Could Teaching Critical Thinking Abilities, End Cult Mind-Conrol Forever?

by lifelong humanist 66 Replies latest jw experiences

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  PSacramento

  Devaluing the need for critical thinking skills is like devaluing the need to teach kids how to feed themselves.

  Why would you take me saying that critical thinking is NOT the "end all" of thinking skills as me devaluing it?

  Being a Martial artist for over 30 years allow me a MA example :)

  Striking used to be considered "the deadly" skill, untill the UFC came around and grappling was shown to be a more than effective solution to it.

  Does that mean it was devalued? NO, absolutley not, it means that it was put in its proper context as ONE OF MANY TOOLS.

  And that is what CT is, one of many tools for a child or adult to develop.

  On a side note, some of Us in the MA had been doing grappling systems WAY BEFORE the UFC made it clear how crucial those skills are, some of Us had already known about Brasilian Jujutsu way begore the UFC and even Lethal Weapon 1 and how did we knwo that?

  Critical thinking applied to Martial arts training ;)
• 

  Heaven

  I see 2 key things being needed to deal with cult mind control.

  One is definitely education which branches off into so many different subject areas including science, critical thinking, life goal planning, empowerment, and just being human (ie. loving each other and caring for one another).

  The second is legislation. Cults are destructive so this aspect needs to be dealt with because it's costing money and lives. Remove their control and power over people. Force them to be benevolent, not malevolent.

  Religous freedoms need to be couched with laws that protect people from unscrupulous authority figures just the same way as Sarbanes Oxley and ISO had to be formed to define proper boundaries for financial and business conduct. Perhaps religions need to start being scrutinized (aka audited) in a similar way that business has had to be.
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  lisaBObeesa

  Of course all children should be taught good critical thinking. Of course. And of course that would cut down on the number of people caught up in cults.

  The trouble is that many cults indoctrinate people by very slowly and systematically dismantling their their critical thinking by using using tricks of the mind.

  There is a bit of covert hypnosis that goes on. At bit of short-circuiting the brain. An attack on the mind.

  A certain percentage of humans are, by nature, very suggestible. These people can have their minds tricked despite having been taught critical thinking skills. Watch Derren Brown convince a person that red is black or some other such nonsense. Their brain believes red is black because it has been tampered with...it has been tricked with covert hypnosis, not because of lack of critical thinking. (also notice how Derren Brown uses the subject's emotions as tool to manipulate her mind, to disable her critical thinking. He doesn't play on emotions, as we might suspect he would. Rather, he uses emotions as tools to manipulate her thoughts. It is quite diabolical, and disgusting, really.)

  In fact I think that under the right circumstances almost anyone can be a victim of this sort of thing. And I do believe cults employ some of these tactics.

  Of course good critical thinking skills will help lessen the risk. But a person also has to be...on alert...aware at ALL TIMES that this kind of mind trickery is out there so that they will not be fooled. It only takes a split second of the tinyest bit of misplaced trust and your mind can be manipulated by those who want to control your thought so that you think red is black...or that bad is good...or that giving them all your money is a good idea...

  but then, of course, a very good education in critical thinking would include information and warnings about this sort of mind trickery.

  So yeah. Critical thinking = good. I'll stop rambling now.
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  darth frosty

  Good video on changing the education paradgm

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U&feature=player_embedded
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  Mad Sweeney

  Thinking skills...The seminars I have attended show that one of the best hunting grounds for cults are universities. Does that mean that universities don't teach critical thinking?

  Critical thinking is not a required course at any of the universities/colleges I've attended or worked at. There are courses but they are usually tucked away in the Philosophy major somewhere. So for the most part, no, critical thinking as its own subject and skill is not commonly learned at universities. Those in the sciences will pick up some of it, but it will mostly be applied and limited to those sciences and not used in daily life much.
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  skeeter1

  I think Critical Thinking helps people spot and realize cults.

  But, people stay in/join cults because they are idealistic. I think idealism is a top motivating personality trait of cult followers. Have to teach all children that there are "shades of grey" in everything. Answers to life's toughest questions are murky, at best.
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  jgnat

  Critical thinking does help me spot the frauds. A good critical thinker, I believe, will frequently self-evaulate to see if there are flaws in their own worldview. Done well, it is a humbling experience. It points out how vulnerable we all are to be taken in by broad assumptions, group pressure, emotion, fear, habit.

  Critical thinking does lead to solid conclusions. I apply Occam's Razor all the time. This frustrates my daughter all the time as I won't even consider if organic grapefruit, for instance, might have a secret ingredient that prevents colds.

  Why are college students vulnerable? I think their critical thinking skills have not been practiced enough to spot the flaws in their own belief. Hence, they fail to see the flaws in others.

  To fail to examine our own motives is to live in ignorance of what drives us. We might as well be a cork on the ocean.

  That said, I don't think that critical thinking skills alone will empty cults. Typically they meet (or promise to meet) a need. Very often that need is emotional, not logical.

  • A need certainty.
  • Crave social acceptance (With well-established rules, even the most maladjusted can follow the rules to get in)
  • Desire to achieve a clean and holy life.
  • A private belief that they are better than their neighbours.
  • A hope to be reunited with loved-ones, but not as exotic as a seance.
  • Rejection of the consumer-driven values of modern society, or a personal failure to achieve them.
  • Nostalgic desire to return to "simpler times".
  • Fear of personal or world destruction.

  The cultist can be helped by guiding them to a safe place where they can evaluate whether their needs are met in a healthy way.