Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism Quotes

“In sum, doubling is the psychological means by which one invokes the evil potential of the self. That evil is neither inherent in the self nor foreign to it. To live out the doubling and call forth the evil is a moral choice for which one is responsible, whatever the level of consciousness involved.”
― Robert Jay Lifton, Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of 'Brainwashing' in China

“this is the way of the Communists - using good words to do bad things”
― Robert Jay Lifton, Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of 'Brainwashing' in China

“The language of the totalist environment is characterized by the thought-terminating cliché. The most far-reaching and complex of human problems are compressed into brief, highly reductive, definitive-sounding phrases, easily memorized and easily expressed. These become the start and finish of any ideological analysis.”
― Robert Jay Lifton, Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of 'Brainwashing' in China

“He summed up his admiration-tinged condemnation of the Communists in the simple statement: "They lie so truly.”
― Robert Jay Lifton, Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of 'Brainwashing' in China

“...when he witnessed his first struggle (against another prisoner) - during which the cell chief urged everyone to "help" the man under fire - he thought to himself:

"So this is the way of the Communists - using good words to do bad things”
― Robert Jay Lifton, Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of 'Brainwashing' in China