45. The idea that the Moonies, named for the Korean religious leader Sun Myung Moon, were “brainwashing” recruits may have had a racial element to it, too. The word “brainwashing” is a neologism from the Cold War, a translation of a Chinese term. The word entered the English lexicon during the Korean War amid fears that American POWs would return as zombies, à la The Manchurian Candidate.