In Unca Cecil’s column on brainwashing , he neglected to mention the most successful brainwashers throughout history: organized religions.
They get their paws on young kids, the younger the better, and practically beat it into their impressionable young minds that they have to toe the line and march to the orders of whatever the particular cult says. As a result, the kid grows up to be an adult and believes that nonsense so strongly that in most cases, he’s willing to kill someone else over it.