“In my day” (I am 58), most people rebelled against brainwashing. Whatever we were taught about sex, contemporary music, contemporary entertainment — we generally questioned it. Kids taught by Catholic nuns in the 1950s and 60s almost always questioned them; today’s leftist school officials and college professors are met with blind acceptance. Often we were right and sometimes we were wrong, but we questioned, back in the day. I see NONE of that today. The great majority of young people, if raised by woke and leftist parents, adopt these woke attitudes themselves. If raised by more conservative and rational parents, then they rebel — against their parents, not against the authorities in schools and culture who taught them to be woke. Back in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, brainwashing almost never worked. Today, it almost always does. What is going on?
Here are some of the reader replies (from Facebook):
Parents have stopped teaching their children HOW to think, HOW to reason, HOW to think for themselves! For some reason parents nowadays feel like teaching their children HOW to reason is “overstepping” their boundaries as parents!!! IN OTHER WORDS: STUPID thinking by parents has enabled communists and liberals to seize our children’s minds.
AKA: CRITICAL THINKING … Essentially parents have set their children up for the ripe picking from communists.
It’s made for a generation of Americans that all disagree with each other!
Social Media, through fear and intimidation, drives many young people to conform or be socially mocked and shunned…which they feel is a fate worse than death. Same goes for adults in the workplace, whether it’s a corporation or academia.
Adults today are themselves often self indulgent , obsessed with eternal youth” , their outward appearance and status in the community , with friends and family while independent and free thinking goes extinct. A shallow existence and narcissism has crept in in our society leaving children ripe for brainwashing by the state. with little parental input . Parents have been unaware and unwilling themselves to take charge. Many are waking up to this nightmare and many have seen it coming like a speeding train. The shift away from family values centered on the children they brought into this world is profound and adults are often more like their children seeking out a “ friendship “ from them rather than being the mature adults they are called on to be as a responsible parents. The foundation is falling out from beneath the family and slowly a new world of separation, intercession and disruption is being built in it’s place destroying and replacing the bedrock of a solid family and faith oriented society into a faithless, state authority.
In the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s it was the left challenging the mostly conservative establishment.
Socialism and Marxism were already ideologically imbedded in the culture, in music, literature, movies and art.
To be ‘critical’ in those times meant, being a leftist. They wanted total control of the institution’s, especially in all levels of education.
Now they have it and they do not plan to let it go. So now our children are being indoctrinated to be good leftist and not challenge the leftist establishment.
Concepts like ‘criticism’, ‘opposition’, ‘freedom of speech’ and ‘critical or independent thought’ have always been of instrumental value to the left. They are to be used as instruments to get the left in power. Once they are in power, those concepts are no use to them anymore.
The left is only concerned about one thing; to get in power by any means necessary so that it can implement they nihilist and destructive program.
Michael, I said the same thing and asked the same question 30+ years ago as an immigrant with two kids going to school (private and public). It was the parents who hated me the most for fighting the system for the benefit of their kids.
Helicopter parents not allowing their children to make mistakes and free range and social media addiction I believe are two factors in a majority of young adults unaware of the reality of (to use their term) “adulting” and believing in something.
I always had the freedom to read anything, and I chose my own books. And my mom was a socialist. I had the intellectual curiosity to find answers. Barry Goldwater woke me up. 😉
My thought is when we grew up we read books and went outside interacted with other kids explored which led to an experience that forced our brain to develop in a different way than kids force fed so much from thousands of tv shows social media and biased media/ schools. Think about the difference between reading a book and having to flood that image into your brain vs being fed that image into your brain. Think about interacting with other kids with no adult supervision at an early age learning to problem solve and resolve conflicts vs no interacting.
There is no attempt to provide guidance on critical thinking. There are no consequences for making mistakes. They are taught from an early age to blindly accept authority and never question ANYTHING. Peer pressure, social media, and lots of other things enter the equation as well.
I think they are browbeaten into it in order to “belong”. Belittled & called names… not the tactics normal, compassionate people use…. not tactics used by those who believe you have the right to your own opinions & beliefs.
Most of the last two generations of parents failed. Raised the current stupidity. Some of us are now trying to save our own kids. How many over 50 caved to masks and vaccines knowing more than anyone the past? They created most of the “parents” of today and only have themselves to blame.
The public education system and other government funded entitlements have achieved their goals through systemic indoctrination for decades. Most parents gladly deposit their children on the doorstep of indoctrination because they have been programmed to believe the government will be a better parent and is truly concerned about all children. Parents are merely vessels to produce obedient voters and voices. Questioning the authority leads to being ostracized by the group. Being ostracized by the group leads to probably losing the entitlements you’ve come to depend on. And if you have never learned critical thinking skills it is too overwhelming to venture too far from your comfort zone. Frightening scenario we are in.
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