While They're Young...

That's when you get them: while they're young. Although this post is mainly about how the U.S. military recruits fresh meat for their mighty fighting machine, this principle holds true for all aspects of life...

I once heard a Dutch psychologist and researcher explain what the difference is between believing in God and believing in Santa Claus; in the case of the latter, he explained, your parents were wise enough to reveal to you at a young enough age that he's not real. And he then went on to explain how some children, who receive this knowledge too late, have real difficulty with letting go of this belief in Santa Claus; they often throw tamper tantrums and are sad for weeks. "You're lying! Santa does exist! He left me presents every year!" And if you can remember back far enough, I bet even you, dear reader, were somewhat disappointed to learn the truth about this white-bearded jolly fat man...

Believe it or not, but it's actually harder to unlearn things you know to be true than to learn new things you didn't know before. That is unless the new knowledge conflicts with existing knowledge; in those cases we have the tendency, all of us do, to interpret new knowledge or new evidence as confirmation of our existing beliefs. That's called confirmation bias. This has something to do with the development of the brain and the fact that the flexibility of its connectome, the map of neural connections, reduces with age. Although we often complain about stubborn children, no mind is set in stone like that of a stubborn old man. I bet this partly explains why Trumpists still believe the lies spread by their Great Leader.

There are a couple of institutions that have perfected the art of getting them while they're young. One of them we've all had to deal with, and that's school. Western education has one goal, and that's to fill the young minds with everything that's needed to make them accept the capitalist status quo, and to not ask too many questions. The ones who get the highest grades are the ones who best and most dutifully repeat what the teachers told them, who are always on time and play by the rules. Instead of teaching them how to think, they teach the children what to think. The powers that be fare well when the population consists of obedient workers and citizens; they certainly don't need creative or critical thinkers.

There are two other institutions that spring immediately to mind when talking about ensnaring young impressionable minds, and they both build upon the obedience our school teachers filled our minds with: the church and the military. The regimented and hierarchical construct of obedience that is school almost seamlessly flows over into the hierarchical constructs of obedience that are the church and the military. And they both recruit children. If you're interested how the church does this, please watch this talk by Matt Dillahunty called Get Them While They're Young. I especially like the part when he reads from an 80 year old book with Bible stories for very young children; trust me, if you're a non-believer like me you'll find it hilarious.

We all already know that the U.S. army sends their recruiters to schools to prey upon the minds of innocent youngsters aged 16 to 24. What's new for me though is that they now also recruit through modern social platforms, most notably on Twitch, a very popular streaming platform where those same 16 to 24 year old men gather to watch streamers play popular video games. And their newest batch of TV commercials are now animations targeted specifically at young kids. This is the subject of the below linked video: The US Military's Shady Recruitment Practices. I hope you'll all watch it.

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