The Pricey Church Of Higher Indoctrination
George Leef writes at James G. Martin Center that higher education -- formerly with a mission of free inquiry -- is shutting students' minds:
The growing problem of fundamentalist thinking is the focus of Minds Wide Shut: How the New Fundamentalisms Divide Us by Gary Saul Morson and Morton Schapiro. The authors are, respectively, a professor of arts and humanities at Northwestern University and the president of that university.In their book, they write that the nation's peace and progress is endangered by an atavistic mindset in which people base their beliefs on some inerrant text (sacred or secular) that purports to answer all questions. Because that text cannot be wrong, those who follow it see all evidence as confirming their belief system and regard anyone who disagrees as foolish or evil.
Fundamentalists, the authors write, don't engage in rational argument, which entails weighing other points of view and objectively considering evidence, but instead assert what they insist are truths. There is nothing to be gained by trying to argue with fundamentalists, but doing so might be dangerous, as they're often intolerant of dissent.
...Morson and Schapiro are unhappy to report that fundamentalist habits of mind have invaded our colleges. Bear in mind that they are at one of America's elite, extremely selective universities.
They write,
In our classes, we have seen students who adopt fundamentalist ways of thinking almost by default: not as a choice, but because they imagine that is just what thinking is. These students seem genuinely surprised that there are situations where one cannot find a uniquely correct answer, where one needs to make choices under uncertainty, and where those who recommend a different course of action might turn out to be right.
So, sharp students are entering Northwestern (and other colleges, of course) with such rock-solid convictions that they won't consider alternative points of view. They believe that all thinking entails is to assert their beliefs and dismiss any opposition. That isn't good. But instead of breaking them of those bad mental habits, college education is apt to reinforce them.
I think this fundamentalism, which is mostly leftward, drives the mob mentality and "cancel" culture that lead to the ruin of people through social media mass attacks that to me are reminiscent of tooth-poor, pitchfork waving mobs from the middle ages. The fact that the have iPhones instead of pitchforks is just detail.
One way to push this back is for both individuals and companies to stand up for people being mobbed -- including those we disagree with. Your having views your co-workers find abhorrent shouldn't be reason for you to be fired if it is not shown to get in any way of your doing your job. (A doctor who believes in shaking chicken feet over cancer patients, well, "Off with his head!" -- metaphorically speaking, of course.)
via ifeminists
I'm getting a little tired of people recycling failed collectivist ideas and philosophies that didn't work the first and second and third times they were tried, as if they were the new way to save mankind.
Communism, socialism, fascism - in fact, collectivism in general - have been tried and have failed, not only miserably, but tragically and in wave after wave of bloodshed.
Without fail, the new adherents always tell you that "this time," they'll get it right.
There's always some looming existential crisis that this "reformed" collectivism will solve, if only we give them power over our lives, minds, and souls; if we surrender our very selves to their dogma.
There's always an original sin condemning us to perdition; and from which we can only be cleansed if we submit to their dogma.
Sound like a fundamentalist religion to you?
Maybe humans need a religion, a belief system to help them make sense of their world and ease their existential angst.
Conan the Grammarian at June 4, 2021 6:24 AM
Marx had good cause when he called it the opiate of the masses.
Ben at June 4, 2021 6:43 AM
When the left is in power, mass media (and now big tech), look the other way as they wreak havoc on society.
When the right is in power, mass media (and now big tech), hold them accountable for literally everything. They can't break wind without an expose on climate change.
It seems that at least when the right is in power, there is scrutiny and accountability. Downside being society is kept in a constant state of agitation and fear, usually over manufactured crisis and scandals.
The right wins elections? Challenge the electoral college certifications (2000, 2004, 2016, literally every time a republican wins), call the election stole, Russian collusion investigations, years of Al Gore and Hillary Clinton claiming they were cheated, defund police while cities are being burned down, manufacture one crisis after another.
The left wins an election with unprecedented mail in votes, anomalies, affidavits under penalty of perjury, etc.? Call it the most secure election ever, obstruct audits, and cancel anyone who scratches their heads over.
Trust at June 4, 2021 8:09 AM
There was a fun opinion piece in the WSJ by James Carville covering that Trust.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/democrats-are-the-anticrime-party-11622045951?mod=article_inline
Democrats burn down Democrat cities and physically attack other Democrats. Obviously this is all the Republican's fault.
It is easy to see why many thought Carville was doing a parody.
Ben at June 4, 2021 10:54 AM
Dr. Aruna Khilanani has a beef with Yale.
Apparently only releasing the audio of her talk at that vaunted institution wherein she, a psycho 'chiatrist, ranted about emptying her revolver into the heads of white people and walking away from their dead bodies with a spring in her step was some sort of outrage.
She wants the video released, too, and those white bastards just won't do it.
I'd post a link but ... can't do that here.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at June 4, 2021 5:16 PM
Jonathan Haidt has traced this way of thinking back to the moralistic / therapeutic culture prevalent in primary education and among Progressive parents and caretakers.
It's basically a perspective that teaches kids that emotions are beliefs and beliefs are morals and so how you 'feel' about something indicates whether you are a good or bad person.
Of course all good people feel the same way about things, so their beliefs must align and that's how you know they are good moral people. So say the Progressives.
Hannah at June 5, 2021 12:58 PM
Hannah, sounds to me as though that could easily be true on both sides.
It reminds me of the "All in the Family" episode "Two's a Crowd." In it, Archie stubbornly insists that NOTHING your parents teach you can be wrong, so when they teach you anything, directly or indirectly, if you oppose it, that means you don't love your parents - and it's immoral not to love your parents. (Of course, in that episode, Archie was "backed up" by the fact that very few white parents born before 1930 were truly anti-racist by 1978 standards - so, racism, whether taught verbally or non-verbally, was the "right" thing to teach.)
lenona at June 5, 2021 6:24 PM
Leave a comment