How cults rewire the brain | Diane Benscoter

Prevoditelj: Davorin Jelačić Recezent: Mislav Ante Omazić - EFZG

My journey to coming here today

Moj put do današnjeg dolaska ovamo

started in 1974.

počeo je 1974. godine.

That's me with the funny gloves.

To sam ja sa smiješnim rukavicama.

I was 17 and going on a peace walk.

Imala sam 17 godina i išla na mirovni mimohod.

What I didn't know though, was most of those people, standing there

Ono što nisam znala je da većina ljudi koji stoje ovdje sa mnom

with me, were Moonies.

pripadaju Moonovoj sekti.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

And within a week

I u roku od tjedan dana

I had come to believe

počela sam vjerovati

that the second coming of Christ had occurred,

da se drugi Kristov dolazak već dogodio,

that it was Sun Myung Moon,

da je to Sun Myung Moon,

and that I had been specially chosen and prepared by God

i da sam specijalno odabrana i pripremljena od Boga

to be his disciple.

da budem njegova učenica.

Now as cool as that sounds,

Koliko god cool to zvučalo,

my family was not that thrilled with this.

moja obitelj nije bila oduševljena time.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

And they tried everything they could to get me out of there.

I pokušali su sve što su mogli da me izvuku odatle.

There was an underground railroad of sorts

Postojala je svojevrsna podzemna željeznica, tako reći,

that was going on during those years. Maybe some of you remember it.

tijekom tih godina. Možda je se neki sjećate.

They were called deprogrammers.

Zvali su ih deprogrameri.

And after about five long years

I nakon nekih pet dugih godina

my family had me deprogrammed.

moja obitelj me je deprogramirala.

And I then became a deprogrammer.

A tada sam i ja postala deprogramer.

I started going out on cases.

Počela sam ići na zadatke.

And after about five years of doing this,

I nakon pet godina toga (deprogramiranja)

I was arrested for kidnapping.

bila sam uhićena zbog otmice.

Most of the cases I went out on

Većina slučajeva na koje sam izlazila

were called involuntary.

nazivani su nedobrovoljnim.

What happened was that the family

Ono što se događalo je bilo to da je obitelj

had to get their loved ones some safe place somehow.

nekako morala svoje bližnje odvesti na sigurno mjesto.

And so they took them to some safe place.

Pa bi ih odveli na neko sigurno mjesto.

And we would come in and talk to them, usually for about a week.

I mi bismo došli i razgovarali s njima, obično tjedan dana.

And so after this happened,

I nakon što mi se dogodilo uhićenje

I decided it was a good time to turn my back on this work.

odlučila sam da je pravo vrijeme da okrenem leđa tom poslu.

And about 20 years went by.

I prošlo je nekih 20 godina.

There was a burning question though that would not leave me.

Ali je ostalo goruće pitanje koje me nije napuštalo.

And that was, "How did this happen to me?"

Bilo je to, "Kako se to meni dogodilo?"

And in fact, what did happen to my brain?

I, zapravo, što se to dogodilo s mojim mozgom?

Because something did.

Jer nešto se jest dogodilo.

And so I decided to write a book, a memoir,

Pa sam odlučila napisati knjigu, memoare,

about this decade of my life.

o tom desetljeću svojega života.

And toward the end of writing that book

Pred kraj pisanja knjige

there was a documentary that came out.

izišao je jedan dokumentarac.

It was on Jonestown.

Ticao se zbivanja u Jonestownu.

And it had a chilling effect on me.

Imao je ledeni učinak na mene.

These are the dead in Jonestown.

Ovo su mrtvi u Jonestownu.

About 900 people died that day,

Oko 900 ljudi je umrlo toga dana.

most of them taking their own lives.

Većina njih je oduzela vlastite živote.

Women gave poison to their babies,

Žene su otrovale svoje bebe,

and watched foam come from their mouths as they died.

i gledale kako im pjena izbija na usta dok su umirale.

The top picture is a group of Moonies

Slika na vrhu predstavlja skupinu Moonijevaca

that have been blessed by their messiah.

kojima njihov Mesija udjeljuje blagoslov.

Their mates were chosen for them.

Njihovi partneri su odabrani za njih.

The bottom picture is Hitler youth.

Donja slika prikazuje Hitlerovu mladež.

This is the leg of a suicide bomber.

Ovo je noga bombaša samoubojice.

The thing I had to admit to myself,

Ono što moram priznati sama sebi,

with great repulsion,

s velikom odvratnošću,

was that I get it.

je da ih razumijem.

I understand how this could happen.

Razumijem kako se to moglo dogoditi.

I understand how someone's brain,

Razumijem kako se nečiji mozak,

how someone's mind can come to the place

kako nečiji um može dospjeti u stanje

where it makes sense --

u kojem to ima smisla,

in fact it would be wrong, when your brain is working like that --

u stvari, bilo bi pogrešno, kad vam mozak radi na takav način,

not to try to save the world through genocide.

kad ne biste probali spasiti svijet genocidom.

And so what is this? How does this work?

Pa što je to? Kako to funkcionira?

And how I've come to view what happened to me

Ono što se meni dogodilo vidim kao

is a viral, memetic infection.

memetičnu virusnu infekciju.

For those of you who aren't familiar with memetics,

Za vas koji niste upoznati s memetikom,

a meme has been defined as

mem se definira kao ideja

an idea that replicates in the human brain

koja se umnožava u ljudskom umu

and moves from brain to brain like a virus,

i kreće od mozga do mozga poput virusa,

much like a virus. The way a virus works is --

slično virusu. Virus djeluje na način --

it can infect and do the most damage to someone

može inficirati i najviše naškoditi onome

who has a compromised immune system.

s ugroženim imunitetnim sustavom.

In 1974, I was young, I was naive,

1974. sam bila mlada, bila sam naivna,

and I was pretty lost in my world.

i bila sam sasvim izgubljena u svom svijetu.

I was really idealistic.

Bila sam doista idealistična.

These easy ideas to complex questions are very appealing

Jednostavne ideje kao odgovor na složena pitanja su privlačna

when you are emotionally vulnerable.

kad ste emocionalno ranjivi.

What happens is that

Ono što se događa je to

circular logic takes over.

da kružna logika preuzima stvar.

"Moon is one with God.

"Moon je jedno s Bogom.

God is going to fix all the problems in the world.

Bog će riješiti sve probleme na svijetu.

All I have to do is humbly follow.

Sve što moram uraditi je da ponizno slijedim.

Because God is going to stop war and hunger --

Jer će Bog zaustaviti rat i glad --

all these things I wanted to do --

sve ono što sam i ja htjela učiniti.

all I have to do is humbly follow.

Sve što trebam je ponizno slijediti.

Because after all, God is [working through] the messiah. He's going to fix all this."

Jer, naposlijetku, Bog djeluje kroz Mesiju. On će sve popraviti.

It becomes impenetrable.

Ovo postaje neprobojno.

And the most dangerous part of this

A najopasnija stvar kod ovoga je

is that is creates "us" and "them,"

da stvara "nas" i "njih",

"right" and "wrong,"

"prave" i "krive",

"good" and "evil."

"dobre" i "zle".

And it makes anything possible,

I čini mogućim sve.

makes anything rationalizable.

Čini sve objašnjivim.

And the thing is, though,

Stvar je u tome,

if you looked at my brain

da ste zavirili u moj mozak

during those years in the Moonies --

tijekom godina s Moonijevcima --

neuroscience is expanding exponentially,

Neuroznanost eksponencijalno raste,

as Ray Kurzweil said yesterday. Science is expanding.

kako nam je Ray Kurzweil jučer govorio. Znanost raste.

We're beginning to look inside the brain.

Počinjemo gledati u mozak.

And so if you looked at my brain, or any brain that's infected with

I da ste pogledali u moj mozak, ili ikoji mozak inficiran

a viral memetic infection like this,

memetičkom virusnom infekcijom kao što je ta,

and compared it to anyone in this room,

i usporedili ga s bilo čijim u ovoj prostoriji,

or anyone who uses critical thinking on a regular basis,

ili s nekim tko kritički razmišlja na redovnoj osnovi,

I am convinced it would look very, very different.

uvjerena sam da bi izgledao jako, jako različito.

And that, strange as it may sound,

A to, koliko god čudno izgledalo,

gives me hope.

pruža mi nadu.

And the reason that gives me hope

A razlog zašto mi daje nadu

is that the first thing is to admit

je što prva stvar mora biti priznanje

that we have a problem.

da problem postoji.

But it's a human problem. It's a scientific problem, if you will.

Ali to je ljudski problem. To je znanstveni problem, ako hoćete.

It happens in the human brain. There is no evil force out there to get us.

Događa se u ljudskom umu. Nema zle sile napolju koja juriša na nas.

And so this is something that, through research and education,

I zato je to nešto što, istraživanjem i obrazovanjem,

I believe that we can solve.

vjerujem da možemo riješiti.

And so the first step is to realize

Prvi korak je shvatiti

that we can do this together,

da to možemo učiniti zajedno,

and that there is no "us" and "them."

i da nema "nas" i "njih".

Thank you very much. (Applause)

Hvala vam lijepa. (Pljesak)