This week I attended the annual fundraiser of the Minnesota Child Protection League as the guest of board chair Julie Quist. The evening’s theme was “Hijacking Their Minds: How ‘safe schools’ and social emotional learning (SEL) indoctrinate our children.” The League has been on the cutting edge of pushing back against the so-called transgender agenda, with its insane premises and harmful policies. As a result, it is the object of ridicule and scorn from the Regressive Left and it’s allies in the media, local and national. You can learn more about the League by visiting its website.
It remains undaunted and the evening was a resounding success. The main issue addressed was “Social and Emotional Learning,” the latest educational threat to our children. In addition to Dr. Karen Effrem who addressed the gathering, I was able to interview earlier Stella Morabito, who also spoke at the event.
Morabito is a senior contributor to The Federalist and has written for several other publications. As a former intelligence analyst at the CIA, Morabito focused on propaganda and media analysis. She has always had a keen interest in psychological manipulation, group think, and gender ideology as tools of propaganda. Today her writing and her speaking explore the ways in which political correctness adversely affects our society and culture. The interview has been edited for clarity.
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JG: How did we get here?
SM: It was a very long process, a lot longer than people realize. The groundwork has been laid for generations, I think. What we’re dealing with is a delivery system that we call political correctness. This is just a modern form of propaganda and agitation. In order to address the content of that propaganda we have to address the delivery system. Radical education reform over the past several decades has helped get us to this point. It starts by undermining the capacity to think clearly and to think independently.
JG: What was your response to President Trump’s ban on transgender personnel in the armed forces?
SB: I think that was a logical, reasonable thing to do if you want a military that serves its purpose. My hope is that we’ll be led back to some sanity.
JG: Do you think there comes a point when the transgender movement becomes self-discrediting, if we haven’t reached that point already?
SB: Part of the problem is that society, in many respects, especially with the outlets of communication being dominated by the Regressive Left, is in a place where a lot of people have lost the capacity for independent and clear thought. They promote the illusion that most people are on board with this. My hope is that we’ll get to a point where the illusion collapses.
JG: What would that collapse look like to you?
SB: I haven’t thought much about that question, to tell you the truth. That’s a fascinating question that I’ll give more thought to, because no illusion can exist under its own weight for very long.
JG: What particular areas of concern do you have at the present moment?
SB: My big issue that I would like people to understand is my central issue: personal relations are the target of any totalitarian agenda. And what we’re dealing with are totalitarian agendas. Social and Emotional Learning requires 100% compliance with its contents, its methods and its monopoly. That’s how all totalitarian agendas work.
People have to be aware of how propaganda and social psychology works on us as individual human beings. Our personal relationships are the source of all power because they’re the source of all knowledge.
If we can’t talk to each other, if our speech is shut down, you know free speech is a use it or lose it proposition. If people keep shutting up out of fear of not saying something politically correct, then they’ve painted themselves into more isolation than they can realize.
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In addition to Alpha News, John Gilmore is also a contributor to The Hill. He is the founder and executive director of Minnesota Media Monitor.™ He blogs at MinnesotaConservatives.org and is on Twitter under @Shabbosgoy. He can be reached at Wbua@nycunarjfza.pbz