The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense

by Gad Saad

The proliferation of many of these bad ideas has yielded reward mechanisms in academia that are upside down. The herd mindset is rewarded. Innovative thinkers are chastised. “Stay in your lane” academics are rewarded. Outspoken academics are punished. Hyper-specialization is rewarded. Broad synthetic thinking is scorned. Every quality that should define intellectual courage is viewed as a problem. Anything that adheres to leftist tenets of progressivism is rewarded. Those who believe in equality of outcomes receive top-paying administrative jobs. Those who believe in meritocracy are frowned upon. If they go unchecked, parasitic idea pathogens, spawned by universities, eventually start to infect every aspect of our society.

To recapitulate, bikinis, cosmetics, and miniskirts are bad. Shirts with whimsical drawings of scantily clad women are a capital offence. The burqa, niqab, and hijab represent feminist liberation from the male gaze. No satire can compete with progressive buffoonery.

My theory on the homeostasis of victimology is perhaps best captured by a quote from feminist Anita Sarkeesian, “Cause, like, when you start learning about systems, everything is sexist, everything is racist, everything is homophobic, and you have to point it all out to everyone all the time.”37

our minds are elevated when we discuss opposing points of view respectfully. This should be a major focus of our universities.

our universities should recommit themselves to the pursuit of academic excellence and kick identity politics (and its cult of “diversity, inclusion, and equity”) into the dustbin of history. No one should have to apologize for being white, male, Christian, or heterosexual—or feel “pride” in their sexual orientation. Immutable characteristics should not be the subject of either pride or shame, and we should neither inculcate or placate an ethos of perpetual victimhood and indignant offence.

E. O. Wilson, the Harvard entomologist and evolutionary biologist, is reputed to have said of socialism: “Great idea. Wrong species.” Any system that is built on a false understanding of human nature is doomed to fail. Building a society where the primary objective is to protect one’s fragile self-esteem from the dangers of competition will only lead to a society of weakness, entitlement, and apathy. Life is necessarily competitive; society is necessarily hierarchical. It does no one any favors to pursue a utopian vision of society where no one’s feelings are hurt.

For decades now, a set of idea pathogens, largely stemming from universities, has relentlessly assaulted science, reason, logic, freedom of thought, freedom of speech, individual liberty, and individual dignity. If we want our children and grandchildren to grow up in free societies as we have done, then we have to be assured in our principles and stand ready to defend them.