Have You Been Indoctrinated or Educated?
The difference between indoctrination and education is that indoctrination closes the mind and education opens the mind.
NOTE: readers have indicated they wish to see the homeschooling series less frequently, so I’ll be scaling that back to once or twice a month.
I read somewhere that the difference between indoctrination and education is that indoctrination closes the mind and education opens the mind. It’s a good way to think about this topic.
Education, in its purest form, includes self-directed learning, project based learning and mentoring. These concepts open the doors of intellectual exploration and give the student an ability to look at the world with a variety of spectacles.
Indoctrination instills a set of habits and beliefs that align with an ideology or political agenda. You’ll see this in educational institutions in Communist and Socialist countries where school curriculum is closely aligned with what the ruling party dictates.
It’s interesting to me that in Communist society the young are taught, in state controlled schools, to hate the old society and anything that represents it.
Sounds kind of like what we have going on here in the American public school system.
If you are in a Communist country, it’s because a dictator has thrust that system of government on you. You don’t vote for it. It would be dumb to do so.
Socialism is another thing. It creeps up on you slowly and intentionally. It’s also dumb. And anybody who takes the bait that Socialism is a good thing has not been educated as to what it really is.
The following is an allegory (a story that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning either moral or political) that was passed around the Internet in the late 90’s.
It’s a simple way of describing how socialism creeps in.
The Wild and Free Pigs of the Okefenokee Swamp
Some years ago, about 1900, an old trapper from North Dakota hitched up some horses to his Studebaker wagon, packed a few possessions -- especially his traps -- and drove south. Several weeks later he stopped in a small town just north of the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia. It was a Saturday morning -- a lazy day -- when he walked into the general store. Sitting around the pot-bellied stove were seven or eight of the town's local citizens.
The traveler spoke. "Gentlemen, could you direct me to the Okefenokee Swamp?"
Some of the old timers looked at him like he was crazy. "You must be a stranger in these parts," they said.
"I am. I'm from North Dakota," said the stranger.
"In the Okefenokee Swamp are thousands of wild hogs" one old man explained.
"A man who goes into the swamp by himself asks to die!" He lifted up his leg.
"I lost half my leg here, to the pigs of the swamp." Another old fellow said,
"Look at the cuts on me; look at my arm bit off! Those pigs have been free since the Revolution, eating snakes and rooting out roots and fending for themselves for over a hundred years.
They're wild and they're dangerous.
You can't trap them.
No man dare go into the swamp by himself." Every man nodded his head in agreement.
The old trapper said, "Thank you so much for the warning. Now could you direct me to the swamp?"
They said, "Well, yeah, it's due south -- straight down the road." But they begged the stranger not to go, because they knew he'd meet a terrible fate.
He said, "Sell me ten sacks of corn, and help me load it in the wagon." And they did.
Then the old trapper bid them farewell and drove on down the road. The townsfolk thought they'd never see him again. Two weeks later the man came back. He pulled up to the general store, got down off the wagon, walked in and bought ten more sacks of corn. After loading it up he went back down the road toward the swamp.
Two weeks later he returned and again bought ten sacks of corn. This went on for a month, And then two months, and three. Every week or two the old trapper would come into town on a Saturday morning, load up ten sacks of corn, and drive off south into the swamp.
The stranger soon became a legend in the little village and the subject of much speculation. People wondered what kind of devil had possessed this man, that he could go into the Okefenokee by himself and not be consumed by the wild and free hogs.
One morning the man came into town as usual. Everyone thought he wanted more corn. He got off the wagon and went into the store where the usual group of men were gathered around the stove.
He took off his gloves.
"Gentlemen," he said, "I need to hire about ten or fifteen wagons. I need twenty or thirty men. I have six thousand hogs out in the swamp, penned up, and they're all hungry. I've got to get them to market right away."
"You've WHAT in the swamp?" asked the storekeeper, incredulously.
"I have six thousand hogs penned up. They haven't eaten for two or three days, and they'll starve if I don't get back there to feed and take care of them."
One of the old timers said, "You mean you've captured the wild hogs of the Okefenokee?"
"That's right."
"How did you do that? What did you do?" the men urged, breathlessly.
One of them exclaimed, "But I lost my arm!"
"I lost my brother!" cried another.
"I lost my leg to those wild boars!" chimed a third.
The trapper said, "Well, the first week I went in there they were wild all right. They hid in the undergrowth and wouldn't come out. I dared not get off the wagon. So, I spread corn along behind the wagon. Every day I'd spread a sack of corn. The old pigs would have nothing to do with it."
"But the younger pigs decided that it was easier to eat free corn than it was to root out roots and catch snakes. So, the very young began to eat the corn first.
I did this every day.
Pretty soon, even the old pigs decided that it was easier to eat free corn. After all, they were all free; they were not penned up. They could run off in any direction they wanted at any time."
"The next thing was to get them used to eating in the same place all the time. So, I selected a clearing, and I started putting the corn in the clearing. At first, they wouldn't come to the clearing. It was too far. It was too open. It was a nuisance to them."
"But the very young decided that it was easier to take the corn in the clearing than it was to root out roots and catch their own snakes. And not long thereafter, the older pigs also decided that it was easier to come to the clearing every day."
"And so, the pigs learned to come to the clearing every day to get their free corn. They could still subsidize their diet with roots and snakes and whatever else they wanted. After all, they were all free. They could run in any direction at any time. There were no bounds upon them."
“The next step was to get them used to fence posts. So, I put fence posts all the way around the clearing. I put them in the underbrush so that they wouldn't get suspicious or upset. After all, they were just sticks sticking up out of the ground, like the trees and the brush. The corn was there every day. It was easy to walk in between the posts, get the corn, and walk back out."
"This went on for a week or two. Shortly they became very used to walking into the clearing, getting the free corn, and walking back out through the fence posts."
"The next step was to put one rail down at the bottom. I also left a few openings, so that the older, fatter pigs could walk through the openings and the younger pigs could easily jump over just one rail. After all, it was no real threat to their freedom or independence. They could always jump over the rail and flee in any direction at any time."
"Now I decided that I wouldn't feed them every day. I began to feed them every other day. On the days I didn't feed them the pigs still gathered in the clearing. They squealed, and they grunted, and they begged and pleaded with me to feed them. But I only fed them every other day. And I put a second rail around the posts."
"Now the pigs became more and more desperate for food. Because now they were no longer used to going out and digging their own roots and finding their own food. They now needed me. They needed my corn every other day. So, I trained them that I would feed them every day if they came in through a gate. And I put up a third rail around the fence. But it was still no great threat to their freedom, because there were several gates and they could run in and out at will."
"Finally, I put up the fourth rail. Then I closed all the gates but one, and I fed them very, very well. Yesterday I closed the last gate. And today I need you to help me take these pigs to market."
The word Fascism is thrown around rather loosely and incorrectly these days.
Fascism is an offshoot of Marxism.
Marxism is the theoretical framework for communism and socialism.
The founding father to fascism, Benito Mussolini, in 1919 established the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento, which by 1921, became the National Fascist Party. He was born and raised a Socialist.
Socialism is what is slowly creeping up on America.
Many would have you believe that Fascism is “far right” on the political spectrum.
It isn’t.
It is about as “far left” as you can get.
Many moons ago, the state of California was considered a “red state”.
What’s a red state?
A red state is a state that has Republicans being the prominent party in most of the legislative branches for the state, but also whose voters predominantly vote for one party—the Republican Party in National elections.
Republicans are considered to be on the right side of the political spectrum in the United States.
Republicans and Republican voters aren’t Fascists.
Republicans won the state of California in nearly every state and presidential election between 1952 and 1988.
Richard Nixon, Ronald Regan (both U.S. Presidents) (both Republican) were from California in this era.
Then in the 1990’s the state went to blue (same definition as red state only replace Republican with Democrat). (Democrats are considered to be on the left side of the political spectrum in the United States.)
Why?
California’s Latino and Asian legal and illegal populations boomed in the 1990s and that growing segment of voters were turned off by the Republican Party’s stance on immigration. The Republican party closely tied itself to Proposition 187, a California ballot measure that denied public services to people in the country illegally.
Since then, California’s adoption of far-left ideology, and the devastating toll it has brought serve as an example of how not to run a state.
What do I mean by far left ideology?
For example, the renewable movement, which is the center piece of the Green New Deal, has caused many big problems. Energy prices are skyrocketing. The state’s energy policies continue to take an increasing share of household incomes both directly in gasoline and utility bills but also indirectly because these costs are built into the prices of every other component of the costs of living. Corporations don’t pay taxes, they pass them on to the consumer in the costs of the goods or services.
Also, blackouts have become commonplace because the state’s energy grid, which is more reliant on wind and solar power than any other state, simply cannot meet energy demand. But even worse, these ridiculous policies have led to massive energy shortages for millions of Californians. And they want to go to all electric vehicles by 2030. How’s that going to work?
But then again, shortages and socialism go together.
Aside from the energy issues that have harmed Californians, far-left leaders have also enacted burdensome taxes and regulations, which are causing a mass exodus of residents and businesses. Wealth redistribution via super high taxes, a central tenet of socialism, is causing massive exodus. The U.S. Census Bureau showed that just over a half million residents left the State in 2018. This was the first time in history California population decreased.
There are several other policies that California has implemented over the past few decades that are causing a downward spiral. Monumental housing costs and water shortages due to strict environmental regulations and the increases in homelessness because of California’s generous welfare payments, has placed California on the endangered list.
Remember the government doesn’t make money the money it spends, it takes it from you and me in the form of taxes.
Nancy Pelosi is the representative for California’s 12th congressional district. San Francisco is in the 12th congressional district. She has been working for the government since 1987, first serving as a US representative from California. Pelosi has represented San Francisco, California's 12th District, in Congress for nearly 33 years. She currently is the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives - HBIC.
Have you read about the decline of the once shining jewel called San Francisco?
It’s out there if you look (search on “decline of San Francisco”).
San Francisco and a lot of coastal California is circling the drain (to be in a state of severe deterioration such that one is approaching inevitable ruin, failure, or death).
California is a socialist experiment that is failing.
There’s too much free corn in California and we all saw how quickly the fence posts went up during COVID lockdowns in California.
Why does this matter?
It’s being replicated nationally if you’re open enough to recognizing it.
Did you know that spending all of your time with people who think just like you do is called being in an echo chamber?
An echo chamber is a hollow enclosure used to produce reverberation. Traditionally called a “chamber reverb” it was a physical enclosure where in the music industry you could achieve a specific sort of sound, think singing in the shower.
When all you do is specifically look at one kind of news and maintain one kind of viewpoint you place yourself in an echo chamber where everyone has the same thoughts and ideas.
Echo chambers are filled with people who think only one way. Echo chambers are where indoctrination takes place.
Have you been indoctrinated or educated?
Take some time each day to read or listen to opinions that are different than your viewpoints.