How cults rewire the brain | Diane Benscoter

Prevodilac: Jelena Nedjic Lektor: Marija Milenovic

My journey to coming here today

Moje putešestvije do ovog predavanja

started in 1974.

je započelo 1974.

That's me with the funny gloves.

To sam ja sa smešnim rukavicama.

I was 17 and going on a peace walk.

Imala sam 17 godina i išla sam u šetnju mira.

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

Ono što doduše nisam znala je to da je većina ljudi koje vidite na slici

with me, were Moonies.

bila sledbenik Munijeve sekte.

(Laughter)

(smeh)

And within a week

Za samo nedelju dana

I had come to believe

poverovala sam

that the second coming of Christ had occurred,

da je došlo do drugog dolaska Hrista na Zemlju,

that it was Sun Myung Moon,

u vidu lika Sana Mjung Muna,

and that I had been specially chosen and prepared by God

i da me je Bog odabrao i pripremio

to be his disciple.

da budem njegov sledbenik.

Now as cool as that sounds,

Koliko god to dobro zvučalo,

my family was not that thrilled with this.

moja porodica nije bila oduševljena time.

(Laughter)

(smeh)

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

Sve su pokušali kako bi me izvukli odatle,

There was an underground railroad of sorts

Postojala je podzemna mreža ljudi

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

u tom periodu. Možda se neko od vas toga seća.

They were called deprogrammers.

Zvali smo ih reprogrameri.

And after about five long years

Nakon pet dugih godina

my family had me deprogrammed.

moja porodica me je dekodirala.

And I then became a deprogrammer.

Nakon toga, i sama sam postala re-programer.

I started going out on cases.

Počela sam aktivno da radim sa ljudima.

And after about five years of doing this,

Bila sam uhapšena zbog otmice

I was arrested for kidnapping.

nakon pet godina rada.

Most of the cases I went out on

Mnogi slučajevi na kojima sam radila

were called involuntary.

nisu bili dobrovoljni.

What happened was that the family

Stvar je u tome što su porodice bile prinuđene

had to get their loved ones some safe place somehow.

da svoje voljene smeste nekako na sigurno mesto.

And so they took them to some safe place.

Oni su ih odvodili na to sigurno mesto, a mi bismo

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

odlazili tamo i pričali sa njima, obično oko nedelju dana.

And so after this happened,

Kada se to desilo, shvatila sam

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

da je bilo pravo vreme da prestanem time da se bavim.

And about 20 years went by.

Prošlo je od tad oko 20 godina.

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

Jedno pitanje me je sve vreme proganjalo.

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

Pitanje: "Kako se to meni desilo?"

And in fact, what did happen to my brain?

I šta se ustvari desilo sa mojim mozgom?

Because something did.

Jer nešto se desilo.

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

Tada sam odlučila da napišem knjigu, memoar

about this decade of my life.

o toj deceniji mog života.

And toward the end of writing that book

Kada sam bila pri kraju pisanja

there was a documentary that came out.

izašao je dokumentarni film.

It was on Jonestown.

Film o Džonstaunu.

And it had a chilling effect on me.

Film me je zastrašio.

These are the dead in Jonestown.

Ovo su žrtve, mrtvi u Džonstounu.

About 900 people died that day,

Tog dana je umrlo oko 900 ljudi,

most of them taking their own lives.

a većina je počinila samoubistvo.

Women gave poison to their babies,

Žene su otrovale svoje bebe,

and watched foam come from their mouths as they died.

i posmatrale su penu kako izlazi iz njihovih usta dok su umirale.

The top picture is a group of Moonies

Na gornjoj slici vidite grupu Munijevih sledbenika

that have been blessed by their messiah.

koje je njihov mesija blagoslovio.

Their mates were chosen for them.

Njima su birani partneri.

The bottom picture is Hitler youth.

Donja slika je slika Hitlerove omladine.

This is the leg of a suicide bomber.

Ovo je noga bombaša-samoubice.

The thing I had to admit to myself,

Ono što mi je bilo jako teško

with great repulsion,

da priznam

was that I get it.

je da ja to razumem.

I understand how this could happen.

Shvatam kako je to moglo da se desi.

I understand how someone's brain,

Razumem kako nečiji mozak,

how someone's mind can come to the place

kako nečiji um prihvata,

where it makes sense --

i nalazi smisao u tome

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

čak bi bilo i pogrešno, kada vam mozak na taj način radi,

not to try to save the world through genocide.

da ne pokušate da spasite svet putem genocida.

And so what is this? How does this work?

Pa, šta je to? Kako to radi?

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

Konačno sam shvatila da je ono što mi se desilo

is a viral, memetic infection.

virusna, memetička infekcija.

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

Za one kojima ideja o memima nije poznata,

a meme has been defined as

mem je određen kao

an idea that replicates in the human brain

ideja koja se umnožava u ljudskom mozgu

and moves from brain to brain like a virus,

i prenosi se od mozga do mozga kao virus,

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

veoma slično virusima. Način na koji virus funkcioniše

it can infect and do the most damage to someone

je takav da može da zarazi i nanese veliku štetu onima

who has a compromised immune system.

koji pate od oslabljenog imunog sistema.

In 1974, I was young, I was naive,

1974. ja sam bila mlada, bila sam naivna,

and I was pretty lost in my world.

i poprilično izgubljena u svom svetu.

I was really idealistic.

Bila sam pravi idealista.

These easy ideas to complex questions are very appealing

Ove jednostavne ideje koje nude odgovor na složena pitanja

when you are emotionally vulnerable.

su veoma privlačne nekome ko je emotivno ranjiv.

What happens is that

Tada prosto ta cirkulatorna logika

circular logic takes over.

preuzme kormilo.

"Moon is one with God.

Mun i Bog su jedno.

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

Bog će rešiti sve probleme u svetu.

All I have to do is humbly follow.

Ja samo treba ponizno da pratim.

Because God is going to stop war and hunger --

Jer Bog će rešiti problem ratova i gladi,

all these things I wanted to do --

sve te stvari koje sam ja želela da uradim,

all I have to do is humbly follow.

samo je trebalo da ponizno pratim.

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

Naposletku, Bog obavlja svoja dela kroz mesiju. On će sve srediti.

It becomes impenetrable.

Postane neprobojan.

And the most dangerous part of this

Najopasnija stvar u tome je da

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

stvara pojmove "mi" i "oni".

"right" and "wrong,"

"ispravno" i "pogrešno",

"good" and "evil."

"dobro" i "zlo".

And it makes anything possible,

Sve se čini mogućim,

makes anything rationalizable.

sve možete racionalizovati.

And the thing is, though,

Mada da ste analizirali moj mozak

if you looked at my brain

u tim godima

during those years in the Moonies --

kada sam bila sledbenik Munija,

neuroscience is expanding exponentially,

neuronauka se razvija eksponencijalnom stopom,

as Ray Kurzweil said yesterday. Science is expanding.

kao što je Rej Kurcvejl rekao juče. Nauka se širi.

We're beginning to look inside the brain.

Počinjemo da sagledavamo mozak iznutra.

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

Da ste analizirali moj mozak, ili bili čiji mozak

a viral memetic infection like this,

koji je zaražen viralnim memima kao što je ova,

and compared it to anyone in this room,

i ukoliko biste to uporedili sa bilo kim u ovoj sali,

or anyone who uses critical thinking on a regular basis,

ili bilo kim ko kritički rasuđuje na dnevnoj osnovi,

I am convinced it would look very, very different.

sigurna sam da bi slike bile veoma, veoma različite.

And that, strange as it may sound,

I meni to, koliko god čudno zvučalo,

gives me hope.

pruža nadu.

And the reason that gives me hope

Pruža mi nadu iz razloga

is that the first thing is to admit

što je prvi korak da priznamo

that we have a problem.

da imamo problem.

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

To je problem ljudi. Možemo reći da je i naučni problem.

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

Dešava se u ljudskom mozgu.Ne postoji zla sila tamo negde koja nas vreba.

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

Verujem da ovaj problem uz pomoć istraživanja

I believe that we can solve.

i obrazovanja možemo rešiti.

And so the first step is to realize

Kao prvo treba da shvatimo

that we can do this together,

da ovo možemo da uradimo zajedno,

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

da ne postoji "mi" i "oni".

Thank you very much. (Applause)

Mnogo vam hvala. (aplauz)