- Anything Else -

Brainwashing, and other myths.

Posted by: Dr. Cruel on July 13, 1999 at 10:50:58:

In Reply to: Anticommunism isn't 'brainwashing'? posted by Nikhil Jaikumar on July 12, 1999 at 14:59:56:

First of all, a final word on 'poofdahs'. I do not mind if the neighbors insist on misusing their own plumbing, so long as they show me the common courtesy of leaving me ignorant of their 'exploits'. This goes for other inclinations of this sort; i.e. if one enjoy the 'intimate attentions' of one's pet poodle, please keep it to yourself.

One wonders how long it will be before NAMBLA becomes mainstream. Ugh. Enough of that bit.

As to children ... When I was eight or so, I was keenly aware that my teachers were attempting to manipulate me politically. One of my most vivid memories in junior high and high school was the blatant nepotism and corruption, and the very gross lack of intellectual preparation, that was widespread amongst the instructors. Indeed, I was 'kicked out' of both institutions because of it (in junior high, for repeatedly correcting the teachers, I was 'skipped a grade' up and sent to a special disciplinary school, whose student body was made up solely of delinquents (gang members) and over-achieving students (one of us obtained a 1500 on the SATs. I managed a mere 1300, 750 of it as a math score). In high school, although excelling in algebra (I wrote a theorem on deriving the y-intercept in my sophmore year) I was literally hounded out of the school by the assistant vice principal, who eventually used his connections in the local Democratic Party to become the headmaster of the institution. If I had been taken more seriously, his dismissal on various molestation charges twenty years later might have occured much sooner). The move to a catholic private school was like a breath of fresh air. I have been a decided conservative ever since, a decision that has become greatly reinforced over the passing years.

I wouldn't worry very much about liberal brainwashing attempts. What I would be much more concerned about is what students are missing in place of this 'sensitivity training'. There is only a limited time available to give children the skills necessary to thrive in a technologically advanced society; few will earn these skills on there own, and many (like my brother) will leave high school without the ability to read proficiently (Incidentally, my brother is no dummy. Once he went to vocational school, and understood that fixing a car required one to read Chilton manuals, he became proficient - through self tutoring, and on his own). Thus, that traditionally conservative offfering - the voucher system - seems a no-brainer to someone such as myself. It seems to resolve the problems of both factions, or, at least, the legitimate problems, seen in the present system quite nicely.

As to the idea that 'the American borgeouisie indioctrinated children', I shall presume it to be the typical strident Left-wing rhetoric, and give it the flippant dismissal it deserves. Neither the Left or the Right has ever successfully indoctrinated anyone for long; Geoffrey Chauncer was writing to the same corrupt, decadent people as watch the Jerry Springer show today, it being the product of individuals who could hardly be considered Leftists themselves. Southpark, a cartoon 'perpetrated' by two avowed anarchists, is rude, obnoxious, terribly tasteless, and unusually funny. So long as the latter is true, the former is irrelavent. In fact, there is some significant evidence that they are more than spuriously related ... Vulgarity is an old American tradition (as Europeans are wont to remind us from time to time) and will likely be long with us. Although the Left is anxious to claim responsibility for it (is not Mr Larry Flint numbered amongst their members?) and the Right to blame the Left for the prevalence of said, it will likely simply continue along at varying levels of intensity as it has since recorded history began (and earlier, if those finger worn 'fertility icons' found in the back of stone-age caves are likely what I think they were ...).

It is amusing, of course, that the efforts of one Leftist faction (those who advocate black racism against whites) has been at least superficially baneful to another (the most mysoginistic rhetoric ever to afflict my Republican ears comes from so-called 'rap music artists' ... one hears little about this trend from feminists). But then again, all is fair in love and war; as this touches on both (the proper level of nurturing to be advanced the 'hoe', the Kulturkampf waged by a mainstreamed vulgarity industry against what existed previously) I suppose it is within the bounds of what is acceptable nowadays. Carry on.


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