When Everything is a Crime: Harvey Silverglate on the Overregulation of Ordinary Life

Professor rejects Marxism after traveling the globe

Just read an admittedly bias confirming article at The College Fix about University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Anthropology professor Jack Stauder's ideological conversion away from socialism and Marxism.  

Regarding his conversion, he says “I gradually became disenchanted with Marxism by visiting many of the countries that had tried to shape their societies to conform to its doctrines. I was disillusioned by the realities I saw in … socialist countries – the USSR, Eastern Europe, China, Cuba, etc,... I came to recognize that socialism doesn’t work, and that its ‘revolutionary’ imposition inevitably leads to cruelty, injustice and the loss of freedom.”

On the culture of academia he says “People seem to feel the need to believe in something, and when intellectuals abandon traditional religion, as most have done, they tend to seek substitutes...Academia has developed its own culture, a subset of the wider elite culture of the ‘new upper class’ (see Charles Murray, Coming Apart). As in all cultures, pressures exist to conform one’s thoughts and actions, and those who do not conform tend to be marginalized or suppressed."

The College Fix: Professor rejects Marxism after traveling the globe: ‘Socialism doesn’t work’

 

Gaslighting

I was introduced to the term "gaslighting" today.

According to Wikipedia "Gaslighting or gas-lighting is a form of mental abuse in which a victim is manipulated into doubting their own memory,perception, and sanity. Instances may range from the denial by an abuser that previous abusive incidents ever occurred, up to the staging of bizarre events by the abuser with the intention of disorienting the victim."

The term originates from a 1938 play (and film adaptions) "Gas Light" where a husband tries to convince his wife and others that she is insane. It has since been used colloquially to "describe efforts to manipulate someone's sense of reality."