Introduction

Recently while reading several historical non-fiction books, I came across some accounts that reminded me of some of the unpleasant things we deal with in this day and age. After giving the reading some thought, I decided to share several excerpts here on the blog, as well as my thoughts on it.

Germ Warfare

From Brainwashing: From Pavlov to Powers by Edward Hunter, Chapter 5: Camp Life, pages 154-155:

U.N. planes bombed the vicinity and thousands of tiny, shining bits of tinsel floated down. The p.o.w.’s knew it was tin foil to defect enemy radar, but the Chinese didn’t. They asked the prisoners. “Those are the germs you’ve been telling us about,” one American said with a poker face. “That’s how they are dropped.”

Whoever made this spontaneous remark never imagined what propaganda use the Reds were going to make out of it. The next morning farmers from far and near, carrying chopsticks and pails, gathered at a central spot. Each wore a hospital mask that covered his mouth and nose, and was made even more grotesque by a coat of some reddish disinfectant painted on his arms up to the elbows. The p.o.w.’s saw the peasants scatter over the fields and hunt for bits of tin foil. The Americans had a hard time to keep from bursting into laughter as they watched them inspect every inch of ground, every so often thrusting in their chopsticks and picking up a tiny bit of something, which they dropped cautiously into their pails. The scene was like a slow, macabre dance across the horizon.

Some of the Chinese air officers must have known, but kept quiet so as not to be accused of trying to defend germ warfare. Ordinary folk were evidently deceived, and this, of course, was the Red purpose. Everyone went grimly through the motions.

My Thoughts

When I first read this section the words seemed to pop out of the pages. “Each wore a hospital mask that covered his mouth and nose… disinfectant painted on his arms up to the elbows.” How could a book, written more than sixty years ago, be describing what can be seen everyday on the streets of the United States (and other countries)? But what horrified me even more was the fact that the scene described was one that took place in Communist North Korea. “Ordinary folk were evidently deceived, and this, of course, was the Red purpose.” Yes, today, no less that those many years ago, Communism seeks to deceive the “ordinary folk” and to train them to the Red Will until everyone goes “grimly through the motions.“

Mask Mandates

From A Wing and a Prayer by Harry H. Crosby, Chapter 15: Learning About the Americans From the British, page 188:

As guests of the British Council, whatever that was, we could see Noel Coward’s Design for Living at the playhouse. Be sure to bring your gas mask, the invitation said. “Since townspeople are getting slack at carrying their masks, the Lord High Mayor has decreed that they not be admitted into a public place unless they are carrying their masks.”

My Thoughts

“…not be admitted into a public place unless they are carrying their masks.” Sounds like 2020, doesn’t it? Only the regulations say that people must be wearing a mask instead of just carrying one. But why? What is the reason behind it? If we continually take precautions against every possible threat – real or imagined – we will rob ourselves of freedom, we will become slaves of fear. When I see a whole population turn to wearing masks without questioning their need or effectiveness, I do not see lives being saved; I see Life being lost. No longer are they creative individuals but controlled, restricted slaves of an all-powerful government. This is not what government is meant to be or do, this is not what human beings are meant to be or do.

Stolen Freedom

From Brainwashing: From Pavlov to Powers by Edward Hunter, Chapter 5: Camp Life, page 125:

The cat-and-mouse game that the Reds played with a man’s mind was vividly described by Captain Zach W. Dean of the U.S. Air Force. He was an oil-field engineer from Oklahoma, with deep-set eyes. When I asked him how long he had been a prisoner, he said, “Two years and four days.” I almost expected him to add the hours and minutes.

“The Reds brought you to the point of death and then they revived you,” Zach said. “Then again they brought you to death’s door, and when you were about to enter, they pulled you back.”

He gazed at me, hesitating to go on. “You may not believe what I’m going to tell you,” he said, “but after the Reds did this a few times, you were thankful to them for saving your life.

“You lost your sense of proportion and forgot that they were the ones who had almost killed you by starving you, not letting you sleep, beating you. You only knew that when you were about to die, they saved you. They did this often enough for it to consume your whole thinking process, until you were grateful enough to do anything they wanted.”

My Thoughts

While this is not so clearly visible in modern times as some other examples I am sharing today, I can still see similarities. Instead of our actual life being almost taken away then restored, it is our social life. More than a year ago, a heavy surge of rules and regulations hit the United States, closing businesses, requiring masks, and seriously restricting (or outlawing) meeting with friends and relatives. Since then it has been unpredictable waves of loosening and tightening regulations.

Instead of crying out against unjust restrictions, however, the “ordinary folk” gave in. Instead of fighting to regain lost freedom, people everywhere bandied the phrase that “this is the new normal.” New normal? It should never be normal for a living being to restricts it’s own ability to breathe; it should never be normal for social beings to stop socializing. My daily prayer is that the defenders of liberty will step forward and that this breach of freedom will be swiftly overcome.

Collective Guilt

From Brainwashing: From Pavlov to Powers by Edward Hunter, Chapter 9: The Clinical Analysis, pages 256-257

In this framework, individual guilt is a minor matter; what weighs heaviest on a man is his guilt as a member of a collectivity. He is guilty for the sins of his forebears and for all the wrongs committed by his kind. The limitless-responsibility theory has him hemmed in. He loses a sense of individuality in time or space. Confession becomes easier that way, and voluntary, too, of crimes he never committed, of crimes that never took place. Whether they actually happened, in the form confessed, becomes irrelevant. What is relevant is his need to cleanse himself of this heavy burden, of original sin, the sins of having belonged to a bourgeois society, of having forebears who were not communists.

My Thoughts

Like every human being, I am a descendant of Adam, the first man, who was created by God on the sixth day of Creation week in the Garden of Eden. Because of this I have a blood relation with every person on earth. But I am not going to take the blame for the crimes and offences of my ancestors. Slavery is wrong; racism is wrong. I do not know what my ancestors thought on these issues. But even if they believed and acted wrongly, I am not to blame for their thoughts or actions. As an individual, I can only control what I think, do, say, and believe. Any crimes committed by my forebears are not my crimes. Therefore, I am innocent of the faults of others.

Conclusion

Studying history does more than teach us about the past. It helps us to understand the present and, perhaps, even to see into the future, if that is possible.

“Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it.”

Just as you can never learn from your mistakes until you recognize them, so we cannot learn from history unless we truly know history – and not a false, warped version of the past presented to us by scheming, biased individuals, but the Truth. Outside of the truth, there is no freedom. The Truth alone shall set you free.

“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32)

P.S. You can also follow me at my other blog, Kenmore Pines 1, here.
To learn more about this blog check out my blog launch post here.