start small, and build. The Chinese understood that the way we identify
anyone is by their actions. For example, how do you know who your friend really is? Isn't it by the way
he or she acts, the way he or she treats people?
The Communists' real secret, though, was that they understood that we determine who we are—our
own identities—by judging our own actions as well. In other words, we look at what we do to
determine who we are. The Chinese realized that in order to achieve their broader objective of
changing the prisoner's beliefs about his identity, all they had to do was get the prisoner to do things
that a collaborator or a Communist would do.
Again, this is not a simple task, but they realized it could be done if they simply could wear the
American POW down through conversation that lasted twelve to twenty hours, and then make a minor
request: get him to say something like "The United States is not perfect" or "It's true in a Communist
country that unemployment is not a problem." Having established this footing, the Chinese would
simply start small and build.
They understood our need for consistency. Once we make a statement that we say we believe, we
have to be willing to back it up. They would merely ask the POW to write down some of the ways in
which America is not perfect. In his exhausted state, the GI was then asked, "What other social
benefits are there to communism?" Within a short period of time, the GI would have sitting in front of
him a document not only attacking his own nation, but also promoting Communism with all the
reasons written in his own handwriting. He now had to justify to himself why he'd done this. He'd not
been beaten, nor had he been offered special rewards. He'd simply made small statements in his need
to stay consistent with the ones he'd already written, and now he'd even signed the document.
anyone is by their actions. For example, how do you know who your friend really is? Isn't it by the way
he or she acts, the way he or she treats people?
The Communists' real secret, though, was that they understood that we determine who we are—our
own identities—by judging our own actions as well. In other words, we look at what we do to
determine who we are. The Chinese realized that in order to achieve their broader objective of
changing the prisoner's beliefs about his identity, all they had to do was get the prisoner to do things
that a collaborator or a Communist would do.
Again, this is not a simple task, but they realized it could be done if they simply could wear the
American POW down through conversation that lasted twelve to twenty hours, and then make a minor
request: get him to say something like "The United States is not perfect" or "It's true in a Communist
country that unemployment is not a problem." Having established this footing, the Chinese would
simply start small and build.
They understood our need for consistency. Once we make a statement that we say we believe, we
have to be willing to back it up. They would merely ask the POW to write down some of the ways in
which America is not perfect. In his exhausted state, the GI was then asked, "What other social
benefits are there to communism?" Within a short period of time, the GI would have sitting in front of
him a document not only attacking his own nation, but also promoting Communism with all the
reasons written in his own handwriting. He now had to justify to himself why he'd done this. He'd not
been beaten, nor had he been offered special rewards. He'd simply made small statements in his need
to stay consistent with the ones he'd already written, and now he'd even signed the document.
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