TED2009
Diane Benscoter: How cults rewire the brain
Diane Benscoter: Kako kulti predrugačijo možgane
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Diane Benscoter pripoveduje, kako se je pridružila Moonijem (pripadnikom Cerkve zedinjenja) - in ostala pet let. Razkriva kot udeleženka, kako so videti kulti in ekstremistična gibanja in predlaga, kako naj na nov način razmišljamo o današnjih najbolj zaskrbljujočih spopadih.
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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Potovanje, ki me je danes pripeljalo sem,
00:22
started in 1974.
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se je začelo 1974.
00:24
That's me with the funny gloves.
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Tu sem s smešnimi rokavicami.
00:27
I was 17 and going on a peace walk.
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Stara sem bila 17
in šla sem na mirovni pohod.
in šla sem na mirovni pohod.
00:30
What I didn't know though, was most of those people, standing there
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Nisem pa vedela, da večina ljudi,
ki so tam stali, pripada Moonijem.
ki so tam stali, pripada Moonijem.
00:33
with me, were Moonies.
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00:35
(Laughter)
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(Smeh)
00:39
And within a week
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In čez en teden
00:41
I had come to believe
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sem že verjela,
00:43
that the second coming of Christ had occurred,
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da je Kristus drugič že prišel,
00:46
that it was Sun Myung Moon,
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da je Sun Myung Moon
00:48
and that I had been specially chosen and prepared by God
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in da me je Bog posebej
izbral in pripravil
izbral in pripravil
00:52
to be his disciple.
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za njegovo učenko.
00:54
Now as cool as that sounds,
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No, tako super, kot se to sliši,
00:56
my family was not that thrilled with this.
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moja družina nad tem ni bila navdušena.
00:58
(Laughter)
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(Smeh)
01:00
And they tried everything they could to get me out of there.
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In poskusili so vse,
da bi me izvlekli od tam.
da bi me izvlekli od tam.
01:02
There was an underground railroad of sorts
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Odvijala se je nekakšna podtalna prisila
v tistih letih. Morda se je kdo še spomni.
v tistih letih. Morda se je kdo še spomni.
01:04
that was going on during those years. Maybe some of you remember it.
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01:07
They were called deprogrammers.
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Imenovali so se deprogramerji.
01:10
And after about five long years
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In po petih dolgih letih
01:16
my family had me deprogrammed.
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me je moja družina deprogramirala.
01:18
And I then became a deprogrammer.
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Potem sem pa postala deprogramerka.
01:23
I started going out on cases.
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Začela sem sprejemati primere.
01:25
And after about five years of doing this,
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In po petih letih tega početja
01:29
I was arrested for kidnapping.
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sem bila aretirana zaradi ugrabitve.
01:33
Most of the cases I went out on
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Večina primerov, ki sem jih prevzela,
01:35
were called involuntary.
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se je imenovala neprostovoljni.
01:37
What happened was that the family
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Družina je morala svoje ljubljene
nekako spraviti nekam na varno.
nekako spraviti nekam na varno.
01:39
had to get their loved ones some safe place somehow.
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01:42
And so they took them to some safe place.
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In tako so jih spravljali na varno.
Potem smo prišli mi in govorili z njimi,
običajno kak teden.
običajno kak teden.
01:46
And we would come in and talk to them, usually for about a week.
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01:49
And so after this happened,
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Ko se mi je dogodilo to,
01:53
I decided it was a good time to turn my back on this work.
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sem sklenila, da je pravi čas,
da neham s tem delom.
da neham s tem delom.
01:57
And about 20 years went by.
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Preteklo je kakih 20 let.
02:02
There was a burning question though that would not leave me.
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Žrlo me je pa vprašanje,
ki me ni zapustilo.
ki me ni zapustilo.
Bilo je:
"Kako se je to zgodilo meni?"
"Kako se je to zgodilo meni?"
02:05
And that was, "How did this happen to me?"
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02:08
And in fact, what did happen to my brain?
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Dejansko,
kaj se je zgodilo z mojimi možgani?
kaj se je zgodilo z mojimi možgani?
02:11
Because something did.
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Kajti nekaj se je.
Tako sem sklenila,
da napišem knjigo, spomine,
da napišem knjigo, spomine,
02:14
And so I decided to write a book, a memoir,
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02:16
about this decade of my life.
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o tem desetletju mojega življenja
02:19
And toward the end of writing that book
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Proti koncu pisanja te knjige
je bil narejen dokumentarec.
je bil narejen dokumentarec.
02:21
there was a documentary that came out.
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02:23
It was on Jonestown.
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Prikazoval je Jonestown.
02:25
And it had a chilling effect on me.
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Zmrazilo me je.
02:30
These are the dead in Jonestown.
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To so mrtvi v Jonestownu.
02:33
About 900 people died that day,
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Okoli 900 ljudi je umrlo tistega dne,
večina si je življenje vzela sama.
večina si je življenje vzela sama.
02:35
most of them taking their own lives.
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02:38
Women gave poison to their babies,
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Ženske so dale strup svojim otrokom
in gledale, kako jim je iz ust
prihajala pena, ko so umirali.
prihajala pena, ko so umirali.
02:42
and watched foam come from their mouths as they died.
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02:47
The top picture is a group of Moonies
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Na zgornji sliki je skupina Moonijev,
02:50
that have been blessed by their messiah.
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ki jih je bil blagoslovil njihov prerok.
02:53
Their mates were chosen for them.
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Družice so bile izbrane za njih.
02:56
The bottom picture is Hitler youth.
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Na spodnji sliki je Hitlerjeva mladina.
03:00
This is the leg of a suicide bomber.
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To je noga samomorilskega bombaša.
03:04
The thing I had to admit to myself,
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Kar sem si morala priznati,
03:06
with great repulsion,
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s hudim odporom,
03:09
was that I get it.
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je, da razumem.
03:11
I understand how this could happen.
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Zdaj razumem,
kako je do tega lahko prišlo.
kako je do tega lahko prišlo.
03:14
I understand how someone's brain,
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Razumem, kako lahko možgani,
03:17
how someone's mind can come to the place
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razum, pride do tega,
03:20
where it makes sense --
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da je prav -
dejansko bi bilo narobe,
če bi vaši možgani tako delali -
če bi vaši možgani tako delali -
03:22
in fact it would be wrong, when your brain is working like that --
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03:25
not to try to save the world through genocide.
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ne rešiti sveta z genocidom.
03:31
And so what is this? How does this work?
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Kaj je to? Kako deluje?
03:34
And how I've come to view what happened to me
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In kako sem prišla do spoznanja,
da sem doživela
da sem doživela
03:38
is a viral, memetic infection.
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virusno, memetično okužbo.
03:41
For those of you who aren't familiar with memetics,
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Za tiste, ki ne veste, kaj je memetika,
03:43
a meme has been defined as
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mem je definiran kot zamisel,
ki se razmnožuje v človeškem umu
ki se razmnožuje v človeškem umu
03:45
an idea that replicates in the human brain
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03:47
and moves from brain to brain like a virus,
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in prehaja z uma na um kot virus,
zelo podobno kot virus.
03:52
much like a virus. The way a virus works is --
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Virus dela tako - lahko okuži
in povzroči hudo škodo nekomu,
in povzroči hudo škodo nekomu,
03:55
it can infect and do the most damage to someone
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04:00
who has a compromised immune system.
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ki ima oslabljen imunski sistem.
Leta 1974 sem bila mlada,
bila sem lahkoverna,
bila sem lahkoverna,
04:04
In 1974, I was young, I was naive,
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04:08
and I was pretty lost in my world.
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in v svojem svetu sem
bila precej izgubljena.
bila precej izgubljena.
04:10
I was really idealistic.
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Res sem bila idealistična.
04:13
These easy ideas to complex questions are very appealing
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Preproste zamisli k zapletenim
vprašanjem so zelo privlačne,
vprašanjem so zelo privlačne,
04:17
when you are emotionally vulnerable.
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ko si čustveno ranljiv.
04:20
What happens is that
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Tako se zgodi,
da prevlada krožna logika.
04:23
circular logic takes over.
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04:25
"Moon is one with God.
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"Moon je eno z Bogom.
04:27
God is going to fix all the problems in the world.
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Bog bo popravil vse težave na svetu.
Moram samo ponižno slediti.
04:31
All I have to do is humbly follow.
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Kajti Bog bo ustavil vojne in lakoto -
04:33
Because God is going to stop war and hunger --
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04:35
all these things I wanted to do --
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vse tisto, kar sem hotela sama -
04:37
all I have to do is humbly follow.
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le skromno moram slediti.
Navsezadnje, Bog je [dejaven skozi]
Mesijo. On bo popraviti vse to."
Mesijo. On bo popraviti vse to."
04:39
Because after all, God is [working through] the messiah. He's going to fix all this."
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04:42
It becomes impenetrable.
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To postane nepremostljivo.
04:45
And the most dangerous part of this
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In najbolj nevaren del tega je,
04:48
is that is creates "us" and "them,"
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da ustvari "nas" in "njih",
04:51
"right" and "wrong,"
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"prav" in "narobe",
04:53
"good" and "evil."
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"dobro" in "zlo".
04:57
And it makes anything possible,
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To naredi, da je vse mogoče,
05:01
makes anything rationalizable.
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da se da vse upravičevati.
05:08
And the thing is, though,
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Ampak,
05:10
if you looked at my brain
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če bi pogledali moje možgane
05:12
during those years in the Moonies --
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v letih, ko sem bila Moonijevka -
05:14
neuroscience is expanding exponentially,
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nevroznanost napreduje eksponencialno,
05:17
as Ray Kurzweil said yesterday. Science is expanding.
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kot je včeraj povedal Ray Kurzweil.
Znanost napreduje.
Znanost napreduje.
05:19
We're beginning to look inside the brain.
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Začenjamo gledati v notranjost možganov.
Če bi pogledali v moje možgane ali
katerekoli možgane,
katerekoli možgane,
05:22
And so if you looked at my brain, or any brain that's infected with
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05:24
a viral memetic infection like this,
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okužene z virusno
memetično okužbo, kot je ta,
memetično okužbo, kot je ta,
05:27
and compared it to anyone in this room,
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in primerjal s komerkoli v tem prostoru,
05:29
or anyone who uses critical thinking on a regular basis,
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ali komerkoli,
ki redno kritično razmišlja,
ki redno kritično razmišlja,
05:31
I am convinced it would look very, very different.
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sem prepričana,
da bi izgledali zelo, zelo drugačni.
da bi izgledali zelo, zelo drugačni.
In to, naj bo še tako čudno,
05:36
And that, strange as it may sound,
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05:39
gives me hope.
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mi daje upanje.
05:41
And the reason that gives me hope
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Razlog, da mi to daje upanje
05:43
is that the first thing is to admit
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je, da si je najprej treba priznati,
05:46
that we have a problem.
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da imamo problem.
05:49
But it's a human problem. It's a scientific problem, if you will.
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Toda problem je človeški,
je znanstveni problem, če hočete.
je znanstveni problem, če hočete.
Dogaja se človeškim možganom. Ni
zunanje zle sile, ki bi vplivala na nas.
zunanje zle sile, ki bi vplivala na nas.
05:52
It happens in the human brain. There is no evil force out there to get us.
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05:56
And so this is something that, through research and education,
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Zato verjamem, da bomo,
z raziskavami in vzgojo to lahko rešili.
z raziskavami in vzgojo to lahko rešili.
06:00
I believe that we can solve.
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06:03
And so the first step is to realize
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Prvi korak je, da se zavedamo,
06:11
that we can do this together,
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da to lahko naredimo skupaj,
da ni "nas" in "njih".
06:13
and that there is no "us" and "them."
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Hvala lepa. (Aplavz)
06:16
Thank you very much. (Applause)
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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