This painting looks like the electrons of a brain that has been scrambled or a brain that has been agitated in a washing machine. It’s been washed so violently there’s nothing human left.
What is the motive of a brainwashed artist inviting us into their insanity? 1 2 3
What is the motive of a state sponsoring this cognitive dissonance? 4
What is the motive of otherwise reasonable people buying and selling this disintegration? 5 6
And what is the motive of the poor soul who tries to justify it hanging in their multimillion dollar home? 7
The Ampulex compressa (a wasp) delivers a precise sting directly into a cockroach’s brain, injecting venom that suppresses its natural defenses. The roach can still move, but is no longer aware of any danger and has no will to resist manipulation. The wasp grasps the antennae, using it as a leash to guide the victim to a chamber it has prepared.
Once inside, the wasp lays an egg on the passive roach and seals the chamber. The larva hatches and eats the victim from the inside out, carefully leaving the vital organs for last—not killing the patient right away, but keeping it indentured for as long as possible—until the roach’s life force is systematically exhausted and it has served its purpose as fodder.
Eventually, the larva grows up to continue its devious mental disarmament of hapless roaches.
This post was inspired by seeing this auction: https://www.christies.com/en/auction/post-war-to-present-23740-nyr/
Originally posted here: https://michaelnewberry.com/2025/09/29/disarming-the-mind-the-roach-and-wasp-analogy/
1 ‘…believers would find it difficult to abandon their beliefs in the face of disconfirmation, would use their available social support to maintain their beliefs, and would try to increase consonance by recruitment through proselyting, on the grounds that “If more and more people can be persuaded that the system of belief is correct, then clearly it must after all be correct.”’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_Prophecy_Fails
2 “Abuse by proxy is a sophisticated, covert form of manipulation in which an abuser uses other people as tools to extend their abuse. Rather than engaging in direct harm, they recruit or manipulate others—friends, family, professionals, even children—to do the work of intimidation, control, isolation, or discrediting on their behalf. It’s abuse at a distance, with layers of plausible deniability.” https://www.authenticlivingtherapy.co/abuse-by-proxy-when-others-become-the-abuser-s-messengers
3 “Moral: Scratch the brainwashed and you find self-hater.” https://michaelnewberry.com/2024/07/01/scratch-the-brainwashed-and-this-is-what-you-get/
4 ‘…the CIA had decided to initiate its own mind control and behavior modification program. Three days after delivering his wake-up speech, Dulles approved the top secret program MKULTRA. Its primary objectives included the development of psychoactive drugs that would: “cause mental confusion”; “alter personality structure”; “diminish ambition and working efficiency”; “promote illogical thinking”;’ https://www.jpands.org/hacienda/douglass.html
5 “Are they symbolic of the times, in which the ultra-rich are disconnected from the lives, struggles, and quotidian pleasures of everyday people?” https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brain-behavior-and-beauty/202412/conspicuous-consumption-the-art-world-goes-bananas
6 ‘“The art market is vulnerable to trade-based money laundering,” Shepard says. “The historically anonymous nature of this market can allow buyers and sellers to hide their identities through shell companies, agents, or other intermediaries.”’ https://deloitte.wsj.com/riskandcompliance/art-money-launderers-face-expanding-regulatory-canvas-091ee7aa
7 The art a person collects is a mirror of their deepest self. When someone surrounds themselves with works that are chaotic, nihilistic, or empty, it is not mere decoration — it reflects the collector’s inner worldview, values, and moral or spiritual state. In essence, collectors live with art because it is themselves made visible. -M.N.
Michael Newberry 