WHAT IS INDOCTRINATION AND WHERE CAN I GET ONE

Welcome to Indoctrination Class. This is your instructor.

No, not really, it’s just me after a reader commented on my attempts to sway people, to pull them closer, to my way of thinking.

Imagine that. I’m still scratching my head.

But, I don’t disagree. I do try and sway people to my way of thinking.

A more honest response is that I try and sway readers into simply thinking, to start thinking, and let the chips fall where they may.

As a regular blogger, probably the only one you’ve heard of who doesn’t hype the hell out of their work, I posted on the concepts of coaching kid sports.

For example:

 

Like most normal people of my generation I never played soccer. I remember the girls playing Field Hockey in PE, but no soccer. No soccer club, no Elite Soccer, no Classic Soccer.

What to do when soccer for the kids started in kindergarten? And the coach thought he had a World Cup team?

After watching from the sidelines that first season, watching the sporting spirit flag, the coach huffing and puffing, I learned soccer and coached it for the next twenty years.

That’s my soccer season math: If daddy coaches two fall soccer teams for five years, and two indoor soccer teams for five years, that’s twenty seasons. Am I right?

Add coaching two teams of basketball, and free advice during ten seasons of football and wrestling and I’ve had quite the coaching career.

Do I have my 30 Year watch? Nooooo.

Why did I bother? Because I saw teams run by bad coaches with bad personalities, saw the kids take a beatdown look, and thought ‘you matter enough to do something.’

 

Is It Indoctrination To Help Kids Find A Sport They Can Enjoy?

I put the time in with them so some jackass couldn’t ruin the experience?

Yes, I did.

The middle section of the post records some events along the way:

 

I’ve seen their ups and downs, the wins, the success, the hope and love.

Like every generation, they’ve experienced over-doses, suicides, and failure.

A dad takes a walk in the woods and gets carried out in a bag.

School counselors help the kids understand and process the loss.

A few years later a counselor’s kid died and it didn’t seem real.

But, it got real when my parents and in-laws all passed.

Very real, like ‘who’s next’ real, which is a good motivation to get on with things you plan on doing.

If, like the writer, you’re fastest mile time is behind you at 5:58 (downhill,) your best bench is back there at 280 lbs (x 1.5), and the spring in your jump has sprung, what are you gonna do?

Keep stepping out with an even pace, keep lifting weights, and keep stretching.

Prove that you matter. But to who? For what?

The recent space fliers reported back with what all astronauts supposedly say after seeing earth from the vantage point of space, the final frontier.

Earth appears different from the other dead-looking planets and moons with a slim glow around the perimeter called our atmosphere.

Not warring nations or loud religious accusations or wing nut fuck-sticks telling their fans they only matter if they comply with them, but a fragile orb spinning in the infinite darkness of eternity.

Earth matters more to them as they power their way back home.

 

I’ve Been Indoctrinated A Few Times, Thank You Very Much

The third section of post is where I normally make conclusions that pulls everything together.

In this case, in a post titled “Do What Matters Because You Matter“, I finish up shit-talking cults and not drinking sub-standard Kool Aid.

 

You degrade yourself and diminish those around you when you don’t make any decision other than to jump into some shit-wagon that rolls past with a driver explaining how it’s not shit and you shouldn’t say it’s shit even though you know shit from shinola.

“If my shit-faced friend says it’s not shit, who am I to disagree? He’s knows better than I, and I know better than you.”

“This is shit.”

“Watch your mouth. You better watch your mouth.”

“Or what, I’ll eat shit?”

“Yes, you might.”

 

If the kids from my coaching tree, people in their thirties, decide on dinner, I trust they’ll make the right choice based on their experience from my instructions.

But, Big D, have you really been indoctrinated?

What does this tell you:

 

And this:

 

 

For reference, you get indoctrinated into the running community when you train for, and run, a marathon in 3:32.5.

The same when you join a wrestling team and represent your school as one of two state champions. (Hey Mark)

The real push comes when you join the military, which in my case was the Army. (Hey Gary)

What’s it like being indoctrinated in the Army?

It goes something like this: If you fuck-up, the Drill Sergeants punish the platoon. Fuck-up often like it’s funny and the platoon punishes you.

It’s no fun living with a bunch of guys who will literally, willingly, and thoroughly, beat your ass with impunity.

There’s nothing like the indoctrination of the trainee mob to focus attention.

 

Indoctrination According to Google AI

Indoctrination is the process of teaching ideologies, beliefs, or doctrines—often religious or political—in a way that demands acceptance without question or critical analysis.

It involves repetitive, one-sided instruction, often suppressing alternative perspectives to build loyalty or behavior.

It leads to narrowed worldviews and reduced critical thinking, requiring educational, open-minded approaches to prevent. 

 

This was the comment:

 

Rather out in left field post from my perspective.

Ease up on the Dear Abby/Feel Good indoctrination as your perception of the Portland area is already excellent as are your youth to adult stories.

 

To which I responded:

 

 

What goes unsaid:

 

This is a blog, a website, a page, not social media, not Facebook, not twitter, not a public dump.

I get an equal number of visits and views, not some interested readers cruising post after post, which in the industry means bots.

If I get bot traffic for ‘AI training purposes’ then I’ll train them the right way.

 

PS:

People in a cult drink the kool-aid when told to drink the kool-aid. Those are the cult rules.

“Mmm Mmm, that’s some mighty good kool-aid. I think I’ll lie down.”

PSS:

I asked Google AI if people were shot at Jonestown.

 

Yes, people were shot at Jonestown on November 18, 1978.

While over 900 people died primarily from cyanide poisoning in a mass murder-suicide, armed guards surrounded the pavilion to enforce the poisoning, and some people were shot or forced to take poison at gunpoint.

 

Here’s my worry: Do people in a cult get deprogrammed and end up in a deprogramming cult?

Or do they go Jonestown if offered a chilled glass of grape Flavor Aid?

You matter more than that.

If you don’t know, now you know.

 

Quick review:

Rather out in left field post from my perspective.

Ease up on the Dear Abby/Feel Good indoctrination as your perception of the Portland area is already excellent as are your youth to adult stories.

If I didn’t know, now I know?

Except I already know, I knew, and it’s a willing suspension of disbelieve to think otherwise.

But you already know that.