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nemorathwald8/31/04, Edited to add: Oh yes, in my haste to describe the abuses I forgot to mention it's not accredited either. Putting up with four years of PCC accomplishes a diploma that isn't worth the paper it's printed on.
This week my brother is leaving to attend his first semester at my alma mater, Pensacola Christian College. Those of you who know me are aware of my views on that.
PCC bans the internet, forbids visits to off-campus libraries, and restricts speech to compliance with their narrow interpretation of doctrine. Maybe he has carefully considered that and sincerely decided it falls within educational goals rather than indoctrination. Perhaps after thoughtful review of my stories of wiretaps, mail opening, secret search and seizure and reporting on each other, and students suddenly being cordoned off incommunicado, interrogated and expelled in the middle of the night-- he may have decided it's exaggeration. After all, describing PCC as a non-violent version of the Taliban does sound like hyperbole to someone who hasn't experienced it.
Or perhaps instead he's settling for a lot of disagreeable things because it's the easy way, being so inexpensive. It also makes the throng of aimless 18-year-old confused muppets who wander through its gates look like stalwarts of spiritualized purpose to their parents and pastors. Which way he's taking is not for me to judge. Either way it's his life and I respect him doing with it as he wishes. Perhaps he's strong enough that a dozen repetitions of "Have Thine Own Way Lord" eight times a week will not lull him into a trance.
But I'll be here for him when he wants to know where to find the gaps in the compound's barbed-wire fence. My advice to him:
1. Read the dictionary definition of the word "fascist." It is not just an empty slur related to Benito Mussolini. It has a content. People of good will are opposed to that content.
2. Read George Orwell's "Animal Farm." See the made-for-TV movie of it if possible, to help you visualize.
3. When the administration or their henchmen tell you that they watch for your souls, visualize Napoleon the pig from "Animal Farm" standing behind the pulpit, waving a bible.
4. Read George Orwell's "1984." Learn what "doublethink" and "groupspeak" mean.
5. A secret between two people is not a secret. You never hear about anybody getting away with breaking the rules; that is because everybody who tells people gets caught. Trust no one. Those who you trust will be taken to an interrogation room and broken down until they turn you in.
6. Do not confuse illegal and immoral. To keep them from deadening your perception of moral realities, you must maintain a separate identity. So excercise secret civil disobedience at every prudent opportunity, just for the principle of it. Even little things will help.
7. When under pressure in the Dean's office: do not sign anything that they command you to sign. They are setting you up to get their final licks in because you have dared to free yourself.
8. Call a lawyer if your legal rights are trampled on. It works!
9. If you call a lawyer and someone quotes the scripture about not suing Christians, visualize Napoleon the pig from "Animal Farm" standing behind the pulpit, waving a bible.
10. Most importantly, always remember that "resistance is NOT futile." You can escape. You can get a loan for a secular college. You can recover. It will not be the end of the world. Whatever consequences you face for leaving will be worth it.
This week my brother is leaving to attend his first semester at my alma mater, Pensacola Christian College. Those of you who know me are aware of my views on that.
PCC bans the internet, forbids visits to off-campus libraries, and restricts speech to compliance with their narrow interpretation of doctrine. Maybe he has carefully considered that and sincerely decided it falls within educational goals rather than indoctrination. Perhaps after thoughtful review of my stories of wiretaps, mail opening, secret search and seizure and reporting on each other, and students suddenly being cordoned off incommunicado, interrogated and expelled in the middle of the night-- he may have decided it's exaggeration. After all, describing PCC as a non-violent version of the Taliban does sound like hyperbole to someone who hasn't experienced it.
Or perhaps instead he's settling for a lot of disagreeable things because it's the easy way, being so inexpensive. It also makes the throng of aimless 18-year-old confused muppets who wander through its gates look like stalwarts of spiritualized purpose to their parents and pastors. Which way he's taking is not for me to judge. Either way it's his life and I respect him doing with it as he wishes. Perhaps he's strong enough that a dozen repetitions of "Have Thine Own Way Lord" eight times a week will not lull him into a trance.
But I'll be here for him when he wants to know where to find the gaps in the compound's barbed-wire fence. My advice to him:
1. Read the dictionary definition of the word "fascist." It is not just an empty slur related to Benito Mussolini. It has a content. People of good will are opposed to that content.
2. Read George Orwell's "Animal Farm." See the made-for-TV movie of it if possible, to help you visualize.
3. When the administration or their henchmen tell you that they watch for your souls, visualize Napoleon the pig from "Animal Farm" standing behind the pulpit, waving a bible.
4. Read George Orwell's "1984." Learn what "doublethink" and "groupspeak" mean.
5. A secret between two people is not a secret. You never hear about anybody getting away with breaking the rules; that is because everybody who tells people gets caught. Trust no one. Those who you trust will be taken to an interrogation room and broken down until they turn you in.
6. Do not confuse illegal and immoral. To keep them from deadening your perception of moral realities, you must maintain a separate identity. So excercise secret civil disobedience at every prudent opportunity, just for the principle of it. Even little things will help.
7. When under pressure in the Dean's office: do not sign anything that they command you to sign. They are setting you up to get their final licks in because you have dared to free yourself.
8. Call a lawyer if your legal rights are trampled on. It works!
9. If you call a lawyer and someone quotes the scripture about not suing Christians, visualize Napoleon the pig from "Animal Farm" standing behind the pulpit, waving a bible.
10. Most importantly, always remember that "resistance is NOT futile." You can escape. You can get a loan for a secular college. You can recover. It will not be the end of the world. Whatever consequences you face for leaving will be worth it.
