{"id":97,"date":"2008-06-07T12:25:33","date_gmt":"2008-06-07T19:25:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=97"},"modified":"2008-06-07T12:25:33","modified_gmt":"2008-06-07T19:25:33","slug":"%e2%80%9cthey-reestablished-for-him-the-world-in-which-he-wished-to-exist%e2%80%9d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=97","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThey reestablished for him the world in which he wished to exist\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thursday\u2019s Beyond Pedagogy meeting, though a bit noisier (due to our temporary move) resulted in the kind of inspiring dialogue that\u2019s been fairly consistent throughout a fairly non-consistent set of dates, books, and group members.<\/p>\n

For this book\u2019s go-around, Mark ventured to facilitate. He asked everyone to provide a single sentence for discussion (providing individual phrases and words didn\u2019t make it into our schedule).<\/p>\n

Below are the sentences discussed. Please add any thoughts, additional sentences, or insight you\u2019d like to the comments below.<\/p>\n

Our next book is the unflappable Buckminster Fuller\u2019s Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth<\/em><\/a>. Meeting details here<\/a>. See you there?<\/p>\n

Selected sentences from Jay Lifton\u2019s Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cIf with Catholic belief, you don\u2019t accept one article of faith, you are not a Catholic\u201d (page 217).<\/p>\n

\u201cAs painful as it is, thought reform would never have a lasting effect if it did not offer a new and appealing sense of identity as its reward\u201d (page 385).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe totalist environment draws a sharp line between those whose right to existence can be recognized, and those who possess no such right\u201d (page 433).<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means that you realize your crimes are very big, and that you are not afraid to denounce yourself \u2026. that you trust the people, trust your re-education, and that you like to be reformed\u201d (page 31).<\/p>\n

\u201cHe found himself more willing to listen to others\u2019 opinions, more patient, and less quick to \u2018get in anger\u2019\u201d (page 64).<\/p>\n

\u201cTotalist language, then, is repetitiously centered on all-encompassing jargon, prematurely abstract, highly categorical, relentlessly judging, and to anyone but its most devoted advocate, deadly dull: in Lionel Trilling\u2019s phrase, \u2018the language of nonthought\u2019\u201d (page 429).<\/p>\n

\u201cIn discussing tendencies toward individual totalism within my subjects, I made it clear that there were a matter of degree, and that some potential for this form of all-or-nothing emotional alignment exists within everyone\u201d (page 419)<\/p>\n

Tell people this is awesome:<\/h3>