Undoing Indoctrination and Restoring Civility

It is with a heavy heart that I am writing this piece. And, as such, I will try to pen it as tactfully as I can, given the emotion behind it. I’ve been wanting to write something on this topic for a while, but this seems to be the perfect moment in time, considering the occurrence of one of the most disturbing news events in my lifetime and quite possibly the entire history of our nation.

I’ll start off with a simple yet profound quote: “You can tell a lot about a person by how they react when someone dies.” Those powerful and truthful words were written by none other than the late Charlie Kirk.

And how did his supporters react after his death? They did not start riots. They did not set cities ablaze. They did not firebomb cars. They did not destroy and loot stores. They held prayer vigils at churches, in town squares and on campuses. Yes, they were and are still angry but anger does not have to be violent or destructive.

This incident is a perfect example of what I had been wanting to write about; the indoctrination of America, and particularly young Americans, and the danger it can and does cause. For the last several decades, and even more so since the 2016 election of Donald Trump, the mainstream media and the vast majority of big media in general have repeatedly demonized Trump, conservatives, Christians and Jews, among others, holding more traditional or conservative values.

As it turns out, there is actually a concept called Stochastic Terrorism. This practice is defined as “terrorism caused by deliberately inflammatory rhetoric in the mass media, which can provoke people with certain sets of personality traits and opinions into violence.” I would argue that this also extends to the public education system and especially higher education. These institutions that are supposed to be places of learning have long been a breeding ground for extreme left-wing indoctrination.

So what has been the result? Oh, only a complete lack of respect and regard for human life, especially for the lives of those they may disagree with. This was demonstrated in the most despicable way on that Utah campus on September 10.

A recent survey conducted by the Network for Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) in partnership with Rutgers University’s Social Perception Lab found that 55% of self-identified leftists say that killing Trump would be justifiable! We're not just talking about the far-left crazies, this is the overall public. This is alarming, saddening and most of all unacceptable.

The fact of the matter is that young minds are impressionable. Many people don’t realize it but the brain undergoes significant development until at least the mid to late 20s. Thus, it is ripe for manipulation and, dare I say brainwashing, even through the college years. And I believe wholeheartedly, that it is one of the primary causes of political violence in America.

Kirk was offering an alternative viewpoint that was generally scorned by professors and campuses. But why, in what are supposed to be spaces for exploring ideas and learning, would this be so? It seems to me that it’s an issue of power and control.

Those who have long controlled the culture war didn’t like the idea that millions of students, as well as adults, were being exposed to ideas opposed to their own. They didn’t like debate because they didn’t want to hear the other side. Kirk was a key figure in deprogramming or unbrainwashing, if you will, millions. And quite frankly, it terrified them.

It’s also ironic that today’s American liberal is a far cry from what classical liberalism held dear. In fact, the French political figure Voltaire, who is famously associated with (although he did not say it himself) the quote “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it,” would have been a classical liberal. What a far cry from what we have today.

The fact is, we are undergoing one of the biggest cultural shifts in decades, at least since the 1960s. More and more people are realizing that the answers to our problems promoted by modern liberalism are leaving a void in their lives in some way. It’s no surprise that liberals are accosted with far higher rates of depression and mental illness. Kirk was simply offering the alternative in the form of faith and traditional values and millions were taking him up on his offer. The rate at which young people and other groups almost always associated with the political left voted for Trump last year astonished the pundits and infuriated others. Church attendance is increasing for the first time in decades. In some ways it has become “cool” to be a conservative. What a notion.

No matter where you fall on the political spectrum, the thing is, violence toward differing opinions is never acceptable. If your ideas and viewpoints are sound and valid, you should not have to resort to such brutal behavior and be confident that your views and ideas can hold up in the marketplace of opinions and intellectual thought.