Magoo has an op-ed. The tone of his article suggests Magoo is not himself this week. People should notice the improvement immediately.
By Magoo
Frank’s argument about brainwashing is dumb.
So is the argument made by Aristotle’s Sausage and Alanzo.
These clowns are attempting to argue that brainwashing isn’t real, and is just an ‘excuse’ given by people to explain poor decision-making after-the-fact.
Nope.
The problem with their argument (suggesting that brainwashing isn’t real) is that they attempt to win this argument via ‘straw man’ logic.
Firstly, they attempt to define the term ‘brainwashing’ as literally one person taking over the thought processes of another, rendering them helpless and under the ‘spell’ of the brainwasher, LOL.
After that, they refute the argument easily, making it look silly.
Problem is, it’s just a straw man argument.
Brainwashing is real, but it’s not nearly as ‘magical’ or ‘all-consuming’ as they attempt to define it.
It’s just extreme mental conditioning. Period. Mental conditioning is real.
Our brains have a left side and a right side.
One side is where we make logical decisions. The other side is where we make emotional decisions.
Some people are more prone to using the ’emotional’ side of their brain to make pseudo-logical decisions, especially in our personal lives and relationships.
The more prone you are to allowing your decisions to be made with ’emotions’, the more susceptible you are to being “mentally conditioned” (i.e. conditioned to deny ‘facts’ which contradict what your emotions are telling you to believe).
Brainwashing is just a type of emotional ‘loyalty’ developed towards a person, a group, a lifestyle or even a general ideology.
There’s a reason why nearly the entire German population truly worshiped Hitler and his ideals with their heart and soul for over a decade — literally feeling ‘euphoric’ when hearing him speak at mass rallies (they were very EMOTIONAL in their praise of Hitler’s policies, even in their daily lives when they weren’t attending rallies).
There’s a reason why people born in North Korea truly believe, with their entire heart and soul, that their leader is a super-human and virtuous man (they are very EMOTIONAL about defending their leader, almost to the point of absurdity).
There’s a reason why most Amish people believe that ‘Englishers’ are inherently ungodly and will not go to heaven like they will.
There’s a reason why Frank truly believes, with his heart & soul, that the FBI tampered with photo evidence (he’s very EMOTIONAL in his FBI beliefs).
Frank Parlato accused the FBI of concocting evidence in his case. In Frank’s case, it’s because a few FBI agents have done him wrong in his WDNY case. Thus, he’s now become mentally conditioned to believe that every FBI agent must be part of a government conspiracy to frame people, if accused of such nefarious deeds by virtually anybody. LOL.
Brainwashing is just emotional conditioning.
It can happen through direct or indirect methods (it doesn’t require another person actively trying to condition us).
Those ‘red flags’ which tell us that a person or organization is acting nefariously (acting like a cult) can be ‘blocked’ by the emotional part of the brain.
To explain this for idiots like Alanzo… This means their brain can indeed see the red flags, but it quickly dismisses them as ‘untrue’ and won’t allow the person to evaluate those red flags with logic.
That’s why most people tend to stand by family members accused of murder, often ignoring even overwhelming circumstantial evidence, because their brains won’t allow them to process the evidence logically.
Our emotions allow us to deny facts which contradict what our mental conditioning has allowed us to believe.
That’s why cult members remain in cults, despite the obvious red flags to outsiders.
Brainwashing isn’t always absolute. It can happen in ‘degrees’ or shades of gray.
Being highly educated doesn’t prevent your emotions from overtaking the logical parts of your brain, especially when it comes to personal issues or personal relationships with people.
There have been Ivy League grads who were part of cults. Wayne Martin graduated from Harvard Law School and was the 3rd highest ranked cult leader in David Koresh’s cult.
Humans are emotional beings. They do things which aren’t logical.
If Frank was born to Amish parents, he’d now wear their stupid costumes and work on a farm in Pennsylvania. Guaranteed.
If Frank was born in North Korea, he’d worship their leader right now.
If Frank was born in Nazi Germany, he’d be doing a ‘Heil Hitler’ with everybody else at those rallies, and he’d be feeling euphoric about it.
Thankfully, people more prone to using the logical side of their brain (like me) aren’t as susceptible to being tricked and conned into spending their lives in a cult, or even 16 years of their life in a cult. LOL.
I am one of the few people who can’t be brainwashed. 🙂
Before Alanzo argues it was his own ‘moral’ decision that allowed him to finally leave the cult.
I would argue Alanzo had already been demoted (i.e. he already had his career prospects halted) at the time he finally left the Church of Scientology [COS].
To be fair, I can’t remember if Alanzo was officially demoted or not (I’m too lazy to read those older articles about him). But I seem to remember that he was either demoted or at least told his career would not rise any higher within COS.
Which means he was already a ‘disgruntled’ person when he decided to leave COS, lol, which is not the same thing as making a ‘moral’ decision to leave.
Thus, it seems Alanzo had little left to lose by leaving COS — career-wise anyway — which makes his decision to leave seem like a disgruntled person.
If Alanzo truly had ‘moral’ objections to COS (and that’s why he left), then he’d probably left LONG BEFORE he was demoted and/or had his career prospects halted within COS.
In other words, why is it that ‘moral’ objectors always seem to find their ‘morality’ AFTER their COS careers get shit-canned and they lose all hope of rising any further? LOL.
What do others think about this?
Frank Parlato 
Janine Morrison 
J.J. O'Hara 
Richard Luthmann 
Marie White 
Paul Serran
Please leave a comment: Your opinion is important to us!
REPORT A JUDGE TO THE FBI.
IT DOES NOT MATTER IF YOUR CHILD(REN) ARE 5, 25 OR 35. PSYCHOLOGICAL CHILD ABUSE IS A CRIME LISTED IN THE DSM-5 V995.51 A SHARED DELUSION • PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTROL
JUDGES THAT ORDER PSYCHOLOGICAL ABUSE NEED TO BE REPORTED AND CHARGED.
EMOTIONAL DOMESTIC VIOLENCE DEFINITION BY THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE: “HARMING ONES RELATIONSHIP WITH HIS/HER CHILDREN”
https://www.childabusivejudges.com/
People in North Korea are so isolated and the flow of information they receive is so controlled that humans in South Korea try to attach pamphlets or even DVDs of popular culture onto balloons and Float them over. Just so they get a glimpse of another world.
The punishment for those living in North Korea for not going along with the program is swift and severe. They are also starved.
So much so that if you compare somebody who is an adult or child with someone who may even be related to them in South Korea it is like looking at two completely different genetic makeups. The growth of the North Koreans is severely stunted in many cases and you could argue that malnutrition from birth contributes to a lack of cognitive ability.
That’s not brainwashing in (as someone on this blog put it so eloquently) the Scooby-Doo sense of the word but it is an extreme form as mental and physical control over people.
So much so that many of the lucky few who actually escaped North Korea have severe problems assimilating whether it’s in South Korea or America or any country.
North Korea has camps. People are put into these camps where it has been reported they will eat other deceased humans to survive.
Those in these North Korean prison camps suffer torture interrogation and very hard labor. Being placed in these camps is not just for your own sins in the eyes of the North Korean government but up to several Generations back. Meaning. you will be punished for what other people in your family have you done as perceived crimes against the state. This is another form of control just like ratting out your neighbors and just the usual evil that dictators utilize.
And yet watch footage of any North Korean tribute to their dear leader. Are they True Believers? Do they really believe that if they leave North Korea they will die in the cruel world that awaits them? Or are these people just trying to survive? It can be hard to say sometimes. It is worth noting that the dear leader of North Korea also claims to have Supernatural powers like Keith raniere. As did his father before him. He also is a fat a******* who likes food a lot.
I was in a cult for 20 years. I submitted to their every command, no matter how strange or bizarre. I gave up my family, my friends, and my life to the cult.
I was finally able to break free, but it took a lot of hard work and support from professionals who understood what I had been through.
If you think you may have been subjected to brainwashing, I urge you to seek help from a professional as soon as possible. You don’t have to go through this alone.
There is a lot of debate surrounding the concept of brainwashing, and whether or not it is actually real. While some people believe that brainwashing is a very real phenomenon, others contend that it is nothing more than a myth. So, what is the truth?
Well, according to some experts, brainwashing is a process whereby an individual’s existing beliefs and values are replaced with new ones, through the use of force or coercion. This usually takes place over a period of time, during which the individual is kept in an isolated environment and subjected to repetitive propaganda or other forms of mental abuse.
Interestingly, brainwashing is not just something that happens to people who are taken captive or held against their will. In fact, it can also happen to people who voluntarily enter into a particular situation, such as joining a cult or undergoing treatment for an addiction.
So, while brainwashing may not be as common as some people believe, it is definitely something that happens in certain situations. If you think you may have been subjected to brainwashing, it is important to seek professional help as soon as possible.
Cite some of these “experts”?
This is not a debate. There is no such thing as brainwashing. “Brainwashing” was invented by journalist Edward Hunter for an article in the Miami Daily News in September 1950. Look it up.
He created the concept. A Cold War news reporter. He invented brainwashing to “explain” loyalty to the Communist Party in Red China.
Brainwashing is as phony as the concept demonic possession. Which it so closely resembles.
So no, this isn’t a debate. Brainwashing isn’t real. That’s simple fact.
A.S. – with all do respect, don’t you see that you are using a strawman argument? You are so focussed on the word “brainwashing”, that you don’t realize you’re talking about something totally different than most of the rest of us.
Keith never brainwashes anyone. He shows us our higher purpose. But no matter what I say, you will say it is brainwashing. I care about the truth. Keith gave me the truth.
Would you do it if you could go from being a fool to becoming wise with someone’s help? Or would you stay stupid so as not to be brainwashed in a cult?
Hey Pea, do you know if Nikki is able to afford any plastic surgery to reverse the rather dramatic signs of aging so visible in the past year? Or is she just going to stick to using heavy blur filters on her photos?
Asking for a friend.
Viva Executive Success®!!!!!
🐵🕺👯♀️🤡
Hey Pea, do you know if Nicki is able to afford any plastic surgery to reverse the rather dramatic signs of aging so visible in the past year? Or is she just going to stick to using heavy blur filters on her photos?
Sniveling, Craven, Cowardly, Anonymous & Cruel
Maybe Nicki is getting too much Florida Sun!
Florida is sunnier than Vancouver, Albany or NYC
https://www.instagram.com/p/CdmOXFyJP8S/
I’m sorry that you were a fool at one time. Regardless of whether that condition was congenital or for other reasons, it’s challenging to be stupid.
Your question about growing wise through another person’s assistance presupposes that other people are also “fools” as you were.
How would a fool even know if they were a fool or suddenly understand that they had become wise?
Why do you say “us” instead of speaking for yourself only?
“Brainwashing” well and properly ridiculed. From the National Review:
There’s No Such Thing as ‘Brainwashing’
By KEVIN D. WILLIAMSON
June 16, 2019 6:30 AM
Nxivm: How a Sex Cult Leader Seduced and Programmed His Followers,” reads the New York Times headline. “Former Nxivm
members testified they were brainwashed into being branded and assigned to have sex with him.”
None of that is quite true.
Blame Richard Condon.
Contrary to the New York Times, there is no such thing as “brainwashing.” It is a concept without scientific basis that, so far as the scholars can tell, does not really exist in a way that is distinct from such quotidian concepts as persuasion, conformism, or bullying. During the Korean War, American intelligence operatives studied the possibility that American prisoners of war had been forcibly converted to the Communist cause by a combination of torture, coercive interrogation, and psychoactive drugs.
As it turns out, the human brain does not really quite work that way — again, contrary to the New York Times, human beings cannot be “programmed” like a smart-home thermostat — but the idea had great dramatic potential. That potential was comprehended and exploited by, among others, the satirical novelist Richard Condon, whose Manchurian Candidate was made into a very successful film starring Frank Sinatra and a very creepy Angela Lansbury. Like many of the greatest examples of the genre, The Manchurian Candidate is not always recognized as satire.
Brainwashing, as it is currently understood in the popular culture, is a literary and cinematic device that has made its way into the global imagination as though it were a real thing. It fills the same mythological role once played by demonic possession — a way of explaining how it is that someone apparently has become utterly unlike himself for no obvious reason.
In the same way, there is no such thing as a cult, either, as distinct from ordinary religious groups, authoritarian and highly conformist political factions (meaning all you peons on Twitter), or even diet and exercise fads that take on fanatical qualities. Many years ago, I was at Waco helping to cover the events for which Waco was famous before it was famous for a new kind of cult (the one focused on Chip and Joanna Gaines), and no one then or since has been able to explain to me why those Seventh-Day Adventists were a “cult” but these Seventh-Day Adventists are a Christian denomination. True, the Branch Davidians were a splinter from a splinter who venerated a charismatic teacher, but then so are the Methodists.
The Branch Davidians were the protagonists in what scholars Anson D. Shupe, J .C. Ventimiglia, and David G. Bromley call an “atrocity tale.” The Branch Davidians were kooks with odd beliefs, and they were people of low social status. (Scientology is bonkers, but you don’t see the feds raiding Tom Cruise’s house, do you?) But they could not be merely odd, because oddness does not justify hatred — they had to be evil. And so there were wild tales of sexual abuse and horrifying abuse of babies, none of which was ever proven and some of which was specifically denied by the FBI. Everybody agreed that there needed to be a military-level assault on the “cult,” but nobody quite knew why. “Confusion Abounds in the Capital On Rationale for Assault on Cult,” the New York Times reported at the time.
There is no such thing as brainwashing. There is no such thing as a cult. At least not as those terms are commonly used. But there are many imaginary things that have played a large and important role in our culture and politics.
There is no such thing as a “recovered memory,” but people have been put in prison on “recovered memory” evidence. There is no such thing as “multiple-personality disorder,” but many people believe there is, thanks to the popular film based on the 1973 book Sybil, written by the psychiatrist Cornelia B. Wilbur and journalist Flora Rheta Schreiber, much of which was fabricated.
The term “multiple personality disorder” is no longer used, and there is no psychiatric consensus about whether the rebranded “disassociative identity disorder” exists. Some psychiatrists believe that it is therapeutically induced, and that some patients are especially susceptible to hypnotic suggestion. The problem with that theory is that hypnosis does not exist, either.
There is no scientific evidence that a hypnotic state exists. To the extent that the word “hypnosis” refers to an actual phenomenon, it is simply role-playing. Much of the cultural legacy of Sigmund Freud is pure mythology, based on pseudoscience and fraud. There were no Satanic sex-abuse cults infiltrating the nation’s daycares back in the Reagan era, but people went to prison over it, enabled in part by “recovered memories.” The typical emotional problem associated with trauma is not the suppression of memory or experience but the inability to cease thinking about the trauma and move on.
The intelligent reader will detect a theme in the fictions above: They are all devices for relieving the individual of responsibility for his actions.
Uncle Joe isn’t a kook, he’s the victim of a cult. He was programmed. He was brainwashed. He was suffering from repressed trauma, and now that he has recovered his memories, he has a very sympathetic version of events.
Maybe he was possessed by Azazello.
We are surrounded by people who profess their love of science and we are surrounded by things that are mostly made up and deep-dipped in pseudoscience: chiropractic, homeopathy, yoga, aromatherapy, reiki, the terror of GMOs and vaccines, etc. In the Washington Post, you can read paeans to science as a guiding principle of politics and then turn the page to read your horoscope. You can choose your pronoun.
Of course, this influences our politics, too. There is some graffiti not far from my home in Texas that reads: “Fed = Jews.” But if it is not the Jews, it is the Koch brothers, the NRA, lobbyists, the “1 percent,” Mark Zuckerberg and other billionaires, Big Business . . . cults, brainwashing, nefarious strains of corn . . . Azazello.
We say we cherish our liberty and our individuality but, as the philosopher Michael Oakeshott observed, many unhappy moderns experience individuality as a burden; in Escape from Freedom, the psychoanalyst and social critic Erich Fromm describes the terror of modern capitalist man: “The individual was left alone and isolated. He was free.”
Some people thrive in a culture of freedom, opportunity, and individuality. (They are frequently denounced as “globalists,” which is how we spell “Azazello” in 2019.) On the other side of town, some people are terrified by it.
That is the real divide in our politics right now, and it is what links the authoritarianism of Senator Warren to the authoritarianism of President Trump. The “individual manqué” of Oakeshott’s analysis will go to great lengths — and accept great lies, even if he has to tell them to himself — in order to be liberated from his liberty and to divest himself of the terrible burden of being responsible for his own soul and his own supper.
Yes, it is real. Just look at what Russians believe about Ukraine. Pure brain washing. My pretty bright sister joined the sannyasins back in the day although never joined them in the sense of going to Oregon or India. Conditioning is fascinating. I might moan all my children have very different views from me and each other which can make life hard but I am really fundamentally delighted as we all rub off different ideas on each other and debate things and I hope use critical thinking skills
Frank…do you know why none of the victims have received restitution? Does the appeal process have to be exhausted before they get it?
The premise of this article is accurate. I’ve been saying the same thing for years on FR. Sure – there’s no such thing as Gilligan’s Island style brainwashing, but there are tactics that high-control groups use to get their followers to toe the line. Below this in the comments, Mary Carpenter makes some good points. Her #2 and #3 coercion methods are what NXIVM/Raniere used.
NutJob-
I concur!
Are precious spirit son Magoo has grown up and I dare he’s such intelligent young man.
Now, if only he good go to the bathroom on his own….
Additionally, not every human brain is the same. People vary a lot not just in the level of intelligence they have but the kind of intelligence they possess.
When you add an upbringing with possible early traumas in their life and a myriad of other factors you cannot judge every single person’s experience with coercive control by just plopping yourself as you are today fully formed into their position and deciding how you would react in that situation.
Because, to state the very obvious, you are entirely different people.
Right now walking amongst us are many people who just passed by a couple IQ points from what is considered low or impaired intelligence into average intelligence. Teachers sometimes refer to those students as Shady 80s. So, they’re in the class in the normal high school with the other students but the difference between their cognitive abilities and those around them are vast.
Those same students go on to be adults. They get married, they have jobs, they live their lives. But they are operating on an entirely different plane of intelligence the whole time. To be crystal clear; Agreed that many high intelligence individuals are also subject to coercive control. This is not calling cult followers dumb.
It is merely pointing out that you cannot look at one 18-year-old or even 26-year-old and say how they SHOULD have acted or WHY they acted the way that they did without knowing the full picture of their cognitive ability, emotional makeup, and their background. If they have learning or mental health problems. Even medical history. They could have undiagnosed personality or other disorders. You don’t know.
This is also why cults like Nxivm should not ever be performing unlicensed or regulated therapy and experiments on people.
“Shady 80s” is like calling someone the “R” word.
Nice one!
Yes it’s not an expression I was wild about hearing that teachers use for low intelligence. The number one offender for calling anyone a retard on this blog is Alonzo who also likes to go after people who are visually impaired in the same sentence. Maybe you could turn some of your discerning ethics towards his comments as well! He uses the term blind retard constantly. You should police his comments as well
I’m not brainwashed and I resent anyone saying I am. Shadow is an idiot
Not brainwashed perhaps- but you do need potty training
If you were in Nxivm and you think KR doesn’t belong in prison…you are in fact brainwashed. Or just an idiot but I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt.
Mr. Magoo is misinformed.
The left-brain personality / right-brain personality pop psychology notion was debunked in 2013 https://www.apa.org/monitor/2013/11/right-brained but people merrily continue believing in it.
Just as he continues to believe in the myth of brainwashing which was debunked decades ago
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-story-brainwashing-and-how-it-shaped-america-180963400/
Oh but Magoo would argue that’s a “straw man argument”. Because brainwashing doesn’t mean brainwashing, it means “mental conditioning”.
So why then isn’t it being called “mental conditioning”?
Defenders of the idea of brainwashing have been slithering around changing the terminology ever since their pet theory was soundly disproven decades ago.
All these terms mean the same thing and enable this:
“But it’s not my fault! I was brainwashed / mentally conditioned / groomed / victim of thought control / high control techniques.
For decades the term brainwashing has had multiple definitions that changed depending on who used it.
They all mean the same thing: they made me do it!
The left brain/right brain nonsense lives on because it’s appealing pseudoscience. Just like “brainwashing”. Both seem like they explain stuff. They explain nothing. They’re simply not true.
It’s called INDOCTRINATION!
Go back to eating sausage and hiding the baloney.
“Brainwashing is just emotional conditioning” and I would add: attachment to your ‘stories’. Everyone is brainwashed to some degree – even some notions of right and wrong, of ‘justice’ come from being conditioned to think and react a certain way, so no-one human can really take the moral high ground.
Let’s not forget we ALL are run by our emotions (unconscious), however much we kid ourselves we are rational. It’s a matter of degree: a socially-conditioned human has some agency over what they want to believe, can freely look around and change their mind, drop some beliefs and acquire other beliefs as they go through life. Governments (of all shades) are adept at utilising your basic emotions (issues of control, wanting approval, fear of dying, etc) to garner power. A cult-conditioned (brainwashed) person will believe in ‘salvation through the guru’.
They’ve been hooked by their innate emotional vulnerability ( search for meaning, search for fulfilment, search for power and glory by ‘saving the world’, escape from dealing with everyday life, even … search for ‘justice’). In the early stages of the ‘grooming’, ‘love-bombing’ will make you feel only your new community ‘understands you’ or that the ‘world needs you’.
Then it’s a slow-boil process: the outside world is slowly made to look like a threatening, hate-filled place, and you are distanced from outside influences (there are reasons why, as in Magoo’s examples, the Amish and North Korea – and even Russia are ‘isolated’ societies) – nothing contrary to what the guru believes can be entertained. The rational, well educated but emotionally needy members are the worse-affected: they use their ‘rationality’ to make up stories to justify and convince themselves that since they’re intelligent people, they can’t possibly be ‘brainwashed’ and the world is wrong, thereby reinforcing their ‘chains’.
‘Brainwashing’ can also be (is mostly) an ‘insider job’. Zen buddhism teaches that to reach nirvana (or even live happily), ‘first let go of your attachments to your ‘stories’. Maybe it would be more accurate to say ‘stop protecting your emotions’ … because the stories you make up, live by, want to impose on others, shame others with, etc are nothing but attempts to make you ‘feel good’ … to protect yourself from painful emotions. Cult members are simply people who are so afraid of their own emotions they have handed over responsibility to some ‘guru’. And it could easily happen to any of us.
There for the grace of God …
The argument indicates the vast majority of people are right brain dominant- and are easily played bc of their emotional responses/decisions overriding logic. A bit simplistic.
Alanzo left when he realized the truth about the Church of Scientology. I don’t believe he would have stayed regardless of status within the organization.
Anonymous 4:02,
I whole heartily agree with you. I will add that Alanzo strikes me as a pious and ethical man. He’s a holy man, who takes his ‘Mikveh’ seriously, at which time he changes his soiled underwear and socks.
I can’t see Frank in Amish attire no matter who his parents may be.
He does look good on a black hat.
Hey Frank,
Apparently Sarah Edmondson is moving to “Atlanta” based on what she said in her podcast. Do you or anybody else know if that means “Atlanta” Canada or “Atlanta” Georgia?………
I don’t know. Whichever she goes, it will be Atlanta’s gain and Vancouver’s loss.
Well, can you find out?
Hey Frank
Will you please find out which “Atlanta” Sarah Edmondson is moving to?
Hey Ginzo!
You’ve got somebody trying to talk to you! ☝🏻Why don’t stop being a savage yankee guido-nigger for once a learn what manners are so you can get along better in our society!
Are you talking to me?
“Are you talking to me? “
Yes, I’m talking to you! I’m tired of watching you be rude to people and ignoring their questions! Without your readers, you’re nothing, you idiot!
Have some fucking respect, you goddamn Yankee fucktard!
Some suggest that those who believe in brainwashing must think that people are ‘robots’ or ‘zombies’ who can be controlled without their knowledge or consent. This is not only grossly inaccurate, but also a straw man argument – because no one actually believes that brainwashing works like this.
What I believe, however, is that through the use of certain coercive methods (detailed below), it is possible to influence someone’s opinions and beliefs in a way that is not natural or healthy
These coercive methods can be divided into three categories:
1) Physical coercion is the use of force, or the threat of force, to make someone do something against their will. This could be anything from actual physical violence, to being held captive, to sleep deprivation.
2) Psychological coercion is the use of psychological manipulation to influence someone’s thoughts and emotions. This might include things like gaslighting, emotional manipulation, and mind games.
3) Social coercion is the use of social pressure to influence someone’s behavior. This could be anything from peer pressure, to ostracism, to public humiliation.
All three of these types of coercion can be used to brainwash someone – but it’
It is not an all-powerful mind control technique that can make people do things against their will. And it’s certainly not something that only happens to ‘weak-minded’ people.
Brainwashing can happen to anyone – even the strongest-willed and most intelligent among us.
If I take your report on Alonzo to be true, I’d venture a guess that COS may have started revealing their true colors to him and set him up to look like a crazed fool.
My2Cents-
Alonzo is a crazed fool — you fool!