Pointsman

[Mike Jing]

Very interesting. Thanks, Thomas.

On Thu, Jun 30, 2022 at 5:09 PM Thomas Eckhardt via Pynchon-l <
pynchon-l at waste.org> wrote:

> Following my own resarch on this, that and the other, I came across the
> following quote from William Sargant, in his 1957 book "The Battle for
> the Mind: The Mechanics of Indoctrination, Brainwashing and Thought
> Control":
>
> "(...) various types of belief be implanted in many people, after brain
> function has been sufficiently disturbed by accidentally or deliberately
> induced fear, anger or excitement. Of the results caused by such
> disturbances, the most common one is temporarily impaired judgment and
> heightened suggestibility. Its various group manifestations are
> sometimes classed under the heading of 'herd instinct', and appear most
> spectacularly in wartime, during severe epidemics, and in all similar
> periods of common danger, which increase anxiety and so individual and
> mass suggestibility."
>
> Sargant, as I believe Kai has first pointed out on the list, is the
> model for Pointsman. "The Battle for the Mind" is a source for GR.
>
> The book is available here:
>
> https://archive.org/details/BattleForTheMind-Sargant
>
> The quote is on page 131 of the pdf.
>
> Make of it what you will.
>
>
>
> --
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>