At first glance, it may seem ridiculous to draw parallels between academia and cult groups or secret societies, but on closer inspection the similarities become apparent especially at the higher levels. It is not difficult for an casual researcher to find information on cults and how they operate, a major feature of which is to destroy any ideas that run counter to their narrative and to vilify, ostracize and demonize any individual stupid enough to present them.
What is a Cult?
A cult is a group of people who organize around strong authority figure, this could be a person, a group of people, or even a concept. Cults like other groups, attempt to spread their influence for the purposes of power and money. However, to achieve these ands, cults employ a potent mixture of influence techniques and deception to attain psychological control over new members and recruits. This fundamental level of control is known as brainwashing, thought reform or mind control.
When I use the word “academia” I am mostly referring to college and post-graduate levels.
Thought Reform
We have already discussed how the school system is adept at transforming creative, free spirited individuals into mindless droids in a previous article. It is quite shocking to see how thought reform techniques used in cults are also used in academia. Here are a few examples
• Cults mislead new member and recruits as to the true expectations and activities of the group. Remember that graduate school brochure? Eerily similar, right?
• Cults may hide any signs of illegal, immoral or hype-controlling practices until the recruit has fully immersed himself into the group. Notice how the first few months always differ from the rest of the year? yea me too. Sadly, we just brush it off as normal.
• The cult leaders or in this case enforcers may use members altered consciousness induce by drugs, meditation and chanting or in this case oppressive architecture, peer pressure, binge reading and emotional blackmail to increase vulnerability to suggestion.
• Cults typically instill the belief that outsiders (non-cult members/non-academics) are dangerous and wrong.
The academic structure from college upwards is usually segmented into levels as you would find in an ordinary masonic order. Additionally, the rites of matriculation and graduation is reminiscent of old mystery school rituals of the ancient past, complete with strange apparel and a sequence of events that must be in perfect order, a procession. Indeed, the truth is hidden in plain sight. Academia is one of the most successful cults on earth.
As a result of the onslaught on freedom of thought in colleges and universities we are faced with a situation where the acquisition of knowledge, once one of the most fulfilling endeavors a human could embark on, Is now a nightmarish experience for many. From my own experience, academics are concerned more with the structure of a presentation than the substance of the idea. It is soul crushing to say the least.
Academics seek to territorialize knowledge, they use strange acronyms, obscure terminology and even nonsensical speech patterns to hide rudimentary and in some cases non-existent understanding in a labyrinth of complexity and by so doing stifle progress and destroy the very knowledge they claim to love.
Great scientists such as William Harvey, Gregor Mendel and Ignaz Semmelweis were rejected and ostracized by their peers for challenging the established ideas at their time yet today their research has become the standard. Sometimes I wonder how far we would have gone without centralization of knowledge as we have today. Undoubtedly thousands of research papers are still collecting dust abandoned by academia because of the heretical ideas contained within, ideas that may have changed the world if only given a chance.