The Coddling of the American Mind

[BeccaKirstyn]

I came across this article from a friend. It's quite lengthy, but there is much to it that I believe is worth reading and considering.

 

I'm in my graduating semester for my two undergraduate degrees and this article feels as though it has summed up my last 5 years of college education. Last semester I took a class for my criminal justice major titled "Women and Crime", in which the professor gave a "trigger warning" at the beginning of the semester stating that this material would be sensitive and much caution should be taken when discussing it as a class. That we would be discussing things such as race, gender, and sex in relation to the criminal justice system, and each student should ponder first how their statement might affect another student before speaking. I knew from that moment I was in for a whirlwind of a class, and indeed it was...

 

I think this article intrigues me so much because I'm also a psych major, so to see CBT techniques used to address the overwhelming offended nature that exists in this college atmosphere is unique and very interesting. 

 

Any thoughts on the article? Experiences? Disagreement? 

 

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/399356/#article-comments

Edited January 15, 2016 by BeccaKirstyn

[Jamie123]

I've been semi-following the recent events at Missouri and Yale, with some degree of disbelief. This cartoon made me laugh, and I'm not sure its so very far from the truth:

 

[unixknight]

That article was pretty great.  Thanks!

[JojoBag]

This is a manufactured crisis, just like the majority of all such "crises" are manufactured.  The question is: who is manufacturing them?  For my money, you can look no farther than the Fabian Socialists.  This "crisis" like all the other manufactured social crises is about "fairness."  It isn't fair that one person should have more than another, or that I should have to feel anxious or concerned (or that my belly button is an outtie instead of an innie).  The idea is that everyone should be equal and the best way to do that is incrementally.

 

It has taken years for the Fabians to accomplish this, but it has reached a point in geometric progression that it has become a snowball.  The more kids mind they can corrupt, the more they pass it on from generation to generation.  Cleon Skousen wrote about the goals of the communist part in his book, The Naked Communist.  Here are the 45 goals of the communists/socialists.

 

 

1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.

2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.

3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament by the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.

4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.

5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet Satellites.

6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.

7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.

8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the Germany question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.

9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the U.S. has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.

10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.

11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)

12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.

13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.

14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent office.

15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.

16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.

17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.

18. Gain control of all student newspapers.

19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.

20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, and policy-making positions.

21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV and motion pictures.

22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."

23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive meaningless art."

24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.

25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio and TV.

26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, and healthy."

27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."

28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."

29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a world-wide basis.

30. Discredit the American founding fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man."

31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of "the big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.

32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture -- education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.

33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.

34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.

36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.

37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.

38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand or treat.

39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.

40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.

41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.

42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use "united force" to solve economic, political or social problems.

43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.

44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.

45. Repeal the Connally Reservation so the U.S. cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction over domestic problems. Give the World Court jurisdiction over nations and individuals alike.

 

Some of these aren't applicable right now, but look at all the goals they've accomplished.

[Guest MormonGator]

Yeah, Americans generally need to toughen up and stop being coddled, but it's still the greatest country in the world, full of tough people 

[Jamie123]

Not all of the "45 goals" on that list I would necessarily disagree with. For example I would resist any attempt to outlaw membership of the Communist party. Using legislation to stamp out political opposition is exactly the sort of thing the West is supposed to be opposed to.