Episode 63: The Brainwashing Of Our Loved Ones
Guest: Filmmaker Jen Senko
https://scottaaronrogers.substack.com/
https://www.thebrainwashingofmydad.com/
Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve been talking about modern masculinity and how manosphere personalities exploit men’s insecurity in the face of a changing world for profit and power. Unfortunately, this is not an entirely new phenomenon, but the evolution of a long-term project. The massive tree of right-wing indoctrination was planted decades ago, seeded by kooky John Birch Society conspiracy pamphlets in the 1950s and 60s, growing tall and strong with media deregulation in the 80s and 90s, and now bearing misinformation and grievance in abundance. My guest today saw someone special poisoned by this intoxicating fruit and, in her efforts to find the cure, uncovered the roots of the thing.
Jen Senko is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, author and truth-in-media activist. Her documentaries focus on socio-political themes with the intent of inspiring discussion and fomenting change. Narrated by actor Matthew Modine, Senko’s 2016 documentary, The Brainwashing of My Dad tracks the pernicious and disastrous rise of right-wing media and reveals the forces by libertarian billionaires behind it. The film is told through the lens of her father, who like millions of other Americans, his politics and especially his personality, were radically transformed after he discovered hate radio and Fox “News”. Jen delves into how this media actually changes the brain and why it was used to manipulate millions. This widely acclaimed project has won numerous awards, including the prestigious 2021 Webby People’s Voice Award in Public Service & Activism, has screened in festivals and theaters across the U.S, in Canada, England, Ireland and Sweden. She continues to have screenings around the country often accompanied by a Q&A. The Brainwashing of My Dad has been adapted into a book by the same name which was published in October, 2021.
In our conversation, we’ll talk about the movie, the masterminds behind the vast right-wing disinformation machine, the psychological tricks they use to suck people in, how she and her mother eventually broke the spell it had on her dad, and how we can begin to do the same with our loved ones.
Cited in the Interview
Rush Limbaugh: https://www.nbcnews.com/media/fox-news-president-trump-was-rush-limbaugh-rcna293
Drudge Report: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drudge_Report
David Brock: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Brock
The Business Plot Against FDR: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/coup-jan6-fdr-new-deal-business-plot-1276709/
James McGill Buchanan: https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/james-m-buchanan-segregation-and-virginias-massive-resistance
Charles Koch and the John Birch Society: https://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/01/13017/how-charles-koch-backed-john-birch-society-height-its-attacks-martin-luther-king
Accuracy in Media: https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/accuracy-in-media/
Roger Ailes, Nixon’s Television Man: https://www.nixonfoundation.org/2017/05/roger-ailes-nixons-television-man/
A Plan for Putting the GOP on the News: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5024551-A-Plan-for-Putting-the-GOP-on-the-News/
The Powell Memo: https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/democracy/the-lewis-powell-memo-a-corporate-blueprint-to-dominate-democracy/
Mandate for Leadership: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandate_for_Leadership
The Reagan-Murdoch Connection: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2003/aug/24/rupertmurdoch.business
The Fairness Doctrine: https://sisyphuslitmag.org/2018/07/the-fairness-doctrine-how-we-lost-it-and-why-we-need-it-back/
Equal Time Rule: https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/equal-time-rule/
Talk Radio’s Rise After Fairness Doctrine’s Fall: https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2021/how-rush-limbaughs-rise-after-the-gutting-of-the-fairness-doctrine-led-to-todays-highly-partisan-media/
Telecommunications Act of 1996 Led to Media Consolidation: https://inthesetimes.com/article/supreme-court-media-consolidation-fcc-echo-chamber
Six Corporations Control Most US Media: https://techstartups.com/2020/09/18/6-corporations-control-90-media-america-illusion-choice-objectivity-2020/
A Clockwork Orange Brainwashing Scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rU2Wpx3Chrk
Edward Bernays, Father of Modern Propaganda: https://www.apa.org/monitor/2009/12/consumer
Addictive Qualities of Anger: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/culture-shrink/201508/angers-allure-are-you-addicted-anger
Brain Differences in Conservatives, Liberals: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/conservative-and-liberal-brains-might-have-some-real-differences/
How TV Induces a Hypnotic State: https://web.cs.ucdavis.edu/~koehl/Teaching/ECS188_F19/Reprints/Mander_Chapter10.pdf
Audio Most Intimate Medium: https://uk.themedialeader.com/radio-the-intimate-medium/
Goebbels and the Big Lie: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/joseph-goebbels-on-the-quot-big-lie-quot
“Makers” and “Takers”: https://www.mediamatters.org/lou-dobbs/makers-vs-takers-romneys-47-percent-rhetoric-echoes-fox-news
Hear Yourself Think Project: https://hearyourselfthink.org/
Sarah Silverman Converts Former Troll: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/outintheopen/switching-sides-1.5084481/former-twitter-troll-credits-sarah-silverman-with-helping-him-see-how-important-talking-is-1.5094232
The Game Is Up Movie: https://thegameisupmovie.com/
CEO Shooter Receives Surprising Bipartisan Support: https://www.newsweek.com/unitedhealthcare-ceo-shooting-ben-shapiro-matt-walsh-backlash-1997728
The Sanders-Trump Voter: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/09/upshot/voters-trump-bernie-sanders.html
Once again, that was award-winning documentary filmmaker Jen Senko.
I’m really glad I got a chance to speak with her and share that conversation with you before the holidays. This time of year can be incredibly stressful for a variety of reasons - seasonal depression, tight budgets, travel logistics, celebrating the season for the first time since losing a loved one, ghosts of traumatic Christmases past. Increasingly, family bonds are strained by stark political divisions. From an article in Time magazine just the other day,
“today, 1 in 2 adults is estranged from a close relative. While the primary cause of these rifts is often tied to something a relative said or did, 1 in 5 directly cite political differences as the reason. Among those estranged over politics, nearly half report that the break occurred within the past year, with 1 in 7 stating it happened as recently as the month leading into the election. These disconnections often involve severing all communication, including through intermediaries, and blocking the relative on social media.
Even within intact families, the divisive influence of politics is keenly felt. One-third of American adults report feeling uncomfortable at a family gathering in the past year because of a relative's political views. Similarly, a third express concern that political disagreements could cast a shadow over future family events. “
Maybe this sounds familiar to you. It certainly does for me. I can’t talk to my dad about politics. I can’t talk to my brother-in-law about politics. And that’s… okay, I guess. There are other things to talk about - thank God for sports - but it also sucks to have to stuff down the things you care deeply about, to wear a mask with the people you should be able to be yourself around, to find yourself holding loved ones in contempt because they support things you find morally repugnant. It can be enough to make you give up, to ignore that phone call, to skip that family get-together, to cut someone off entirely.
Now, I can’t tell you what to do with the people in your life - only you know your pain threshold, and seeing our loved ones in thrall to hateful ideologies is excruciating- but, I think it’s important to remember why we loved them in the first place, that we still have more in common than what separates us, and that they are, in fact, victims of a decades-long scheme.
The Brainwashing of My Dad traces the lineage of right wing media and details the psychological tricks they use to keep their audience in a heightened state of emotion. From pamphlets to radio, then TV and internet, the operation has only grown more sophisticated and powerful each step of the way. Since the release of the film in 2016, the situation has only grown more dire. Domestic bad actors and hostile foreign governments exploit the speed and network effects of social media to find the vulnerable and exploit their fears.
Rooted in manipulation tactics first popularized by Edward Bernays - nephew of Sigmund Freud and the father of modern public relations - right-wing propaganda uses fear and anger to hijack the amygdala - the emotional part of the brain in charge of responding to danger. The associated rush of stress hormones helped our early ancestors survive the wild, but today mostly leaves us unable to think straight. From later in that Time article,
“Marital researcher John Gottman has found that when our heart rate exceeds 100 beats per minute, effective communication becomes nearly impossible. This physiological state, known as ‘flooding,’ triggers the body's fight-or-flight response, impairing the ability to process information.”
Now, I know Gottman from his bestselling book, The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work, but his work is broadly applicable to any interpersonal relationship. One of the concepts you’ll find in his work is a Ratio For Love,
“Dr. Gottman’s research on thousands of couples showed, for your partner to feel loved, respected, and appreciated, there must be 20 positive interactions for any one negative interaction. This means that every time you accidentally hurt your partner’s feelings, miss a bid [for affection], or have an otherwise tense moment in the relationship, you will need to balance that with 20 positive interactions for your partner to continue to feel loved, respected, and admired.
This statistic shocks most of my couples. However, the brain is wired to notice and respond to the negative. It is necessary for survival. What this means in relationships is that any negative interaction you have with your partner will stick out in your mind. It will take 20 positive interactions to counteract it.”
Scott, we were talking about right-wing propaganda. How did we wind up in couples counseling?
“The brain is wired to notice and respond to the negative.”
The same psychological processes that, hundreds of thousands of years ago, kept us alive by telling us, “DANGER. THERE’S A LION. IT COULD EAT YOU,” can be exploited by bad actors in the present to convince people, “DANGER. THERE’S AN INVASION OF IMMIGRANTS. THEY COULD EAT YOUR CAT.”
If we want to rescue our loved ones from the grip of mis/disinformation, we must be aware of the dual nature of the brain. One of the resources Jen mentioned, Smart Politics, has a video explaining this phenomenon using psychologist Jonathan Haidt’s metaphor of the Elephant and the Rider.
In this analogy the Rider is your rational, analytical brain - sitting atop the Elephant, able to see ahead, and seemingly in control. However, the 10,000 lb. Elephant below - irrational, skittish, stubborn - is your emotional brain. If the Elephant gets spooked, the Rider is no longer in charge.
Reaching those we fear lost is all about earning the Elephant’s trust. The video, which I will link in the show notes, goes on to describe the slow-but-steady process (think 20 positive interactions for every negative) - rooted in empathy and built on a foundation of making them feel safe enough to talk to you. The whole thing is about only about 30 minutes, and there are lot of other great resources over there at joinsmart.org.
Best wishes to you and your stubborn relatives this holiday season. I’m committed to keeping the dialog open with mine. Remember, we’ve all got a pachyderm brain up there, and you can’t tame someone else’s elephant before you have control of your own.
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