The Disturbing Influence of ‘Brutal Minds’ in University Education
“Wherever brutal minds get the upper hand, they destroy, they dumb down, they homogenize, and, if necessary, they stamp the face of opposition with the jackboot of outright repression.”
Stanley K. Ridgley opens his new book, Brutal Minds: The Dark World of Left-Wing Brainwashing in Our Universities, exposing readers to the dark undercurrent of violence and repression in American higher education. Many of us who have gone through the once-vaunted academic halls of America’s universities feel something is off — badly off. Finally, Ridgley, a professor at Drexel University, gives an in-depth explanation of how we fell into this putrid rot that has corrupted so much of academia and the next generation of Americans.
Leftism in Student Affairs
Being a professor, Ridgley makes clear that not all universities or university professors are engaged in tearing down students and brainwashing them into a parasitic ideology of self-destruction that leads to civilizational destruction. “Most faculty,” he writes, “do not engage in the brainwash.” Although “a significant minority does,” the real barbarians running amok, ruining students, and destroying universities are the administrators, counsellors, and workshop leaders “ensconced in a bureaucracy called student affairs.” This is very much what I recall from my education, both at the undergraduate and graduate school level, from a small liberal arts university in Ohio to the halls and walls of Yale.
Most academic faculty have left-leaning sensibilities, and it is easy to detect their biases in their language and rhetoric. But it is often the world outside the classroom that enforces the new “world of intimidation, psychological manipulation, [and] co-opted peer pressure.” The campus workshops and activist lectures militantly manifest the real brutalism and indoctrination on campus. The guest speakers, the endowed lecture series, and the freshly minted psychology administrators who staff the counseling offices were the most nauseating people I generally encountered. They spoke all the buzzwords that have risen to cultural prominence today.
We all know that “Social justice educators are the chief practitioners of the brainwash in the university.” But what, exactly, is “the brainwash” that is indoctrinating students and destroying Western civilization?
The Principles of Brainwashing
The attempt to answer this question is where Ridgley’s work is most illuminating. The word brainwashing has entered common usage, but its origins come from the 1950s in describing communist “reeducation” ideology — mainly from Maoist China. Ridgley gives a brief history of how this dark psychological operation works and how it seeks to destroy the sense of self. Once the process has obliterated individuality, it then molds the human soul into a collective morass of enslavement and servitude to a totalizing ideology.
Ridgley identifies eight principles that the brainwashers use to break down individuals and convert them into foot soldiers of their ideological cause:
- Milieu control (information control)
- Mystical manipulation (self-importance)
- Demand for purity (either/or mentality)
- Cult of confession (public declarations of allegiance)
- Sacred science (absolute agreement with worldview)
- Loaded language (reinterpretation of language)
- Doctrine over person (enslaving yourself to the cause)
- Dispensing of existence (determining who is good, who is bad, and who gets to be a member of the good and bad groups in the world)
These principles serve to form the basis for the “ideological totalism” that now runs rampant among the student body and the businesses, offices, and organizations the “true believers” staff and operate.
Brainwashing’s Bolshevik and Maoist Origins
These principles, Ridgley goes on to show, come from Maoist totalitarianism. They work as an “assault upon identity” to break down the individual into an admission of guilt. The fear of a penalty is lifted by becoming a devoted member of the sacred science and doctrine, which reestablishes a sense of self and stability. This leads the broken individual to a “rebirth” as a new person who now lives devoted to the doctrine that has offered new life. This type of totalitarianism is a counterfeit and diabolical theology.
For those who are familiar with Soviet and Chinese communist propaganda and ideologies, this is nothing new. The whole ideologies of Bolshevism and Maoism rested on a condemnation of the masses and their old world and identities in order to convert them into the “new man” of socialism. Simply replace socialism with anti-racism and social justice and you have “the brainwash” of the modern left in American and Western politics:
Social justice faculty and facilitators attack students to break down their sense of self and compel them to confess that they are oppressors, if they are white. Black students and other persons of color are instructed that they are actually the victims of systematic oppression and that the white students in their classes are their oppressors and complicit in a system of oppression called white supremacy.
We often forget that nonwhite students are also brutalized by this parasitic ideology. If you’re not white but agree with individualism, meritocracy, and the political liberties of the Constitution, then you have internalized racism and white supremacy! By loving Dante, reading Shakespeare, and quoting T.S. Eliot, you reveal yourself to be a pawn of the oppressor class and its values. Nonwhites must also be broken down and destroyed to be remade as a servant-soldier of the cause. “The brainwash” destroys everyone and turns everyone against each other.
Don’t Take the Black Pill
It would be easy to get depressed and dejected after reading Ridgley’s book, but he ends on an optimistic note. What can be done? Can we save ourselves and our once-great institutions of education and learning? Yes!
Looking at the dissidents — students, teachers, and even politicians — who stood up to Soviet totalitarianism in Eastern Europe (like Václav Havel), Ridgley encourages all to stand up and “refuse to live within the social justice and critical racialist lies.”
“We can revel in the liberation that Havel experienced as he rebuked authoritarian bureaucrats, too many of whom corrupt our own universities today,” Ridgley writes. This will not be easy, but the fight for liberty, justice, and civilization never is.
We may take comfort in knowing that while totalitarian regimes have always attempted to create their version of paradise on Earth, none have ever succeeded. Brutal and inhumane as they always are, they have always failed. That is a hopeful thing to always remember.
Perhaps the tide is turning. As more and more people become fed up with violence and the destruction of the sacred ideals of free speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of the self, the opposition to the lies of the new totalitarianism grows. “Live not by lies” is a good philosophy to embrace for oneself. After all, “the truth shall set you free.”
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Why is the suppression of free speech and intellectual diversity in universities detrimental to critical thinking, academic rigor, and societal discourse
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Ridgley explains that the brainwashing begins with the infiltration of leftist ideologies into the curriculum and policies of universities. The emphasis on identity politics, victimhood, and the idea of a patriarchal, oppressive society is pervasive in many academic disciplines. Students are taught to view themselves as victims and to see the world through the lens of oppression. This creates a culture of victimhood and a sense of entitlement, where individuals believe they are owed something simply because of their identity.
Furthermore, student affairs offices play a critical role in perpetuating this mindset. These offices, which are meant to support and guide students, have become breeding grounds for radical ideologies. Ridgley describes encountering counselors and workshop leaders who were obsessed with pushing their agendas, using intimidation tactics, and manipulating students into conformity. This includes using peer pressure to silence dissent and encourage adherence to their beliefs.
One of the most alarming aspects of this brainwashing is the suppression of free speech and the stifling of intellectual diversity. Universities, once seen as bastions of free thought and open debate, have become echo chambers where dissenting opinions are not tolerated. Ridgley highlights examples of speakers being disinvited or protested simply because their views did not align with the prevailing liberal ideology.
The consequences of this brainwashing are dire. Ridgley argues that it not only stifles critical thinking and intellectual curiosity but also leads to a decline in academic rigor and the degradation of educational standards. Students are no longer challenged to engage with different perspectives and develop a well-rounded worldview. Instead, they are taught to regurgitate the ideologies they have been spoon-fed, without questioning or critically evaluating them.
Furthermore, this brainwashing has implications beyond the confines of the university campus. Ridgley asserts that the indoctrinated students go on to become activists, politicians, and leaders who perpetuate these ideologies in society. This contributes to the polarization and division that we see today, as individuals become more entrenched in their ideological bubbles and less willing to engage in constructive dialogue.
In conclusion, Stanley K. Ridgley’s book, “Brutal Minds: The Dark World of Left-Wing Brainwashing in Our Universities,” provides a thought-provoking analysis of the insidious nature of ideological indoctrination in higher education. It highlights the role of student affairs offices in perpetuating this brainwashing and the consequences it has for intellectual diversity and societal discourse. It is a call to action for those who value free thought, open debate, and the preservation of academic standards to challenge and resist this pervasive trend in universities.
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