Of course, you can. Apart from a good beating, good things are usually good for you. Being brainwashed may carry negative overtones, but if your parents relentlessly ‘brainwash’ you about the essential need to get an education, they are doing you a tremendous favor. Getting an education includes learning a trade, even if your Mom would like you to become a doctor or a lawyer. A good plumber can make a lot more money than a bad lawyer. Doctors make money whatever they do.

Another example of good brainwashing is my wife’s unceasing reassurance that she loves me and needs me. That, despite, or perhaps because of, my rapidly declining ability to do much more than sit in my recliner with a silly grin in my mug. It makes us feel good to be told we are loved. Of course, I return the compliment with conviction and feeling. 

The author and his silly grin

My dog and I also brainwash each other effectively. For instance, he has convinced me he cannot survive a breakfast without a slice of ham or two. However, my efforts to change his behavior could be more successful. That dog has a mind of his own. Call him and unless you offer something he wants, he will make a point of walking away from you. I admire that and am convinced the world would be a better place if people were more resistant to obeying orders and being brainwashed. 

Jean Jacques NOT obeying orders

Children, brainwashed from Kindergarten and onwards, into some sort of belief system, will most likely adhere to it for the rest of their lives, despite being presented with sound evidence in contradiction of what they have been taught. Even more so, if parents and teachers reinforce the ideas or opinions while the child is growing into an adult. However, if they are told when they are getting a little older that it was only a fable or a fairytale, they will revisit their earlier belief, like in Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, jingle all the way. . .

Unfortunately, not only children can be brainwashed. There are so many examples, and I am not, in any way, excluding myself from that. I grew up in The Netherlands and was brainwashed into believing that ‘If you are not Dutch, you ain’t much’, and during five years of occupation by the Germans (World War II), I became convinced that the only good Germans were dead Germans. It took me a while, but I did adjust my opinion about the superiority of the Dutch and the inferiority of the Germans. They have a lot in common. They are both superior. Only kidding.

Superior Dutchman 

If you hear a certain statement or advertisement repeated very often it tends to stick sooner or later. The same with political slogans. When a politician keeps telling you, ‘I will make you free again and safe again and independent again, and I will reduce your taxes and increase your Income’, you should know it’s time to run for the hills or change the channel.

That’s what my dog does. He fact-checks and if I hold the goodies, he will follow. If not he’ll run for the hills. 

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Please also check out my previous post /https://ups-and-downs-of-old-age.com/forgive-most-and-forget-the-rest/