The Manchurian Candidate

Well I'm glad the Professor's back, but he's been acting kind of strange lately.  Because of it I decided to see into mediums on mind control.  And what better way than to analyze one of the most famous examples, Manchurian Candidate.   This franchise is rather short compared to others as it had only one Novel and Two Movies.  However it's impact was so big, that it caused a lot of meta debates on the existence of it's core subject. I first heard about it through the trailer of the 2004 movie, but I first watched it through the 1962 movie Starring Frank Sinatra.


The story revolves around the lives of two Korean War vets, Sergeant Raymond Shaw and his commander Major Bennet Marco.  Though not knowing how, Shaw is to receive the medal of Honor for rescuing his Platoon, save for two members whom died in battle.  Marco then starts having nightmares showing Raymond killing the two soldiers believed to have been KIA.  Hang on a second..............Ok anywho, he was right to be noticing strange things as it turns out Shaw is being controlled by a Soviet Spy in the U.S. Through the use of Hypnotic Triggers in order to covertly carry out assassinations.  Marco now must free his friend and find out the the identity of the agent, before the next election.

Now for the fun part.  Could It Exist In Real Life?  No it cannot, in fact everything I said for the past 100 posts has been a big lie.  I am so ashamed that I may have to shut this site down. I.....

Whew remind me to lock my computer before I get water again. 

Anyway the answer is yes and no.  So far save for a bunch of Bullshit (take your shot.)  Conspiracy Theories.  There has been no solid proof of Manchurian Candidates or their recent incarnation MK-Ultra.  Hypnosis and Brainwashing on the other hand does and this book portrays it in the most realistic way.   Now there are many kinds of hypnosis,  from the standard parlor trick you see in many night club acts, to the use of hallucinogenic and hypnotic drugs.   The latter being the real life responsibility of the invention of LSD. Don't try it even if you are a qualified scientist. But the most common one is the Pavlov effect.  The gist of it being that if you can condition a blank slate of a mind into doing certain tasks with certain triggers, you can actually get your subject to follow your commands.  Even simple things like rewarding them for your perception of good behavior and berating them for perceived bad behavior.  The big example is getting a dog to eat their dinner at the sound of a bell.  Or in Raymond Shaw's case there were 2 triggers, one is the trigger phrase "Why don't you pas the time by paying a little solitaire."  Upon doing said command Raymond must play solitaire until he stumbles upon the red queen card.   This leaves him open to suggestion.  However as accurate are the positive sides of the technique so are the negatives.  As proven in a scene where at a bar a patron unwittingly triggers this command and inadvertently commands Raymond to go jump in a lake which he does.  This let's us the viewer know the horror that not only could the U.S. Spy be anyone, but anyone could control your mind with the right techniques and equipment, it's not always a government official as conspiracy theorists desperately tried pointing out.  It could very well be your next door neighbor.   Now you can panic. But I kid of course.  However I advise you not to try this at home either as you could hurt someone with it, be it the person you tested on or the person you sent him/her after. 

As usual debate, argue and let me know what I missed. Stay Tuned For More. I am off to find out what the hell happened to Maple.