While everyone else is lost in fantasies, I was thinking as I drove to my mother’s for Easter about a great new idea I have for a story. My premise stems from my deep regret at the passing of Jaime Escalante last week (from Stand and Deliver fame).

Here was a man that at one time had nearly a hundred students taking the AP Calculus test and passing; yet today Garfield High School where he taught has all but tried to forget him and his brilliant program… I don’t know why…

I cannot fathom that NO ONE has taken this man’s methods and techniques and tried to come up with a system to help all of our youth whether stuck in low-income barios in LA or just lost in the system in the Mid-west. We’ve lost a tremendous teacher and it seems his techniques with it.

I find that sad and rather short-sighted of those people who felt he had an ego.

But what does ANY of this have to do with brain washing and in turn writing?

I’m sure to those watching the development of Jaime Escalante in the 80’s at Garfield High that his students and his team of teachers were like a cult. Think about the huge volume of time these students spent on math, the sacrifices many of them made both in time and opportunities, and the huge amount of respect and devotion to the man and the methodology of Jaime Escalante.

But was that really a bad thing?

Is it possible that certain forms of brainwashing (the non sexual kind) could actually be used in a positive way… a way that could completely transform children from the ghetto’s and gangs into top students, spies, and even soldiers? 

What if we could use those techniques to transform the landscape of violence and poverty for millions of people in this country through the use of brainwashing techniques?

Would that be moral?

I mean, would it be morally wrong to take a child who has already joined a gang and is dealing drugs, to brainwash them into believing in themselves and a set of ethics that could keep that person alive and in the end save them from themselves by helping them get an education and a better life?

It’s rather convoluted and abstract but if you take out the truly horrific elements of sexual and physical abuse that occur in cults and used the psychology of brain washing to “shock” the brain into changing how it thinks… Is that bad?

And what would that look like? How would that work?

I’m insanely curious. This is probably why I bought the book The Art of Seduction – it’s a masterpiece of research and psychology on how to manipulate people. I have no intention of using it in real life – don’t have many to impress… but man, I’m curious and this would make interesting fodder for a book series.

But what are the moral implications? At what point is it wrong to use these mind games – at what point is it okay and when isn’t it? At what point would my audience think I’m completely bonkers and shut the book?

Is it even worth the experiment?

Hmmm… you have to wonder at an even deeper level — if someone told you right now that they could completely change your life, that everything you ever wanted (a successful career, a slim physique, a winning personality, unending energy) could be accomplished, all you had to do was sign a paper and give yourself over to a program and you would be changed for life….

Would you do it?

Even if they were going to brainwash you????

Please note: I in no way think or believe Jaime Escalante “brainwashed” his students. I think it was a system that was very respectful of the students and the future they could attain. I’m deeply aggrieved that so much has been lost at his passing.  I simply used him as springboard for my thinking process.