Brad Nelson
Administrator
עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
Posts: 12,239
Member is Online
|
Post by Brad Nelson on Jun 17, 2019 7:08:52 GMT -8
Kevin Williamson declares that there is not such thing as brainwashing — nor even cults — in his article, There's No Such Thing as 'Brainwashing'In short, because there exists exaggerated conceptions of what those terms mean (such as in the movie, The Manchurian Candidate), they don't exist in any meaningful way. This is just filling a word quota. I didn't read it all. Give me some credit for that. 
Also, it's interesting that their commenting system seems to be broken. I can't access comments to any of their article. (I was especially interested to read the reaction's to Marco Rubio's giveaway proposal.) |
|
|
|
Post by timothylane on Jun 17, 2019 7:25:14 GMT -8
In The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze (my favorite of their full-length movies, I think) at one point they're captured by the Chicoms, who submit Larry and Curly Joe to brainwashing. But as Moe points out later, there's a problem: Larry and Curly Joe had "no brainee to washee", and in fact ended up turning the tables on the brainwashers.
|
|
Brad Nelson
Administrator
עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
Posts: 12,239
Member is Online
|
Post by Brad Nelson on Jun 17, 2019 9:07:17 GMT -8
Very funny. Williamson's article struck me as saying "Because the moon is not made of cheese there is no such thing as dairy products."
Brainwashing is very real. It's called MS-NBC, the public school system, and much of modern entertainment. The cult mentality is so ubiquitous (today and throughout time) that it makes one look ridiculous to be splitting hairs about the phenomenon.
|
|
|
|
Post by timothylane on Aug 3, 2019 9:42:45 GMT -8
This might be as good a place to mention a Babylon Bee I read while browsing the site. It seems that the LGBTXYZetc. alphabet soup just noticed that B implies that there are only 2 sexes, which is no longer an acceptable view. So they had to guillotine it. The link is: B Guillotined |
|
|
|
Post by kungfuzu on Aug 4, 2019 13:12:02 GMT -8
The link is to another one of Theodore Dalrymple's wonderful pieces. He hits this one on the head. Bah, Humbug |
|
|
|
Post by timothylane on Aug 4, 2019 14:01:31 GMT -8
Dalrymple makes some interesting points, especially about virtue-signalers being humbugs. I would note that one argument supporting his views on giving offense is the admonition, based on Ecclesiastes, that there is a time and place for everything. Sometimes (such as, say, at a family dinner in which politics hasn't come up) it's not the time and place for talking politics, especially controversial (to the audience) issues.
As for the professionally outraged, pointing out the humbuggery might be a good idea. For those abrasive, sensitive sorts who have become known as snowflakes, the lesson might best be, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never injure me." This could be risky, though, since the natural leftist reaction today would seem to be to bring out the sticks and stones precisely to break your bones.
I disagree a bit with Dalrymple on the nature of hypocrisy, though. My view is that hypocrisy is not merely failing to live up to your standards (which no one who actually has any does), but claiming not to fail them -- and especially, self-righteously denouncing others who fall short. Self-righteous hypocrisy is extremely irksome.
|
|
|
|
Post by kungfuzu on Aug 11, 2019 13:32:50 GMT -8
Here is another of Dalrymple's wonderful pieces. He makes a similar observation to one I have pointed out about Americans for about 50 years i.e "Never have so many tried to be so different by acting so alike." In Dalrymple's example, it covers more than just America. I can attest to the fact that much of the more base/vulgar American values/habits have spread round the world. I suspect this has largely to do with the American grasp on mass-media, which according to "experts," have little effect on yutes. Mass Individualism |
|
|
|
Post by timothylane on Aug 11, 2019 13:58:51 GMT -8
This is something I learned in my younger days, too. As an Army brat I naturally had a crew cut even as the standard style for men was a good bit longer. In my high school yearbook, I chose Emerson's "Whoso must be a man must be a non-conformist" as a quote. Similarly, when I looked for executive-cut pants in college (they fit me a lot better than flares or bell-bottoms), I couldn't find them within a mile or so of campus (as far as I could walk, anyway). This told me that boys could be at least as much slaves of fashion as girls.
MAD Magazine dealt with the remarkable similarity of people claiming to all different in a few cartoons as well. And there's always the "You are all different" scene from Monty Python's Life of Brian.
|
|
|
|
Post by kungfuzu on Aug 11, 2019 14:39:21 GMT -8
After all these years, the only scene I have ever seen in "The Life of Brian" is a few minutes when Brian is on the cross. I liked Monty Python when they first came to the USA (Dallas' KERA TV Station was the first to air them in the USA, I believe) but I have to admit that by my early 20's I found them puerile. Perhaps this is because it is extremely difficult to continue churning out their type of humor without a big drop-off in quality.
|
|
|
|
Post by timothylane on Aug 11, 2019 15:14:40 GMT -8
Of the 3 movies that are explicitly Monty Python movies, Life of Brian is easily my favorite. It's a superb satire not merely of religion but -- even more -- of revolutionary groups (though the Romans don't come off too well, either). Monty Python and the Holy Grail was good only for about half an hour, but Life of Brian excels from the beginning. (Perhaps it helps that my middle name is Brian, of course. Not exactly a Jewish name, but then he wasn't entirely Jewish, either. It turns out his father was a legionary who called himself Nortius Maximus, which turns out to be a "joke name" -- like Biggus Dickus. Then it turns out Pilate has a "vewy gweat fwiend in Wome" named Biggus Dickus. Brian's mother was a prostitute, though she may have learned after bearing one child -- in one scene in which she's about to do a legionary, she kneels to do him, after which Brian leaves and we don't get to see her performance.)
|
|
