0 likes

Gotta admit though – that’s a fairly creative one.

   0 likes

6-7 PM MST – Friday, Jan 9th:

Listen in and catch the author of “Trapped in a Mormon Gulag” in a discussion with Utah Boys Ranch staff on KRCL.org @ 6 PM Mountain Standard Time on Friday, Jan 9th …

http://www.krcl.org/

   0 likes

   0 likes

Along the same lines as that post, another one is the belief that private-sector profit-driven corporations are always more efficient than anything done by the public sector (a government). The profit motive often leads to efficiency, but American common wisdom has gone completely overboard in terms of the belief that profit-driven markets represent the only way for a society to effectively get anything done. For example, look at the U.S. medical insurance industry: you can show people evidence of how dramatically this system increases the cost of medical care, and yet it won’t shake many people’s faith that (being a private, profit-driven endeavor) it must on principle be more efficient than “socialized medicine.”

This goes hand in hand with the rarely-questioned American belief that handing tasks over to the private sector always means increased freedom. We talked about this a bit here, on Rational Moms where the fact that American pre-school system is entirely private sector means most parents have the “freedom” to pick which Christian indoctrination they’d like to have included in their child’s education, but if you’d like to send your kids to a pre-school that doesn’t include your kids getting taught (someone else’s) religious beliefs, then T.S. for you — that option doesn’t exist.

   0 likes

   0 likes

That someday everything will be “perfect”
That I will somehow escape the natural patterns of life (the constant flux of joy and pain) (I have heard that Zoloft helps with that)

That I have to be de-programmed, seriously the further out you get the easier it is to see the value of some things you were taught.

Take the gold and leave the muck.

   0 likes

   0 likes

The assumption that there is one best way to live, and the corollary that anyone who isn’t living that way is bad and sad.

The feeling that I have to be exceptional (e.g. a member of the One True Church) to be worthwhile as a human being. I now have to find a sense of self-worth despite being in many ways quite mediocre.

The assumption that I should listen to every feeling of guilt, that it has something legitimate to tell me. If all guilt comes from the Light of Christ, then it’s unthinkable to discern between legitimate regret and toxic shame.

The assumption that all of the world’s problems have an answer. Everyone should live the Gospel and things would be straightened out.

The assumption that taking an eternal perspective makes us better people. It’s the difference between resting assured that God will sort things out in the end and feeling personally responsible to make sure that justice and mercy are done.

The hope that all truth would be revealed in the end. Now I believe that we’ll need to fight for every scrap of knowledge we can acquire as the human race.

The feeling that life has no meaning if my consciousness ends in oblivion.

   0 likes

It appears that openness, not indoctrination, is unintentional.

Well, I intentionally try to be open-minded (and try to encourage critical thinking in my kids rather than “agree with me because this is what we believe”). I may not entirely succeed, but I am making a real effort in that direction.

   0 likes