Brainwashing: Difference between revisions

{{Behavioural influences}}

 

 

The term "brainwashing" was first used in English by [[Edward Hunter (U.S. journalist)|Edward Hunter]] in 1950 to describe how the [[Chinese government]] appeared to make people cooperate with them during the [[Korean War]]. Research into the concept also looked at [[Nazi Germany]] and present-day [[North Korea]], at some criminal cases in the United States, and at the actions of [[Human trafficking|human traffickers]].

==China and the Korean War==

{{See also|Thought reform in China}}

 

The earliest known English-language usage of the word "brainwashing" in an article by a journalist [[Edward Hunter (U.S. journalist)|Edward Hunter]], in ''Miami News'', published in 1950.<ref name="Crean">{{Cite book |last=Crean |first=Jeffrey |title=The Fear of Chinese Power: an International History |date=2024 |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Academic]] |isbn=978-1-350-23394-2 |edition= |series=New Approaches to International History series |location=London, UK |pages=82}}</ref> Hunter was an [[Anti-communism|anticommunist]] and was alleged to be a [[CIA]] agent working undercover.<ref name=MarksJohn1979>{{cite book|last=Marks|first=John|author-link=John D. Marks|title=The Search for the Manchurian Candidate: The CIA and mind control|url=https://archive.org/details/searchformanchur00john|access-date=2008-12-30|year=1979|publisher=Times Books|location=New York|isbn=978-0812907735|chapter=Chapter&nbsp;8. Brainwashing|chapter-url=http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/lsd/marks8.htm|quote=In September&nbsp;1950, the ''[[The Miami News|Miami News]]'' published an article by Edward Hunter titled '"Brain-Washing" Tactics Force Chinese into Ranks of Communist Party'. It was the first printed use in any language of the term "brainwashing", Hunter, a CIA propaganda operator who worked undercover as a journalist, turned out a steady stream of books and articles on the subject. }}</ref> Hunter and others used the Chinese term to explain why, during the [[Korean War]] (1950–1953), some American [[prisoners of war]] (POWs) cooperated with their Chinese captors, and even in a few cases [[List of American and British defectors in the Korean War|defected to their side]].<ref>{{cite news|first=Michael|last=Browning|title=Was kidnapped Utah teen brainwashed?|work=[[Palm Beach Post]]|location=Palm Beach|issn=1528-5758|date=2003-03-14|quote=During the Korean War, captured American soldiers were subjected to prolonged interrogations and harangues by their captors, who often worked in relays and used the "good-cop, bad-cop" approach – alternating a brutal interrogator with a gentle one. It was all part of "Xi Nao" (''washing the brain''). The Chinese and Koreans were making valiant attempts to convert the captives to the communist way of thought.}}</ref> British radio operator [[Robert W. Ford]]<ref>{{cite book|author=Ford, R.C.|author-link=Robert W. Ford|title=Captured in Tibet|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|location=Oxford [Oxfordshire]|year=1990|isbn=978-0195815702}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author-link=Robert W. Ford|author=Ford, R.C.|title=Wind between the Worlds: Captured in Tibet|publisher=SLG Books|year=1997|isbn=978-0961706692|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/windbetweenworld00ford }}</ref> and British army Colonel [[James Carne]] also claimed that the Chinese subjected them to brainwashing techniques during their imprisonment.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1953/02/23/83712037.pdf|title=Red germ charges cite 2 U.S. Marines|date=23 February 1954|access-date=16 February 2012}}</ref>