With many extremist -ist and -ism movements inciting mobs in our day, motivating individuals to behave toward others in ways they wouldn’t dream of doing on their own, and stifling rational inquiry and public debate, studying cults and mind-control is most timely. Rick Allen Ross, author of Cults Inside Out, identifies many characteristics of cults … Continue reading -ists and -isms, Contemporary Cults, and Cultish Seminars

Technology and social media impact the professor's and the student's confidence in freely articulating unpopular positions; activist Jacobins, on the look-out for anything, intentional or not, to take offense at, impede dialectic for instructors and students. The role of at-will Adjunct Instructors also makes likely self-censored, overly timid and accommodating, teaching. Inevitably, these factors affect … Continue reading An Unhealthy Learning Environment

Surreal. Quiet before the storm. A vivid dream—a bad one. Is this really my country? Have I slipped into a parallel universe, one where most details are the same as in my world, except for much that actually matters? The same guitars hang on my bedroom wall, but friends are suicidal, hateful, blaming everyone but … Continue reading Surreal Times and Hope