Brainwashing

Brainwashing is a myth, but I have heard ex. satan worshippers and other violent religious sects use the tactic where the victim's mind is kept mallable by lack of certain vitamins while he's imprisoned with like-minded religious people. Since the human mind adapts (possibly more easier with the lack of vitamins) to it's surroundings, the victim starts to think alike with the other people around him.

Think of the internet. An avarage internet geek, who's diet consists of energy drinks and cold pizza is probably missing some crucial nutrients. As a professional web surfer he knows public forums without any kind of authority are flooded with spammers, trolls, goatse posters and other griefers. Thus he aims for privately owned forums and IRC channels where he gets his information from. Homogenous people, homogenous information and lack of nutrients. That sirs and madams, is brainwashing in it's purest form.

You may say, that dude, there's the real world! Even if the geek has equally geeky friends who probably don't talk to each other much, there are other people and loads of information outside. Sure, there is. But the geek looks at his shoes when he walks, ignoring everything else. Social interaction is non-existant. All the information he gets is from the internet and those forums he frequents. That is people, why we see something we didn't see before the internet; middle aged fans dressing up as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, reading comic books, buying posters of comic book characters and watching cartoons. Something that only kids used to do. They discovered the web as kids and thanks to the brainwashing have forgotten to expand their mind and evolve into adults.

It's funny when these middle aged children are conforted by adults and their expanded world view, stick their fingers into their ears and shout out; "NA NA NA NA! BOORIIING!"