Wednesday 19 August 2015

University: A Death Cult for the Middle Classes?


Top universities are just like cults when you think about it. 

The students think they have 'special knowledge' others do not have for being within the institution. There are all kinds of sensory deprivation rituals, such as gruelling exam studies, hazing and behavioural controls via extreme political correctness to the use of cult-like buzz phrases such as 'microagressions' and chanting. The 'elders' are the Professors who are the high priest class, who will only give you their 'approval' if you question nothing and do only what they tell you to do. There is the buffer of 'Campus Jesuits' called Fraternities who police the lesser adepts for the benefit of the Elder Professor Class. You can only read what they tell you to read and think only what they tell you to think. You are denied a meaningful love life and stable intimacy with someone you can trust, and your friendships are all with people exclusively within the same campus social circle. Diets are limited and proving your worth and unconditional devotion is EVERYTHING. You are isolated from your old social networks and family. You even have hymns and special vestments devoted to the glory of the institution and you consider yourself an 'elite' for doing everything you are told to do and questioning nothing. 


By the time you realise it is a huge scam, you have invested so much of your life into obtaining a degree that you 'just can't' walk away only to live with the guilt and shame of not being one the 'special adepts' with the stupid hat and gown. Finally, they take all your money and you never recover financially.

How is that different from a cult?


In the USA, I always found it amazing that working class people were not supposed to be well read. They were to conform to a stereotype of being a 'working stiff' who merely watches baseball on TV and drinks something called 'Lite' beer. 

In the Ireland I grew up in, working class people devoured books. There was no contradiction. It was only when I realised what big business 'education' actually is, that I understood why these stereotypes from Lisa Simpson to Roseanne were almost ruthlessly enforced within the American cognition. This mentality is everywhere now.

You had to go to college in order to 'read books' in the USA, and back then I used to come across Americans who were literally spellbound when they saw me holding a copy of a Tennessee Williams or Lovecraft novel on my lunch break working as a house painter. 



I recall one Harvard gentleman being literally offended that I knew more about just about everything than he did because I was wearing painter's overalls for a week in his house in Forest Hills. By the Friday, he was literally ready to hurl me out the door when when I started talking about the DaDaists with his daughter. He was terrified I was going to ask her out on a date. It was all about no crossing over of social status and that meant who pays for education and who does not. I did get my credentials in graphic design later, but as a night student paying out of my own pocket. My one year as a real college student destroying my love for Electronic Engineering put me off for life.

Listen to this discussion between myself and James Corbett on Joyce the other day. James did his thesis on Joyce at Trinity in Dublin at the same time I was there reading Joyce in the park during my lunch break. Yet there was no sense I was less knowledgeable about the subject. I just did not pay for it and get a piece of paper and a stupid hat and gown at the end of the ordeal.

Knowledge is Everywhere

That is the biggest misconception and scam of all. Having people believe they need to pay huge sums of money to get an education. If you can read and stay away from drink, weed and TV, you will learn much with books and sexy women will fancy you for it. The ideal solution is to go to trade school or tech and then do the 'academic' stuff as a hobby in your free time. You'll have a much easier and less painful life and you'll beat the banks too.


26 comments:

  1. Excellent summation, Thomas!! I came up "poor and underprivledged" in the usa. When I understood there was no "higher" education in my future, I started reading everything I could, thus I obtained an education without having my head messed with. I ended up working with some PhDs at NASA for a stint. I was scared that I would be in way over my head with these "brainiacs" but they were often impressed with my ability to quickly grasp their concepts (psychology) and pose intelligent questions. Often I am asked what my degree is in. Hahaha. In general my answer is, Life! N.Abele

    ReplyDelete
  2. Went to university for a year, and only had 1 good professor who kept all his work as an open source type deal. Its just a scam and further proof that people are often full of shit. Being humble and an autodidact will get you way beyond the little titles and inflated ego.What pisses me off is how many books universities have, books bought by unearned money.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Watch Sean Connery's AFI acceptance speech on Youtube where he talks about the importance of reading. Love him or hate him he made quite a mark without a degree.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hello Thomas, whats your email ad for dreams?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Every parent and young people thinking about college should this post not once but many times until it sinks in.

    I wish my parents and I knew this 36 years ago. Would have saved us a lot of time and money.

    What's amazing is that many parents get angry with their offspring for the nonsense they spout out after a semester or two, when they should be angry with the idiot professors.

    The colleges/universities have also wrecked the arts among other things.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The institutions of higher indoctrination.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I won't be letting my son sleepwalk into enrolling at University. I just don't see the benefit of burying yourself under +£50k of debt to obtain a degree that has no value. What concerns me the most is that through this social engineering, vast swathes of young people are effectively mortgaging themselves to the government, or whichever private entity they end up selling the debtor ledger to. Don't be surprised if the generous credit terms and forgiveness clauses are revisited in years to come.

    ReplyDelete
  8. We are in the cyber age. Knowledge is at the click of a mouse. Wisdom, that is another matter...

    ReplyDelete
  9. Those two pix you added are great.

    ReplyDelete
  10. OT:
    I listened to the bridezilla-episode, all about ME and all of that.
    Mark Passio has made some suggesstions that the psyche of mankind has gone satanic.
    http://truthserumnews.com/category/religion/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think Mark Passio is probably right.

      Delete
    2. Mark Passio: the whole enchilada:
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnDAbXI7Eo0
      MARK PASSIO: STREET-WISE SPIRITUALITY

      Delete
  11. I was concerned when my son started university and they invoked the god Janus during invocation ceremony, but when I looked into the student loans and found they all had variable rates I was sickened. He would be potentially paying 38k for a 12k loan. What a racket.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I am an American student (duh duh DUHH!!) I am taking online courses (B.A in Religion and Cultural Studies) and I feel ok just doing something beneficial for myself and my twin sister who is disabled (I am her caregiver). It has nothing to do with society.
    I hate how they would pressure students to enter the medical field because it pays well. I never encountered a enthusiastic doctor/nurse in my life which says a lot on why they chose their profession. No one really love their jobs. It's all about cash and burnouts. I would not be stupid enough to take out loans every semester unless I absolutely have too. I will never understand why many students take out private loans when they are attending a public college where they can receive scholarships, grants, etc....(Sallie Mae cough cough). The truth is that they are selling a dream so many kids feel "safe" taking out loans thinking they will become billionaires. I am not buying that dream. I would be happy living in a decent apartment working as a part time teacher.

    Many criticizes my major but my goal is to attain a B.A degree so I can teach abroad one day (because most schools that pay fairly won't hire white fat foreigners looking for a good time in Japan with High School diplomas).

    ReplyDelete
  13. Quite a lot of the university lecturers are encouraged to go on "Common Purpose" courses. This is a mind control programme and they pass on the mind control techniques to the students.

    www.cpexposed.com

    ReplyDelete
  14. "If you want to get laid, go to college. If you want an education, go to the library". - Frank Zappa

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thomas I've slways keeo reading and following you utube videos. . I never have given up on you .. I like best the first talk you ever had on air with Alan Watt .. I thought it was special .. you are special .. the New years eve Big night inn with your " Leberach was grazy, Fun and cool ..add there diffrent ..
    Yes again I agree and understand what you have wriiten here ..
    I don't know ever what happened to our fb friendship the day I was going to hear you live and got high jac by bunch of guy try best to interfere with the broadcast ... i think you should have not been so scaried that I had anything to do with it .. Ibtry for many days to try and tell you that .. I thought you cared about our friendship best way you could .. and were enjoying my in put ... you made me sad it some way ... I've never been much of a wriiter and did my best with my spelling I could mm. ..any way take care and keep up your good work .. peter from australia ...

    ReplyDelete
  16. I went to Trinity, though not enrolled. Kenelly and Norris were brilliant! I was supposed to be doing Engineering at UCD. Gallagher was not bad too. Back then you could get an education. The corporatisation of Universities has been a bad thing, but they don't matter any more. China and India have taken all that stuff. rather learn to be a painter.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Spot on, as usual.

    The ones who are articulate enough to make a terrible point sound logical are the worst; they are tools towards indoctrinating others. To the average listener or viewer who pays little attention, they sound like they know what they're talking about and that makes them seem non-threatening, while they could be arguing for the biggest amount of bullshit to be passed into law.

    I was reading about English universities and their PC madness the other day; they just can't stand an opposing point of view. They should be called Generation Offended.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Life is a struggle on €232,000, says university president
    UCC chief defends salary and reveals the 'stress' he is under as he tries to survive Ireland's recession


    Niamh Horan Twitter

    The president of University College Cork, Dr Michael Murphy, who is paid €232,000 a year, has described how the heads of Irish universities "are as challenged at paying their bills as anyone else".
    He continued: "Many people won't understand this because of the scale difference. But the stress on people is the same."
    Dr Murphy explained that he had taken on a certain standard of living when he accepted the lucrative job in 2007.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Wonderful post, Thomas!

    I hope you don't mind if I add my two cents worth, because you touch on a lot of things here.

    When I was growing up here in the USA back in the 1970s and 80s, working class people were not portrayed as stupid at all but portrayed as people who always yearned for something better- perfect examples are the two main characters in the film Saturday Night Fever who wanted to leave the old neighborhood and expand their horizons. The late August Wilson always wrote his working class characters with such depth and complexity, as opposed to the idiots that show up on the shows of BET these days. I think dumbing down working class characters is a recent phenomenon.

    Also, back in the day, I can remember riding in taxi cabs where classical music and opera were playing on the radio. Quite common.

    I think that there is a real dumbing down of the masses that is quite frightening, and it's spreading to everyone, not just the working class. There was a time when many colleges and universities were free in the US. My parents went to CCNY back in the 1940s for free when it was referred to as the 'Poor Man's Harvard.'
    And it was back then. Public schools back in the day were all high quality, for rich, middle class and poor children.

    As for college, I think I have to agree with you. With all of the required courses, exams and papers you had to do, college was not about learning but about getting just enough so as to receive a degree.

    Research papers were the worst! All the sources you had to use and sight, yet you had to watch out not to plagiarize anything-even though the line between plagiarizing and not plagiarizing was always very, very fine.

    Oh, and let's not forget those stupid entrance exams! Ugh!

    I've never been much of a school person. I find that what I remember most are things I've learned on my own, like you said.

    There was a time when education was about bettering yourself intellectually-hence, the 'Gentleman Scholar.' But now, it's about being a servant to the system and nothing else. They want you so specialized that you literally don't know anything else. I've actually heard these experts say things like 'that's not my field of expertise.'

    So, I do think that this dumbing down is being done on purpose. And, the fact that this movement downward is such a success is terrifying.

    Oh, and let's not forget these arrogant, bullying college professors!

    Thank you so much for letting me rant.

    Again, great post!

    ReplyDelete
  20. As I often find myself Thomas I'm in full agreement with you.

    I live in students-ville Aberdeen, smack bang in the middle of their overpriced accommodation, a stones through from the university, I have worked alongside many a student, and can say with 100% conviction they their indoctrination is working a treat (superb work priests on high).
    When discussing varying subjects with co working students I found their opinions on all major subjects to be identical, whether they stem from local or international seed. They in toe find my opinions radical, perhaps even extreme.
    I over hear their conversations in the local supermarket, and again I'm hearing carbon copies regurgitating opinions and ideas they've been downloaded with.
    For my sins(the sin being a lack of higher education and the inability to brown nose)I work in hospitality, an industry awash with students, many of which I've been very fond of, still there has been occasions where id liked to of slapped them about with a wet haddock.
    I would need quadruple the amount of hands and feet to count on my fingers and toes the amount of times I've heard
    "I felt like telling them I have a degree in blah" in retort to a customer treating them like a fool. As though said degree puts them on some intellectual pedestal. I would find myself (mouth slowly filling with blood from tongue biting) having to resist in pointing out that they'd spent thousands of pounds to read, remember then regurgitate selected text's, and still for all their efforts were working alongside me shoveling shit from pillow to post, and suspect will be for quite sometime, as every other cunt has a degree nowadays.
    The arrogance that comes with it soon fades, as they realize they've been scammed. Very few people I know have managed to put their degree to good use, not one of them has ended up in their desired line of work.
    I myself studied Art, only at college level, I did not apply to university as it is a more obvious waste of money than most degrees. I continue to practice the craft, and have learnt more in my own time and mind than I ever learnt at college.
    I have not owned a TV since 2007, which allows me plenty of time to read, which I do. I can honestly say I feel I have a greater understanding of the world I live in than any one of my degree waving associates.
    I wonder what their response to this article might be?
    I'll post it out, see if any of them fancy writing a thesis on it.


    ReplyDelete
  21. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  22. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Bit different over here (Australia) to the US, access to Uni is on academic merit rather than ability to pay. Many of my classmates were the first in their family to attend.Since the system is different, so are the outcomes. Working class kids who get in consistently outperform those from private high school backgrounds for example. Nothing even vaguely resembling fraternities, unless you count engineering students and their odd toga party rituals (20 years down the track I still don't get it).Academically, it sounds nothing like over here either. Here, if you want anything over a simple pass, you damn well better be providing an informed critque of a wide range of sources. If you agree with your lecturer like a robot and only refer to the sources given in class, you will be graded accordingly, i.e. (your academic rigour is meh, you'll get a mark in which your lecturer says meh)

    ReplyDelete