I believe that "education" (i.e., ideological indoctrination) in the Netherlands is much more refined than it is in the U.S. when it comes to Marxism. 1/6

In the U.S. people are taught flat out lies about Marxism, and about communism more generally, and they are trained to hate it on cue. They are simply instilled with fear and hatred for Marxists as a demonized Other, Nineteen Eighty-Four style. 2/6

In the Netherlands, however, many schools actually teach Marxism, but from the point of view of liberal critique. We are taught that Marxism is noble in theory, an acknowledged "alternative opinion," but ultimately just misguided and too skewed towards authoritarianism. 3/6

Students with Marxist leanings are "talked to," their "concerns" are "validated," etc. But always in a smug, quasi-therapeutic mode of speech that smacks of ironic distance and a sense of ideological superiority. 4/6

In this way, much closer tabs are kept on the "radicalization of the youth," too, in the end. And liberal teachers can often distort and tilt the conversation just enough to instill continual doubt in their left-wing students. 5/6

Liberals are so much better at ideological indoctrination and manufacturing consent. One can (cynically) learn from them. Their technique and effortless ironism in handling opposition, by which they immunize themselves from *feeling* any critique, is remarkable. 6/6

(This thread is dedicated to my history and social science teachers in high school, by the way. I learned a lot from them, but probably not the things that they tried to teach me. They have had a profound but negative influence on my thinking. Yet it was formative, too.)