Mindwarp

Years ago I studied the way that people with certain kinds of personality could influence others in a negative way. Over the last few years I've been in a position to watch it happen. Seeing it one way or another for the last six years or so with a couple of breaks.

I started blogging because of my reaction to racism that I'd seen on the web. It wasn't just racism but also a general attitude to anyone that was thought to be vulnerable. But racism was a very large part of it.

There was a definite modus operandi, plan of action in other words.

I take it that the pseudo soul searching is where people often become confused and therefore easily influenced in some cases. It was quite an education watching people who would stand out against behaviour like this become part of the problem either by supporting the perpetrators, or standing by and letting it happen and then carry on as if nothing had happened.

When I was writing about this somewhere else I wondered too if in cults and similar situations there could be an effect like falling in love when you're not quite as alert as you normally might be. That it could be chemically induced at least at the beginning of the experience.

I also wondered if it could be caused by fear of not belonging. Could there be a chemical reaction there too.

Or,perhaps, that they have little self confidence. Though I have to say there have been times when I've really had little self confidence in certain situations and I still haven't lost the original flow of thought. But people react differently.

I'm very aware that there are certain situations which would make a lot of people very nervous where I don't experience the same level of nerves. And it's certainly true the other way round as well.

There's the old tactic of treating someone badly, then being nice to them, treating them badly again and then being ultra nice etc etc. Often shown at the beginning of abusive relationships. I wonder what effect this would have on an observer who wanted to belong too. Would they start processing the bad behaviour differently.

I've seen it happen but I don't understand the process that's going through the mind of the person being influenced.