@Secular500,
Mind control is not what most people believe it to be. Though the term brings to mind images reminiscent of science fiction movies in which someone is being drugged and then exposed to certain sights and sounds designed to alter their future thoughts and behavior, the truth is that mind control is everywhere. As for myself, I recall being exposed to mind control from a very early age. It started with my being taught which behaviors brought reward, and which behaviors brought punishment. From there it escalated into a constant drilling of my mind, with the intention that I fit in and appear normal.
First I learned the difference between boys and a girls (keep in mind that I’m talking about 1960). Boys had short hair while girls had long hair. Boys wore pants while girls tended to wear dresses. Boys wrestled and played with guns while girls played house and played with dolls. And the list of differences went on and on. Then came school. Every morning I had to stand with the rest of the kids, place my right hand over my heart, and say the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. I had no idea what pledge meant, nor allegiance. I also had no clue as to what the republic--for which the flag stood--was. And as far as the words “one nation under God, indivisible . . .” I did know what indivisible meant. It meant that you could walk into a room full of people, and no one would be able to see you.
I was five years old. The teacher knew that I had no idea what I was reciting and what it meant, and apparently it didn’t matter. I guess the important thing was that I repeat it over and over and over again. Soon after, it was made clear to me that I was to never . . . ever treat the flag with disrespect. Later in life I learned that you can poison the land that the flag represents, but that you had better treat the flag as if it were your own hair. So, in a sense, I was being mind-controlled to accept the idea that symbols are more real than the reality they represent.
Then came the issue of school report-cards. While it was true that you could receive a D- in every subject and still get passed on to the next grade, it was nevertheless made clear to you that you were somehow mentally inferior to the kids who received Bs and As. Conversely, it was made clear to the A and B students that they were mentally superior to the D students. The impact of that conditioning was reflected in one’s choice of playmates; generally, A-students didn’t hang out with D-students, and vice versa. Consequently, it was inevitable that each group would develop a mutual underlying contempt for each other. Social standing was also determined by financial status. If your parents had money, it was obvious by such things as the clothes you wore and the quality of your shoes. I never hung out with kids whose higher quality clothing stood in stark contrast to what I was wearing.
These things may seem innocent enough, but in fact they set the tone for the rest of our lives. Our minds were controlled in such a way that we were compelled to judge others and ourselves as being worthy or not worthy based on some criteria which was put in place and set in motion for us by our predecessors. But don’t blame them. They were no less victims of the same control by their predecessors. And the beat goes on.