The Most Effective Inoculation Against Tyranny and Oppression is A Bulletproof Identity
note: I wrote this during COVID to shake myself, and anyone else who was ready, out of the hypnosis of learned helplessness - and it worked!
How are you surviving, evading, resisting, and escaping learned helplessness during this time of captivity, quarantine, and for many, despair, destruction, tyranny, and oppression?
Have you built a Bulletproof Identity?
During the Korean War, a group of American prisoners who had been subject to the interrogation tactics of the Chinese military was interviewed by a gentleman named Albert Biderman.
His objective was to discover the patterns in their experience that would make it possible for future American POW’s to better resist breaking under pressure. To survive, evade, resist, and escape.
He discovered 8 key factors that were engineered to produce a state of learned helplessness in prisoners:
👉 Isolation
👉 Monopolization of Perception
👉 Induced Debilitation
👉 Threats
👉 Occasional Indulgences
👉 Demonstrations of Omnipotence
👉 Degradation
👉 Enforcement of Trivial Demands
These 8 factors are all things that civilians in the US are now becoming familiar with in a modified form, no matter what side of the debate over facts one may be on during this insanely difficult time.
Of course it’s not literally the same, but we’re talking about patterns… and these patterns are apparent in quarantine.
You might look at that list above and have any number of different reactions, but what matters most is that it is happening, to millions of people, civilians, who didn’t sign up for it.
Normal families, people who get up and live their lives every day, honest, hard working people, children, everyone is effected by this right now.
You can blame it on the virus. You can blame it on the government. You can blame it on whatever you want, the result is the same.
It doesn’t matter why. It doesn’t matter what your theory is, or if you’re right or wrong. It just matters that it’s happening
And you can survive it.
No matter what you think the “facts” are, there’s a common ground we all need to share: rejection of learned helplessness, combined with a renewed focus on WHO we are as an inoculation against the mental viruses of tyranny and intolerance that threaten both America and the world.
The 8 factors above are points of pain we are all living on in one way or another, and they must be identified and dealt with if we we want to keep our freedom intact.
We can learn from Biderman’s findings, and even though the context is different, we can apply some of these learnings to our present situation to overcome it.
One kind of “inoculation” against this type of learned helplessness can be found in the “Code of the United States Fighting Force”, a code that guides the behavior and actions of service members in any situation, including if they are captured by the enemy.
Below are the articles of that code. Notice how these articles define a clear IDENTITY, MISSION, VISION, and set of VALUES.
This code creates a “Bulletproof Identity” for the ones who internalize it.
Do you have a sense of yourself that is this clear, this unshakable, this valuable?
Let’s see if you can imagine a way that this could be adapted to the current situation, and made into a model for a strategy to overcome learned helplessness during this time:
Article I:
I am an American, fighting in the forces which guard my country and our way of life. I am prepared to give my life in their defense.
Article II:
I will never surrender of my own free will. If in command, I will never surrender the members of my command while they still have the means to resist.
Article III:
If I am captured I will continue to resist by all means available. I will make every effort to escape and aid others to escape. I will accept neither parole nor special favors from the enemy.
Article IV:
If I become a prisoner of war, I will keep faith with my fellow prisoners. I will give no information or take part in any action which might be harmful to my comrades. If I am senior, I will take command. If not, I will obey the lawful orders of those appointed over me and will back them up in every way.
Article V:
When questioned, should I become a prisoner of war, I am required to give name, rank, service number and date of birth. I will evade answering further questions to the utmost of my ability. I will make no oral or written statements disloyal to my country and its allies or harmful to their cause.
Article VI:
I will never forget that I am an American, fighting for freedom, responsible for my actions, and dedicated to the principles which made my country free. I will trust in my God and in the United States of America.
The Morning Formula
In the world of entrepreneurship, business, and mindset training, there is a strategy called, among other names, the “Morning Formula”. I learned this from Taylor Welch - and started using it in 2018. It’s been nothing short of life changing.
A Morning Formula is something you tell yourself every day.
It tells you who you are, what you’re doing, why you’re doing it.
It tells you what the mission is, what’s at stake, what matters.
But mostly it reminds you of your identity.
It’s a place in your day where you get to tell yourself WHO you are, and through consistent practice, build your Bulletproof Identity.
Instead of relying on willpower, you simply become a person whose very identity pre-supposes certain actions.
Then the actions happen automatically.
It’s like a daily prayer/meditation that you say to yourself that tells you what’s going on, and it’s always the same. Anything that contradicts it, over time, gets pushed out.
And YOU get to write it.
It’s something everyone needs right now to help themself remember the best version of themself, every morning at the beginning of the day.
You can use it to program yourself for total freedom of thought and conscience, total sovereignty, and total unquestionable strength of identity, mindset, mission, vision, and values.
You can use it to become a person who has transcended the 8 factors above - by becoming the positive opposites of each one.
Because a person like this has transcended “Isolation” and is finding new and different ways to reach out and connect with others, despite the limitations they face.
Because a person like this has transcended “Monopolization of Perception” and is intelligently questioning and studying all the narratives, keeping their faith but demanding proof at every turn.
Because a person like this has transcended “Induced Debilitation” and is taking care of their body, guarding their inputs, and feeding their heart and mind with consistent, aligned positivity.
Because a person like this has transcended “Threats” and has not forgotten that they are a sovereign entity who enters into contracts with full autonomy and dignity, and cannot be scared into submission but rather selects from the options before them whichever one makes the most sense to them based on their own internal faculties of reason and perception, based on what they or their family needs in that moment, and based on the information available to them at the time.
Because a person like this has transcended the lie of “Occasional Indulgences” knows that they remain in control of their own decisions, even if their options have been limited by others by force.
Because a person like this has transcended the imagined “Demonstrations of Omnipotence” of anyone who would command and control them, and knows the difference between the Wizard of Oz and the Man Behind the Curtain, and knows they can kick the Man Behind the Curtain’s ass at any moment.
Because a person like this has transcended “Degradation” and will not submit their dignity even if their life is twisted by outside forces into an awkward and revolting shape.
Because a person like this can see past the “Enforcement of Trivial Demands” and knows the difference between what is rational, right, and just, and what is being pushed on them in an inconsistent manner to keep them on the defensive and promote a questionable agenda.
“A person like this”? What? Maybe you’re confused. Who are we talking about here?
That’s for you to decide who you become.
Who you are in the darkness is who you always were in the Light.
The Most Effective Inoculation Against Tyranny and Oppression is A Bulletproof Identity
