Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 7, No. 2, 2008, Page 16
threat‖ (Walsh, 2001:126), which Taylor may also have assumed but which others dispute (Lifton,
1957:6 Zablocki, 1997:99).
[3] Worth noting, however, is that in February 2007, the owner of the former Dundee Ranch Academy,
Narvin Lichfield, was acquitted of charges involving ―coercion, holding minors against their will, and
‗crimes of an international character‘ (violating a law based on international treaties, in this case,
torture)….‖ While the three judges declared Lichfield innocent, they still ―said they believe the
students at Dundee were abused, but the evidence and testimony presented did not prove that
Lichfield ordered the abuses‖ (Baxter-Neal, 2007).
[4] Two other references to brainwashing and terrorism are worth mentioning. First, an imam in
Alberta, Canada was ―almost certain‖ that he knew the identity of a young Canadian being held in
Afghanistan for assisting insurgents in May 2007. ―Sheikh Alaa Elsayed says that just a few months
ago he urged a University of Calgary computer-science student, who had been ‗brainwashed‘ by
Internet propaganda, to dispense with notions of fighting the jihad in Afghanistan‖ (Freeze, 2007a).
Second, a notorious Canadian family of fundamentalist Muslims, the Khadr family, has four sons, all of
whom have served prison time for alleged terrorist activities. One son (Abdulrahman), however, has
denounced his family‘s political orientation and al-Qaeda support by stating that his relatives are
―‗mindwashed‘‖ (quoted in Freeze, 2007b).
[5] I thank Susan Raine for reminding me of this information.
[6] I note in passing that a Website run by the Wyoming Office of the Attorney General—Division of
Victim Services about domestic violence states, ―Experts have compared methods used by batterers to
those used by terrorists to brainwash hostages‖ (Wyoming Silent Witness Initiative, 2007). Finally, a
graduate student of mine, Terra Manca, found a quote about brainwashing made by a young woman
who had been abducted briefly by the Lord‘s Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda. When a researcher
asked her why she thought the LRA trained child soldiers to commit appalling atrocities, she replied,
‗―The rebels ...target the children, because they are brainwashed very fast ...and when they do
something they don‘t really reason: ‗What I am doing is bad ...‘‖ (quoted in Allen, 2006:42).
[7] I am aware, too, of the study by Human Rights Watch and the Geneva Initiative on Psychiatry
(2002), examining Communist China‘s abusive use of pseudo-psychiatry to punish political and social
dissenters.
[8] The most recent examples of former members using the brainwashing term to describe how they
had been indoctrinated in a group they consider to be a cult are in a book written by three sisters who
grew up in the Children of God/The Family but who eventually left as they gained insights into the
abuses that they had suffered (Jones, Jones, and Buhring, 2007:263, 271, 381, 403 see 83).
Bibliography
Abetti, Pier A. 2006. ―Case Study: Jack Welch‘s Creative Revolutionary Transformation of General
Electric and the Thermidorean Reaction (1981-2004).‖ Creativity and Innovation Management 15,
No. 1: 74–84.
Aldridge, Alan. 2000. Religion in the Contemporary World: A Sociological Introduction. Cambridge:
Polity Press.
Allen, Tim. 2006. Trial Justice: The International Criminal Court and the Lord‟s Resistance Army.
London: Zed Books.
American Psychiatric Association. 2000. ―300.15 Dissociative Disorder Not Otherwise Specified.‖
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-IV-TR Internet download.
Amnesty International. 2007. ―China. People‘s Republic of China.‖ Excerpts from the Amnesty
International Report 2007. Downloaded from: http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/asia-and-
pacific/east-asia/china on December 27, 2007:5pp.
Anthony, Dick and Massimo Introvigne. 2006. Le Lavage de Cerveau: Mythe ou Réalité? Paris:
L‘Harmattan.
Arriola, Armelle Vincent. 2001. ―Teen Busting.‖ (June). Downloaded from:
www.nospank.net/busting.htm on August 21, 2001:4pp.
Associated Press. 2004. ―Former Sect Member Describes Ordeal.‖ (March 4). Downloaded from:
ReligionNewsBlog.com (Item 6306), posted March 4, 2004:2 pp.
threat‖ (Walsh, 2001:126), which Taylor may also have assumed but which others dispute (Lifton,
1957:6 Zablocki, 1997:99).
[3] Worth noting, however, is that in February 2007, the owner of the former Dundee Ranch Academy,
Narvin Lichfield, was acquitted of charges involving ―coercion, holding minors against their will, and
‗crimes of an international character‘ (violating a law based on international treaties, in this case,
torture)….‖ While the three judges declared Lichfield innocent, they still ―said they believe the
students at Dundee were abused, but the evidence and testimony presented did not prove that
Lichfield ordered the abuses‖ (Baxter-Neal, 2007).
[4] Two other references to brainwashing and terrorism are worth mentioning. First, an imam in
Alberta, Canada was ―almost certain‖ that he knew the identity of a young Canadian being held in
Afghanistan for assisting insurgents in May 2007. ―Sheikh Alaa Elsayed says that just a few months
ago he urged a University of Calgary computer-science student, who had been ‗brainwashed‘ by
Internet propaganda, to dispense with notions of fighting the jihad in Afghanistan‖ (Freeze, 2007a).
Second, a notorious Canadian family of fundamentalist Muslims, the Khadr family, has four sons, all of
whom have served prison time for alleged terrorist activities. One son (Abdulrahman), however, has
denounced his family‘s political orientation and al-Qaeda support by stating that his relatives are
―‗mindwashed‘‖ (quoted in Freeze, 2007b).
[5] I thank Susan Raine for reminding me of this information.
[6] I note in passing that a Website run by the Wyoming Office of the Attorney General—Division of
Victim Services about domestic violence states, ―Experts have compared methods used by batterers to
those used by terrorists to brainwash hostages‖ (Wyoming Silent Witness Initiative, 2007). Finally, a
graduate student of mine, Terra Manca, found a quote about brainwashing made by a young woman
who had been abducted briefly by the Lord‘s Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda. When a researcher
asked her why she thought the LRA trained child soldiers to commit appalling atrocities, she replied,
‗―The rebels ...target the children, because they are brainwashed very fast ...and when they do
something they don‘t really reason: ‗What I am doing is bad ...‘‖ (quoted in Allen, 2006:42).
[7] I am aware, too, of the study by Human Rights Watch and the Geneva Initiative on Psychiatry
(2002), examining Communist China‘s abusive use of pseudo-psychiatry to punish political and social
dissenters.
[8] The most recent examples of former members using the brainwashing term to describe how they
had been indoctrinated in a group they consider to be a cult are in a book written by three sisters who
grew up in the Children of God/The Family but who eventually left as they gained insights into the
abuses that they had suffered (Jones, Jones, and Buhring, 2007:263, 271, 381, 403 see 83).
Bibliography
Abetti, Pier A. 2006. ―Case Study: Jack Welch‘s Creative Revolutionary Transformation of General
Electric and the Thermidorean Reaction (1981-2004).‖ Creativity and Innovation Management 15,
No. 1: 74–84.
Aldridge, Alan. 2000. Religion in the Contemporary World: A Sociological Introduction. Cambridge:
Polity Press.
Allen, Tim. 2006. Trial Justice: The International Criminal Court and the Lord‟s Resistance Army.
London: Zed Books.
American Psychiatric Association. 2000. ―300.15 Dissociative Disorder Not Otherwise Specified.‖
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-IV-TR Internet download.
Amnesty International. 2007. ―China. People‘s Republic of China.‖ Excerpts from the Amnesty
International Report 2007. Downloaded from: http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/asia-and-
pacific/east-asia/china on December 27, 2007:5pp.
Anthony, Dick and Massimo Introvigne. 2006. Le Lavage de Cerveau: Mythe ou Réalité? Paris:
L‘Harmattan.
Arriola, Armelle Vincent. 2001. ―Teen Busting.‖ (June). Downloaded from:
www.nospank.net/busting.htm on August 21, 2001:4pp.
Associated Press. 2004. ―Former Sect Member Describes Ordeal.‖ (March 4). Downloaded from:
ReligionNewsBlog.com (Item 6306), posted March 4, 2004:2 pp.
