Beware of the crazy makers

“You will take me to Jabba.”
“I will take you to Jabba.” —Return of the Jedi
 
 
In Psychology there is a phrase for people who drive you mad. They are called crazy makers because they have the ability to make an intelligent and rational person doubt their own sanity.
 
It is a clever and highly effective ploy used by the narcissistic or sociopathic personality to take a perfectly rational piece of behavior and create total doubt in the mind of their victim. George Lucas knew its power and most people may know it as a Jedi mind trick. “You will take me to Jabba.” “I will take you to Jabba.”
 
I learned it when I was a child and watched a program on Saturday morning called Andy’s Gang with Andy Devine. I’m guessing George Lucas watched the show also.
 
The character of Froggy Gremlin, a childhood hero of mine, hid in a grandfather clock or stood on top of it, while Andy or a guest unsuspectingly created a recipe or read a story. Through the subliminal messages he shouted, Froggy controlled others and caused them to do or say things against their will.
 
Intermittently, Froggy would jump out and interrupt Andy replacing the expression or words with another totally unsuitable one, changing the meaning of what he was doing to make Andy look the fool. Andy would automatically repeat Froggy’s words and it always created havoc. Oh how I laughed and boy, did it work.
 
Andy would always wind up the segment tearing his hair out and looking like a raving idiot while Froggy was laughing and quite satisfied with his accomplishment. I found it all totally hysterical and entertaining. I might add that watching Froggy create total chaos didn’t prevent me from falling prey to crazy makers in my life time and again. I suppose chaos is the operative word here.
 
Yet now when I see what is happening in the world, why am I not laughing? Why do I just feel sad and stupid? Why do I not find the Froggy Gremlins of today quite so endearing as in my youth?
 
The mind trick method is effective in numerous scenarios. Marriages: “She’s/he’s the crazy one, not me.” Schools: “My teacher is a witch.” P.S. When I was a kid the teacher was always right.
 
When the phrase, “do you believe me or your own lying eyes?” Does not go far enough to achieve a desired end, the old crazy maker method kicks into gear.
 
The United States and Europe are under attack from extremists who wish to change the landscape of the planet.
 
Yet no matter how many times we are warned, how much evidence is delivered, someone shows up and says, “you are crazy and paranoid and there is no such thing.”
 
The average weak-minded individual stops, scratches the head and says, “Duh, but I could have sworn I saw a terrorist driving a plane into a building in New York. Was I dreaming that?”
 
“Of course,” the crazy maker says, “you are just overworked, get some sleep. It will all be fine tomorrow. Have you tried Prozac?”
 
These people are good at what they do, because they have been at it for so long.
 
It is a tried and true method of controlling behavior. It isn’t enough to disagree with someone, it is incumbent they be portrayed as evil and discredited in every way possible.
 
Israel, for example.
 
“Occupied territory, but I could have sworn that was part of Israel. Really, it’s yours? Huh. Go figure. Israel is evil. Are you sure? because I thought they were always under attack from their neighbors, and there was that mandate from the United Nations in 1948. No, never happened, Huh? I never knew but thanks for setting me straight.”
 
The United States.
 
“No kidding, really, we don’t have any immigration laws. I could have sworn we did. Huh, go figure. You say open borders are protected in the Constitution. Huh. Interesting. I never knew.”
 
Or the new and highly effective cover-all-your-bases attack.
 
“I’m a racist because you are being investigated for corruption. Huh, I though it was because you broke the law. Really, it’s me. I’m a racist. Go figure. I never knew I am a racist. Thanks for letting me know.”
 
“You hardly know Reverend Wright. Huh. I thought you sat in his church twenty years. Oh, but you never heard him speak and spout racist anti-American hate speak? I see now, huh go figure. My mistake. I could have sworn you said twenty years and he was your mentor, but I must have misheard. No, sorry. Thanks for correcting me. Huh. Wrong again. Crazy me.”
 
Or a favorite oldie but goodie.
 
“You can’t free Jonathan Pollard, but it’s okay to free Russian spies and Libyans who kill Americans. Okay, I see. He betrayed a friend.  No, I didn’t know, thanks for correcting my mistake. Sure, you are so right, killers deserve to go free. I forgot. I sure am a cuckoo, sometimes, huh?”
 
These Jedi mind games are so effective their usage has created a paradigm used by wrong thinking people throughout the world.
 
Now rational people who see things clearly are convinced they are the kooks.
 
When the Tea Party movement arrived on the American scene sporting grandmas and normal Americans, the crazy makers switched into high gear tactics.
 
Instantly, name-calling commenced. “They are evil extremists and kooks. Racists, who want to take away all the free stuff we are giving you. Stop them, they are the enemy! They are those crazy militia people.” I imagine this would be a real laugh for that grandma from Fort Lauderdale who was just trying to protect her Medicare payments. Or the average Joe who was sick of electing morons to Congress to do one thing and they always did the opposite as they lined their corrupt coffers.
 
It is even more difficult to stop these wannabe Froggy Gremlins, when a media that repeats and reinforces the false paradigms enables them.
 
The tragedy of this way of thinking is it works so well.
 
Mind games ultimately convince the right they are wrong. They fall into a sense of doubt and remorse about themselves and their own opinions. Confidence in their own judgment and logic is lost, and suddenly the crazy makers have won again.
 
Truth becomes untruth and wrong becomes right. It’s a world-gone-mad scenario, and normal, rational people are left scratching their heads and wondering what happened.
 
The sad part is while sane people walk about in a daze, the world looks on. We read editorials saying Russia warns U.S. we are lapsing into Marxism, or your girlfriends plead, “don’t be crazy, it’s not you it’s him and his twelve girlfriends,” or, “Constitutional Americans warn this isn’t what the Founding Fathers intended.”
 
We scratch our heads, stare blankly and walk like zombies toward our own destruction. Led like sheep to slaughter. “You will open our borders to murderers.” “I will open my borders to murderers.” “You will bankrupt America.” “I will bankrupt America.”
 
How far have we come when this world turned upside down mentality becomes the norm? When right is wrong, good is bad and we are tricked into disbelieving what our own eyes are telling us is true.
 
We need to stop scratching our heads, stand up to these Jedi mind tricksters and say, “No, you can’t see Jabba, no, we will continue to enforce the laws of this country and no, we are not a racist nation, but a good and decent people who are sick of watching crazy makers take over and destroy what we have built.”
 
November is not far away, stop scratching and start voting. “You will stop them.” “I will stop them.”