Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of Brainwashing in China
by Robert Jay Lifton
p. 84-85, "Release: Transition and Limbo":
"But release and expulsion...do not put an end to one's troubles. Instead they thrust the Westerner into an environment which immediately questions all that has been so painstakingly built up during the years of imprisonment; and they precipitate a new identity crisis just as severe as the one experienced during incarceration...
"Upon arriving in Hong Kong, Dr. Vincent discovered that what he had become in prison was of absolutely no use to him in his new milieu. Alone with his emotions, he found himself in a devastating predicament: he had internalized enough of his prison environment to feel a severe distrust of the non-Communist world, but was sufficiently receptive to the evidence around him to be highly suspicious of the Communist point of view as well. The security he had known during the latter part of imprisonment suddenly vanished, and his identity was shaken to its foundations...In his personal limbo he was unable to feel "safe" (or whole) in either world; instead he felt deceived by both.
"He longed nostalgically for the relatively simple, ordered, and meaningful prison experience, now glorified in his memory. He could relinquish this longing only as he began to trust his new environment; this trust in turn depended upon the capacity to trust himself. Once more he underwent a painful identity shift, encompassing what he had been before, what he had become in prison, and what he was in the process of becoming after release."
Any of that sound even remotely similar to the experiences of those who leave the Borg? Must be coincidence, as "there's no such thing as brainwashing." You folks were obviously eatin' at the ol' demon buffet and decided to leave. Your loss.
HA HA! Can't even say that with a straight face. I'll post more quotes from this book in time, but I recommend reading the experiences in this book for yourself. This one is very interesting--I'd put it on the list next to Steven Hassan's books as a must-read.
SD-7