Are you suffering from mind viruses? Disinfect your mind!

We all know that we are manipulated.

By mass media.
By politicians.
By large companies.
We are.
But how?

And how to defend ourselves against it?

While authorities in psychology discuss
whether memetics is a science,
its use by politicians, marketing departments and mass media
becomes more and more ubiquitous.

Consider a computer. You can only use a word processor to edit a text. You can only use Amazon.com’s website to order books and merchandize. But you can use programming languages like C++ or C# to make a computer do virtually anything you want.

Similarly, psychology is not enough anymore for politicians, mass media, and large businesses. Preinstalled programs in human minds, such as widely accepted social norms, habits, and prejudices, are not enough for them to exploit anymore. They want to make you do virtually anything they want you to do.

Do you want to defend yourself?

Mind viruses are not biological viruses like influenza, but pieces of information or ideas that, once they get into our minds, are capable of causing us to replicate them to other people’s minds. They are very much like computer viruses, but instead of spreading from one computer to another, they spread from one human mind to another.

They are also similar to the usual biological viruses (flu, cold, hepatitis, AIDS) in the sense that they use us to replicate themselves. And just like biological and computer viruses, they usually hurt the host in the process. This host is you.

Mind viruses force your mind to replicate them,
because that’s the only purpose of their existence.
If it hurts you, the virus does not care,
as long as you continue to replicate it.

As such, they compete with each other for the place in human minds, like yours. This competition results in a sort of evolution where only those mind viruses survive that are most efficient in grabbing your attention and forcing you to spread them.

In doing so, they have no concern for your well-being. They don’t have a reason to be relevant to your life and wellness. In fact, one of their main goals is to impair your judgment, because otherwise, why would you spread them?

The very existence of mind viruses is based
on their ability to impair your judgment,
which you need for your own survival and success.

And once they take over, they are forcing you to spread them. This means that you spend your life spreading the virus instead of working on improving your own life … or just merely enjoying your own life. In fact,

Enjoying your life is something that mind viruses attack first,
because the promise of enjoying your life in the future
is one of the most efficient ways
to force you into replicating them.

As you can guess, the future reward never comes.

Long story short, mind viruses can:

Impair your judgment;
Make you act against your own interests;
Prevent your success in life;
Prevent you from enjoying your life.

Don’t believe it? Read on…

Nasty extremes of mind viruses

In the late 19th century, governments of many European countries faced a strange and disturbing phenomenon – children of well-off middle class families and even heirs of some aristocratic lines were breaking off from their families, class, and lifestyle and devoting themselves to the cause of “fighting exploitation for the sake of oppressed proletariat and an enlightened future of humanity.” It disturbed societies, it did not make much sense, and once they were winning, they often showed phenomenal atrocities in the name of a bright future. And it was spreading like a virus.

Actually, it was a virus. A mind virus. The “proletarian revolution” virus, as well as its brothers, fascism and terrorism, are typical examples of mind viruses that were originally used in politics and then got a life of their own.

Doubt it? The virus of the proletarian revolution was supported by the German government to impact their opponents – the Russian and British Empires. They succeeded in hitting the Russian Empire really hard, but also destroyed Germany itself. The German government had to surrender in World War I in order to deal with the communist revolution at home.

The virus of fascism was merely a modified virus of the proletarian revolution sprinkled with a virus of nationalism. This one was supported, again, by the German government in order to deal with social problems of post-WWI Germany. In the end, it resulted in overthrowing the very German government that allowed it to spread, innumerable victims, a devastating defeat of Germany in World War II, and the country broken into two parts for decades.

The virus of terrorism, especially Islamic terrorism, was in the arsenal of the CIA for years. Osama bin Laden was a CIA field operative supervising and organizing the resistance to the Soviet presence in Afghanistan. This was the time when he learned planning skills and built the networks that he used on 9/11. That is also why his hideout was in Afghanistan. The caves where he hid were probably equipped using your tax money a couple of decades earlier.

Proletarian revolutions, fascism, terrorism – three mind viruses. We all know the tally.

Authors of the books on memetics (that’s the science of mind viruses) love to mention that mind viruses can force people to even kill themselves. In 1978, about a thousand people living in a village in Guyana committed mass suicide by drinking a mixture with cyanide. After drinking the poison, they still had enough time to arrange themselves in straight rows before dying.

I am sure you don’t have anything as strong and as bad as the examples above, otherwise, you would not have read this so far. Feel sorry for those who have not. I do.

However, you need to keep in mind two points:

It may look like common sense is enough to protect you from such extremes in the future. However, as authors of the books on memetics often point out, nobody ever joined a political party or a cult with the intent to be brainwashed and killed. They all applied their common sense and that’s where they ended up.
Even more important are “non-lethal” mind viruses, that don’t kill you but compromise your very existence in subtle and damaging ways. Non-lethal mind viruses are much more covert and numerous. They are like a cold, usually non-lethal but significantly decreasing your performance and quality of life.

For both reasons, you need to be able to counteract their influence on you. You need to fight back. You need an immunity.

How? Read on.

Or, click here to order the book “Disinfect Your Mind” now.

Non-lethal mind viruses…

…on work.

You work hard. You work really hard. You bring the results, and you are proud of that. But then, review time comes, and you hear, “Good, good, not bad at all.” “How about a promotion?” you ask. “Well, you are still not there,” you hear back. So, you start to work harder; you are spending hours overtime; at home your family complains that you only have time to shove some food into yourself and fall asleep. In the next review you hear, “Good, good! Good boy! You are still not exactly there for the promotion, but very good!”

What happened? You fell victim to the mind virus “Work hard and you will be rewarded.” Sometimes, it’s just “Work hard.” Well, in fact, it’s almost always just that.

Think, does the guy who says that “you are not there yet” work harder? Maybe he is smarter than you? Oh... no? Then why is he the one to tell you that and not the other way around? Because he is a “manager?” But if you want to become a manager, why are you doing something that managers don’t do? Somebody tricked you into that. Nah, not the manager, he is not smart enough. Then guess who? Yeah, the mind virus.

Fine, you realize the problem. You start to wear a dirty t-shirt with a skull and bones to work, shave your head, sell your Toyota Camry and buy a Harley-Davidson, put a bandana on your head and start to tell your manager to fresh off when he wants you to stay overtime. Soon, he advises you to consider a career change. Well, it still feels pretty good, except that now you cannot pay for the mortgage and your kid’s college fund. A “Rebel” virus is not much better than the “work hard” virus.

You still don’t live your life, you live the life of the virus.

…in love.

Want more examples? Imagine that you are a bright, male, unmarried college graduate. You’ve got a job, you’ve got a future, and you are thinking about getting a girl. Not just any girl, but THE girl.

You meet one that fits your dreams pretty well. She is smart; she is beautiful; she is fun. You approach her picking up her handkerchiefs, opening doors, paying in restaurants. “Want to see my place?” you ask. “Nah, I have stuff to do,” she answers. A married guy in a dirty t-shirt with a skull and bones on a Harley-Davidson, who treats this girl like dirt, stops nearby, she jumps behind him, and they drive away.

What happened? Why weren’t you successful? Why did she not like you? It’s probably something about you. Maybe you should invite her to a better restaurant, or give her a diamond ring today… Yeah, right.

Now, you probably think, that I’ll tell you that mind viruses are at fault. That’s correct. In fact, you are both suffering from them. The guy, who just drove away with your girl, cannot pay for the mortgage and the college fund for his kid.

Let’s consider the other side of the equation. Suppose that you are a girl. You are tired of guys who only want you-know-what; you want a good guy; you want a relationship; you want a family. You meet a guy who seems to be a good candidate, and suddenly, all you can do in his presence is giggle like a complete idiot despite your M.S. in Astrophysics. Well, you decide, getting the guy of your dreams is not rocket science, it’s much harder. Or, is it?

…in a nutshell.

You can say that these are the stereotypes that hurt you, and you would be right. In the traditional psychology, these kinds of unproductive behaviors are considered to be caused by the established incorrect beliefs called stereotypes. And, you are correct, they are the reason.

But how did they get into your mind in the first place? And what prevents you from noticing and disabling them? What was the carrier? Well, any ideas?

Yeah, their carriers were parasitic self-replicating memetic structures popularly known as mind viruses. Want to know how to notice and disable them? That’s what you will learn in my book.

Interested? Read on.

Or, click here to order the book “Disinfect Your Mind” now.

Do it yourself?

Now that you are alerted of the problem, you may think that you can do it yourself without my book. And, actually, you can. You just need to read at least several books from the bibliography, and then you need to be very smart and very careful.

Why do you need to read any books?

Because this page is short, I simply cannot give you enough information on it. The information is in my book. If you don’t want my book, then you need some other book. Again, check out the bibliography.

Why do you need to read several of them?

Because my book is practical and targeted specifically at how you can clean your mind of harmful viruses. Most other books on memetics are more theoretical. However, out of 14,000+ pages of the books in the bibliography, you should be able to figure out the practical part.

Why should you be very smart?

Because the science of memetics is just establishing itself. As usual at this stage, books on memetics don’t always agree on details, and carry an extra load that is not necessarily true or relevant.

If you decide to read books on memetics, you will need to be sort of a researcher who is able to consider different points of view, compare their pros and cons, consider the existing fact base, etc. If you are interested in this kind of hobby, again, 14,000+ pages of the books in the bibliography are waiting for you. No, seriously. I am getting paid if you order them on Amazon.com coming from my site. J At least, that’s what Amazon’s mind virus says. J

Why should you be careful?

Let me tell you a story. About three years ago, I caught a nasty cold that did not want to go away. So, I went to a doctor, and she prescribed me an antibiotic. I picked up the pills on the way home, and then, before taking them, I checked the medical reference on how this particular antibiotic works.

The text said something like “… the mechanism of anti-bacterial action of this substance is not completely understood yet, but it seems that it inhibits infection by destroying bacterial DNA.” Ouch… You see the problem? If it destroys bacterial DNA, what does it do to yours?

A similar caveat is applicable when we talk about mind viruses. Mind viruses are memetic structures. That means that they consist of memes, the basic units of cultural information. Unfortunately, that’s exactly the stuff that your personality is made of. You see why you need to be careful?

In fact, the very core of the power and resilience of mind viruses is in their ability to pretend to be an integral part of your personality.

You may wonder, is it possible to defuse mind viruses on your own? Shouldn’t it require a professional to handle such dangerous matters? In some cases, you will be right. People heavily affected with strong mind viruses often require professional help. No kidding! Victims of brainwashing cults require help of professional psychiatrists and counselors to recover. But, as I said, it’s more likely that you have nothing that serious.

We are talking about much more mild things like doing wrong things at work, problems with concentrating on important things, or mediocre success with the opposite sex – the sorts of things that personal trainers and self-help books were targeting for years, but with one important difference: these book can tell you what to do to succeed. But what if you are disgusted with the very idea of doing what they tell you to do? My book will help you notice why you are disgusted with it, and to figure out if it is truly disgusting, or if some mind virus is just defending its turf in your mind at your expense. And also how to get rid of it, so that successful behavior will start coming naturally to you.

There is a proverb,

We are all born smart and talented.
It’s just that as we grow, we learn a lot of stupid things.

These stupid things are usually mind viruses.

Interested in getting rid of them? Read on.

Or, click here to order the book “Disinfect Your Mind” now.

The book “Disinfect Your Mind”

Now, what will you learn from my book? Here is what you will learn:

How to recognize if you are affected by a mind virus;
How to recognize a mind virus;
Especially, how to recognize the most harmful mind viruses;
How to defuse and disable a mind virus;
How to weaken mind viruses, which you are unable to recognize;
How to raise your “immunity” to mind viruses;
How to use mind viruses.

Wait, “use”? Isn’t it unethical? Well, it depends on the environment, payload, and the type of virus. Let me explain.

When I learned about mind viruses, I faced this moral dilemma. I did not want to do anything unethical, and using mind viruses just seemed unfair. Some authors of books on memetics would say that morality is just another mind virus, but I disagree with that. And even if it is, this one I am going to keep. However, I noticed that on many occasions, other people are doing exactly that.

Say you have a proposal at work, and your peers have different proposals. Guess what they use to make their proposal accepted instead of yours? Amazing, but they use mind viruses!

This is how we – humans – naturally and instinctively communicate in a competitive environment. It’s just that they have no clue what they are doing, and they are so lousy at it, that when you do the same thing, while understanding what you are doing, well, I was right, IT’S JUST NOT FAIR!

But you cannot help it. It’s a natural thing to do for a human being, that’s what your competition does, and you cannot unlearn, so you are just better at it.

Of course, if you know, you may take care and make sure that your mind viruses are not dangerous. And it helps if you know…

Three things about your mind viruses that may get out of control;

It helps you to consciously weigh the risks and even consider potential necessary countermeasures. And, compared to your coworkers, who spread mind viruses unconsciously, this is quite ethical. It’s like not sneezing on others when you have the flu.

And last, but not least, you will learn about

Beneficial mind viruses for yourself: feeding and care.

Yes, mind viruses have enormous power over the human mind. They can harm, but they can help too. And you can use this power to improve your life. They can enable your mind to succeed in the tasks that you never thought possible for you to succeed in.

Are you ready to read the book? Here are your options:

Order the book “Disinfect Your Mind” at Amazon.com

Order the book “Disinfect Your Mind” from the publisher
(free S&H)

Order the book “Disinfect Your Mind” here at this site
(free S&H and $5.00 OFF)

Why do I give you $5.00 OFF and don't feed you with a standard marketing copy? Something like:

Did I tell you that it normally costs $24.97,
but for a limited time you can get it for only $19.97 here?

I don't do that, because you are smart enough and can figure it out yourself. And because $5 OFF is not a catch, it's my "thank you" to you for reading so far.

Anyway, order the book “Disinfect Your Mind” now.
Seriously.

And welcome to the survivors club!
We are glad, you are here.

Are you still here? You probably want it “Quick and easy”... Ok, it's not the same, but here it is.

“Quick and easy”?

What if you don’t have time to learn all this stuff? Is there some other quick and easy way to disinfect your mind?

Well, this book is the quick and easy way. Compare ~200 pages of my book to 14,000+ pages of the books in the bibliography. Looks like you can really save a lot of time with this book instead.

And if you don’t even have that much time, you’d better get some. Because there is a reason why you don’t have time. And if you think that the reason is your job or family, you are wrong. Yes, your job is important and it may take a lot of time, but why does it take so much time and still not bring enough while there are plenty of people who work less and get more?

Because there is something else that pretends to be part of your job and eagerly consumes all the time you may have. And it wants even more. Something or somebody.

Got any idea what that could be? Yes, mind viruses want you to devote all your time to spreading them.

In fact, they are even capable of acts against such primary human instincts as procreation. It may range from simple shyness to lifetime celibacy, and there is nothing wrong with being humble or devoting your life to a higher purpose as long as this is what you want.

The trouble is that somebody else wants that too.

“Don’t waste your time on spreading your genes, save the time to spread me instead,” a mind virus tells you.

“In fact, don’t waste your time on yourself or your family or anything else, spread me instead!” it cries into your mind.

And some people listen. Get rid of harmful mind viruses and you’ll get a lot of time for your work, for your family, for whatever you fancy in your life.

One last try:

Ready? Click here to order the book “Disinfect Your Mind” now.

Ready-to-Use Disinfectants

But still… it’s only human to try to find a backdoor to success. Well, you are in luck.

First, I have two specialized ready-to-use disinfectants. They will not teach you everything described in the book and in the bibliography. In fact, they don’t teach you at all. What they do is simply defuse certain more popular mind viruses existing in our culture, and they are supposed to be a fun thing, not study.

For corporate and job-related mind viruses

My book “Management for Cannibals” is designed to defuse a lot of popular mind viruses swarming the work environment of corporate America. In fact, not just America, although it is produced on U.S.-based material and targets the topics appropriately.

It’s light reading; it’s fun, humorous, and a very good read for a long flight or a couple of relaxing evenings. In fact, I have never seen people who were able to put it down for too long. It’s designed to be fun, because humor is one of the most powerful anti-viral agents of our mind.

You can buy a paper edition on Amazon.com (see the block on the right).

Or get an eBook edition here, at this site.

For political mind viruses

It seems that our elected officials often know about mind viruses and use them a lot. Or, maybe, their PR support does. Once you start to see it, the scale of it becomes scary. Do you know that as of August 2004, about a third of Americans think that we have found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? Oh… you think that we did find them there? Go to Google and check.

Are you back? See my point now?

Of course, if you want to support some politician, it’s your free choice. What I want is to make sure that it is your free choice, and not a result of mass media memetic meddling with your mind. It’s ok to support a politician of your choice, if you bother to have one, but you don’t want him to meddle with your brain matter. It’s just much more important to you than your vote, or even the money and time that you may want to donate to his cause. Sounds reasonable?

So, if you are ready, I have the Prime Political Disinfectant book “The Third Day of September Ides.” The Book 1 “So, you say, we need a disaster” is already available. You can buy a paper edition on Amazon.com or directly from the publisher.

A fair warning: because it is based on the latest political events, it is inevitably skewed, well, not exactly in favor of the Republican Party. If you want more republican-friendly and more democratic party unfriendly attitude, please, see the list of third-party disinfectants below dated back to the Bill Clinton age.

Third-party disinfectants

Maybe you need a different area or want to try some more ready-to-use mind disinfectants. For this, I have collected for you a list of links to books, movies, audio programs, and seminars that should be able help you. Just keep in mind that most of them were not designed per se as mind disinfectants. They are just built to break certain popular stereotypes.

However, harmful stereotypes are usually delivered as a payload of mind viruses, and, once you break the payload, you usually become resistant to the virus that brought it as well. The reason is that the mind virus payload is usually designed to keep and protect the virus in your mind and force you to spread it. Once this protection is broken, your mind usually cleans itself up from the virus. It’s not 100% fool-proof, but it normally works.

So, here are the topics:
Politics
Sex and dating
Work environment
Money

It's all in the bibliography. I'll add more over the time.

Now, I am done. Seriously.
Order the book.

Do You Suffer From Mind Viruses?

We all know that we are manipulated.

And how to defend ourselves against it?

Do you want to defend yourself?

Nasty extremes of mind viruses

Non-lethal mind viruses…

…on work.

…in love.

…in a nutshell.

Do it yourself?

Why do you need to read any books?

Why do you need to read several of them?

Why should you be very smart?

Why should you be careful?

The book “Disinfect Your Mind”

“Quick and easy”?

Ready-to-Use Disinfectants

Free memetic techniques for you on this site

Ready-to-use disinfectants (books)