Thought Reform
Sanctioned re-education mandated by those with authority and facilitated by school boards and human resource departments.
The intention is clearly marked by the fact that they are always mandatory, never voluntary.
Explicitly anti-pluralist.
Designed to converge minds into homogeneity, despite what is on the box. Looking different may be welcome, but different views are not only unacceptable, they are hateful.
A social engineering project famously utilized in Maoist China that victimizes individuals, who are assumed dissident, to promote an ideology that is assumed morally superior and necessary.
Includes awareness and unconscious bias training, environmental, social and governance schemes (ESG), sustainability plans, and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. It is worth noting that each of these are minor conjugations of socialist and fascist orthodoxies.
The implications of such courses are that our current perspectives or states of existence are either insufficient or unacceptable, and in order to become an acceptable citizen or employee, it is necessary that a half-baked ACTIVIST condescendingly espouse ideological talking points to a room of adults. Our views are outdated or obsolete, and we run the risk of being left behind when the progress train leaves the station (it is often sold in this way). We are being done a courtesy, a favour.
In truth, it is a direct assault on free thought and expression; an act of war on the individual, and in war, there are casualties.
Unsurprisingly, these tactics are prevalent under every authoritarian regime. The consequences for disobedience are different, but the methodology is identical. Instead of being killed outright, we are shamed by proponents, and our peers are encouraged to distance themselves for fear that our sin of free thought become contagious. In lieu of physical violence, character assassination and employment ransom have become the tools of leverage. Authoritarians have learned that they do not need to bloody their hands to be effective - ruining someone’s life is just as easy.
The logic is that everyone is already guilty, and their purpose is to have us recognize our guilt. It is functionally different than original sin, because it does not accuse us of being innately guilty. Rather, it is the fact that we exist within a particular system that has condemned us. During these courses, participants are expected to acknowledge or confess their crimes against the ideology. This can include mere complicity in a system that is antithetical to the prescribed social or cultural ethos, according solely to the ideology, of course. We have participated in the system by default, and so we are guilty be default. It is often lost on the speaker that they have also participated in the system, and so it is common for an incredible amount of contrived language and argumentation to emerge as a justification for their position as the bearer of the good news.
Thought reform is designed to supplement education that ideologues believe was insufficient to produce an ETHICAL and progressive citizen. This re-education attempts to change us so that we can change our communities, workplaces, and eventually, the world. Participants often feel demoralized after attending these courses, because the purpose is not to understand one another, rather it is to change us based on the inference that we are not good enough. Purveyors of such courses are aware of this outcome, and it is generally acceptable in regimes that force its citizens to participate. If we do not adopt the faith, then we will at least be compelled to pretend as though we do, while we live in fear of challenging it openly due to the possible consequences.
Discussions may arise during such courses, but these are simply to give the illusion of an honest brokering. The speaker may even invite disagreement, but it never seriously considered. This is because these courses are not designed to investigate claims, they exist to educate us about them, so that we can better.
We are urged to be part of the future, or else.
Whether through faith or through fear, the outcome is achieved: obedience.
Posted: 16 Mar 2023
