To claim that I am 100% free of brainwashing is to say that I have never interacted with any other human in any form in my entire life. The most obvious form of brainwashing that everyone deals with every day is advertising. My life becomes a battle between what I need and want and what the ad companies tell me I need and want. Surely everyone can recall seeing the latest toy on TV and pressuring his or her parents into buying it? This is brainwashing at its lowest levels. With the right amount of ignorance, one can lead a perfectly happy, consumer-driven life by letting the advertising deluge overcome oneself. However, I try to retain my sanctuary of sanity, the borders of which are increasingly unclear.

Although not many Catholics like to admit it, I would have to include the Catholic Church as a frequent practitioner. Growing up in the Church, I trained to be a `soldier for the Faith' (and when you get down to it, Catholic doctrine is pretty straightforward). How different are faith in the Church and faith in Big Brother? The mystical hieracrchy employs blatant mind-control techniques to keep its flock from straying. Catholics are wonderful, kind, beautiful creatures of the Earth for the most part, but I mistrust the strong centralized command and dogma. Whether or not you subscribe to the beliefs, you must admit that the Church uses brainwashing techniques to propagate its message.

You cannot choose not to be brainwashed, only who to be brainwashed by. Is this true? I hope not. I'm still young and brainwashed by my youth, and I can argue till my tongue falls out with old people brainwashed by their old age, and we will get nowhere. That's the facts as I see it, everyone with rose-colored glasses. Perhaps the best plan is to take as much power as you can get, therefore learning more about the system and then being on the other end of the brainwashing. It might not be the best way (what is the best value? What's wrong with power?) but probably the most pure. The path will reveal itself.