When thinking of "mind control" or "brainwashing" you may either be frightened or interested but still the idea itself is probably sketchy. Some questions you may ask yourself are first; "Is it even possible?"~and "Is this manipulation of the mind harmful~ and to whom is it harmful to~ the person being controlled or the people around them?" Mind control is actually the shaping or the reshaping of a person's beliefs, attitude, and personality without the person knowing what is going on. The idea of mind control threatens the most basic yet important freedoms of all individuals, the freedom of speech and the freedom of thought. Some "mind control" is used on people in their conscious mind state such as thought reformation, and coercive persuasion and some of the same techniques are also used on people in the subconscious mind state such as hypnosis or while sleeping but both I believe are violations of that person's own mind. Mind control usually works by gradually increasing the idea of control over that person's or group of people's minds. The target of this type of control over a person is through the subconscious so the techniques used are usually used when our subconscious is most receptive, such as excessive repetition of routine activities, intense humiliation, or sleep deprivation.

One of the best examples of certain mind control over a large group of people with no objectors was when the Reverend Jim Jones ordered all 911 members of his following to kill themselves by drinking a mixed cyanide potion~ they did. These people were members of a "cult"~ which refers to a destructive group which uses mind control to deceivingly influence its members. These cultists were brainwashed by the megalomaniac Jim Jones who had held his people as slaves if not living zombies in a clearing they called their village in the Guyanese jungle which was named after none other than Jones himself.

Another famous example of a mind control cult was Charles Mansion's group. He called his followers the "Manson Family" and performed many ceremonial murders in 1969. Manson was arrested for those murders and was convicted and sentenced to die but was later reduced to life imprisonment. Manson said he never really used mind control but just told his followers what they wanted to hear, which is one reason why mind control is now known as coercive persuasion. Manson had many followers at his reign in the 1960's and 1970's and his cult is still growing as you are reading this.

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