Tag Archives: brainwashing

Five Coins in the Fountain

Posted on May 12, 2026 by Abigail

Before feminism, girls in America were expected to be “popular.” But exceptionally, in my high school, I got an exemption. So, what high school did I go to? At that time, it was generally thought both democratic and fair to … Continue reading →

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, agnosticism, alienation, American politics, anthropology, anti-semitism, appreciation, art, art of living, atheism, authenticity, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical Archeology, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, Desire and Authenticity, dialectic, eighteenth century, erotic life, eternity, ethics, ethnicity, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, fatherhood, female power, femininity, feminism, filial piety, films, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, health, Hegel, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, immortality, institutional power, Jesus, Jews, journalism, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, Married Philosophers Discuss Confessions, martyrdom, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, medieval, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, motherhood, mysticism, Nihilism, nineteenth-century, non-violence, novels, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, power games, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, racism, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, remembrance, Renaissance, repairing the culture, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, science, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, seventeenth century, sex appeal, sexuality, slave, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, Suicide, terror, terrorism, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, Truth, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal’s Confessions of a Young Philosopher, activities for college credit, anti-feminist bigotry, artistic vulnerability, brainwashing, breaking women’s silence, Bronx High School of Science, commodification of women, courtship and self-disguise, dreams of a wedding night, eligibility for gifted high schools, expected to be popular, extracurricular activities, fear of losing femininity, feminine vulnerability, femininity and innocence, femininity as a duty, femininity as a skill, femininity at risk, Feminism, feminist manifesto, gifted young painter, girls and good books, girls with good minds, girls you can’t fool, high school dreams, high school Literary Club, husbands controlling wives, imaginary fears, imaginary fears and real dangers, innocence lost, intellectual girls, intelligent unsentimental girls, intuitive sensitive women and vulnerability, intuitive young woman, losing innocence, marital brainwashing, marital domination and victimization, not forced to be popular, obligation to be feminine, old maid, originality vs femininity, path-breaking vs femininity, planning to be wonderful, poetic and romantic young woman, poetic young woman, popular girls, post-marital muddying of painter’s colors, prefeminist self-blame in women, public schools for the gifted, putting husband through grad school, reading good books, romance in Rome, romantic dreams, romantic hopes, Rome’s Fontana di Trevi, sexism, Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex, Stepford wives, surviving feminism, surviving pre-feminism, teenage ambitions, the art of womanhood, the freedom of wives, The High School of Music and Art, the silence of women, the vulnerability of being feminine, three coins in the fountain, true love and the Fountain of Trevi, wedding night disappointment, wedding night hopes, wedding night reproaches, wedding night virginity, wife as patient, wife of a young doctor, wifehood and mental health, willed vulnerability, wives and women’s liberation, wives hiding their beliefs, women and self-condemnation, women friends, women not shocked by life, women who live up to their promise, women’s post-marital erasure, women’s stories | 2 Comments

The Owl of Minerva Takes Flight

Posted on May 6, 2025 by Abigail

This week, Abbie brings back a reader favorite. First shared in an earlier column, The Owl of Minerva Takes Flight explores what it means to understand history only in hindsight, and what we might see when we try. *** “The … Continue reading →

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The Election Has Taken Place

Posted on November 12, 2024 by Abigail

In these columns, I’ve preferred to stay clear of the politics of the day. It’s been my experience that honest people do differ, and sometimes even over the most vital issues. I haven’t wanted to use “Dear Abbie” to acquire … Continue reading →

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The “New York Intellectuals” and Me

Posted on April 23, 2024 by Abigail

Recently I’ve been reading a book titled Arguing the World: The New York Intellectuals in Their Own Words, by Joseph Dorman. It’s based on the author’s interviews with surviving members of a group that played a significant part in the … Continue reading →

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As Philosophy Goes …

Posted on January 30, 2024 by Abigail

I hold the view, borrowed from G. W. F. Hegel, the nineteenth-century’s primo philosopher of history, that philosophy plays an oversized role in shaping human events. So do earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, global warming periods, plagues and nasty fights over water … Continue reading →

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, American politics, anthropology, anti-semitism, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, eighteenth century, erotic life, eternity, ethics, ethnicity, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, health, Hegel, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, immortality, institutional power, Jews, journalism, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, medieval, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, motherhood, mysticism, nineteenth-century, non-violence, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, repairing the culture, roles, romance, romantic love, science, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, slave, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, terror, terrorism, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged academic martyrdom, academic power struggles, American Philosophical Association, Ann Gary, APA’s Proceedings and Addresses, are people like machines, brainwashing, can machines replace people, can you live inside your philosophy, Catholic convert, cognitive psychology, communicating across difference, competition between underdogs, David Chalmers, Eleonore Stump, Epistemology, facial recognition, fallacy of scattershot condemnation, fashionable ideas, feminist philosophy, feminist quarrels, forced confessions, groupthink, Hegel, human knowledge vs AI, human suffering, human thinking and AI, Hypatia, idealized knowledge, Incommensurable Otherness, intellectual autobiography, Jennifer Nagel, John Dewey Lectures, Jonathan Schaffer, learning models, logical positivists, Mariana Ortega, mechanist materialism as worldview, medieval logic, metaphysics, mind/body problem, moral one-upmanship, opposition to women in philosophy, people compared to machines, philosophical account of ultimacy, philosophical fashions, philosophical friendship, philosophizing about human suffering, philosophy and nonquantifiable experience, philosophy and the future, philosophy and worldviews, philosophy as a profession, philosophy as a truth-seeking discipline, philosophy as cultural influence, philosophy as life-shaping, philosophy lectures, philosophy of history, philosophy transcends the tyranny of fashion, philosophy's political influence, physicalism, physicalism and reductionism, physicalist worldview, Plato's view of knowledge, prediction errors, primary and secondary qualities, primary qualities, pulling moral rank, Reign of Terror, right opinion vs knowledge in Plato, Saint Augustine, Salem witch trials, sexism, the politics of philosophy, theory of everything, thinking machines, Thomas Aquinas, true knowledge vs opinion, Vienna Circle, wisdom as true knowledge, wisdom knowledge vs everyday knowledge, women in philosophy | Leave a comment

The Owl of Minerva Takes Flight

Posted on July 4, 2023 by Abigail

“The owl of Minerva takes flight only at dusk.” So wrote G. W. F. Hegel, the nineteenth century’s major philosopher of history. By that he meant that any given phase of history can be understood only in retrospect – after … Continue reading →

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, femininity, feminism, films, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, health, Hegel, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, Idealism-, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, immortality, Industrial Revolution, institutional power, Jews, journalism, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, motherhood, novels, ontology, oppression, past and future, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, racism, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, romanticism, science, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged ancient skepticism, anthropic principle, Antony Flew’s There is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind, brainwashing, cancel culture and desire, cancel culture and social power, chance and life’s origin, coerced confessions, culture and the absolute, culture and ultimate truth, Darwin and chance, Darwinian evolution, decoding present history, desire and erotic skepticism, erotic manipulation, foreseeing the future, Francis Fukuyama’s The End of History and the Last Man, Fukuyama and liberal democracy, G.W.F. Hegel, George Orwell's 1984, guilt and social power, Hegel and history, historical eros, ideology and tyranny, intelligibility of history, laws of probability and evolution, liberal democratic values, Mind Control, Modernity, my story and humanity’s story, natural purposes, ostracism and social power, owl of Minerva, personal story and world history, philosophy and teleology, postmodern skepticism, postmodernism and denial, psychoanalysis, purposiveness in nature, reading the Zeitgeist, Robert Jay Lifton's Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of “Brainwashing” in China, skepticism, skepticism and biological nature, skepticism in history, Sy Garte’s The Works of His Hands: A Scientist’s Journey from Atheism to Faith, teleology, the big picture, the bird’s eye view of history, The Owl of Minerva and history, theology and teleology, Ukraine and Western nations, Ukraine as a test of values, understanding the present, world history and liberal democracy | Leave a comment

Dragon Hunting

Posted on June 21, 2022 by Abigail

Dragon Hunting Dragon hunting has never, to my knowledge, been deemed the sport of kings since the requisite skills are not confined to any class of people, royal or other. Rather, the know-how is reserved for gifted souls. They know … Continue reading →

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, American politics, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, femininity, feminism, films, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, health, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, institutional power, journalism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, ontology, oppression, past and future, philosophy, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, slave, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, terror, terrorism, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", antinomian, argument's power, argument's weakness, Épater les bourgeois, being turned to stone, brainwashing, brainwashing in Korean War, breaking a spell, capturing minds, coerced confessions, combatting dragons, concealed intentions, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, controlling others, cunning manipulator, deliberate incivility, dragons, Electoral College results, gifted souls, Greek mythology, having what it takes, Jacob Taubes, January 6th Hearings, January 6th historic precedence, January 6th Insurrection, January 6th legal evidence, January 6th mob, justice as the interest of the stronger, Me Too Movement, mental coercion, methods of manipulation, occult knowledge, ousting a predator, Pence's citizenship, Plato's Republic, pointless erudition, pointless wit, power relations, rule-breaking, Secret Service Agents, seeing the wolf first, sexual predator, slaying dragons, society's rules, Socrates, spellbinder, sport of kings, subverting minds, swallowed by a dragon, theological pied piper, Thrasymachus, Trump and Pence, Trump and The Insurrection, Trump and The Secret Service, uncanny power, under a spell, unfair means, unholy attraction, uninvited intrusion, Vice President Pence | 1 Comment

Recognition

Posted on January 2, 2018 by Abigail

Recognition There is a battle scene in Homer’s Iliad where a deep, obscuring fog comes down suddenly over the field of combat. The soldiers have endured danger, hard blows and mortal injuries, but this they cannot stand. “Please,” they cry … Continue reading →

Posted in absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, anthropology, art of living, atheism, autonomy, beauty, Biblical God, bureaucracy, chivalry, Christianity, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, films, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, guilt and innocence, health, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, immortality, institutional power, Jews, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master/slave relation, medieval, memoir, memory, mind control, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, mortality, mysticism, non-violence, novels, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, radicalism, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, romanticism, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, terror, terrorism, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged academic bureaucracy, academic combats, academic hearings, academic termination, accusing the victim, action theory, Adolf Hitler, angelic message, angels, appeasement, aspiration, being seen, being witnessed, brainwashing, casing the situation, consolation, counter arguments, defeatists, Dunkirk, feeling alone, feeling outnumbered, field of combat, film dramatizations, general rules, great men, great women, heroes of resistance, high principles, History, history's vindication, homecoming, Homer's Iliad, Homeric gods, Joe Wright's "Darkest Hour", keeping one's bearings, knowing the particulars, knowing the precedents, links with nature, links with wild creatures, losing one's bearings, memory links, Mind Control, nazis, Nazism, ostracism, other worldly messengers, particular cases, personnel actions, Phyllis Chesler's Islamic Gender Apartheid: Exposing A Veiled War Against Women, pilgrimage, psychological damage, psychological torture, recognition, reunion, rights of women, rules of conduct, sacred journey, Screenwriter Anthony McCarten, self-knowledge, shunning, social force, solitary confinement, their finest hour, thought police, thought reform, totalism, university administration, verified prediction, Winston Churchill, World War II, WWII | 2 Comments

The Case of Patricia Hearst

Posted on August 30, 2016 by Abigail

The Case of Patricia Hearst Usually, when I write the weekly column for “Dear Abbie,” I’m in a reasonably upbeat state of mind, but I’m moved to write this one by anger and indignation. My outrage is prompted by Dana … Continue reading →

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art, art of living, autonomy, chivalry, cities, class, conformism, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, films, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, guilt and innocence, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, institutional power, journalism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modernism, mortality, nineteenth-century, oppression, past and future, poetry, political, political movements, politics, postmodernism, power, presence, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, reductionism, relationships, roles, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, slave, social climbing, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, status, status of women, suffering, terror, terrorism, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, time, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, violence, war, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged activism, activists, assaults on self, bank robbery, Berkeley CA, betrayal, betrayal of comrades, blaming the victim, brainwashing, breaking the spirit, can't make an omelete, Citizen Kane, class enemy, class hatred, class privilege, coerced confession, coercive persuasion, commuted sentence, courtroom testimony, cults, Dana Spiotta, dignity, empathy, enemy of the people, envy, feminist writers group, feminists, Field Marshall Cinque, guerrilla group, hating the rich, hostage, human freedom, humiliation, identity, Jeffrey Toobin's American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst, kidnapping, life's lottery, limits of freedom, loss of identity, Loyalty, Marcus Foster, Mind Control, Native Americans, newspaper baron, nom de guerre, omelette, Orson Wells, Patty Hearst, Patty Hearst syndrome, pride, prison sentence, privilege, ransom, rape, rape as political, revolutionaries, revolutionary law breaking, revolutionary solidarity, ridicule, robberies, Robert Jay Lifton's Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of 'Brainwashing' in China, ruling class, sado-masochistic fantasies, self as social construct, self-respect, Shana Alexander, Shana Alexander's Anyone's Daughter: The Times and Trials of Patricia Hearst, Sigmund Freud, SLA, socialization, Spanish Inquisition, Susan Brownmiller's Against Our Will, Symbionese Liberation Army, testimony, testimony under oath, The New York Times Book Review, Times Op Ed, torture, urban guerrillas, vulnerability, W. H. Auden, W.H. Auden's In Memory of W B Yeats, What does woman want?, William Randolph Hearst, witness, womanly sympathy | Leave a comment

Mystical Merging

Posted on August 27, 2015 by Abigail

Mystical Merging In my teen years, I used often to thumb through a book my parents owned — a collection of one-page essays about holy persons, East and West, who had managed to attain oneness with God. I forget the … Continue reading →

Posted in action, alienation, art, autonomy, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courtship, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, faith, fashion, femininity, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, health, history, history of ideas, identity, ideology, idolatry, institutional power, life and death struggle, literature, love, master, mind control, motherhood, mysticism, ontology, peace, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, power, psychology, relationships, religion, roles, seduction, sex appeal, sexuality, slave, social conventions, sociobiology, spirituality, suffering, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, theism, time, Zeitgeist | Tagged Advaita Vedanta, brainwashing, cads, chakras, chanting, clinging, close friends, cults, de-programming, divine Love, Don Juan, Eastern religions, energy centers, erotic desperation, fidelity, Gnosis, Gnosticism, guru, healthy relationships, holy persons, human relations, identity, Indian civilization, infidelity, insecurity syndromes, kundalini, lives of saints, Matthew Arnold's "Dover Beach", Maya, meditation, metaphysical monism, metaphysical unreality, mystical union, neediness, paradigms, parent-child love, personhood, piety, rapture, romantic yearning, saints, Sehnsucht, The Absolute, true lovers, unhealthy relationships, unreality, world views, yentas, yoga | 2 Comments

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