ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Diane Benscoter - Deprogrammer
Diane Benscoter, an ex-Moonie, is now invested in finding ways to battle extremist mentalities and their potentially deadly consequences.

Why you should listen

At 17, Diane Benscoter joined The Unification Church -- the religious cult whose members are commonly known as “Moonies.” After five long years, her distressed family arranged to have her deprogrammed. Benscoter then left The Unification Church, and was so affected by her experience that she became a deprogrammer herself. She devoted her time to extracting others from cults, until she was arrested for kidnapping. The shock of her arrest caused her to abandon her efforts for almost 20 years.

Now, after decades of research and study, Diane has begun to speak about her experiences. She recently completed a memoir describing her years as a member of The Unification Church and as a deprogrammer.

Furthermore, she has embarked on a new project to define “extremist viral memetic infections”. She believes that defining extremism as a memetic infection, from a cognitive neurological perspective, might allow us to develop better memes that would inoculate against the memes of extremist thought. These inoculating memes could prevent the spread of extremist viral memetic infections and their inherent dangers.

More profile about the speaker
Diane Benscoter | Speaker | TED.com
TED2009

Diane Benscoter: How cults rewire the brain

Diane Benscoter: Kako kulti predrugačijo možgane

Filmed:
1,248,922 views

Diane Benscoter pripoveduje, kako se je pridružila Moonijem (pripadnikom Cerkve zedinjenja) - in ostala pet let. Razkriva kot udeleženka, kako so videti kulti in ekstremistična gibanja in predlaga, kako naj na nov način razmišljamo o današnjih najbolj zaskrbljujočih spopadih.
- Deprogrammer
Diane Benscoter, an ex-Moonie, is now invested in finding ways to battle extremist mentalities and their potentially deadly consequences. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:18
My journeypotovanje to comingprihajajo here todaydanes
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Potovanje, ki me je danes pripeljalo sem,
00:22
startedzačel in 1974.
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se je začelo 1974.
00:24
That's me with the funnysmešno glovesrokavice.
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Tu sem s smešnimi rokavicami.
00:27
I was 17 and going on a peacemir walkhodi.
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Stara sem bila 17
in šla sem na mirovni pohod.
00:30
What I didn't know thoughčeprav, was mostnajbolj of those people, standingstoji there
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Nisem pa vedela, da večina ljudi,
ki so tam stali, pripada Moonijem.
00:33
with me, were MooniesLunast.
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00:35
(LaughterSmeh)
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(Smeh)
00:39
And withinznotraj a weekteden
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In čez en teden
00:41
I had come to believe
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sem že verjela,
00:43
that the seconddrugič comingprihajajo of ChristKristus had occurredprišlo,
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da je Kristus drugič že prišel,
00:46
that it was SunSonce MyungMyung MoonLuna,
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da je Sun Myung Moon
00:48
and that I had been speciallyposebej chosenizbran and preparedpripravljen by God
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in da me je Bog posebej
izbral in pripravil
00:52
to be his discipleučenec.
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za njegovo učenko.
00:54
Now as coolkul as that soundszvoki,
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No, tako super, kot se to sliši,
00:56
my familydružina was not that thrillednavdušeni with this.
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moja družina nad tem ni bila navdušena.
00:58
(LaughterSmeh)
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(Smeh)
01:00
And they triedposkušal everything they could to get me out of there.
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In poskusili so vse,
da bi me izvlekli od tam.
01:02
There was an undergroundpodzemlje railroadželeznica of sortsvrste
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Odvijala se je nekakšna podtalna prisila
v tistih letih. Morda se je kdo še spomni.
01:04
that was going on duringmed those yearslet. Maybe some of you rememberZapomni si it.
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01:07
They were calledpozval deprogrammersdeprogrammers.
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Imenovali so se deprogramerji.
01:10
And after about fivepet long yearslet
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In po petih dolgih letih
01:16
my familydružina had me deprogrammedČrtala.
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me je moja družina deprogramirala.
01:18
And I then becamepostati a deprogrammerdeprogrammer.
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Potem sem pa postala deprogramerka.
01:23
I startedzačel going out on casesprimerov.
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Začela sem sprejemati primere.
01:25
And after about fivepet yearslet of doing this,
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In po petih letih tega početja
01:29
I was arrestedaretiran for kidnappingugrabitev.
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sem bila aretirana zaradi ugrabitve.
01:33
MostVečina of the casesprimerov I wentšla out on
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Večina primerov, ki sem jih prevzela,
01:35
were calledpozval involuntaryneprostovoljno.
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se je imenovala neprostovoljni.
01:37
What happenedse je zgodilo was that the familydružina
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Družina je morala svoje ljubljene
nekako spraviti nekam na varno.
01:39
had to get theirnjihovi lovedLjubil sem onestiste some safevarno placemesto somehownekako.
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01:42
And so they tookvzel them to some safevarno placemesto.
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In tako so jih spravljali na varno.
Potem smo prišli mi in govorili z njimi,
običajno kak teden.
01:46
And we would come in and talk to them, usuallyobičajno for about a weekteden.
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01:49
And so after this happenedse je zgodilo,
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Ko se mi je dogodilo to,
01:53
I decidedodločil it was a good time to turnobrat my back on this work.
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sem sklenila, da je pravi čas,
da neham s tem delom.
01:57
And about 20 yearslet wentšla by.
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Preteklo je kakih 20 let.
02:02
There was a burningžganje questionvprašanje thoughčeprav that would not leavedopust me.
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Žrlo me je pa vprašanje,
ki me ni zapustilo.
Bilo je:
"Kako se je to zgodilo meni?"
02:05
And that was, "How did this happense zgodi to me?"
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02:08
And in factdejstvo, what did happense zgodi to my brainmožganov?
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Dejansko,
kaj se je zgodilo z mojimi možgani?
02:11
Because something did.
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Kajti nekaj se je.
Tako sem sklenila,
da napišem knjigo, spomine,
02:14
And so I decidedodločil to writepiši a bookknjigo, a memoirspomini,
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02:16
about this decadedesetletje of my life.
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o tem desetletju mojega življenja
02:19
And towardproti the endkonec of writingpisanje that bookknjigo
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Proti koncu pisanja te knjige
je bil narejen dokumentarec.
02:21
there was a documentarydokumentarni film that cameprišel out.
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02:23
It was on JonestownJonestown.
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Prikazoval je Jonestown.
02:25
And it had a chillinghlajenje effectučinek on me.
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Zmrazilo me je.
02:30
These are the deadmrtev in JonestownJonestown.
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To so mrtvi v Jonestownu.
02:33
About 900 people diedumrl that day,
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Okoli 900 ljudi je umrlo tistega dne,
večina si je življenje vzela sama.
02:35
mostnajbolj of them takingjemanje theirnjihovi ownlastno livesživi.
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02:38
WomenŽenske gavedala poisonstrup to theirnjihovi babiesdojenčki,
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Ženske so dale strup svojim otrokom
in gledale, kako jim je iz ust
prihajala pena, ko so umirali.
02:42
and watchedgledal foampene come from theirnjihovi mouthsusta as they diedumrl.
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02:47
The topna vrh pictureslika is a groupskupina of MooniesLunast
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Na zgornji sliki je skupina Moonijev,
02:50
that have been blessedblagoslovljen by theirnjihovi messiahMesija.
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ki jih je bil blagoslovil njihov prerok.
02:53
TheirNjihovega matesprijatelji were chosenizbran for them.
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Družice so bile izbrane za njih.
02:56
The bottomspodaj pictureslika is HitlerHitler youthmladina.
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Na spodnji sliki je Hitlerjeva mladina.
03:00
This is the legnoge of a suicidesamomor bomberbombnik.
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To je noga samomorilskega bombaša.
03:04
The thing I had to admitpriznati to myselfjaz,
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Kar sem si morala priznati,
03:06
with great repulsionodboj,
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s hudim odporom,
03:09
was that I get it.
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je, da razumem.
03:11
I understandrazumeti how this could happense zgodi.
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Zdaj razumem,
kako je do tega lahko prišlo.
03:14
I understandrazumeti how someone'snekdo je brainmožganov,
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Razumem, kako lahko možgani,
03:17
how someone'snekdo je mindum can come to the placemesto
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razum, pride do tega,
03:20
where it makesnaredi sensesmisel --
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da je prav -
dejansko bi bilo narobe,
če bi vaši možgani tako delali -
03:22
in factdejstvo it would be wrongnarobe, when your brainmožganov is workingdelo like that --
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03:25
not to try to saveshranite the worldsvet throughskozi genocidegenocid.
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ne rešiti sveta z genocidom.
03:31
And so what is this? How does this work?
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Kaj je to? Kako deluje?
03:34
And how I've come to viewpogled what happenedse je zgodilo to me
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In kako sem prišla do spoznanja,
da sem doživela
03:38
is a viralvirusne, memeticmemetic infectionokužbe.
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virusno, memetično okužbo.
03:41
For those of you who aren'tne familiarznano with memeticsmemetics,
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Za tiste, ki ne veste, kaj je memetika,
03:43
a memememe has been defineddefinirani as
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mem je definiran kot zamisel,
ki se razmnožuje v človeškem umu
03:45
an ideaideja that replicatesponavlja in the humančlovek brainmožganov
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03:47
and movespremakne from brainmožganov to brainmožganov like a virusvirus,
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in prehaja z uma na um kot virus,
zelo podobno kot virus.
03:52
much like a virusvirus. The way a virusvirus worksdela is --
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Virus dela tako - lahko okuži
in povzroči hudo škodo nekomu,
03:55
it can infectokužijo and do the mostnajbolj damageškoda to someonenekdo
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04:00
who has a compromisedogroženo immuneimunski systemsistem.
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ki ima oslabljen imunski sistem.
Leta 1974 sem bila mlada,
bila sem lahkoverna,
04:04
In 1974, I was youngmladi, I was naivenaiven,
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04:08
and I was prettylepa lostizgubljen in my worldsvet.
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in v svojem svetu sem
bila precej izgubljena.
04:10
I was really idealisticidealističen.
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Res sem bila idealistična.
04:13
These easyenostavno ideasideje to complexkompleksno questionsvprašanja are very appealingprivlačni
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Preproste zamisli k zapletenim
vprašanjem so zelo privlačne,
04:17
when you are emotionallyčustveno vulnerableranljivi.
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ko si čustveno ranljiv.
04:20
What happensse zgodi is that
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Tako se zgodi,
da prevlada krožna logika.
04:23
circularkrožno logiclogika takes over.
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04:25
"MoonLuna is one with God.
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"Moon je eno z Bogom.
04:27
God is going to fixpopravi all the problemstežave in the worldsvet.
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Bog bo popravil vse težave na svetu.
Moram samo ponižno slediti.
04:31
All I have to do is humblyponižno followsledite.
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Kajti Bog bo ustavil vojne in lakoto -
04:33
Because God is going to stop warvojna and hungerlakota --
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04:35
all these things I wanted to do --
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vse tisto, kar sem hotela sama -
04:37
all I have to do is humblyponižno followsledite.
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le skromno moram slediti.
Navsezadnje, Bog je [dejaven skozi]
Mesijo. On bo popraviti vse to."
04:39
Because after all, God is [workingdelo throughskozi] the messiahMesija. He's going to fixpopravi all this."
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04:42
It becomespostane impenetrablenepreglednih.
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To postane nepremostljivo.
04:45
And the mostnajbolj dangerousnevarno partdel of this
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In najbolj nevaren del tega je,
04:48
is that is createsustvarja "us" and "them,"
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da ustvari "nas" in "njih",
04:51
"right" and "wrongnarobe,"
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"prav" in "narobe",
04:53
"good" and "evilzlo."
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"dobro" in "zlo".
04:57
And it makesnaredi anything possiblemogoče,
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To naredi, da je vse mogoče,
05:01
makesnaredi anything rationalizablerationalizable.
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da se da vse upravičevati.
05:08
And the thing is, thoughčeprav,
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Ampak,
05:10
if you lookedpogledal at my brainmožganov
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če bi pogledali moje možgane
05:12
duringmed those yearslet in the MooniesLunast --
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v letih, ko sem bila Moonijevka -
05:14
neurosciencenevroznanost is expandingširjenje exponentiallyeksponentno,
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nevroznanost napreduje eksponencialno,
05:17
as RayRay KurzweilKurzweil said yesterdayvčeraj. ScienceZnanost is expandingširjenje.
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kot je včeraj povedal Ray Kurzweil.
Znanost napreduje.
05:19
We're beginningzačetek to look insideznotraj the brainmožganov.
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Začenjamo gledati v notranjost možganov.
Če bi pogledali v moje možgane ali
katerekoli možgane,
05:22
And so if you lookedpogledal at my brainmožganov, or any brainmožganov that's infectedokuženih with
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05:24
a viralvirusne memeticmemetic infectionokužbe like this,
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okužene z virusno
memetično okužbo, kot je ta,
05:27
and comparedprimerjali it to anyonekdorkoli in this roomsoba,
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in primerjal s komerkoli v tem prostoru,
05:29
or anyonekdorkoli who usesuporabe criticalkritično thinkingrazmišljanje on a regularredno basisosnove,
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ali komerkoli,
ki redno kritično razmišlja,
05:31
I am convincedprepričan it would look very, very differentdrugačen.
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sem prepričana,
da bi izgledali zelo, zelo drugačni.
In to, naj bo še tako čudno,
05:36
And that, strangečudno as it maylahko soundzvok,
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05:39
givesdaje me hopeupanje.
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mi daje upanje.
05:41
And the reasonrazlog that givesdaje me hopeupanje
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Razlog, da mi to daje upanje
05:43
is that the first thing is to admitpriznati
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je, da si je najprej treba priznati,
05:46
that we have a problemproblem.
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da imamo problem.
05:49
But it's a humančlovek problemproblem. It's a scientificznanstveni problemproblem, if you will.
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Toda problem je človeški,
je znanstveni problem, če hočete.
Dogaja se človeškim možganom. Ni
zunanje zle sile, ki bi vplivala na nas.
05:52
It happensse zgodi in the humančlovek brainmožganov. There is no evilzlo forcesila out there to get us.
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05:56
And so this is something that, throughskozi researchraziskave and educationizobraževanje,
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Zato verjamem, da bomo,
z raziskavami in vzgojo to lahko rešili.
06:00
I believe that we can solverešiti.
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06:03
And so the first stepkorak is to realizeuresničiti
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Prvi korak je, da se zavedamo,
06:11
that we can do this togetherskupaj,
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da to lahko naredimo skupaj,
da ni "nas" in "njih".
06:13
and that there is no "us" and "them."
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Hvala lepa. (Aplavz)
06:16
Thank you very much. (ApplauseAplavz)
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Translated by Rok Vidmar
Reviewed by Matej Divjak

▲Back to top

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Diane Benscoter - Deprogrammer
Diane Benscoter, an ex-Moonie, is now invested in finding ways to battle extremist mentalities and their potentially deadly consequences.

Why you should listen

At 17, Diane Benscoter joined The Unification Church -- the religious cult whose members are commonly known as “Moonies.” After five long years, her distressed family arranged to have her deprogrammed. Benscoter then left The Unification Church, and was so affected by her experience that she became a deprogrammer herself. She devoted her time to extracting others from cults, until she was arrested for kidnapping. The shock of her arrest caused her to abandon her efforts for almost 20 years.

Now, after decades of research and study, Diane has begun to speak about her experiences. She recently completed a memoir describing her years as a member of The Unification Church and as a deprogrammer.

Furthermore, she has embarked on a new project to define “extremist viral memetic infections”. She believes that defining extremism as a memetic infection, from a cognitive neurological perspective, might allow us to develop better memes that would inoculate against the memes of extremist thought. These inoculating memes could prevent the spread of extremist viral memetic infections and their inherent dangers.

More profile about the speaker
Diane Benscoter | Speaker | TED.com