Iria Vasquez-Paez

Back when I was trapped in my codependent friendships, I felt that I was doing way too much work, which is why I dumped the ex in the first place. An ex friend was busy relying on me (female), to meet all of her needs. I wasn’t getting much in return. I was all too willing to help her at first but then I realized just how very manipulative she was being towards me. This is why I dumped her as a friend. I was busy letting her continue her self-destructive behavior. I was raised in a dysfunctional and ill family, of course. This is why it went that far. I have massively low self-esteem I’m working on. I’m terrified of moving to Los Angeles and starting school, and being so overwhelmed by my feeling of inadequacy that I start drinking again. I feel guilty about feeling good because of my medication while my family doesn’t do medication at all.

What is fake news? What are alternative facts? What is political brainwashing? Fake news is called such because it is seen as being reported by a non-legitimate news agency, thus becoming political gaslighting. Alternative facts are about total lies to the American people by the Machine. The mere division between Democrat and Republican reeks of political brainwashing because really, they work together to further national interest. The Machine only takes news questions from Fox News. This is the way Republicans think, even though Democrats are part and parcel of the same coin. “Fake News” is a term that undermines legitimate news sources like CNN. Supporters of the Machine are brainwashed into believing what the Republicans say. Politicians deal with many untrue news stories that are, in fact, the real fake news. Real journalists use the term “fake news” to call out news that is an obvious fabrication.

Whenever an anti-vaxxer friend of mine posts rude things about how vaccines cause autism, I’m reminded that vaccines do not cause autism. It is impossible to correct somebody that brainwashed, if only because they truly believe what they have been told. College teaches you to think for yourself. Some of these people lack a college education since college teaches one to think for themselves. Having met people on the autism spectrum, I’m now more aware that autism has genetic causes. Autism is something you are born with, not made into. I’m just a neurotypical schizoaffective according to Community Health Awareness Council’s psychiatric evaluation. I’m just an ordinary schizophrenic, in which case, we will be moving on to what fake news is. Our current climate has people brainwashed into believing that normal media outlets that criticize are fake news. Well, there is such thing as the tabloids, which are pretty much fake news.

First off, start with not believing everything you hear, read, or listen to from the brainwasher. People who try to force you to believe certain things mean you very serious harm. It is worse when they say that they have your own best interests in mind, seeing as they want to help you. If they say, "I’m doing this for your own good," beware because their actions are not meant for your own good. Really listening to your gut instincts helps you when you are in the presence of someone who is gaslighting you or saying, “It really didn’t happen that way,” and messing with your perceptions. Brainwashers try to learn what they can about you just so they can manipulate your beliefs, replacing it with their own beliefs that they want you think about yourself. They want to know of your weaknesses as well as whom you trust. When they know which persons you trust, they brainwash you out of trusting them.

A brainwasher has genuine ill will towards you because they want to make you believe what they believe about who you are, which I learned from If You Had Controlling Parents, How to Make Peace With Your Past And Take Your Place In The World, Dan Neuharth. Many of them mean you serious harm because they want to strip you of what makes you, you. Cults do this for power and control over people who join them. Often, cult victims are lonely people who do not have solid friendships although personally, I’d rather be lonely than in a toxic friendship like I was in three years ago. Control over someone else is a ridiculous motive because no one can have total control over someone else’s mind, body and soul. Although to me, I feel that this occurs in my family, almost as if someone controls someone else’s spirit. Brainwashing happens in cults when control of sleeping habits, and control of access to information can happen. (Neuharth p.100) It is why I didn’t know much about schizophrenia or psychic stuff growing up because my family didn’t provide me with many resources about it.

That expression, “when something is too good to be true, it usually is,” has actually been real in my life. Because of my current set of medications including Lamictal, I find myself harder to brainwash in the immediate present since I started Lamictal until now. The way brainwashing works is that the brainwasher starts off by making you feel really good. If you struggle with self-esteem like I do, then they make a huge effort to make you feel really good. This is why I’ve stared therapy at a local college yet again. I have stuff I need to sort through, skills I need to learn, and in general, I have to get my head together. Brainwashing is a repetitive phenomenon in which you are told the same things over and over again until you believe it. Some people are so used to it, they walk around unaware that they’ve been brainwashed to put up with abuse.