Demoralization: The root of our problems?

I tend to think it is. The literal definition of "demoralize" is:

de·mor·al·ize

1. to deprive (a person or persons) of spirit, courage, discipline, etc.; destroy the morale of: The continuous barrage demoralized the infantry.

2. to throw (a person) into disorder or confusion; bewilder: We were so demoralized by that one wrong turn that we were lost for hours.

3. to corrupt or undermine the morals of.

People whose thinking is disordered, who are bewildered and confused, are more apt to act irrationally and emotionally, and are more susceptible to emotional manipulation. Facts be damned.

"Demoralization" is when the truth and facts don't matter anymore. In politics demoralization has become all too pervasive, and it makes reasoned debate impossible. It's impossible to win an argument with, or to even persuade, someone who has no interest in discerning what is true, and what is false. Demoralization is a rotten foundation on which nothing can stand, and is at the root of much that ails America today.

A few months ago I came across and interesting video of a former KGB man, Yuri Bezmenov, describing the process of demoralization as a tool that was promoted by the soviets, for undermining, collapsing and taking over a country.

A summary of the four step process promoted by the Soviets can be found at the American Thinker:

From Russia with no love

[...] They describe the process as:

1. Demoralization.

2. Destabilization.

3. Crisis.

4. Normalization.

The point of this "Ideological Subversion" was to weaken an enemy country, strip its culture and corrupt their values to a point of complete vulnerability. Mr. Schuman describes it as:

[An] overt...slow process...[to] change the perception of reality of every American to such an extent that despite the abundance of information, no one is able to come to sensible conclusions in the interest of defending themselves, their families, their community and their country.

The first step, Demoralization, has already been completed in America and continues to perpetuate itself. The Obama Administration policies are accelerating the second step of Destabilization and rapidly approaching the third phase of Crisis. [...]

The video is here:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeMZGGQ0ERk

The interview is edited, so I looked for a complete transcript of the interview, and I found this:

Interview with Yuri Bezmenov: Part Three

Bezmenov describes was steps of Demoralization, Destabilization, Crisis, and Normalization in detail. Some excerpts:

[...] But in reality, the main emphasis of the KGB is not in the area of intelligence at all. According to my opinion and [the] opinion of many defectors of my caliber, only about 15% of time, money, and manpower [are] spent on espionage as such. The other 85% is a slow process, which we call either ‘ideological subversion,’ or ‘active measures’—‘[?]’ in the language of the KGB—or ‘psychological warfare.’ What it basically means is, to change the perception of reality, of every American, to such an extent that despite of the abundance of information, no one is able to come to sensible conclusions in the interests of defending themselves, their families, their community and their country.

It’s a great brainwashing process, which goes very slow[ly] and is divided [into] four basic stages. The first one [is] demoralization; it takes from 15-20 years to demoralize a nation. Why that many years? Because this is the minimum number of years which [is required] to educate one generation of students in the country of your enemy, exposed to the ideology of the enemy. In other words, Marxist-Leninist ideology is being pumped into the soft heads of at least three generations of American students, without being challenged, or counter-balanced by the basic values of Americanism (American patriotism).

The result? The result you can see. Most of the people who graduated in the sixties (drop-outs or half-baked intellectuals) are now occupying the positions of power in the government, civil service, business, mass media, [and the] educational system. You are stuck with them. You cannot get rid of them. They are contaminated; they are programmed to think and react to certain stimuli in a certain pattern. You cannot change their mind[s], even if you expose them to authentic information, even if you prove that white is white and black is black, you still cannot change the basic perception and the logic of behavior. In other words, these people... the process of demoralization is complete and irreversible. To [rid] society of these people, you need another twenty or fifteen years to educate a new generation of patriotically-minded and common sense people, who would be acting in favor and in the interests of United States society.

Griffin: And yet these people who have been ‘programmed,’ and as you say [are] in place and who are favorable to an opening with the Soviet concept... these are the very people who would be marked for extermination in this country?

Bezmenov: Most of them, yes. Simply because the psychological shock when they will see in [the] future what the beautiful society of ‘equality’ and ‘social justice’ means in practice, obviously they will revolt. They will be very unhappy, frustrated people, and the Marxist-Leninist regime does not tolerate these people. Obviously they will join the leagues of dissenters (dissidents).

Unlike in [the] present United States there will be no place for dissent in future Marxist-Leninist America. Here you can get popular like Daniel Ellsberg and filthy-rich like Jane Fonda for being ‘dissident,’ for criticizing your Pentagon. In [the] future these people will be simply [squashing sound] squashed like cockroaches. Nobody is going to pay them nothing for their beautiful, noble ideas of equality. This they don't understand and it will be [the] greatest shock for them, of course.

The demoralization process in [the] United States is basically completed already. For the last 25 years... actually, it's over-fulfilled because demoralization now reaches such areas where previously not even Comrade Andropov and all his experts would even dream of such a tremendous success. Most of it is done by Americans to Americans, thanks to [a] lack of moral standards.

As I mentioned before, exposure to true information does not matter anymore. A person who was demoralized is unable to assess true information. The facts tell nothing to him. Even if I shower him with information, with authentic proof, with documents, with pictures; even if I take him by force to the Soviet Union and show him [a] concentration camp, he will refuse to believe it, until he [receives] a kick in his fan-bottom. When a military boot crashes his... then he will understand. But not before that. That's the [tragedy] of the situation of demoralization.

So basically America is stuck with demoralization and unless... even if you start right now, here, this minute, you start educating [a] new generation of American[s], it will still take you fifteen to twenty years to turn the tide of ideological perception of reality back to normalcy and patriotism.

The next stage is destabilization. This time [the] subverter does not care about your ideas and the patterns of your consumption; whether you eat junk food and get fat and flabby doesn’t matter any more. This time—and it takes only from two to five years to destabilize a nation—what matters [are] essentials: economy, foreign relations, [and] defense systems. And you can see it quite clearly that in some areas, in such sensitive areas as defense and [the] economy, the influence of Marxist-Leninist ideas in [the] United States is absolutely fantastic. I could never believe it fourteen years ago when I landed in this part of the world that the process [would have gone] that fast.

The next stage, of course, is crisis. It may take only up to six weeks to bring a country to the verge of crisis. You can see it in Central America now.

And, after crisis, with a violent change of power, structure, and economy, you have [the so-called] period of normalization. It may last indefinitely. Normalization is a cynical expression borrowed from Soviet propaganda. When the Soviet tanks moved into Czechoslovakia in ‘68, Comrade Brezhnev said, ‘Now the situation in brotherly Czechoslovakia is normalized.’

This is what will happen in [the] United States if you allow all these schmucks to bring the country to crisis, to promise people all kind[s] of goodies and the paradise on earth, to destabilize your economy, to eliminate the principle of free market competition, and to put [a] Big Brother government in Washington, D.C. with benevolent dictators like Walter Mondale, who will promise lots of thing[s], never mind whether the promises are fulfillable or not. He will go to Moscow to kiss the bottoms of [a] new generation of Soviet assassins, never mind... he will create false illusions that the situation is under control. [The] situation is not under control. [The] situation is disgustingly out of control.[...]

Of course Walter Mondale didn't win. Yet the rest of that paragraph sounds very much like what is happening in Washington D.C. now. There isn't a Soviet Union anymore, but there are plenty of Marxists and Marxist sympathizers worldwide, wanting to collapse current governments and economies, and replace them with... something else.

I would say we are now in the destabilization phase, and approaching the crisis phase. The crushing of dissent comes in the Normalization phase. Bezmenov makes recommendations about what we should do to avert these phases. But that was 25 years ago. Is it too late now?

The above link to the transcript is to part three, but it's worth reading parts one and two as well. Bezmenov's story is fascinating, and there are photos too, as well as links to the other parts of the transcript.

Even though this interview is from 25 years ago, and the "Soviets" no longer exist, these techniques and practices have been adopted by the continuing International socialist/communist Left. American Activist Leftists like Cloward-Piven adopted many of these methods into their own plans, and are using them now, even inside our government, to rot it from within.

It matters little who is doing it, because the end result will be the same. What matters it to recognize it and respond appropriately.

In a review of one of Bezmenov's books, Love Letter to America", the reviewer suggests that perhaps Bezmenov makes too great a case for Soviet power and influence; that perhaps demoralization is an already existing process in Western Democracies, and the Soviets were simply trying to exploit it to their advantage; that the rot is often aimless, and there are patriots who counteract it.

I don't disagree with that. I would just say that more important than where it comes from, or even how intentionally it is (or isn't) orchestrated, is to recognize the rot where it occurs, and treat it before it spreads. Just like you would fix rot in your home, before it spreads and weakens the supporting structures of your house. Regardless of what caused the rot, or how it got there, you would fix it to preserve the structure of your home. You would be vigilant and take steps to prevent rot from even taking hold. In such matters, vigilance is always a virtue.

Demoralization is just a kind of rot that occurs through a lack or neglect of real education, the result of which obfuscates clear thinking and reasoning, and by default allows confusion and emotional manipulation to seep in. Like rain water seeping in through the roof, it can be prevented, but work must be done to maintain the roof. Like so many things in this world that are worth preserving, it requires eternal vigilance, and conscious, continual effort. It's the never-ending story. It's work to preserve and promote the good, but it's still better than trying to deal with resulting chaos of neglect and indifference. It's why we persevere.

     

Iran loses it's "Desmond Tutu", Ali Montazeri

A life animated by conscience, not power

Denver, Colorado (CNN) -- The moral conscience of Iran's reform movement passed away Sunday morning. Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who died at 87, was the Iranian equivalent of South Africa's Desmond Tutu for politics.

Over the past 20 years, he distinguished himself by virtue of his persistent, judicious criticism of human rights abuses in the Islamic Republic and his defense of the democratic aspirations of the people of Iran within the framework of an ethical interpretation of Shia Islam.

His death comes as a huge blow to the Green Movement, yet his supporters will take comfort that he lived a full life and intervened on all the major political questions plaguing Iranian and Islamic politics. [...]

Ayatallah Montazeri once said "The Islamic Republic is neither a Republic nor Islamic". Even in death, he has become a rally point for Iran's political opposition. Read the whole thing for some fascinating insights into Iranian politics.

And the struggle is certainly not over, but continuing. It seems they are even locking up clerics now:

Iran bans memorials for cleric in wake of violence

[...] The death on Sunday of the 87-year-old Ali Montazeri, a sharp critic of Iran's leaders, has given a new push to opposition protests, which have endured despite a heavy security crackdown since disputed presidential elections in June.

Iran has been in turmoil since the vote, which the opposition alleges Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won by fraud.

On Wednesday, a memorial for Montazeri in the central city of Isfahan turned into anti-government demonstrations, and mourners clashed with riot police. At least 50 were arrested, according to reformist Web sites. Security forces and hard-line militiamen assaulted the crowd gathered at Isfahan's main mosque for Wednesday's memorial, beating men and women and firing tear gas to disperse them. The reports could not be independently confirmed since authorities have banned foreign media from covering protests.

The funeral procession for Montazeri in Qom on Monday also turned into a rally against the government.

The memorials have brought out not only the young, urban activists who filled the ranks of earlier protests, but also older, more religious Iranians who revered Montazeri on grounds of faith as much as politics.

And the government has started moving for the first time against clerics who support the opposition — in Isfahan, pro-government Basij militiamen on Wednesday surrounded the house and office of two prominent religious figures, shouting slogans and breaking windows, opposition Web sites reported.

Montazeri's death comes as Iran marks one of the most important periods on the Shiite religious calendar, the first 10 days of the Islamic month of Moharram, a time of mourning rituals for a revered Shiite saint. The period culminates on Sunday with Ashoura — a day that coincides with the seventh day after Montazeri's death, a traditional day of further commemorations. [...]

I'm hoping Iran finds it's own glasnost, and sweeps the current theocratic regime away. They deserve better.
     

In Iran, admitting to being a rape victim can be "social suicide"

I had blogged about this in August:

Dissidents are being raped in Iran's Prisons

Now it's being reported by CNN:

2 Iranian dissidents say they were raped in captivity

Editor's Note: Be aware that the following story contains graphic accounts of rapes. CNN does not normally identify alleged rape victims but did so in this dispatch with the permission of the alleged victims.

ISTANBUL, Turkey (CNN) -- Two Iranians who were caught up in the waves of arrests that followed the disputed presidential elections in June have accused their captors of raping them.

By telling his story, Ibrahim Sharifi says, he "committed social suicide so this incident wouldn't happen to others."

An Iranian man and a woman made the allegations in separate interviews with CNN. Both said they fled to Turkey from Iran after claiming to have been threatened by Iranian security services. While CNN does not normally use the names of alleged rape victims, their names are included here with their permission.

CNN could not independently confirm their accounts. But the testimony of one of the alleged rape victims, Ibrahim Sharifi, was revealed last month by a prominent Iranian opposition leader who claimed to have gathered at least four accounts of sexual assault this summer in Iranian prisons. Sharifi's allegations were also included in a report published last week by two Western human rights organizations investigating reports of abuse in Iranian prisons. [...]

In many Muslim countries, it seems like rape victims are treated more like criminals than victims. The reluctance of victims to come forward makes it that much easier for the crimes to be committed.
     

The Young Iranian's are Fighting Back...

The students actually capture this policeman. Follow the links for many more dramatic photos and commentary. I got the photo's from here:

Its Time to Fight Back

This is Street Justice!

The above links are from the blog of an Iranian expatriate, Azarmehr. I will be checking his blog for updates, the link to the main page of his blog is here:

For a democratic secular Iran. For peace and prosperity in the Middle East.

I expect the Iranian Theocracy is going to crack down on this rebellion and try to squash it, the same way the Chinese crushed the Tiananmen Square rebellion.

I wouldn't feel too sorry for the captured policeman in the photos. Look at what the police goons did to students in June of 2007:

The can's this guy is being forced to suck on are used in toilets. His crime? Wearing Western style hair and clothes.

Note the Iranian News logo on the photos. The government wanted these photos to be seen in the local press, to intimidate the populace.



And remember the Iranian Police publicly bludgeoning women:







All of this, with high unemployment, a rampant illegal drug problem, a housing shortage, shortages of gas and essential goods, and the much talked about marriage crisis in Iran. Is it any wonder the current Iranian government has a rebellion on their hands? There is a large majority of youth in Iran (35% of the population) with no future prospects. No matter how hard the government cracks down, the demographics are working against them. Their economic problems are so severe they make our own look like nothing. They keep hanging more and more people just to silence the dissent.

I fear this is why they are working so hard to quickly acquire nuclear weapons; they have not the means to solve their internal problems and retain power, so they need nuclear weapons so they can acquire other resources from their neighbors, by force. (See "Iran's pressing needs and Iraq's vulnerability")

The great irony in all this is that the current Iranian Theocracy was swept to power in a student revolution. Now students are revolting against them. Will these students have any help from the West?


Related Links:

Ahmadinejad brushes off Iran election violence

The Power Behind Ahmadinejad's Disputed Win: Ayatullah Khamenei

Reformist Azeri Couple Challenge Iran's Amadinejad in Upcoming June Elections
     

Hangings in Iran increase, to silence dissent

Here is a video of a recent public hanging of 3 people, two men and a woman:



More such videos can be seen here.

I know some people think "Well they are probably criminals, so who cares?" But ARE they? There has been rioting and unrest in Iran due to a number of factors; high unemployment, gasoline rationing, censorship,electricity outages, and a growing crackdown by the fashion police to enforce sharia law. I've read many, many reports like the following, citing trumped up charges used to execute political dissidents. This article refers not to the video above, buy to yet another hanging of two young men:

Hanging caught on video reveals Iran's crackdown on dissidents

[...] The film shows the public hanging of Alireza Gorji, 23, and his friend Hossein Makesh, 22, in July in Broudjerd, Iran. According to official versions of the charges, they were put to death because they had behaved 'immorally'. The truth, according to anti-government campaigners, is that the two men were among increasing numbers of political activists being executed by Iran on trumped-up charges.

'Both these men had been involved in anti-government protests in their home town and everyone who watch the hanging knew this,' said a human rights observer in Tehran.

On Tuesday the UN General Assembly condemned Iran for human rights abuses and the video - filmed by a Revolutionary Guard, smuggled out by opposition activists and seen by The Observer - is rare evidence of Iran's efforts to quell dissent. Amnesty International last year documented at least 94 public executions although many more are suspected to take place in secret - in September the authorities told a lawyer for Valliollah Feyz-Mahdavi, 28, that he had died after a suicide attempt in prison. Feyz-Mahdavi had been arrested for membership of Iran's main opposition - the People's Mojahedin Organistation of Iran.

Tehran has now been condemned on more than 50 occasions by the UN for severe human rights violations. [...]

(bold emphasis mine). Each of the public hangings usually have several people being hanged. The numbers have been increasing dramatically each year.

Cranes are used so as not to break the neck, but rather, insure the suffering by slow strangulation, which can take as long as six minutes to complete. It seems to increasingly be the preferred way to both silence political opposition and deal with a rampant unemployment problem.

For crimes like adultery there are also more traditional methods of execution still in use, like stoning people to death [video]. A nice social event for the religious men-folk.


Related Links:

Hanging in Iran
This is a prior post of mine, with more photos and details on this tragic topic.

Thousands More To Hang in Iran
A growing trend, with no end in sight...
     

Hanging in Iran

Not hanging around or hanging out, but actually being hanged...


Hanging is the most common form of execution in Iran. Group hangings are prefered in urban areas, where they can get the most visibility. Can you imagine being out on your lunch break one day, or commuting to work, or on your way to do shopping or anything, and passing by this scene? How would you feel? Imagine living in a culture where this is "normal"...


Too often I have marveled at the new uses Muslims find for the everyday technologies many of us use daily. Muslims turn passenger planes into flying suicide bombs, cell phones into remote controls for detonating bombs, and here, they use the simple construction crane as an execution device.

But why not use a gallows? The cranes have special advantages over a gallows or trap door drop, that many other countries use. A sudden drop like is used with a trap door, breaks the neck of the person being executed, and they loose consciousness immediately.

By using a crane, the loss of consciousness in avoided. The crane allows the person to be lifted up slowly, so they strangle as they dangle. The hands are tied behind their backs, but the feet are left free to kick, as the person slowly strangles and suffocates. The strangulation part takes about 3 minutes. The whole execution from beginning to end takes about 25 minutes.

This group was four men and one woman. I read that this young woman (age 23?) was lashed 80 times first.

Why were they being hanged? They were alleged to be drug traffickers. But do we know that for certain? There are many claims that dissidents are often falsely accused of crimes and executed, without a fair trial. What passes for a trial is sometimes nothing more than two minutes of questioning by a Mullah. No defense attorney, no jury.

I read that over the past several years, the amount of public hangings has been rising, and may even be in the hundreds per year. You can only wonder at how such spectacles affect people, the society as a whole.

Do they get used to it? Do they become desensitized? Here are pictures from another hanging of three men. Here are the onlookers:


It's quite a crowd. All men. What are they thinking?

Not everyone is so stoical. This guy seems upset:



Is he watching a friend or family member about to be hanged?





The other men are noosed...



And the deed is done...



One of the most notorious executions in Iran occurred in 2004, with the hanging of 16 year old Ateqeh Rajabi. She was hanged for "engaging in acts incompatible with chastity".

The details of her personal story are tragic. She was abused by men from an early age, and had no one to defend her.

She had no defense attorney. In court she took off her headscarf and addressed the judge, hurling insults at him and telling him he should be DEFENDING her, not attacking her. This so infuriated the local judge, Haji Reza, that he personally saw to it that she received the death sentence.

I read that she publicly repented, crying for her life, right before being hanged; and that under Islamic law, her repentance should have led to a postponement of her execution and a reconsideration of her sentence. But the judge would have none of that. He personally placed the noose around her neck, and gave the order for the crane to be lifted.

After the execution, "judge" Reza boasted that the girl was not put to death for her crime, but for her "sharp tongue". The court published the girls age as 22, even though her birth certificate and her national I.D. card show that she was only 16. Her hanging has caused a shockwave in Iran, as almost no one believes she deserved the sentence she received.

The Mullah's are a law unto themselves. Can you imagine what whey would do with nuclear weapons?

Sources/Related links:

The Most Wanted Mullahs In Response To 16 Year Old Girl

The Public Hanging of a Sixteen Year Old Girl in Iran

Why the Mullahs Murdered Atefeh Rajabi

American Barbarian: Iran hangs a girl from a crane, world yawns...

Public hanging: a street show in Iran

holycrime.com


UPDATE 8-03-07:

As mass public hangings in Iran continue to increase, so do videos of them that have been smuggled out of the country:

Hangings in Iran increase, to silence dissent


UPDATE 2-15-11:

Years later, the hangings still continue, with a vengeance:

Sadistic Mullahcracy in action - a mass hanging in Iran

Iran Hanging One Person Every 12 Hours

The Teheran regime has hanged 66 individuals since the end of 2010, according to France 24 International News.

Among them was a 46-year-old Iranian-born, Dutch national Sahra Bahrami, who was hung on January 29 on drug-smuggling charges.

Holland’s Foreign Ministry said it was “shocked, shattered by this act by a barbaric regime,” according to Agence France Presse.

Bahrami’s sister dismissed the Iranian charges, which she contended were fabricated.

“She doesn’t even smoke cigarettes, let alone possessing drugs. How could someone who participates in election gatherings and endangers her life, engage in such actions against her country?” she is quoted as telling the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.

“I am bewildered as to how my client’s death sentence was issued while her security charges had not yet been reviewed,” Bahrami’s attorney said after her death.

The Hague froze relations with Iran in the wake of the killing.

Iranian officials arrested Bahrami during anti-government protests in 2009, and held her on “security charges.” She had been visiting Iran to see her relatives.

Catherine Ashton, The European Union’s representative in talks with Iran over their nuclear program, said “Executions are taking place at an alarming rate.” [...]

Read the rest. They are hanging political dissidents, on trumped up charges, without trial. Why didn't the White House support the Iranian Uprising, the way they recently did with Egypt? That was a missed opportunity. The Iranian protesters are now being killed for it.

Radio Netherlands will begin broadcasting news bulletins to Iran in the Farsi language, in response to Sahra Bahrami's execution.