Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 7, No. 2, 2008, Page 8
Lyndon LaRouche
Among the more compelling recent accounts of brainwashing is that which appeared in a
Washington Post Magazine article about Lyndon LaRouche, who leads a politically oriented
group often called a political cult (Witt, 2004). Reporter April Witt documented LaRouche‘s
frequent claim that ―enemies, including American, Soviet, and British intelligence agencies,
[were] sending brainwashed zombies to assassinate him‖ (Witt, 2004:37). Moreover, within
the group during the 1970s,
Brainwashing hysteria quickly spread through the LaRouche organization,
[former member Paul] Kacprzak says. He attended LaRouche meetings in the
United States where there were ‗people writhing on the floor saying, ―I‘ve
been brainwashed, somebody deprogram me!‖‘ (quoted in Witt, 2004:37).
The account of another former member, however, indicated that the LaRouche group itself
might have been doing the brainwashing. Former member Michael Scott Winstead
recounted the circumstances that led to his own departure from the movement:
One day a member of LaRouche‘s inner circle of advisors was giving a lecture
when he touched upon a favorite topic in the movement—brainwashing. He
mentioned a 1957 book on the subject, Battle for the Mind. Curious, Winstead
tracked down the book at a library.
‗Various types of belief can be implanted in people, after brain function has
been sufficiently disturbed by accidentally or deliberately induced fear, anger
or excitement,‘ the author, William Sargant, wrote. ‗Of the results caused by
such disturbances, the most common one is temporarily impaired judgment
and heightened suggestibility‘ (quoted in Witt, 2004:39 see Sargant,
1957:145, 160-168).
Chinese communists ‗spread their gospel,‘ the author noted, through psychological
conditioning: inventing enemies, isolating trainees in special locations, keeping them
exhausted by performing demeaning tasks and learning difficult new terminology, using
informers to keep people tense and uncertain, and forcing them to sever ties with family
and friends, even encouraging their recruits, as Hitler had, to denounce their parents.
‗Winstead felt ill,‘ he says. ‗I sat there and read exactly what I had been going
through for the last six months,‘ he says. ‗It [i.e., his involvement in the
LaRouche group] definitely had worked on me quite a bit, more than I‘d like
to admit to myself then or now‘ (quoted in Witt, 2004:39).
Within days, Winstead left the group, and—as he did—he stuffed a report that he had
written about (what he felt were) LaRouche‘s brainwashing techniques into the mailboxes of
members (Witt, 2004:39).
Cults in General
Among the most interesting and recent discussions of cults in general took place in a 2004
book written by a research physiologist at the University of Oxford, Dr. Kathleen Taylor,
which is devoted entirely to brainwashing. While specialists in the area of cults would adjust
a few of her facts—she seems to believe, for example, that the attack against Congressman
Leo J. Ryan happened when his plane landed near Jonestown rather than when he was
leaving (Taylor, 2004:32)—the study is important in part because Taylor came to the topic
unencumbered by the rancorous debates within the social scientific scholarship on
‗cults/new religions‘ (see Zablocki, 2001:159-171).
First, she uses the label ‗cults‘ when describing groups that passionately, ―fervently, and
irreconcilably, believe their own descriptions‖ of reality (Taylor, 2004:37). Second, she
Lyndon LaRouche
Among the more compelling recent accounts of brainwashing is that which appeared in a
Washington Post Magazine article about Lyndon LaRouche, who leads a politically oriented
group often called a political cult (Witt, 2004). Reporter April Witt documented LaRouche‘s
frequent claim that ―enemies, including American, Soviet, and British intelligence agencies,
[were] sending brainwashed zombies to assassinate him‖ (Witt, 2004:37). Moreover, within
the group during the 1970s,
Brainwashing hysteria quickly spread through the LaRouche organization,
[former member Paul] Kacprzak says. He attended LaRouche meetings in the
United States where there were ‗people writhing on the floor saying, ―I‘ve
been brainwashed, somebody deprogram me!‖‘ (quoted in Witt, 2004:37).
The account of another former member, however, indicated that the LaRouche group itself
might have been doing the brainwashing. Former member Michael Scott Winstead
recounted the circumstances that led to his own departure from the movement:
One day a member of LaRouche‘s inner circle of advisors was giving a lecture
when he touched upon a favorite topic in the movement—brainwashing. He
mentioned a 1957 book on the subject, Battle for the Mind. Curious, Winstead
tracked down the book at a library.
‗Various types of belief can be implanted in people, after brain function has
been sufficiently disturbed by accidentally or deliberately induced fear, anger
or excitement,‘ the author, William Sargant, wrote. ‗Of the results caused by
such disturbances, the most common one is temporarily impaired judgment
and heightened suggestibility‘ (quoted in Witt, 2004:39 see Sargant,
1957:145, 160-168).
Chinese communists ‗spread their gospel,‘ the author noted, through psychological
conditioning: inventing enemies, isolating trainees in special locations, keeping them
exhausted by performing demeaning tasks and learning difficult new terminology, using
informers to keep people tense and uncertain, and forcing them to sever ties with family
and friends, even encouraging their recruits, as Hitler had, to denounce their parents.
‗Winstead felt ill,‘ he says. ‗I sat there and read exactly what I had been going
through for the last six months,‘ he says. ‗It [i.e., his involvement in the
LaRouche group] definitely had worked on me quite a bit, more than I‘d like
to admit to myself then or now‘ (quoted in Witt, 2004:39).
Within days, Winstead left the group, and—as he did—he stuffed a report that he had
written about (what he felt were) LaRouche‘s brainwashing techniques into the mailboxes of
members (Witt, 2004:39).
Cults in General
Among the most interesting and recent discussions of cults in general took place in a 2004
book written by a research physiologist at the University of Oxford, Dr. Kathleen Taylor,
which is devoted entirely to brainwashing. While specialists in the area of cults would adjust
a few of her facts—she seems to believe, for example, that the attack against Congressman
Leo J. Ryan happened when his plane landed near Jonestown rather than when he was
leaving (Taylor, 2004:32)—the study is important in part because Taylor came to the topic
unencumbered by the rancorous debates within the social scientific scholarship on
‗cults/new religions‘ (see Zablocki, 2001:159-171).
First, she uses the label ‗cults‘ when describing groups that passionately, ―fervently, and
irreconcilably, believe their own descriptions‖ of reality (Taylor, 2004:37). Second, she
