The philosophy club hosted an interview with Long Beach City College professor of social psychology, Nick Herrera to discuss Steve Hassan’s “The Cult of Trump,” a book that investigates the impact that mind control has had on PresidentTrump’s fan base.
Hassan, a former member of a cult himself, analyzed President Trump and compared him to cult leaders from the past.
Professor Robert Vitt, head of the philosophy club, said the discussion was not meant to divide anyone, but instead was meant to examine President Trump and his followers through a philosophical lense.
“The other side of the aisle isn’t evil. It’s just people who have a different understanding,” Vitt said. “Philosophy is about criticism. Philosophy is about critique. Critique of different kinds of structures. Sometimes those are social structures.”
In the book, Hassan warns readers about 21st century mind control techniques, such as manipulation and linguistic patterns that are used to persuade President Trump’s supporters to behave in a specific way.
The book also analyzes the use of propaganda that conservative media uses to further gain control of their viewers.
FOX News, in particular, became synonymous with Trump soon after his 2016 election win when their pundits began to enable his unprofessional behavior.
“Maybe it’s not so much a function of right versus left, but just media in general and its failure to adhere to journalistic standards,” Vitt said.
A large amount of Trump’s followers fall into the economic lower class of society, a striking revelation due to the fact that Trump himself was born into a wealthy family. Along with conservative media, Trump succeeded in creating a sense of fear amongst his base who reject government aid and, among others, accessible universal healthcare.
“I don’t think that they know that it is against their best interest. That’s part of the problem. It is a function of persuasion to convince people of things that are not in their own interests,” Vitt said.
Conspiracy theories have also been used by Trump and his supporters to discredit the government and the recent election results.
“Philosophy teaches people how to question answers rather than answer questions. And once you begin that process it is really difficult to control where that goes. What you teach people to think-you better be careful because they’re gonna start thinking,” Vitt said.
Herrera, the guest speaker, discussed how social influence could be a reason why Trump’s base seems to grow.
“People need to understand the strength of social influence.We live in a country that focuses on personality as cause for behavior. That is a flawed approach for a lot of reasons,” Herrera said.
He stressed that understanding human behavior requires us to take into account situations that are present in the moment.
“(Those situations) are going to frequently cause people to do things that are perceived as wrong,” Herrera said.
Though the country seems more divided than ever, Vitt said he hopes that discussions like these will bring people together again.
“If we could loosen the gap between us versus them, republicans versus democrats, if we can shake that at all and remind ourselves for just a moment that we’re Americans. We’re all part of the same deliberative democracy, and we all love the country… If we could walk away remembering we’re Americans who love the country and we’re entitled to talk about a form of government, that’s a win.”