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Oo, lookee, someone's made a thread out of something I said.
...another opportunity to assess the worldview that I was indoctrinated with as a child - namely atheism.
Were you actually indoctrinated with atheism as a child? That is, did your parents/school/peers/whatever tell you, "There is no god," or did they simply not say that a god exists? I think it's fair to say that only the former could possibly count.
In my case, well, my parents were atheist but any indoctrination I received was still in favour of Christianity; my parents said nothing, but my grandparents occasionally took me off church-wards and my primary school was fairly heavy on the hymns and I think, now and again, Bible stories etc. So, I'd still count theism as the default option; when we were asked in RE class at the age of twelve whether or not we believed in god, I put my hand up along with the agnostics, as I'd still yet to completely overturn my indoctrination.
I think it's fairly self-evident, really, that for the most part, people just... well, go along with what they're told, unless it's to their detriment or (and admittedly I omitted this from t'other thread) they have particularly good reason to believe otherwise (such as the above Santa Claus example; finding one's parents with shopping bags containing exactly what is then to be found in one's stocking a week later gives pretty good grounds for disbelief... also, arguably there's "anti-Santa" indoctrination as well, from TV shows and other kids who've found their parents' shopping bags). Most children of Christians are Christian. Most children of Muslims are Muslim. Most children of Buddhists are Buddhist.
People are, in my experience, incredibly malleable. The media seems capable of forming public opinion so effectively that it managed to persuade 45% of Americans of something as ludicrous as, "Saddam Hussein had some direct involvement in 9/11." An ex-friend used to go to a Bible group run by a bigot, and when he asked anyone in the group about their opinions on homosexuality, literally every single one exactly parrotted what the group leader had said the week before. For more examples email the programme at dictatingopinions@bbc.co.uk or, hey, why not make your own?!
Actually, can I change my statement at the top there to, "... have the potential to be much more alarming and sinister than any belief formed independently by an individual"? In the thread in question I was specifically talking about indoctrination of patriotism and religion, but I suppose telling kids that it's wrong to hurt people is still indoctrination, and I can't say I find it particularly sinister.
But I'd still stand by the statement that independently-formed beliefs are better. Anything dictated to a person by another I would, on some level or other, consider a form of control. And looking at a lot of the control being exerted over people's opinions in the world today - the US/UK/Israeli/etc's media's/governments' effects on their citizens, the worldview being dictated to those involved with certain fundamentalist groups - I find it often really rather scary.
Are stereotypes independently-formed beliefs? Surely they're based on images projected by society; I'd doubt that someone with significant exposure to Native Americans would believe that they all run around whooping and scalping people.
Sorry, the above is a bit rushed (as is the original paragraph), and I'd like to write a bit more, but I really should start thinking about doing some w*rk. I'm probably costing any of you who are UK tax-payers quite a bit of money. |
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