How did you manage to avoid becoming brainwashable when so few do?

I realized that the media was completely biased with regard to Israel and that Israel could do no wrong. It was the other guys. And then it seemed like smoke and mirrors, year after year. Then it got sickening as I realized what was going on.

Then I researched media bias more and more. But realized this was the game over and over again.

And I realized it was lies filled, NO TRUTH.

I realized it was all filtered and controlled, more and more like I would expect China or Iranian State Run television. Then I kept an eye on FOX. Then CNN. And compared the stories vs what I saw and gathered from other sources, including Amy Goodman.

911 woke me up, and then compared the media, and realized it was all lies.

Now I know the government is in on the lies.

I think it comes down to spending hours (sometimes days) reading articles and watching videos online.

I think when someone goes online a lot, they eventually find the truth.

That's why it's so important to make sure the internet is NEVER regulated by the government.

Going away to college where I had no friends. Whereas some people find comfort in video games or reading books, I found mine in the internet. Looking back, if I were a hugely popular person, I would have had no time for introspection and research which ultimately led me to being "awake". And due to the free flow of information, I got an independent view of the world for once.

The darkest corners of the internet, specifically.

I took an IQ test a couple of years ago. It tried to qualify my personality and on one point it was dead on. It said I loved words. It's true. I think back to reading 1984 in high school. That book set me straight on the language of government. In that book they mention how they want to reduce the amount of words in the dictionary. Instead of saying "Bad"... you could say "Not Good".. Of course those ideas are not equivalent. The medium is the message. If they shrink and control our reference points they own us. That thought shook up me so MUCH I've been on the lookout every since.

I was a completely brainwashed "Christian" neo-con, until one day I was having an argument with a business partner who treated me dishonestly. I had no respect for this person at all, and we were really at each other's throats yelling at each other. Then somehow a midst the argument a quiet little thought entered my head and said "maybe you should listen to him, he might not be able to shoot at you so well if you weren't handing him the ammunition", I stopped yelling and just started listening to what the guy had to say. I still didn't respect the person, but I began to realize that many of his complaints about me were true. I learned more about myself from that little conversation than I had in a long time. I realized my enemy had no problem with telling me the truth about myself that my friends were often unwilling to share (because they wanted to remain my friends).

From there the principles of liberty and non-aggression started making alot of sense to me. And at the time I was a reluctant Huckabee supporter, I liked Ron Paul, you know, except for his foreign policy. But after that day, all of the sudden, I got it.

I read the book "The Creature from Jekyll Island" by G.Edward Griffin, then I read the book "Family of Secrets" by Russ Baker. Then I saw George Carlin's "Life is Worth Losing". Then I researched wars based on lies, in Vietnam, Panama, Iraq, Libya...
and learned what the Bay of Tonkin incident was, then the USS Liberty, then Operation Northwoods, then the "Great Man Made River Authority" Then Libyan Gold Dinar...
After a while you learn to recognize lies!

(http://www.dailypaul.com/183947/knowledge-of-psychological-d...) Self testing by Daily Paul readers shows than some 70% of us are NT personalities, which is only true of some 5% of the general population. Basically, we're born distrusting any authority higher than our own sovereign wills, while the 45% of the population, who are SJs, look to authority figures to think for them.

Also check out "The Declaration of Liberty" for a moment's thoughtful reflection on the world today.
(http://www.dailypaul.com/207362/the-declaration-of-liberty)

I am sorry to say, but Liberty will win only after all the alternatives have been repeatedly tried and failed. If someone said you could go to heaven, and you didn't have to die first, wouldn't you at least hope they were telling the truth? American today is a patient with a broken bone that has set wrong. The doctor needs to break the bone again, in order to reset it. The quacks are saying their snake oil will work without the pain of submitting to a painful cure. Are we talking about resisting brainwashing or courage to face the truth?

the Holy Spirit and the Truth, cleaned me up and woke me up!

From a young age, I've always been empathetic to others and my upbringing in the church helped solidify this foundation. I would also attribute reading The Giver as well - it made a big impression and I still remember its lessons today. Especially the fact that my school banned it for my (older) brother's curriculum.

I'm not necessarily a follower of Christ now, more of an agnostic. However, I am a big believer in the Golden Rule and Ron Paul is one of the only statesman who has followed that in word and deed.

At least at the beginning it had to be my parents because they went the full nine yards on the 9/11 conspiracy theories mostly because they hated Bush and (still) think he stole the election from Gore.

I will shamefully admit, when 'An Inconvenient Truth' came out, I bought into the Global Warming scam. Though when the first Climategate emails were brought out I then found out it was total BS.

Since about 2004 I've mostly held Libertarian-like world views but didn't know anybody else that did, until 2006 and I found out about Objectivism. I didn't know anybody else shared these type of views until I saw Ron Paul in the December debates of '07.

Since about 2005 I've felt that people in this country were stupid because I saw that they were buying all this stuff they couldn't afford and were going into debt because of it, and I concluded that that that had to be wrong. It was just common sense to me that you don't go out and spend money you don't have. You save up your money and THEN go out and buy whatever you wanted.

I've always had a sixth sense that I have learned to pay close attention to. Approximately 9-10 yrs ago, I awoke one morning to the feeling that all was not right in our country. When my (ex)husband got home from work I told him I felt that we would soon see the demise of our country. I wasn't sure if it would be due to an economic crisis, a natural disaster, government corruption or all three but, I felt something very bad was eminent.

For a few years afterward I forgot about it all and went about life as usual, until I accidently come across a video on YouTube about possible FEMA camps. At that point the reality of what I had originally sensed flooded back and hit me like a ton of bricks. I have never in my life felt so frightened but I absolutely knew in my gut that there was truth in the things that I was feeling and learning. I started to read everything I could get my hands on about current events, politics, science, our nations history and the economy, which is ultimately what led me to Dr. Paul.

I admit that I have backslid in my views at times, I allowed my new husband to influence my thinking that Dr. Paul was 'unelectable' so I originally supported Herman Cain in this particular presidential race but, I eventually realized that I had to remain true to my principles and values so I came back around to supporting Dr. Paul again. At this point not only will I NOT defect ever again (I promise!), I brought along my husband and many other people to the R3VOLution with me.

I don't know why I have the ability to discern certain things in life but, I am eternally grateful for that gift/curse at this point because it has really opened my eyes. They say that the truth will set you free. Well, I am a fervent believer in that phrase.

Grace :)

And I'm the kind of person that researches everything before I buy or decide. When I was expecting my first child, I was not one of the good patients to line up for my "risk free" epidural, medicated and medicalized delivery; I researched a lot and chose natural birth (even my own family thought I was nuts at the time). I was politically independent, but found myself voting mostly Democrat because I thought the Republicans were pompous a-holes that were out of touch with most Americans. I even remember saying we had to have HillaryCare because our insurance cost was going up so much, and didn't the government just have to do something?

When I made the choice to be a full-time mom, the fiscal and social conservative part of me started to show up, though I never identified with Republicans. Plus, there was still this skeptical streak in me that wanted to research all the facts, and a love of history of the Revolutionary era--I grew up in a family of historical re-enactors.

Anyway, in 2007 my hubby found a very extensive online quiz during the primary race, and my answers (hubby's too) matched up very closely with a candidate I had never heard of--Ron Paul. I knew a research project when I saw one, and away I went on the internet. Started learning about the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence, which led me to natural law and the founding fathers philosophy; Peter Schiff, Tom Woods and Judge Napolitano; Federal Reserve and Austrian economics; Campaign for Liberty; etc. etc.

I am now a campaign volunteer for Ron Paul 2012, and I feel I have helped convert many to the cause of liberty. I definitely feel it is not my role to "convince" anyone, but to put the truth in front of them and let them convince themselves. The conviction is stronger when it comes about in such an organic way. One of my mottos has been repeated elsewhere here. When people ask me why Ron Paul's supporters are so dedicated, I ask: Do you think they know something you don't? Those supporters are the most (self) educated groups of people in this country, and I am proud to be part of it!

Thanks for reading, please give me a bump if you enjoyed!