TED2009
Diane Benscoter: How cults rewire the brain
Bivša Moonijevka Diane Benscoter: Kako sekte razmišljaju
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Diane Benscoter govori o tome kako se pridružila Moonijevcima -- i ostala u njoj pet dugih godina. Iznosi pogled iznutra na sekte i ekstremne pokrete, te predlaže nov način razmišljanja o najproblematičnijim sukobima današnjice.
Diane Benscoter - Deprogrammer
Diane Benscoter, an ex-Moonie, is now invested in finding ways to battle extremist mentalities and their potentially deadly consequences. Full bio
Diane Benscoter, an ex-Moonie, is now invested in finding ways to battle extremist mentalities and their potentially deadly consequences. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:18
My journey to coming here today
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Moj put do današnjeg dolaska ovamo
00:22
started in 1974.
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počeo je 1974. godine.
00:24
That's me with the funny gloves.
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To sam ja sa smiješnim rukavicama.
00:27
I was 17 and going on a peace walk.
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Imala sam 17 godina i išla na mirovni mimohod.
00:30
What I didn't know though, was most of those people, standing there
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Ono što nisam znala je da većina ljudi koji stoje ovdje sa mnom
00:33
with me, were Moonies.
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pripadaju Moonovoj sekti.
00:35
(Laughter)
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(Smijeh)
00:39
And within a week
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I u roku od tjedan dana
00:41
I had come to believe
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počela sam vjerovati
00:43
that the second coming of Christ had occurred,
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da se drugi Kristov dolazak već dogodio,
00:46
that it was Sun Myung Moon,
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da je to Sun Myung Moon,
00:48
and that I had been specially chosen and prepared by God
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i da sam specijalno odabrana i pripremljena od Boga
00:52
to be his disciple.
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da budem njegova učenica.
00:54
Now as cool as that sounds,
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Koliko god cool to zvučalo,
00:56
my family was not that thrilled with this.
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moja obitelj nije bila oduševljena time.
00:58
(Laughter)
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(Smijeh)
01:00
And they tried everything they could to get me out of there.
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I pokušali su sve što su mogli da me izvuku odatle.
01:02
There was an underground railroad of sorts
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Postojala je svojevrsna podzemna željeznica, tako reći,
01:04
that was going on during those years. Maybe some of you remember it.
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tijekom tih godina. Možda je se neki sjećate.
01:07
They were called deprogrammers.
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Zvali su ih deprogrameri.
01:10
And after about five long years
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I nakon nekih pet dugih godina
01:16
my family had me deprogrammed.
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moja obitelj me je deprogramirala.
01:18
And I then became a deprogrammer.
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A tada sam i ja postala deprogramer.
01:23
I started going out on cases.
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Počela sam ići na zadatke.
01:25
And after about five years of doing this,
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I nakon pet godina toga (deprogramiranja)
01:29
I was arrested for kidnapping.
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bila sam uhićena zbog otmice.
01:33
Most of the cases I went out on
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Većina slučajeva na koje sam izlazila
01:35
were called involuntary.
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nazivani su nedobrovoljnim.
01:37
What happened was that the family
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Ono što se događalo je bilo to da je obitelj
01:39
had to get their loved ones some safe place somehow.
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nekako morala svoje bližnje odvesti na sigurno mjesto.
01:42
And so they took them to some safe place.
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Pa bi ih odveli na neko sigurno mjesto.
01:46
And we would come in and talk to them, usually for about a week.
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I mi bismo došli i razgovarali s njima, obično tjedan dana.
01:49
And so after this happened,
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I nakon što mi se dogodilo uhićenje
01:53
I decided it was a good time to turn my back on this work.
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odlučila sam da je pravo vrijeme da okrenem leđa tom poslu.
01:57
And about 20 years went by.
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I prošlo je nekih 20 godina.
02:02
There was a burning question though that would not leave me.
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Ali je ostalo goruće pitanje koje me nije napuštalo.
02:05
And that was, "How did this happen to me?"
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Bilo je to, "Kako se to meni dogodilo?"
02:08
And in fact, what did happen to my brain?
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I, zapravo, što se to dogodilo s mojim mozgom?
02:11
Because something did.
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Jer nešto se jest dogodilo.
02:14
And so I decided to write a book, a memoir,
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Pa sam odlučila napisati knjigu, memoare,
02:16
about this decade of my life.
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o tom desetljeću svojega života.
02:19
And toward the end of writing that book
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Pred kraj pisanja knjige
02:21
there was a documentary that came out.
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izišao je jedan dokumentarac.
02:23
It was on Jonestown.
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Ticao se zbivanja u Jonestownu.
02:25
And it had a chilling effect on me.
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Imao je ledeni učinak na mene.
02:30
These are the dead in Jonestown.
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Ovo su mrtvi u Jonestownu.
02:33
About 900 people died that day,
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Oko 900 ljudi je umrlo toga dana.
02:35
most of them taking their own lives.
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Većina njih je oduzela vlastite živote.
02:38
Women gave poison to their babies,
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Žene su otrovale svoje bebe,
02:42
and watched foam come from their mouths as they died.
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i gledale kako im pjena izbija na usta dok su umirale.
02:47
The top picture is a group of Moonies
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Slika na vrhu predstavlja skupinu Moonijevaca
02:50
that have been blessed by their messiah.
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kojima njihov Mesija udjeljuje blagoslov.
02:53
Their mates were chosen for them.
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Njihovi partneri su odabrani za njih.
02:56
The bottom picture is Hitler youth.
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Donja slika prikazuje Hitlerovu mladež.
03:00
This is the leg of a suicide bomber.
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Ovo je noga bombaša samoubojice.
03:04
The thing I had to admit to myself,
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Ono što moram priznati sama sebi,
03:06
with great repulsion,
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s velikom odvratnošću,
03:09
was that I get it.
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je da ih razumijem.
03:11
I understand how this could happen.
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Razumijem kako se to moglo dogoditi.
03:14
I understand how someone's brain,
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Razumijem kako se nečiji mozak,
03:17
how someone's mind can come to the place
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kako nečiji um može dospjeti u stanje
03:20
where it makes sense --
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u kojem to ima smisla,
03:22
in fact it would be wrong, when your brain is working like that --
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u stvari, bilo bi pogrešno, kad vam mozak radi na takav način,
03:25
not to try to save the world through genocide.
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kad ne biste probali spasiti svijet genocidom.
03:31
And so what is this? How does this work?
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Pa što je to? Kako to funkcionira?
03:34
And how I've come to view what happened to me
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Ono što se meni dogodilo vidim kao
03:38
is a viral, memetic infection.
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memetičnu virusnu infekciju.
03:41
For those of you who aren't familiar with memetics,
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Za vas koji niste upoznati s memetikom,
03:43
a meme has been defined as
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mem se definira kao ideja
03:45
an idea that replicates in the human brain
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koja se umnožava u ljudskom umu
03:47
and moves from brain to brain like a virus,
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i kreće od mozga do mozga poput virusa,
03:52
much like a virus. The way a virus works is --
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slično virusu. Virus djeluje na način --
03:55
it can infect and do the most damage to someone
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može inficirati i najviše naškoditi onome
04:00
who has a compromised immune system.
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s ugroženim imunitetnim sustavom.
04:04
In 1974, I was young, I was naive,
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1974. sam bila mlada, bila sam naivna,
04:08
and I was pretty lost in my world.
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i bila sam sasvim izgubljena u svom svijetu.
04:10
I was really idealistic.
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Bila sam doista idealistična.
04:13
These easy ideas to complex questions are very appealing
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Jednostavne ideje kao odgovor na složena pitanja su privlačna
04:17
when you are emotionally vulnerable.
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kad ste emocionalno ranjivi.
04:20
What happens is that
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Ono što se događa je to
04:23
circular logic takes over.
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da kružna logika preuzima stvar.
04:25
"Moon is one with God.
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"Moon je jedno s Bogom.
04:27
God is going to fix all the problems in the world.
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Bog će riješiti sve probleme na svijetu.
04:31
All I have to do is humbly follow.
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Sve što moram uraditi je da ponizno slijedim.
04:33
Because God is going to stop war and hunger --
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Jer će Bog zaustaviti rat i glad --
04:35
all these things I wanted to do --
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sve ono što sam i ja htjela učiniti.
04:37
all I have to do is humbly follow.
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Sve što trebam je ponizno slijediti.
04:39
Because after all, God is [working through] the messiah. He's going to fix all this."
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Jer, naposlijetku, Bog djeluje kroz Mesiju. On će sve popraviti.
04:42
It becomes impenetrable.
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Ovo postaje neprobojno.
04:45
And the most dangerous part of this
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A najopasnija stvar kod ovoga je
04:48
is that is creates "us" and "them,"
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da stvara "nas" i "njih",
04:51
"right" and "wrong,"
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"prave" i "krive",
04:53
"good" and "evil."
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"dobre" i "zle".
04:57
And it makes anything possible,
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I čini mogućim sve.
05:01
makes anything rationalizable.
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Čini sve objašnjivim.
05:08
And the thing is, though,
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Stvar je u tome,
05:10
if you looked at my brain
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da ste zavirili u moj mozak
05:12
during those years in the Moonies --
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tijekom godina s Moonijevcima --
05:14
neuroscience is expanding exponentially,
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Neuroznanost eksponencijalno raste,
05:17
as Ray Kurzweil said yesterday. Science is expanding.
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kako nam je Ray Kurzweil jučer govorio. Znanost raste.
05:19
We're beginning to look inside the brain.
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Počinjemo gledati u mozak.
05:22
And so if you looked at my brain, or any brain that's infected with
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I da ste pogledali u moj mozak, ili ikoji mozak inficiran
05:24
a viral memetic infection like this,
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memetičkom virusnom infekcijom kao što je ta,
05:27
and compared it to anyone in this room,
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i usporedili ga s bilo čijim u ovoj prostoriji,
05:29
or anyone who uses critical thinking on a regular basis,
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ili s nekim tko kritički razmišlja na redovnoj osnovi,
05:31
I am convinced it would look very, very different.
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uvjerena sam da bi izgledao jako, jako različito.
05:36
And that, strange as it may sound,
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A to, koliko god čudno izgledalo,
05:39
gives me hope.
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pruža mi nadu.
05:41
And the reason that gives me hope
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A razlog zašto mi daje nadu
05:43
is that the first thing is to admit
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je što prva stvar mora biti priznanje
05:46
that we have a problem.
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da problem postoji.
05:49
But it's a human problem. It's a scientific problem, if you will.
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Ali to je ljudski problem. To je znanstveni problem, ako hoćete.
05:52
It happens in the human brain. There is no evil force out there to get us.
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Događa se u ljudskom umu. Nema zle sile napolju koja juriša na nas.
05:56
And so this is something that, through research and education,
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I zato je to nešto što, istraživanjem i obrazovanjem,
06:00
I believe that we can solve.
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vjerujem da možemo riješiti.
06:03
And so the first step is to realize
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Prvi korak je shvatiti
06:11
that we can do this together,
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da to možemo učiniti zajedno,
06:13
and that there is no "us" and "them."
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i da nema "nas" i "njih".
06:16
Thank you very much. (Applause)
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Hvala vam lijepa. (Pljesak)
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Diane Benscoter - DeprogrammerDiane Benscoter, an ex-Moonie, is now invested in finding ways to battle extremist mentalities and their potentially deadly consequences.
Why you should listen
At 17, Diane Benscoter joined The Unification Church -- the religious cult whose members are commonly known as “Moonies.” After five long years, her distressed family arranged to have her deprogrammed. Benscoter then left The Unification Church, and was so affected by her experience that she became a deprogrammer herself. She devoted her time to extracting others from cults, until she was arrested for kidnapping. The shock of her arrest caused her to abandon her efforts for almost 20 years.
Now, after decades of research and study, Diane has begun to speak about her experiences. She recently completed a memoir describing her years as a member of The Unification Church and as a deprogrammer.
Furthermore, she has embarked on a new project to define “extremist viral memetic infections”. She believes that defining extremism as a memetic infection, from a cognitive neurological perspective, might allow us to develop better memes that would inoculate against the memes of extremist thought. These inoculating memes could prevent the spread of extremist viral memetic infections and their inherent dangers.
Diane Benscoter | Speaker | TED.com