In these
times of growing confusion and delusion, we must learn all we can about how to
keep our minds free from coercive manipulation.
People who intimidate others for speaking freely are
getting a lot of ink on today’s front pages. Somewhere on one end of the
spectrum are college students who agitate to fire professors and administrators
who aren’t enough in line with politically correct agendas. Then, way on the
other end of the spectrum, the death cult called ISIS executes those it
perceives to be out of line with its agenda.
Obviously, it runs a wide gamut. But if we’re honest, we
can see that these cases represent different stages along the same well-worn
path of tyranny. The dynamics are similar wherever there is obstruction of the
free exchange of ideas. They include: using silencing tactics to achieve
conformity of thought; blind rage and intolerance towards any ideas that
diverge from the agenda; and all-out efforts to eliminate perceived enemies.
But the visible actors who are shutting down freedom seem
not to be free agents themselves. They act more like recruits whose behavior
has been conditioned through political correctness,
an effective behavior modification tool. It’s been entrenched for decades in
the West, in education, media, and pop culture. With terrorists, we know that
indoctrination is far more direct.
Either way, messing with your mind—or coercive thought
reform—is a common denominator of any agenda that depends on shutting down real
conversation. Whatever the grievance du jour, it serves mostly as a
distraction from the main goal: collectivist conformity that ends up empowering
an elite. Campuses are prime recruiting grounds.
Indeed, there seems to be a lot of mind-hacking going on.
One example is how elites from the divestment
movement recruit and mobilize college students to agitate for them and shut
down free speech. The National Association of Scholars just put out a report on
that, which is cited in Joy Pullmann’s insightful Federalist article, “The
Anti-Speech Agitator’s Handbook.” Can we at least start trying to
understand how mind-hacking works on us?.........
Ten Resources to
Jumpstart Conversations about Mind-Rape Prevention
Why not start a
mind-rape prevention book club? Students who wish to retain their sanity on
PC-conditioned campuses should be especially interested in exploring this. But
everyone should try to learn how to fight mob psychology either on their own,
or, ideally, in conversations with others.
Below is a very
select list of books and other materials that can help to inoculate the mind
against mass delusion. None of the titles are recent. That’s partly because
I’ve found the greatest clarity and respect for independent thought in material
written decades ago.
