This has killed 6 million Jews during the Second World War. The virulent antisemitism was rooted in unchecked information pointing the Jews as the enemies, and their extermination was regarded as right. The brainwashing can go from visible signs like the swastika to more subtle ways, like bad jokes (you cannot imagine how much misogynism those jokes with blond women can trigger...). The best brainwashers are dictators, politicians, clericals, advertising agents, traders, journalists, radio and TV personalities, and others.

Sometimes the propaganda can have a positive purpose, like reducing the number of those drunk driving, but it can also lure you into smoking for example or hating minorities. The multiplying communication means, from written press to radio, TV, phone and Internet mean you are bombarded with messages, and in many cases you take them for good without checking them. Propaganda is rapid and eschews logic, exploiting insecurity or ambiguity of the speech.

Even the ancient pyramids were the pharaohs' propaganda, an image of their power and durability; so was the Roman architecture: glorifying the empire. But propaganda reached another level during the Second World War, one of contra-information, and Hitler with Goebbels proved very skilled in this. During the Cold War, the Communist block appealed heavily to it to present the Western World as one of the evil (sounds familiar with Al Qaeda?). But when smoking is presented to you as trendy, attractive and healthy, this is also brainwashing. Specialists use personalities to do this. And with impact.

These are some brain washing methods:

1.Lies. Antisemitism for example is rooted from the Medieval Europe. Martin Luther wrote in 1534 "They poisoned the wells, killed people and kidnapped children... They are evil venomous snakes, cunning and vengeful: assassins and Devil's children... Fire their synagogues and schools...". In a medieval Europe in which few traveled far from their village, people really believed such nonsense.

2.Generalization. They hide what's really important about the discussed issue which leads to the whole group being put in a bad light. "Gypsies (or immigrants) are criminals". This is often heard in western European media. But a survey showed that, for example, 96% of the crimes occurring in Greece are committed by Greeks. In fact, these crimes are rooted in social and economic issues, not ethnic.

3.Injuries. Many people insult those who doubt their character or reasons, putting on a negative label easy to retain, hoping it will stick. This way the others can reject the person(s) based on this (and you've got brainwashed) or not. This method went along history from people being thrown in jail to wars. For example, two "Guardia Civil" in Spain were shot dead in a remote driveway. The media accused ethnics from an Eastern European country, and the people believed it, even if in that country fire guns are almost non-existent. Later, it was found that the murderers were Colombians, but the damage was done: everybody associated those East Europeans with a criminal nation.

4.Feeling exploitation. In the previous case, fear was manipulated too. Hate also works, especially when exploiting negative feelings towards religious, ethnic or racial groups. Humans are also stupid peacocks and pride can be easily manipulated through key expressions like "Any intelligent person knows...", "a person with your education cannot agree with that...". People are extremely afraid not to be considered stupid and brainwashing exploits this: it makes them even more so.

5.Slogans are fuzzy messages expressing points of view and goals, easy to be agreed, like "Freedom or death", "motherland, faith and family" and so on. With just a sign, the peaceful crowd can be turned into a blood thirsty army.

6.Symbols and signs like flags, military greeting or cannon fusillades, national symbolism (like motherland, ancestral land or church).

All these methods can paralyze reason, darken clear judgement and discernment, and can involve you in mass actions.

How can this be avoided?

1.First, education and brainwashing don't work hand in hand. Education makes you see all the sides of an issue, not only what the brainwasher presents you. Often, their real motivations are clear. They aim at feelings, not logical thinking. They want to give you the feeling of belonging if you follow them.

2.Be selective, without being obtuse, as this way you can reject facts that can cloud your thinking. Still, you have to be receptive to new information.

3.Use discernment. Reason and appreciate things just the way they are. This way you are able to notice the subliminal issues of an idea Thus avoiding useless or tricky information and seeing only the essence.

4.Check information. Do not absorb like a sponge all that you hear. And in the end, most of what you hear are just opinions.

5.Ask yourself about the motivations of the other(s), and don't follow the crowd. What the others believe is not necessarily true or right. The general opinion is not a real barometer. Even many historical stands proved wrong later.