Free Will, Karl Marx & The Use Of The Health Belief Model Of Behavioral Change
The convenience of leftism is the lack of moral restraint on behavior. For the communist has no truth other than the one useful to the moment. A reality dictated not by universal principle, but its relevance to the current political objective. (David Risselada)
The propaganda is ramping up again, and it is achieving the desired effects on certain segments of the population. All around us, the fearful are once again donning their masks, as we are being told unvaccinated people pose the greatest danger to society. The vaccine, fast-tracked and brought to us by Donald Trump, is being pushed from both sides of the aisle, and it is becoming clearer every day, that they will attempt to lock us down again. Despite revelations from the CDC concerning the ineffectiveness of PCR tests in diagnosing Covid-19 (something we have known about since the spring of 2020), people still allow fear to control their minds. No matter how they try to twist this, PCR tests have been producing false-positive rates all along. Americans need to open their minds to the probability that the whacked-out conspiracy theorists are correct, and this is an agenda in pursuit of full-spectrum control over our lives. People need to accept the reality that the people they trust to decide what is best, do not share the same morality, and do not view human freedom the same way most of us do.
Living in a free country demands the robust questioning of authority. Failure to assert your will in defense of your own liberty equates to consent in the minds of men, who have an insatiable lust for power. (David Risselada)
How are men able to suppress the rights of others while depriving them of their humanity, and the dignity due all human beings? These men have no inherent quality that gives them divine right to rule over us. Yet, they have no qualms about denying us our God-given liberty as they attempt to acquire more power and wealth for themselves. Americans have failed to understand the motivations and beliefs of the Marxist’s thirst for control. Carefully contrived propaganda campaigns have reduced the threat of communist subversion in our nation to little more than a conspiracy theory. People have been conditioned, through stimulus-response programming, to automatically laugh off any mention of the possibility. This has allowed for the slow and steady infusion of the communist ideology into the public consciousness, along with the erosion of our most basic ideas concerning human freedom. A privilege gradually lost by failing to understand the premise of communist belief. Men cannot experience freedom because it does exist beyond the mere circumstances which control men’s choices.
Freedom in the sense that we understand it, with the ability to make choices in our best interest, is something Marx believed was not real (Skousen, 1958, p. 46). Human behavior, from a communist point of view, is driven only by what Marx referred to as economic determinism (Skousen, 1958, p. 44). This is the belief that men’s choices are dictated by their ability to survive the prevailing economic circumstances. Marx and Engels believed that self-preservation is the driving force behind all human action, and choices are made only to protect whichever mode of production is in use at the time (Skousen, 1958, p. 44). Marx’s “activist theory” (Skousen, 1958, p. 45) suggests that men’s actions are dictated by impressions their brains take in from the surrounding environment. Environmental circumstances force men to make certain choices in their best interest. This is a sentiment echoed in modern psychology. Behaviorist B.F. Skinner stated in Beyond Freedom and Dignity (1971, p. 101) that all studies of human behavior should be conducted from the view that people’s choices are controlled by their surroundings, and by learning to control the environment, behavior can also be controlled.
“As we learn more about the effects of the environment, we have less reason to attribute any part of human behavior to an autonomous controlling agent. And the second view shows a marked advantage when we begin to do something about behavior. Autonomous man is not easily changed: in fact, to the extent that he is autonomous, he is by definition not changeable at all. But the environment can be changed, and we are learning how to change it. The measures we use are those of physical and biological technology, but we use them in special ways to affect behavior.” (Skinner, 1971, p. 101).
This view, considering the propaganda linked with coronavirus, has some major implications. Behaviors associated with Covid-19, and people’s willingness to adopt behavioral changes, are being viewed through something called The Health Belief Model. Developed in the 1950s by social psychologists to determine why people fail to adopt recommended health behaviors (Champion & Skinner, 2008, p. 46), the HBM takes both a cognitive and stimulus-response approach to health-related decisions. Taking the stimulus-response approach means it is believed people’s choices will be dictated by the circumstances surrounding them—by the stimuli being fed to them. This is evident from the constructs that make up the model. Perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, and perceived barriers (Champion & Skinner, 2008, p. 47). The word perceived refers to public perceptions of the health threat and how adopting the recommended behavioral changes will affect them. If they perceive the threat of contracting Covid-19 to be significantly high, they are likely to adopt the recommended behavioral changes. Like accepting an experimental vaccine, for example. Another interesting aspect of the HBM is something they refer to as “cues to action” (Champion & Skinner, 2008, p. 48). This refers to the stimulus being used to motivate people to act. Champion and Skinner (2008, p. 48) suggest that bodily events, environmental circumstances, media publicity, and governmental policy are effective cues in affecting behavioral change.
There have been some interesting studies done using the HBM which relate to American’s experiences with Covid-19. One, concerning the use of facemasks, determined the motivating factors in gaining compliance with mask-wearing in response to the threat of a respiratory virus. While it was conducted in 2014, it shows there was a reasonable assumption that people would comply with mask mandates in response to Covid-19 if the right “cues to action” were used.
“We found that individuals are more likely to wear facemasks due to the perceived susceptibility and perceived severity of being afflicted with life-threatening diseases. Although perceived susceptibility appeared to be the most significant factor determining compliance, perceived benefits of mask-wearing were found to have significant effects on mask-wearing compliance as well. Perceived barriers include experience or perception of personal discomfort and sense of embarrassment. Media blitz and public health promotion activities supported by government agencies provide cues to increase the public’s usage of facemasks.” (Sim, Moey, & Tan, 2014)
A recent study, published in the journal Vaccine, used the Health Belief Model to determine how willing people would be to get the Covid-19 jab. This study found that people’s trust in government recommendations was a strong factor in determining a willingness to get the shot, while those that hesitated cited a mistrust in the vaccine manufacturers (Wong, Wong, Hwang, et al). This study also stated that these factors were key in developing strategies for promoting the vaccine. This means that media messages meant to influence public opinion will work to create positive perceptions of vaccine companies while portraying the government as acting in the best interest of society. These studies are being conducted, partially, from the view that human beings are controlled by the surrounding environmental circumstances more than by their own free will. Skinner stated that science is learning to control and change the environment through the use of physical and biological technology, and they are used in “special ways to affect behavior” (Skinner, 1971, p. 101). What does he mean by this, exactly? The possible answers, considering the information presented above, are frightening.
There is a stark contrast between Marx’s view of free will and the Christian view. According to Marx, free will is nothing more “than the awareness of the impelling forces which move an individual to action; in taking action, he is not free to change the course his very nature dictates” (Skousen, 1958, p. 46). Galatians 5:13, on the other hand, states that we are called to be free, and we have the freedom to choose whether we serve the flesh or one another in love. This clearly shows that men can choose between good and evil, or right and wrong. Concepts rejected by Marxists, as morals were viewed to be nothing more than bourgeois constructs, devised to protect their interests, wealth, and property (Skousen, 1958, p. 51).
The push to vaccinate all of humanity in response to Covid-19 is being done through the perspective of people who do not believe we can make any other choice but comply. Mask mandates, vaccine passports, employer required vaccines, are all manipulations of the environment which will eventually force our hand in one way or the other because according to Marx, we are all driven first and foremost, by the need for self-preservation. The Health Belief Model is a theoretical framework, based on the work of social psychologists, which examines health-related behaviors based on the public perception of the threat. The information gained from using the HBM is then used to further manipulate our perceptions and the surrounding environment to force compliance. The biggest problem the Marxists face is their beliefs are not true. America is still fundamentally, a Christian nation. The continued use of propaganda and models like the HBM are indicators that there is a need to manipulate the environment because people are thinking on their own and making decisions that do not fall in the purview of Marxism. If Marx’s view on free will were correct, and people’s behavior was controlled strictly through the environment, as Skinner suggests, there would be no need for the continued propaganda because we would have all complied already. To put it more simply, the recent propaganda is nothing more than a sign of desperation as Americans, along with the rest of the world, are rejecting the government-controlled narrative and the fear tactics used to push their poison. This is a good thing.
Champion, L. V. & Skinner, S.C. The Health Belief Model. From Health behavior and health education: theory, research, and practice. 4th ed. (2008) Jossey-Bass
Sim, W.S., Moey, S. K. & Tan, C.N. (2014) The use of face masks to prevent respiratory infection: A literature review in the context of the Health Belief Model. Singapore medical journal, 55(3) pp. 160-167.
Skinner, B. F. Beyond Freedom and Dignity. (1971) Pelican Books, Middlesex England.
Skousen, C. The Naked Communist. (1958) Izzard ink publishing
Wong, M., Wong, E., Huang, J., Cheung, A., Law, K., Chong, M., Ng, R., Lai, C., Boon, S., Lan, J., Chen, Z. & Chan, P. (2021) Acceptance of the covid-19 vaccine based on the Health Belief Model: A population-based survey in Hong Kong. Vaccine, 39(7), pp. 1148-1156
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Without a Shot Indeed: Inducing Compliance to Tyranny Through Conditioning and Persuasion
Article posted with permission from David Risselada
