Escaping the Brave New World: Creativity and Brainwashing

 

How did western civilization lose its connections to the historic moral and philosophical traditions that had imbued it with a love of progress, a respect for the past and sacrifice for the future for centuries?

In this discussion between the New Lyre Podcast host David Gosselin and RTF director Matthew Ehret, this question is unpacked from a variety of angles.

This episode deals with the rise of social engineering during the 20th century with a focus on London’s Tavistock Clinic, MK Ultra, CIA cultural warfare in the post-war age under the Congress for Cultural Freedom and much more. We explore the roots of epistemological warfare stretching back to the days of ancient Athens to our present age, and the post-WWII techniques deployed in the form of the Frankfurt School, political correctness, and the “authoritarian personality project” which aimed to proclaim that individual genius, moral leadership or love of truth were merely forms of fascism that must be destroyed by new forms of “group think” and “popular opinion” in order for free capitalist democracy to win the Cold War.

This discussion provides a very accurate description of the undergraduate programme that I confronted at the University of Toronto. Midway through, I withdrew and continued with a curriculum that I selected myself. This did not endear me to the academic mafia controlling the institution, who granted me a scientific certification to my degree only grudgingly, leaving the clear understanding that I was not one of "theirs".