Madoff, the Stockholm Syndrome, 1984, and The Big Lie

I'm hoping that it is not only history and literature wonks that see the connection between the elements in my title but also those who pay close attention to current events. For those who may not be familiar with some of the current events here in the USA, let me say that the first term, Madoff, refers to Bernie Madoff who recently scammed many individuals, including some very high profile individuals, out of millions of dollars. He is included because he illustrates the fact that deception, when aligned with prestige and wealth, and when forcefully and cleverly conveyed, surmounts nearly any obstacle. The insidious aspect of this fraud is that the SEC and FINRA (the financial regulatory administration), were warned on several occasions that this man was involved in fraud, but turned a "deaf ear" to the claims.

The Stockholm Syndrome, as many may already know, is named after the Norrmalmstorg robbery of Kreditbanken at Norrmalmstorg in Stockholm, in which bank employees were held hostage from August 23 to August 28, 1973. In this case, the victims became emotionally attached to their captors, and even defended them after they were freed from their six-day ordeal. This syndrome illustrates that brutal treatment creates a reversal and perversion of perception within the brutalized individual. Recently, here in the US, the kidnapping of Jaycee Dugard graphically illustrated this when she told investigators she was a battered wife from Minnesota who was hiding from her abusive husband, and described Garrido, her abductor and sexual abuser, as a "great person" who was "good with her kids." Dugard has since admitted, with great guilt and regret, to forming an emotional bond with Garrido. Dugard was held captive for more than 18 years and bore children by her abuser.

This reversal and perversion of perception that occurs to individuals who are deceived and abused was notably prefigured in the novel, 1984, by George Orwell; however, in that novel, it was not presented as passively arising from within the victims; rather, it appears as a method of brainwashing that was actively visited upon the citizenry by the ruling class. This is clearly demonstrated by some of the more memorable passages:

1. war is peace
freedom is slavery
ignorance is strength --
Official Slogan of the Party

2. Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.

Book One, Chapter III and Book Three, Chapter II

3. In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it. Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality was tacitly denied by their philosophy.

Book One, Chapter VII

4. And when memory failed and written records were falsified—when that happened, the claim of the Party to have improved the conditions of human life had got to be accepted, because there did not exist, and never again could exist, any standard against which it could be tested.

Book One, Chapter VIII

5. And perhaps you might pretend, afterwards, that it was only a trick and that you just said it to make them stop and didn’t really mean it. But that isn’t true. At the time when it happens you do mean it. You think there’s no other way of saving yourself and you’re quite ready to save yourself that way. You want it to happen to the other person. You don’t give a damn what they suffer. All you care about is yourself.

Book Three, Chapter VI

The Big Lie, although the name of a film, refers to a statement made by Adolf Hitler in which he maintained the following regarding Germany's loss of the First World War in his book, Mein Kampf. There he laid the blame at the feet of the Jews, claiming that they simply told a big enough lie.

All this was inspired by the principle--which is quite true within itself--that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying. —Adolf Hitler , Mein Kampf, vol. I, ch. X.

The principle of the Big Lie is practiced still today, especially in repressive regimes. There, "enemies" of the state are demonized by lies that must get bigger and bigger if they are to have the necessary "force of credibility" to hold the people in check. And it is at this point that the efficacy of the method begins to break down, as we have seen in what has been termed the "Arab Spring." In recent uprisings, the reality of the situation is communicated via the internet and videos from phones. The offending regimes, who wish to deny any of this brutality, are forced to keep journalists out of their country so that they can maintain lies of sufficient proportion; or, to allow journalists to see only what they wish them to see, making sure that the journalists are kept on a "short leash" by their "watchers." Some leaders have even gone to the extreme of creating alternative "news" sources that claim objectivity and then present a completely fabricated account of the situation in an effort to discredit the legitimate accounts. These fabricated accounts claim to have "confessions" of "terrorists" that totally corroborate the position that the oppressors want the citizenry to believe. In this regard, see the passages from 1984 above. Some among the citizenry are so bewildered that they do not know who to believe and suffer severe emotional harm--harm that they understand as patriotism (the Stockholm Syndrome) and are willing to die for the very government that is killing children and saying that others are doing it. Others have ties to the regime, either social ties, ideological ties, or ties by virtue of employment or something else that make them more prone to believe the lies. In these cases, the individuals have fallen prey to the same forces as the victims of Madoff; they are blinded to wrong because of the social, political or other prestigious standing of the despot--a standing and glory in which they are only too pleased to bask, being unwilling to surrender their own social, economic or other standing.

The only way to keep oneself from grave emotional damage and harm in these situations is to completely divorce oneself from any loyalty to any side. One must keep oneself completely focused on only the inner Light. Get a picture of a revered individual in your faith and keep that image before your mind's eye constantly while continually affirming something like: "I AM the Resurrection and the Life." Do not, under any circumstances, get embroiled in this turmoil; simply call upon the Mighty Presence of the "I AM" to bring perfection out of it and turn your attention back to the inner Light and the image of the revered individual. If you do not have any images you can use, let me suggest that you use some image of an Ascended Master, Saint Germain, Lord Maha Chohan, and the like, which you can get on the internet. But, call, call, call the "I AM" Presence into action and take your mind and feelings off the situation.