The Rape of the Mind
by J. Meerloo · first published 2000
21mentions
3recommended by
6HN commenters
2022–2025first – last mentioned
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Joost Meerloo's "Rape of the mind". Its an incredible older book looking at the mechanisms exploited by totalitarian systems to subdue their victims. Namely nazi Germany, soviet Russia and revolutionary China. The author was part of…
on “Ask HN: Best books read in 2022” ↗…psychological reversal/delusion. I hope you are a strong person, we need more rational people if we are to survive as a species. Robert Lifton (Thought Reform and The Psychology of Totalism) Joost Meerloo (Rape of the Mind) Robert Cialdini (Influence) USMC Press (Political Warfare)(Free ebook at their website)
on “Lichess: Post-Mortem of Our Longest Downtime” ↗…happening/changing them. Everyone is different, but everyone succumbs with exposure to these techniques which are scientifically backed. For more material on the dangers, I'll refer people to read Joost Meerloo ("Rape of the Mind"), or Robert Lifton ("Psychology of Totalism"). The former has an overview of the effects, the latter are actual case studies from 1950s torture under Mao. Many countries are considering the use of such…
on “Superhot VR's Story Was Removed. What?” ↗…good talk on what google is doing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GE3HoJMEMw Robert Lifton "Thought Reform, Psychology of Totalism" (in depth PoW stories of Mao during Korean Conflict). John Meerloo "Rape of the Mind" (includes both the details of this subject under Mao and Nazi torture)
on “Google rejected me and now I'm building a search engine” ↗…research these mechanisms for Thought Reform and indoctrination from sound expert material further (its dark), I'd suggest Robert Lifton "Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism", and John Meerloo "Rape of the Mind" for the foundational material. Its not absurd like most people are conditioned to believe from the irrational association of this depicted subject in media. Communists use this as a divide a conquer…
on “Why privacy is important, and having "nothing to hide" is irrelevant (2016)” ↗…torture done on individuals during WW2 and Korean Conflict (under Mao). You can find the raw case studies in the literature: Robert Lifton "Thought Reform & The psychology of totalism"; John Meerloo "Rape of the Mind" covers the methodology often used along with knowledge at the time that physical coercion is not effective compared to mental coercion. There are a number of more modern references. This is just to…
on “I am starting an AI+Education company” ↗…book, "Thought Reform, and the Psychology of Totalism", have many details of the elements, taken from first-hand accounts (PoWs), back in the 50s. Many of these people never recovered. Joost Meerloo, Rape of the Mind has an overview of the process, observations, and some early diagnostic criteria (Schizophrenia/delusion is often found as a characteristic in such early cases). More recently, Social Engineering in…
on “Treating bullying as everyone's problem reduces incidence in primary schools” ↗…authors for more material on the torture/menticide aspects: They are all experts in their fields, or have been recognized by established experts for the excellence of their published works. Joost Meerloo, "Rape of the Mind" (1950s) Robert Cialdini, "Influence" (1990s) Robert Lifton, "Thought Reform and the psychology of Totalism" (1950s)
on “Ask HN: How do you prevent the impact of social media on your children?” ↗…mimic it moving forward blind to the consequences. That goes equally for both teachers and students. Its a sad state of affairs. If you want to know more, you can read an overview by Joost Meerloo (Rape of the Mind), or the actual case studies from returning PoWs written up by Robert Lifton. Robert Cialdini covers all the psychological blindspots the techniques use except distorted reflected appraisal. This is how…
on “Should Boys Start Kindergarten a Year Later Than Girls?” ↗…psychosis seeking annihilation). The latter psychosis aligns quite closely with all school shooters. Joost Meerloo covers a broad overview of torture from the Nazi's through to Mao in his book called "Rape of the Mind", also written 1950s. These are sound academic references. The former author started with "Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism", and then moved on towards cult programming/deprogramming (indoctrination),…
on “Should Boys Start Kindergarten a Year Later Than Girls?” ↗…psychological stress that results in physiological outcomes. Robert Cialdini, "Influence", - Psychological blindspots leveraged except distorted reflected appraisal (through communications). Joost Meerloo, "Rape of the Mind" - Overview of torture for thought reform, WW2 thru Mao. Robert Lifton, "Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism" - Case Studies of returning PoWs 1950s, Mao China - Elements, Structuring, Clustering.
on “The Psychology of Deception – By Caroline Orr Bueno, PhD” ↗…Men Ruling." Books: Robert Cialdini (1990s) - Influence - Covers perceptual blindspots Robert Lifton (1950s) - Thought Reform & Totalism - Detailed Case Studies of Torture Joost Meerloo (1950s) - Rape of the Mind - Covers the broad topic of torture and thought reform; has some dating. Chase Hughes - Ellipsis - The material in this domain is highly fragmented across many subfields, he aggregates most of the important…
on “The share of Americans having regular sex keeps dropping” ↗…totalitarian risks. You really should read up on totalitarianism. Your definition is quite distorted and you hit a lot of the marks when ignoring consequences in favor of frames. I can recommend Meerloos Rape of the Mind.
on “ISPs Should Not Police Online Speech – No Matter How Awful It Is” ↗…profitable in a tribalism ridden society. Doing this despite an understanding of the risk it entails can hardly be described as anything but malice. I can only think of imploring people to read Meerloos "Rape of the mind" about the existential risk totalitarian systems pose. And even if someone already went full Stalinist thinking the ends justify the means, its worth mentioning that its a self destructive delusion. It…
on “ISPs Should Not Police Online Speech – No Matter How Awful It Is” ↗Joost Meerloo, in The Rape of the Mind, noted that the ones most susceptible to some methods of interrogation or propaganda were often those trained to withstand it. Perhaps it's a false sense of security, or the dunning-kruger effect.
on “Without Belief in a God, but Never Without Belief in a Devil” ↗