, universities, the news media (and yes there were problems back in 1928 much similar to the media issues we experience in 2025), sales/selling, business principles (in some cases a lack there of) and especially POLITICS, and like business where there is a definitely lack of principles and understanding of the job of a politician.

THE BIG TAKE AWAY FOR ME in reading this book is that I identified myself on a great many of the pages.  I could easily see where I arrived at some of my opinions, beliefs and principles and how they were actually unconsciously taught to me through the use of “propaganda.”  If you want examples, I grew up hearing and seeing that smoking cigarettes was a good thing, that they tasted great and that real men smoked but women did not (1950s).  I grew up believing the having Floride in my drinking water and toothpaste was a good and healthy thing to have; it isn’t, check for yourself because people still believe that BS today in 2025.  In the 1950s we were taught that the USA was good, Russia was bad and that China was starving and a third world country where everyone lived in poverty and that I was supposed to eat everything on my plate because there were children starving in China.  I hope you get my point.  We all, you and I, have been taught a great many things, some true but a lot more not true.  Unfortunately, as we have been taught these things there were no contradictory sources to teach us otherwise like we have in 2025.  One of the biggest examples, not discussed in the book because of when it was written, happened in the Gulf of Tonkin.  This turned out to be one of the biggest instances of propaganda every perpetrated on the American people and the world.  We were told and we all believed that the North Vietnamese attacked TWO U. S. Navy ships in the Gulf of Tonkin.  As a result, America used the incident to become fully involved in the War in Vietnam!  It turned out to be a version of propaganda instituted by the government of the United States and it was all false – it never happened but we believed it because it came from the government – it was FAKE propaganda/news at its worst.  As a result, over 50,000 American lives were lost and thousands more wounded, both mentally and physically and probably million(s) of North and South Vietnamese lost their lives or wounded and it was all based on a lie – on propaganda!  That is a case were Propaganda is bad; really bad!

This book explains in detail how corporations think and act to make us do something we otherwise would not do without the insertion of propaganda suggesting it is a good thing for us to do.  Instead, we join in the group-thinking that doing what they suggest will make us part of the larger group or keeping us up with the times or the “Joneses next door.”  We have been manipulated to buy a Chevy or a Ford or visa versa.  Owning a red car was better than the standard black car.  Owning a fur coat or later not owning a fur coat; both were created either by the fashion industry or the saving the animals crusade. 

Something else became very obvious as I read the book.  There was a passage on almost every page that could be extracted as a single memorable quote from Bernays!  You can’t say that about most book but you can about this one!

The problem not addressed in the book is what should we do about the obvious propaganda made worse in 2025 by social media where more and more people are being exposed.

THIS IS A MUST-READ BOOK FOR EVERYONE!

Who should read it?  Everyone, but especially anyone in sales, business, arts and politics

Would I read it again?  Probably not, I got the message, loud and clear!

Would I give it as a gift?  Absolutely

HERE’S THE BEST PART.  If you have a Kindle Reader or App (everyone should, it’s free), the Kindle version of the book is only $12.43 PLUS you can also purchase additional books like a study guide of this particular book.