The Toxicity of Culture

Culture (root word: cult) is toxic regardless of its content. At best a culture has kernels of truth and relates to objective reality. Even in this case, it is a terrible idea to teach it as you are teaching people what to think rather than how to think. Even if the culture contains some important virtues and good values – it is better for each individual to be able to arrive at these him or herself, rather than through a system of indoctrination by which they are not able to produce or even follow the reasoning underlying their conclusions. To truly understand the value of a virtue, one most arrive at its importance through reason and evidence, not through some fallacious argument from tradition.

At worst, culture has no relation to objective reality and is a morass of superstitious nonsense and bigoted prejudice, in which case teaching it is an even greater harm to a developing mind.

Fundamentally – if your idea is good, you do not need to brainwash your children into accepting it. Doing so not only destroys their reasoning faculties and the connection between cause and effect in their mind, but is also an admission that your ideas are actually corrupt and evil.

If you want a new generation of free, moral, and virtuous human beings, you must implode culture – erase it from your teachings. Stop teaching children what to think, and focus on teaching them how. Do it well, and they will arrive at all the important conclusions themselves, albeit of their own power of reasoning. Better yet, they may surprise you and challenge some of your own unjustified preconceptions.

And you can be sure that such critical thinking skills will leave them invulnerable to future falsehoods and manipulations that evil people may attempt to subject them to. Because they will not have been taught, by the example of their parents, to accept as truth the pronouncements of authority figures, they will instead freely question and think for themselves.