DEFINITION
Conditioning
A learning process in which an organism’s behaviour becomes dependent on the occurrence of a stimulus in its environment
Establish a conditioned response
Most of us have heard about the experiments done by the russian scientist, ivan pavlov (russian physiologist who observed conditioned salivary responses in dogs), where, as far as I know he took a dog, rang a bell, and then presented food each time to the dog. Over time, he observed that even when he just rang the bell and presented no food, the dog salivated. Experiment ended. Result: It is easy to condition an animal.
You and I may think we have nothing in common with the unfortunate dog, who was probably still salivating every time he heard a bell until the day he died, but we do. And it is in this discussion that we are going to explore how this happens.
It all starts from the moment you are born, although you wouldn’t know it, and unfortunately, the ones who love you most, are the ones who start the ball rolling. You see, our parents have themselves been conditioned by their own parents, religious and political leaders, media, teachers, and peers. They have become used to acting a certain way, and it is their duty as responsible parents to pass on that “knowledge,” to you, the small bundle of joy entrusted to them.
“Ok, alan, good luck on your first day of school, make sure you do everything the teacher tells you, and don’t answer back; and make sure you drink your milk, because it’s good for you. I’ve got a roast chicken for dinner, so make sure you don’t eat any sweets! Ok? Love you. Bye.”
“Bye mum, love you too.”
And so you trundle off into school, wearing your regulation uniform (if that exists in your country) trying to remember everything:
“Don’t answer back, do as I’m told, drink my milk, and something about roast chicken.”
You are greeted by the head-teacher who is very nice, and makes you feel right at home. You do some nice paintings, do some adding up, and some singing, and are met at the school gate several hours later. Now what could be wrong with that? It seems perfectly “normal,” doesn’t it?
Of course you have to be polite; of course you have to do what you are told. You are five years old and you don’t know anything about the world. You have a child’s mind. It is undeveloped. That is why you are going to school. These teachers know best, like mum knows best; they are much older than you.
On your second day, you all go into the main hall where you will be learning how to sing the national anthem (a song of devotion or loyalty (as to a nation or school)). If you live in britain, it goes something like “god save our gracious queen, blah, blah, blah, blah” (sorry I can’t remember it).
Your time of learning has come, and over the next few years, you are taught about the language of your country, taught to remember some history, learn some maths, and some science, and more than likely religion of some kind; you will go on visits to zoos to look at the animals, you will learn about art and culture, politics, architecture, and you will end up playing some kind of sport.
They really do try to give you a broad education, you see. Alongside that education, you will be schooled in the art of being polite, not breaking the law, saying your prayers, how to dress appropriately, and you will hear personal opinions, cast in stone as fact.
You will see what newspapers your parents read, what tv programs they watch, their views on immigration and ethnic minorities, what job they do, what class they are in, how they speak about others, whether they drink alcohol or smoke, and what political parties they vote for. All the time your young mind is soaking it up.
Meanwhile, the media (including magazines, radio, music, and tv), and advertisers will be teaching you all about products they want you to buy, either now or in later life. You will also be instructed on what programs to watch, what music to listen to, what to believe, and what not to believe. And all the while, you will learn of the traditions of your country; everything from christmas (in christian countries, or some other major religious festival if your parents belong to another religion), to the traditional sunday roast dinner if you live in britain, and birthday celebrations etc…
You will attend weddings and perhaps, when you are old enough, funerals.
What they are doing is giving you a fine education. That’s all it’s about isn’t it? Education.
We’ve just skipped over this quickly, and tried to include as many points as possible, and I am sure we have missed some important things out, but that can’t be helped. Maybe you don’t like where this topic is going; maybe you can see already what has been happening to our young subject, and you have done it to your own children, maybe you don’t care.
Let’s find out what a fine lad we have turned out as he leaves university. Conditioning report:
Subject number 6103404583
Name: A. Human
Political persuasion: Conservative. Believes government isn’t tough enough on immigration.
Diet: Meat eater, dairy products, loves sunday roasts, and beer.
Tv: Likes comedy, and police drama, doesn’t like soap operas or daytime tv.
Music: Likes rock and dance.
Beliefs: Believes in god. Is a protestant, but not practising.
Education: Has just completed a degree in politics.
Ambition: To go into politics.
Successes: Was top of the year on final year at school. Was team rugby captain at university. Won a prize for man of the match on national game.
Traditions: Loves christmas and having the family all together. Especially loves gifts. Plans to marry a girl in a big church wedding.
Nation: Is very nationalistic. Believes in our country and what it stands for.
Social policy: Believes we should lock up all drug addicts. Be tougher on crime. Thinks young people get away with too much. Doesn’t like swearing.
Tax: Believes we should cut taxes for higher earners.
Newspapers: Only the intellectual ones.
Extremist views: None to mention. Was concerned for the well being of animals in the zoo when he was young. Convinced by the teacher that they liked being in the cages.
Conditioning complete: Move on to next subject
All in all he looks like he’s going to be a nice young man, doesn’t he? I think he will be an asset to our society! I wonder what his family are like?
Well, the chances are they aren’t communist freedom fighters or criminals, what do you think?
So, how long do you think it took to condition that child in total? Five years, ten years, twenty years?
However long it took, it is something he will blindly carry with him. It would take about the same time to condition a child to be a vegetarian, anti-capitalist, or animal rights activist; but it’s still conditioning, do you see? Some of you may confuse education with conditioning, and think he was given a “decent” education by “decent” parents. His parents could have been violent, thoughtless criminals, and they would condition him as well. We are not saying you will become exactly like your parents – far from it. What we are saying, is that the education children get, is a one way street.
From the moment the child was old enough to eat solid foods, mummy rolls up a lovely piece of ham and pops it in the child’s mouth. “Come on eat up your meat, there’s a good boy,” without one thought, that from now on, unless the child gains some insight into himself, he will be a meat eater. You, the mother have provided something for the child to eat, and he has eaten it, the end. He is a meat eater. He will have no thought of the suffering that the animals go through.
Millions upon millions of them suffer just because mummy says eat your meat, so you do.
Why does he believe in nationalism? Because dad was nationalistic, they sang nationalistic songs at school. They watched the queen’s speech at christmas. There could be many reasons, but one thing is for sure; the way people blindly do things without questioning them can mean only one thing, that they have been conditioned to blindly accept everything they are told by people in authority – whether that be the church, the state, or both.
But conditioning can only happen because people are asleep. They just do as they have been told, and pass on the information. And who provides it? Our grandparents, and our parents, but more sinisterly the government, the media, the church, the multinational corporations, and the advertisers. All doing their bit to get you thinking their way.
I am not a machine. I am a human being
So how much is the conditioning and how much is the real person? That’s a good question. You see it depends what we believe was passed down through the genes, but you can be damn sure that what political party your dad voted for, or whether he was a meat eater isn’t passed down.
I would have to say that I believe the human being is born with an empty tank ready to be filled with the information of the day about how things are, how they were, and how they should be. And the more we fill up the tank for them, the more conditioned they become. We always offer what we say as truth as we have never explored it for ourselves. Someone told us, and we believed it, because it fitted in with our own conditioning. But it doesn’t stop once we reach eighteen. No, it goes on and on; through the people we work with, and the people we meet socially, all telling us something “vitally important.” But if I tell you to be a vegetarian because it hurts the animals, and you just do it, then I have conditioned you also. Do you see? That’s why we must question everything, even if people laugh at us for being so silly to ask; and we must never tell our children that this is right and that is wrong without investigating it for ourselves first.
What is the point of telling your children that the immigrants are taking our jobs if you haven’t investigated it thoroughly with an open enquiring mind?
If you haven’t found out the truth of it.
And anyway why would you try to convince your child of anything? Maybe so he always says “You’re right dad.” In fact, think about everything you say and do! Think about what you believe in, and why you believe in it.
Where did this belief start? Did you investigate it for yourself? And while we’re on the subject, always tell your children to question everything. Don’t just tell them to be quiet and respectful, and just listen to what the adults are talking about, because I’m sorry, “the adults” just don’t know nothing worth knowing!
All we do is repeat the past like automatons, blindly believing and conditioning others, assured that we know “best.”
Hello! Is there anybody in there? If there is, then wake up!
We do not know the truth, because we have not found out for ourselves; and so we remain conditioned individuals in our conditioned country. The conditioning has become the culture! So whilst you are all trying to condition all the children, I hope you wake up before they do, because if it’s the other way round you are going to have to try to come up with a lot of answers! Wake up before that happens.
