Pointsman

[Thomas Eckhardt]

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.