Burn His Name in Your Brain;Oscar Micheaux

Oscar Devereaux Micheaux (January 2, 1884 – March 25, 1951) was an American author, film director and independent producer of more than 44 films. Although the short-lived Lincoln Motion Picture Company produced some films, he is regarded as the first major African-American feature filmmaker, the most successful African-American filmmaker of the first half of the twentieth century and the most prominent producer of race films. He produced both silent films and "talkies" after the industry changed to incorporate.

Early life and education

Micheaux was born on a farm in Murphysboro, Illinois on January 2, 1884 He was the fifth child born to Calvin S. Michaux and Belle Michaux, who had a total of thirteen.[3] In his later years, Micheaux added the “e” to his last name. Calvin Michaux was originally from Kentucky, and his father had been a slave. The family appeared to have been associated with French colonists because of its surname, possibly French Huguenots who had settled in Virginia in 1700, and whose descendants took slaves west migrated west into Kentucky.

Micheaux was born during a time of social instability when African Americans were trying to succeed in a world dominated by whites. Micheaux struggled with social oppression as a young boy, which he reflected in writing in later years. To give their children education, his parents relocated to

the city for better schooling. Micheaux attended a well-established school for several years before the family eventually ran into money troubles and were forced to relocate back to the farm. Unhappy, Micheaux became rebellious and discontented. His struggles caused internal problems within his family. Micheaux’s father was not happy with him and sent him away to do marketing within the big city. Micheaux found pleasure in this job because he was able to speak to many new people and learned many people skills that he would later reflect within his films.



When Micheaux was 16 years old, he moved to Chicago, Illinois to live with his brother, who was then working as a waiter. Micheaux became dissatisfied with what he viewed as his brother’s way of living “the good life”, so he rented his own place and found a job in the stockyards, which he found difficult. Micheaux worked many different jobs, moving from the stockyards to the steel mills.



After Micheaux was “swindled out of two dollars” by an employment agency, he decided to become his own boss. His first business was a small shoeshine stand, which he set up at a white suburban barbershop, away from Chicago competition. Micheaux learned the basic strategies of business and started to save money. He became a Pullman porter on the major railroads. At that time, Pullman porters were considered prestigious jobs for African-Americans, as they were relatively well-paid, secure and gave freedom of travel and acquaintance. This job was an informal college education for Micheaux. He profited financially, and also gained contacts and knowledge about the world through traveling, as well as a greater understanding for business. When he left the position, Micheaux had seen much of the United States, had a couple thousand dollars saved in his bank account, and made a number of connections with wealthy white people that would prove to be to his benefit in future endeavors.




After working as a porter, Micheaux worked as a homesteader in Dallas, South Dakota. This experience inspired his first novels and films. His neighbors on the frontier were all white. “Some recall that [Micheaux] rarely sate at table with his white neighbors”. Micheaux’s years as a homesteader allowed him to learn more about human relations and farming, a time in his life full of tests and experiments. While farming, Micheaux wrote articles and submitted them to press. The Chicago Defender published one of his earliest articles.

Marriage and family

In South Dakota, Micheaux married Orlean McCracken, whose family proved to be complex and burdensome. Orlean became unhappy with their living arrangements and felt that Micheaux did not pay enough attention to her. She gave birth while he was away on business. She was reported to have emptied their bank accounts and fled. While Micheaux was away, Orlean’s father sold his property and took Micheaux’s money. Micheaux attempted unsuccessfully to get his wife and property back. Although he had saved up a lot of money through his job as a Pullman Porter, Micheaux lost his money during this time. After many failed attempts to recover some of these assets, he needed to move onto his next career and make some money fast.

Writing and film career

It was at this point that Micheaux decided to become a writer and, eventually, a filmmaker, in a new industry.

Micheaux wrote seven novels. In 1913, 1000 copies of his first book, The Conquest: The Story of a Negro Homesteader were printed. He published the book anonymously, for unknown reasons. It was based on his experiences as a homesteader and the failure of his first marriage, and was essentially an autobiography about his early life. Although character names have been changed, the protagonist

is named Oscar Devereaux. His theme was about African Americans' realizing their potential and succeeding in areas in which they may have been previously denied access.



Micheaux had a major career as a film producer and director: he produced over 40 films, which drew audiences throughout the US as well as internationally. In 1918, his novel The Homesteader, dedicated to Booker T. Washington, attracted the attention of George Johnson, the manager of the Lincoln Motion Picture Company in Los Angeles. After Johnson offered to make The Homesteader into a new feature film, negotiations and paperwork became contentious between him and Micheaux. Micheaux wanted to be directly involved in the adaptation of his book as a movie, but Johnson resisted and never produced the film.



Instead, Micheaux founded the Micheaux Film and Book Company of Sioux City and Chicago; its first project was the production of The Homesteader as a feature film. Micheaux contacted wealthy white connections from his earlier career as a porter, and sold stock for his company at $75 to $100 a share. Micheaux hired actors and actresses and decided to premiere just when Chicago was celebrating the return of troops from war. The film and Micheaux received high praise from film critics. One article credited Micheaux with “a historic breakthrough, a creditable, dignified achievement”. Some members of the Chicago clergy criticized the film as libelous. The Homesteader became widely known as Micheaux’s breakout film; it helped him become widely known as a writer and a filmmaker.



In addition to writing and creating his own films from then on, Micheaux also adapted the works of different writers as silent pictures. Many of Micheaux’s films were open, blunt and thought-provoking regarding certain racial issues of that time. Micheaux once commented, “It is only by presenting those portions of the race portrayed in my pictures, in the light and background of their true state, that we can raise our people to greater heights”. Financial hardships during the Great Depression eventually made it impossible for Micheaux to keep producing films, and he returned to writing.

Significant films

Micheaux’s first novel The Conquest was adapted to film and re-titled, The Homesteader. This film, which met with critical and commercial success, was first produced in 1918. This film revolves around a man named Jean Baptiste. Baptiste, who is called the Homesteader, falls in love with many white women but resists marrying them out of his loyalty to become a prominent figure for his race. He sacrifices love to show his masculinity and be a key symbol for his fellow African Americans.

Baptiste then in turn looks for love within his own race and marries an African American woman. Relations between Baptiste and his wife progressively deteriorate and become increasingly tense. Eventually, Baptiste is not allowed to see his wife. She ultimately stabs her father and herself for keeping them apart and although Baptiste is accused of the crime he is ultimately cleared. An old love helps Baptiste through his troubles and they eventually marry after learning she is actually a mulatto. This story deals very extensively with race relationships and this conflict within African Americans of feeling weak or inferior.



Micheaux’s second silent film was Within Our Gates, produced in 1920. Although sometimes considered Micheaux’s response to the film Birth of a Nation, Micheaux maintained that he created the film as a response to the widespread instability following World War I. Within Our Gates revolved around the main character, Sylvia Landry, a school teacher. In a flashback, we see that Sylvia grows up as the adopted daughter of a sharecropper. When Sylvia’s father confronts their white landlord because he feel that he owes the family money, a fight ensues and somewhere along the way, the white landlord is shot by another white man. However, Sylvia’s black father is accused and him and his wife are cruelly lynched. This scene represents Micheaux’s thoughts about the dynamics of the racial hierarchy found within the south. Sylvia is almost raped by the landowner’s brother but discovers that he is actually her father. This mini flashback scene serves to show that lower and middle class African Americans are hardworking people who are being terrorized and unfairly treated by white people. Micheaux always depicts African Americans as being studious and reaching for higher education. Before the

flashback scene, we see that Sylvia goes to Boston to find funding for the school in the south where many poor African American children attend. On her journey, she is hit by the car of a very rich white woman who decides to give the school $50,000. Within the film, Micheaux depicts educated and professional people as light-skinned, and poor people as dark-skinned. However, these light-skinned people also represent the villains of the story. This film takes place within the Jim Crow era, and contracts rural and urban experiences for the African American population. In creating a setting for this film in the present day, Micheaux emphasizes the suffering of African Americans in the present day, and does not discuss who this suffering came to be or who is at fault for it. Some feared that this film would cause even more unrest within society, while others believed that it would open up the public’s eyes into the unjust practices pertaining to the black and white communities. Protests against the film continued up until the day it released. The film continued to create controversy and was even censored or banned from some theaters.

Themes

Micheaux's films typically featured outlooks on contemporary black life, specifically those that dealt with relationships between blacks and whites, and the journey for blacks to become more successful within society. His films also reflect his ideologies and life experiences. Journalist Richard Gehr once commented, “Micheaux appears to have only one story to tell- his own- and he tells it repeatedly”. Micheaux sought to create films that would act as a response to white people’s demeaning outlooks towards African Americans. Micheaux aimed to create complex characters and was never interested in simplicity. His own life experiences acted as the main ties between all of his different works. As Micheaux grew up in the uncertain social climate of southern Illinois, he understood the relationships between African Americans and whites, and how each group of people somewhat misunderstood the other.

Style

Micheaux pursued moderation within his films and created what has been called a “middle-class cinema”. His form of cinema was designed to be relatable to middle class and lower-class audiences. Micheaux once said,

“My results…might have been narrow at times, due perhaps to certain limited situations, which I endeavored to portray, but in those limited situations, the truth was the predominate characteristic. It is only by presenting those portions of the race portrayed in my pictures, in the light and background of their true state, that we can raise our people to greater heights. I am too imbued with the spirit of Booker T. Washington to engraft false virtues upon ourselves, to make ourselves that which we are not”.

Legacy and honors

By the 1990s, a number of prominent African American filmmakers had emerged, such as Spike Lee, Robert Townsend, Eddie Murphy, and Melvin Van Peebles. Films by these directors shared some of the same themes that were common in Micheaux’s films.

The Oscar Micheaux Award for excellence was established.

The Oscar Micheaux Sociey at Duke University continues to honor his work and educate about his legacy.

Historian and biographer Betti Carol VanEpps-Taylor said: “Thanks to the tireless efforts and

dedication of the film scholars, the African American artists and entrepreneurs, and the great grandchildren of the Rosebud homesteaders, a new generation of writers, film makers, earnest young entrepreneurs, and the descendants of those who settled the Rosebud will glimpse again Micheaux’s undying vision- appropriately modified in language to encompass our growing egalitarianism- 'that a colored man can be anything'.”



1987, Micheaux was recognized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1989 the Directors Guild of America honored Micheaux with a Golden Jubilee Special Award.

The Producers Guild created an annual award in his name.

1989, the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame gave him a posthumous award.

Gregory, South Dakota holds an annual Oscar Micheaux Film Festival.

A documentary was made about Micheaux, called Midnight Ramble (2004). Its title refers to the early 20th-century practice of some white cinemas' screening films for African-American audiences only at matinees and midnight.

2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante included Oscar Micheaux on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans.

On June 22, 2010 the US Postal Service issued a 44-cent, Oscar Micheaux commemorative stamp.

2011, the Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, Virginia created a category for donors, the Micheaux Society, in honor of Micheaux.

Works

Filmography

The Homesteader (1919)

Within Our Gates (1919)

Symbol of the Unconquered (1920)

The Brute (1920)

Son of Satan (1922)

The Dungeon (1922)

The Gunsaulus Mystery (1922)

The Virgin of the Seminole (1922)

Deceit (1923)

Jasper Landry's Will (1923)

Body and Soul (1924)

The Spider's Web (1926)

The Millionaire (1927)

When Men Betray (1928)

Thirty Years Later (1928)

Wages of Sin (1929)

Darktown Revue (1930)

A Daughter of the Congo (1930)

Easy Street (1930)

The Exile (1931)

Black Magic (1932)

Ten Minutes to Live (1932)

Veiled Aristocrats (1932)

Ten Minutes to Kill (1933)

The Girl From Chicago (1933)

Harlem After Midnight (1934)

Lem Hawkins' Confession (1935) also released as Murder in Harlem

Temptation (1936)

Underworld (1936)

God's Step Children (1938)

Swing (1938)

Birthright (1939)

Lying Lips (1939)

The Notorious Elinor Lee (1940)

The Betrayal (1948)

Books

Micheaux, Oscar (1913). Conquest: The Story of a Negro Pioneer. Lincoln, Nebraska: Woodruff Press.

Micheaux, Oscar (1915). The Forged Note. Lincoln, Nebraska: Western Book Supply Company.

Micheaux, Oscar (1917). The Homesteader: A Novel. Sioux City, Iowa: Western Book Supply Company.

Micheaux, Oscar (1941). The Wind from Nowhere. New York: Book Supply Company. OCLC

Micheaux, Oscar (1944). The Case of Mrs. Wingate. New York: Book Supply Company.

Micheaux, Oscar (1946). The Story of Dorothy Stanfield. New York: Book Supply Company.

Micheaux, Oscar (1947). Masquerade, a Historical Novel. New York: Book Supply Company.

There is No Such Thing as Nothing

If nothing existed then that nothing would be something therefore nothing cannot exist, a simple statement of logic with huge implications. The contrapositive of this statement – If something did not exist then that something would be nothing which would be something therefore something must exist, has even greater implications.

That ‘something’ that must exist is Allah, YHWH, Jehovah, God or whatever name you prefer. We can see that it is impossible for God not to exist and anything outside of God to exist, even nothing. Therefore, It is illogical to believe there is any entity of space, time or matter composing Our Creator. All things have their existence in God by His will and it is only 

through His will that anything exists. That is why He is the ‘cause and effect’ of everything.

In his later years, Einstein concluded that space itself was an entity that he termed ‘an ether’. His derivations of space and time lead him to understand that space was a substance placed in a dimension to affect a result such as light propagation, energy transfer between galaxies and time itself. Though Einstein mathematically came to these results he empirically realized, in time, that this findings were proving the very existence of God. And in his biography he wrote:

“The scientist is possessed by the sense of universal causation. His religious feeling

takes the form of a rapturous amazement at the harmony of natural law, which reveals

an intelligence of such superiority that, compared with it, all the systematic thinking

and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection.”

It only stands to reason that you could not transfer anything through space if space had no substance. Even light, that has virtually zero mass, cannot move through nothing since the fact that light has mass means it exists, whereas if ‘nothing’ cannot exist then light could not move through it, nor could propagation take place.

This dimension that we occupy, the third, is designed to facilitate our existence and the existence of the universe. It is 'contrived', so to speak. That is, it is not the actual dimension of pure existence, which most likely is spiritual in nature. This may explain why it is so difficult for us to rationalize a God that occupies all space and time. It is just a bit over our heads and we will only understand these things in the next life, if even then. But, it is not impossible to accept the fact that ‘nothing’ cannot exist.

How To Deprogram Your Own Mind From the Bull sh**!

Recognize that programming is

everywhere, and it isn't all bad. Your programming started with your parents teaching you things, and both consciously and unconsciously programming you with all of their beliefs and attitudes. That is not necessarily bad — it is usually good. You are better off for having had parents who cared about you and wanted to teach you. But unfortunately, you also inherited all of their misinformation, superstitions, mistakes, and irrational and untrue beliefs.

And you also inherited your "culture",

which includes all of the false, irrational, and wrong beliefs of your entire society. And you are left with the job of figuring out which of those beliefs are good and true, and which are stupid and crazy.

And you are always vulnerable to pressure from your peer group, which will always try to make you conform to their beliefs, standards, and behavior, even if your friends are not even really aware of the fact that they are doing it.

Recognize that programming and deprogramming are constant, on-going processes. Even while you are trying to deprogram and clear your mind, television commercials will be trying to program you into believing that you really should buy their product; you will be so happy if you do, and you'll be beautiful and get laid too. And the politicians will always be trying to make you believe that they are wise and right about everything, and if you are patriotic you will never criticize them.

Want to know the truth. This is essential. This is the whole ball game. If you don't want to learn the truth, then you probably won't.

Love the truth, even if it is sometimes inconvenient or unpleasant. Respect the truth, cherish the truth, seek the truth above all.



People stay trapped in cults, or trapped in illusions, because they don't really want to know the truth:

Sometimes, they are afraid to know the truth --

They fear that their world will fall apart if they stop believing certain things, or admit the truth of other things. That is one of the beliefs with which they got programmed — the idea that if they don't believe the right things, they will go to Hell, or they will lose their ticket to Heaven, or something else really bad will happen to them. One of the things that cults do is implant phobias about leaving the cult, or learning the truth about the cult.

They are afraid of losing their status or membership in the group — they are afraid that they will be shunned and ostracized if they don't believe the same things as the other people around them. And they are just plain afraid of being alone.

They fear that they will have to leave the cult if they stop believing in it, and they will stop believing in it if they learn a bunch of negative things about it. ("Then what will I do with my life?!") So they plug their ears and close their eyes, and play "Hear no evil, see no evil..."

Some people just don't want to see that they were fooled.

"I refuse to believe that I spent twelve years of my life in a cult. It isn't a cult. It can't be a cult. It's a wonderful movement."
As they say in A.A., "Denial isn't just a river in Egypt."
Some people just don't want to give it up.
"If I leave the group, I will be lonely because I won't have any friends. So shut up and quit telling me disturbing things about it."
"I have lots of time invested here. I'm a respected elder. If I quit the organization, I'll be a nobody."
Similarly, people who choose to stay trapped in addictions do not wish to know the truth about their addictions. Few people wish to hear that they are wasting all of their money on something that is poison to them, and wrecking their lives, and that continuing to consume that stuff is stupid? So they try out the minimization and denial tap-dance: "Well, yeh, it might be messing up my health a little bit, but frankly, I'm not ready to quit right now."





Don't condemn yourself. Self condemnation and self-criticism are part of the brain-washing and indoctrination process, and they are counter-productive when it comes to deprogramming. If you find that you have been programmed to believe some goofy idea, then just recognize that it is an irrational, illogical, goofy idea, and reject it, but do not condemn yourself for having believed it for a while.
It's just like, if, while exploring the Wild West, you
find that you have an arrow stuck in your back, pull it out.

Don't wallow in self-contempt and guilt, condemning yourself for having stupidly gotten an arrow stuck in your back.
Don't imagine that you are somehow all mess up for having gotten stuck with an arrow.
Don't imagine that finding an arrow stuck in your back proves that you are somehow inferior.
Just pull the arrow out and then get on with your life.



Now that doesn't mean that you shouldn't examine your behavior, and change it if you are doing something wrong. But be wary of excessive fault-finding and self-criticism. Cults will teach you to do that, and will even try to convince you that you will make yourself more holy by constantly condemning yourself and putting yourself down and feeling guilty about everything. All that really accomplishes is messing up your mind, destroying your self-confidence and self-respect, and making you unable to think clearly or act decisively.

Watch out for other people condemning you.

People who want to control you will try to make you feel stupid, inferior, flawed, and mentally incompetent for disagreeing with them.
As mentioned above, self condemnation and self-criticism are a big part of the brain-washing and indoctrination process, so those who would like to control you would also like to get you criticizing yourself and being down on yourself. And Margaret Thaler Singer added that inducing feelings of powerlessness, covert fear, guilt, and dependency in the victims was also a part of the brainwashing process.
So don't let them make you believe that you are flawed and inferior. When someone is reading your beads and listing your faults, it almost always means that they want to control you — to change your behavior to something that they want.

Also watch out for other people trying to clip your wings, and keep you from being your whole self.

For example, one of the commonest crippling stunts that cults pull on people is demanding that they not feel their feelings. "You must only feel Eternal Bliss" or "You must only feel Serenity and Gratitude", or "You must not feel sexual urges. That isn't spiritual."
Anger, especially anger at the evils of the cult and its leaders, is supposedly very bad.

Bill Wilson wrote:

It is a spiritual axiom that every time we are disturbed, no matter what the cause, there is something wrong with us. If somebody hurts 

us and we are sore, we are in the wrong also. But are there no exceptions to this rule? What about "justifiable" anger? If somebody cheats us, aren't we entitled to be mad? Can't we be properly angry with self-righteous folk? These are dangerous exceptions. We have found that justified anger ought to be left to those better qualified to handle it.

What rot. You are wrong to get mad when somebody hurts you or commits crimes against you? Such anger should be "left to those better qualified to handle it"? And just who is that?

Nobody.

All it means is, you can't feel your anger. You have to "stuff your feelings."
Garbage like that will do a good job of crippling you, and keeping you from making trouble for your oppressors.
Another common crippling stunt that cults pull on their members is demanding that members stop thinking critically — stop what they call "having doubts":

"If you are really holy, then you won't have any doubts."

Nonsense. Normal, sane, healthy people have lots of doubts when con-men and phony men try to foist a stupid illogical hoax on them. Those doubts are your remaining sanity warning you that something sounds fishy.

Similarly, cults and other mind-manipulators will tell you that you cannot trust your own mind and your own thinking (so you should let them do your thinking for you). If you buy into that idea, it will really cripple you. You won't be able to think anything without also thinking that it must be wrong, because you thought it. (But then the thought that your thinking is wrong should also be wrong... So your thinking must be right... But if your thinking is right, then it must be wrong... Now you are trapped in one of the classic Greek paradoxes.)

Beware of wanting to believe.

On the TV show "The X-Files", Mulder had a poster on the wall of his office that said, "I Want To Believe". That's okay for the X-Files and stories about flying saucers, but it leads to disaster in real life.

Instead of wanting to believe, want to know the truth.

Wanting to believe is perhaps the most powerful dynamic initiating and sustaining cult-like behavior.

Watch out for self-deceptive ego games.

For example, in some cults, they will flatter you and tell you that you are very important, and involved in very important work,

doing the Will of the Lord, ushering in the Millennium, saving the world, if you believe what they say and do what they say. But if you buy into their game, it is you who is allowing yourself to be deceived, and it's you who is enjoying the big ego game.



Part of the attraction of believing the leader's views and actions to be of paramount importance is that the follower's own sense of importance is heightened.

The Wrong Way Home: Uncovering the Patterns of Cult Behavior in American Society, Arthur J. Deikman, M.D., page 67.

"If the leader and his religion are saving the world, and I follow the leader, then I am saving the world, which makes me very good and very important."

Conversely, if someone criticizes the cult, its leader, or its teachings, then that reflects badly on the member. If the cult member believes the criticisms to be true, then he will go from being a noble savior of the world to being just a foolish follower of an evil charlatan. So the member has a vested interest in rejecting any criticism of the group or its leader — all based on his own egotism. Thus he will resist learning the truth, out of purely selfish interests.

Beware of comparing apples and oranges.

Beware of equating things that are not equal.

For example, many people say that they really like the A.A. program because it is such a wonderful social club with such brotherhood and fellowship. Excuse me, but it is supposed to be an alcoholism treatment program — something that would make more people quit drinking. They seem to forget that it doesn't actually work to cure alcoholism, and just proclaim that it's great because they like the

social life, the brotherhood and the "spirituality". That's mixing apples and oranges. When I go to the doctor to get some medical care, I don't expect a big party in the waiting room. I just go get the pills, and then go home. If I want a party, I go someplace else.

Watch your own mind.

Watch your thoughts, attitudes, and slogans.

Also watch your desires and fears.

This is the heart of the deprogramming program. This is a constant, never-ending task. Watch your mind all day long, or as much as you can remember to.

You have to not only watch what people are telling you, but watch how you react to it, and what it makes happen inside your head. Watch what you are thinking, and if you can, understand why you are thinking that.



Notice your desires, and how certain statements can arouse them. I'm not knocking desires, or asking you to. Just look at them and make a note of what it is you actually want: love, approval, status, importance, power, security, sex, youth, beauty, wealth, possessions, knowledge, 

wisdom, intelligence, compassion, virtue, goodness, spirituality, whatever. Then notice how certain ideas or statements can arouse certain desires. And then notice how some people (especially politicians) are skilled in tossing out buzz-words, phrases, and slogans that will arouse certain desires in you. They are messing with your mind by manipulating your feelings.

Likewise, watch your fears, and see how politicians are good at arousing them to manipulate your thinking.

"If you don't suspend the Bill of Rights and let the Homeland Security Force violate everybody's privacy and spy on everybody, then the nasty Arabs will get you."

"If you don't give the oil billionaires a big tax cut, and let them drill for oil in every wilderness and wildlife preserve in the world, then they will go broke and run out of oil and you will freeze in the dark."

"If you don't believe all this stuff, and give your money to the preacher man, then God will get mad at you and you will go to Hell."

Watch out for commonly accepted fallacies — the things that "everybody knows" are true, but which aren't, like "Everybody knows that the world is flat".

For example, it is commonly accepted that alcoholics can't or won't quit drinking until they "bottom out" or "hit bottom". That is completely untrue. People quit at all stages of alcoholism; some even quit before they could even be called alcoholics, because they see a nasty problem starting to develop.
So how did the idea that alcoholics must hit bottom come to be such a universally accepted piece of folklore? Well, what happened is Bill Wilson found that ordinary, relatively-sane people wouldn't join his cult religion or believe in his grandiose, bombastic sermons, or accept his brain-damaged superstitious nonsense. Only the really sick, frightened, dying people who were desperately grabbing at anything that might save their lives would swallow Bill's nonsense. So Wilson made up a story about how alcoholics can't really quit drinking and start to recover until they "hit bottom" and "the lash of alcoholism drives them to A.A." (see: Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, page 24.) A.A. members have been spreading that particular piece of misinformation for the last 60 years, and now, everybody who thinks he knows something about alcoholism repeats it. But it is still untrue.

You can find plenty of similar examples, everywhere. "The common wisdom" often isn't wise or knowledgeable.
Watch out for irrational beliefs. Our society is loaded with them, and you hear them often.
Some big red warning flags of irrational beliefs are key words like:

Should
Ought
Must
Have To
Deserve
Entitled

Statements that contain those words often contain assumed beliefs about values, like

"Look at those kids, being so sexy. They shouldn't act that way."

"It's Friday night, and I should be able to drink with my buddies. I deserve a drink. I worked hard all week, and now I deserve to be able to relax and enjoy myself now."

"The poor ought to go get a job, instead of complaining and wanting help."

"I deserve the best of everything, because I was born a member of the better class — I come from a very old-money family. We really are royalty, you know."

"The politicians ought to tell us the truth. It's awful, the way that they habitually lie to us."

"I must pass this test or I'll go crazy."

(Beliefs about values may be true or untrue. They are not necessarily always wrong. The six examples above were selected because they all contain erroneous assumptions — even the one about politicians.)

Also notice the exaggeration of negativity — which could also be called "awfulizing":

"It's so awful, I can't stand it."

"It's absolutely terrible, and nobody should have to put up with it."

A good way to handle irrational beliefs is to dispute them with challenges like:

"Who says?"

"Since when?"

"Is that really true?"

"Where is it written in stone?"

"Where is the evidence for that?"

And there is the technique of "I would prefer", as in:

"I would prefer it if the politicians would tell the truth, instead of being a bunch of lying sleaze-bags, but if they persist in their practices of deceit and deception, I can stand it. I don't have to get all bent out of shape, and start drinking and doping, just because of them."

"I would prefer it if the American people were intelligent and wise enough that all politicians could tell them the whole truth, and still win elections, but if the American people persist in their stupidity, I can stand it."


Understand the games that the mind-programmers and brainwashers play on people's heads, and the techniques that they use for mind-control.

For instance, there is the phenomenon called "cognitive dissonance". What it means is: People want to keep all of their beliefs, actions, thoughts, and feelings in harmony with each other. People want to do what they believe is right and good, and if they do otherwise, they feel bad — they feel "dissonance". The "dissonance" is just like musical dissonance — it feels jarring and discordant and wrong.

Brainwashers have discovered that they can use cognitive dissonance to change people's behavior, beliefs, feelings, and thoughts — force a change in one, and the others will follow. If you force people to perform certain actions, they will eventually come to believe that it's okay — it must be okay, because they wouldn't want to be doing bad things all of the time. If you force people to say something out loud to a group over and over again, the speakers will eventually come to believe that it is true, because they don't want to feel like they are habitual liars. The subconscious mind's solution to the problem is: believe that it is all true, so now there is no conflict. (That's why A.A. instructs newcomers to "Fake It Until You Make It.")

Since we normally only reveal our innermost, most embarrassing and damaging secrets to our closest and most trusted friends, if we confess everything to a room full of strangers, then cognitive dissonance kicks in, and our subconscious minds will start to assume that those people must really be our closest, most-trusted, friends. That eliminates the conflict over having told embarrassing personal secrets to a bunch of complete strangers. Our feelings will actually change so that we feel much closer to those people. Organizations like Werner Erhard's "est" scam, Alcoholics Anonymous, and various cult religious institutions use this technique to create feelings of instant intimacy, closeness, "brotherhood", and "fellowship" among the members of a group.

Likewise, if you force people to perform horrible acts, like kill Jews in a concentration camp, then the killers will change their beliefs about the victims to make their actions okay, and will eventually come to the conclusion that there is nothing wrong after all. "It isn't really murder because they aren't really people. They are enemies of the state, and need to be eliminated. They have it coming for what the Jews did to us. They are a threat to us, and must be eliminated." That stunt usually (but not always) works even if the killers had originally thought that Jews were okay people. (A small, seldom-mentioned detail of history is that not all German soldiers could stomach killing the Jews. Some soldiers had to be transferred out of the concentration camps because they were going nuts just from seeing all of the Jews killed.)

A recent movie showed how the Nazis would pick out some Jews to act as workers in the concentration camps, forcing them to manage the other Jews who were being herded into the gas chambers. Those worker Jews would of course experience horrible conflicts over their job of helping to kill their fellow Jews, but cognitive dissonance would kick in, and they would end up seeing everything in terms of proper order, proper behavior, and proper functioning: "A Jew who makes a fuss and disrupts the efficient workings of the gas chambers is a trouble-maker and a bad Jew. Good Jews should just go along with the procedure in an orderly manner and not make any trouble."

Break the exclusivity of information input.

Avoid getting all of your information from just one group or one source. (Any one source. Don't trust anybody that much.) Examine both (or all) sides of an issue. Don't let anyone dictate what you may read, see, or hear. One of the most powerful tools that cults or Communists or fascists use to brainwash people is information control — preventing the victims from getting any information contrary to the brainwashing.

Recognize that three different people who all say the same thing is not necessarily three different sources of information. For example, the evening news programs of NBC, ABC, and CBS may all tell you exactly the same story, just parroting the information that was just released by the White House. Also, the corporate owners of the networks often keep Jennings, Brokaw, and Rather from telling the ugly truths or asking the hard questions. Powerful stock-holders similarly muzzled the New York Times, and kept it from reporting how Gov. Jeb Bush rigged the Presidential election in Florida in 2000, so such problems are everywhere. (Jeb did it by removing about 60,000 honest black people from the voter registration lists, claiming that they were "felons".)

Sometimes, National Public Radio,website of other ethnics or Public Television will tell you something else, but sometimes you may have to go on the Internet and check out BBC or the London Times to get the other side of the story. And also check out Canada and Sydney, Australia, and New Delhi, Middle East, Africa and India while you are at it. They speak English, too. And so do the people of New Zealand. (Remember "Lord of the Rings"?)

Similarly, don't just listen to 12-Steppers to get information about alcoholism and drug addiction.

Like they said on The X-Files: "Trust Nobody. The Truth Is Out There."

Break self-programming.

People often get programmed to program themselves:

Think about the guy who is always playing "motivational" tapes that will supposedly teach you how to get rich quick or build up your self-esteem or something... Now lots of cults are into it too, and they have a set of tapes for you.

And then there are the people who are always reading the same book or small set of books over and over again, as if those books held all of the wisdom in the world.

Then there are people who just constantly repeat slogans, which effectively stops them from actually thinking.

And there are some people who practice meditation or chanting constantly, reprogramming themselves and stopping rational thought, all day, every day. (Note that meditation and chanting can be good things, but phony gurus teach people to use them excessively, as mind-control tools.)

And then there are meetings, services, and get-togethers. Churches and cults have church services and "Bible study" and socials, and A.A. and Amway have a meeting for every occasion. Note that this is a matter of frequency, and of how much time they take out of your life, and what they are really trying to sell you. One church service a week is normal for all churches, but when someone tells you to do "90 meetings in 90 days", or to come to motivational meetings or chanting or meditation or prayer or Bible study sessions every single day, then the warning bells should be going off in your head. And you should be hearing klaxon horns and air raid sirens when people brag about doing three meetings per day.

And then there is denial and rationalization. Some people will endlessly deny or rationalize every negative thing they hear about their leader or their church or cult (or their corporation or their political party, or whatever). They will never actually let a contrary idea get into their heads.

— Which leads to self-censorship. Some people censor their own minds, and will not even allow themselves to think one forbidden thought. So of course they stay programmed.





TV Commercials sell you images, and they are very powerful. Watch out. They tell you that you will be beautiful and sexually attractive if you look like their images.

"You want to buy these clothes, and style your hair like this, and wear these glasses, and lose weight, and make your waist narrower and your boobs bigger, if you are a female. And if you are a male, you will want to flash the cash and drive this kind of a car, and buy this kind of a house so that you can move in a trophy wife..."


They are selling you images of "the beautiful people". After a while, you will start to feel like there must be something wrong with you if you don't look and act like the people on TV. And you will start to think you must be a weirdo if you don't believe and say what the people on TV believe and say. But the beautiful people on TV are paid to only say non-disturbing things, to not rock the boat. They won't tell you about their sponsors — corporate polluters — poisoning your children, not a word. They won't tell you that the sponsor's car is a deathtrap, likely to roll over or explode in flames. They won't tell you that their sponsor cheats its own employees out of their retirement funds and health insurance. They won't say anything about their sponsors feeding your children pesticide- or herbicide-contaminated or genetically-altered food, not a word. That would be making trouble.

So just how beautiful are those beautiful people, really? Are you sure you want to be like them?

Nevertheless, those images are still extremely attractive, aren't they?

Years ago, there was a rather iconoclastic Commissioner of the FCC named Nicholas Johnson who said that there was a lot more on TV than meets the eye. He observed that furniture polish commercials actually sell expensive hardwood furniture as well as the polish. They imply that your life will somehow be happier, more elegant, genteel, and cultured, if you have a beautiful house full of the kind of furniture that requires furniture polish.

So, as you watch TV, watch how they are trying to program your mind. Watch what they are really selling. Notice what they are selling, besides what they seem to be selling.

As a defense, don't watch so much TV. And even if you are an addicted media junkie, you can still watch video tapes and DVDs instead of channels with commercials. That way you, not they, control your information input. Oh, and Public Television isn't so bad, either. And then there is the Internet. It has banner ads, but it just isn't nearly as hypnotic, and your information stream is not controlled by just a few giant corporations.

Be True To Yourself

To be true to yourself means to act in accordance with who you are and what you believe.

If you know and love yourself you will find it effortless to be true to yourself.

Just as you cannot love anyone else until you love yourself, you cannot be true to anyone else until you are true to yourself.



Be who you are. Have the courage to accept yourself as you really are, not as as someone else thinks you should be. Do not take action or pretend to be someone else for the sake of gaining acceptance.


Many young people believe that when they do things to please their peers, such as drink when they shouldn't, or behave and party in inappropriate ways, they will be popular and liked. They go against the advice of their parents or their own common sense only to find themselves in trouble and not accomplishing what they set out to do.



When you do things that are not genuine or a reflection of the real you, you will not be happy with yourself and will end up confused. You'll be confused because you won't know whom to please, or how.



Self-respect comes from being true to who you really are and from acting in accordance with your fundamental nature.



When you respect yourself, others will respect you. They will sense that you are strong and capable of standing up for yourself and your beliefs.



When you are true to yourself, you allow your individuality and uniqueness to shine through. You respect the opinions of others but do not conform to stereotypes or their expectations of you.



To be true to yourself takes courage. It requires you to be introspective, sincere, open-minded and fair. It does not mean that you are inconsiderate or disrespectful of others. It means that you will not let others define you or make decisions for you that you should make for yourself.



Be true to the very best that is in you and live your life consistent with your highest values and aspirations. Those who are most successful in life have dared to creatively express themselves and in turn, broaden the experiences and perspectives of everyone else.