Thought Impairment = Mind Control

Just in case you thought I couldn't get any more strange, here I am to tell you that you are wrong.
A few months ago, at a Valentines Day Party, one of my friends told us about a dream she had. She dreamed that a group of people had been taken down to a secret underground base for a company and the company had used sound to mind control them into them doing whatever the company wanted. They did this with lots of teenagers, and at the end of the dream my friend saved the day, everyone went free, happily ever after, etc.
It seemed like kind of a strange thing to tell us, especially at a Valentines Day Party, until she explained her reasoning for telling us: she wanted to write a book about it.
Now I know and love my friends, but I knew that a few weeks after their excited cheers of 'yeah!' and 'that's a great idea!' everyone would completely forget about the novel idea and move on to something more exciting and immediately rewarding.
Except for me. So I took matters into my own hands and decided to think about the idea on my own. I pondered her dream for a while, doodling plot ideas in the backs of notebooks when I was supposed to be taking notes in Geography (I like a lot of things, but geography is not one of them), imagining characters, acting out scenes in my head, until I realized something. I needed to write a book.
Why not? I've written things before. I have been working on this blog for ages, just writing for myself, I've written stories for my parents for Christmas every year since I could work a computer. Why not write a book? I already have a plot, my friend's dream, characters, my friends, and a main character, myself. It seems a little proud, I know, but that's not why I did it. I did it because, as all you authors out there know, it's pretty hard, especially for your first novel, to write from someone else's point of view.
So, I started. I sat down and just started writing. I kept writing, the words coming to me, almost as if they were prewritten. One thing I learned about writing that I'll never forget: I love it. I wrote and wrote, carrying my "big-black-notebook-that-no-one-is-allowed-to-look-in" everywhere with me. I would carry it and scribble sloppy words as I walked through the grocery store (only occasionally bumping into people). I would sit and write between taking notes for class (the teacher never suspects you're goofing off if you're writing passionately into a notebook).  I would write at lunch when the conversation got boring--I carried it everywhere.
I'm not, of course, telling you this to brag about my amazing writing skills (mostly). I want to bring up something I was writing about. Like I said earlier, I was writing mainly about mind control. But one difference between me and other writers, is I can never leave a question unanswered. So your first question would probably be the same one mine was: how on earth do you mind-control a bunch of teenagers in an underground facility?
The first thing I did was research the brain. How could the brain be tricked into thinking it's following its own orders when it's really following someone else's? The thing everyone thinks about when you think of your "brain" is the frontal cortex. It is the one that gives you thoughts, emotions, ideas, it's your consciousness, pretty much. Well, for someone who wanted to take control of the mind, having it all in one place seems pretty fantastic.
When I first wrote all the details down, it seemed almost entirely made-up. I created a chemical that can get between the neurons inside your brain. It could disperse the neurotransmitters before they even get to the other neuron to transfer the message. It was disabled over time by electricity (they had to have a way to get the poison out, of course) and would clear out and give the brain independent thoughts.
The way it worked was it made the one under mind control...more susceptible to suggestion, I suppose is a better term for it. It didn't make the person a complete slave to your will, just more willing to follow orders, and less willing to try to think of things for themselves.
I'll admit: I made this up without doing any research. I just thought it off the top of my head, thinking it was 100% unreal and impossible. But, if you've read any of my other articles, you know that I wouldn't be writing this unless there was something more exciting than "and I was right!"
A few weeks ago (happy New Year's everyone!) I was warned about the dangers of driving on the roads at night on New Year's. It is one of the most dangerous times to drive because of all the drunk driving around then (random fact: there is 34% more fatalities during the "Christmas/ New Year" time). When considering this, I stumbled across the question: what is alcohol doing to your brain?
Everyone always says "alcohol impairs your judgement!" "alcohol slows your reaction time!" "alcohol kills brain cells!" etc. But no one ever says what exactly alcohol is doing.
I guess most people don't care, but I certainly do. So I texted the smartest person I know, and asked him. Dad replied within minutes. He told me all about how the molecules of alcohol get between the neurons in your brain and dispel the neurotransmitters before they can get to the other neuron, making it harder for you to think and slowing your reaction time, impairing judgement, etc.
As soon as I heard this I was immediately thinking about my mind control book. If alcohol can do it, why not a specific drug? Drunk people are definitely more susceptible to suggestion. If something like that could be centralized in the frontal cortex of the brain and made to slow your thoughts, feelings, etc., then you could most definitely convince someone to do what you wanted! They wouldn't really be able to think of a better idea, if their judgement was so impaired.
Of course you'd have to find a good chemical, find a way to centralize it, etc. But it is definitely possible, and that is really awesome. Though mostly scary.
So now you know, if you ever need it (which I pray you don't) that mind control is possible! Pretty cool!