Psychology Kitchen YouTube Benjamin Boyce Interview
Critical Theory in South African Psychology textbooks
Is Critical Theory (& other progressive ideologies) good for developing nations?
Written by A. Vincent De Boni (See more works and Video here)
Presented via Zoom to CTA Feb 2021
Quick background: I am indeed a 47-year-old straight white male in 3rd year counselling psychology honours in counselling program. I have also owned restaurants for the last 20 years. My personal journey involves experiences with mental health in my family and my own therapy in times of need. Eventually, in 2018 I realised I had to do something about all the issues I see around me, but as a business owner you’re limited to pleasing clients, so I enrolled to study psychology full time.
If anyone has read my paper they might already know I grew up very poor in South Africa, I experienced xenophobia as an Italian, the ruling Afrikaners during Apartheid didn’t like us at all! I learnt the hard way how unforgiving a developing nation can be. There is NO economic safety net here. Poverty means starvation.
I am also a child of the ’90s in that I experienced the metrosexual wave and embraced democratic change and freedom for all under Mandela’s New South Africa. I believe people should be judged by their character not their skin colour and I have generally liberal political beliefs, although sometimes I am repulsed by the rich. In a past life, I think I yelled “workers Unite!” a lot! Conspicuous wealth in a country with deep poverty jars my sense of justice.
I think this background is important because people make assumptions when they hear opinions that they don’t like.
I can now state my position with much more confidence as I have been studying these issues intensely for 2 years now and I can say that things are far worse than I thought!
So Is Critical Theory & other Progressive Ideologies good for developing Nations? My answer is absolutely NOT.
My cohort and I have made such observations in class which are usually met with fake patience and a condescending remark which embarrasses the student enough to shut down further Qs. I’ve seen very immature behaviour, even blatant bullying by so-called adult psychologist educators! Fortunately, we have 1 or 2 vocal students (me!) who sometimes persist with their questions after class. I have found that the younger ones, 19/20 yrs old, have an instinct that what they’re hearing isn’t best practice in counselling psychology but they don’t realise where this ideological material comes from. For me, I’m disappointed and a little horrified to discover Marx, Marcuse, Foucault, Paulo Freire, and other radical theorists used as evidence in our textbooks with no context or alternative theories offered in balance.
In relation to South Africa, I want to set the stage for you before I labour my concerns, because you may not realise where they lay in the greater scheme of developing nations problems.
Let me use major neglected tropical diseases as an example of what I think is going on here. Diseases like Rabies, Bilharzia, leprosy, and even snake bites are known killers of up to 200 000 people annually in the developing world.
Why are they neglected?
There is no political will to stop them. Basically, no one cares about the powerless.
The international community has other objectives and the local leadership is fixated on remaining in power. Instead, in the middle of hard lockdown, during a global pandemic, we hear from our president, that we must face the issue of, quote; “men waging war against women”. This is pure distraction. To say GBV is not an issue would be misleading, it IS an issue, with some known and preventable causes like the lack of jobs caused by misguided socialist policies, the disenfranchisement of men in society, the progressive ideals of the so-called “New South Africa”. In my paper, I quoted Mamphela Ramphele (look her up she’s an incredible South African!) who warned of this in 1994! She saw the creep of feminist ideology seeping into the political discourse, threatening to undo the goals of true anti-Apartheid activism which sought to achieve a free, fair and equal South Africa for all.
So like Neglected Tropical diseases, poverty is neglected. Human capital is deliberately neglected, which is ironic considering Paulo Freire strove to empower the poor through education. When I mention the irony of learning about past socialist revolutions in a country run by a communist liberation organisation, the ANC (rather than a genuine political party), I get a blank stare? Perhaps because they don’t see the irony?
As consistently stated by the South African Institute of Race Relations, the goals of the ANC are to achieve socialist ideals under any circumstances. “Radical economic transformation”, which is actually: redistribution of wealth by political affiliation. This is now a cover story for corruption and looting of our nations natural wealth. If you haven’t heard how corrupt SA is you should Google the ongoing enquiry into State Capture.
To bring us back to why Critical Theory is bad for developing Nations; South Africa should be the canary in the coal mine! We naively embraced trained Marxists, I believe they’re more like Leninists but that’s semantics at this stage. The point is we are living under the rule of utopian socialists and all they can deliver is more poverty, more disease, more corruption. It’s amazing how many South African leaders are suddenly fans of products of capitalism, things like Rolex watches, Range Rovers and Maserati’s!
While this dystopian reality is played out in front of our eyes we have loyal Marxists, post-modernists, radical feminists, whatever version of utopian fantasists you can think of, preaching outdated, inappropriate ideology in our universities and schools in 2021. We are selling new versions of already failed ideologies to children who are drowning in pit toilets, dying of malaria, mostly boys not developing normally due to bilharzia, vilified for being born male, facing jobless futures, beholden to the government for the pittance social grant paid out to prop up the kleptocracy. Note we are currently borrowing money from the IMF to pay social grants, which ensures this party’s re-election despite all the exposure of corruption. Most Grant recipients are women, while men remain unemployed, what.. could.. go.. wrong?
At this stage, you should not be surprised to learn about the decolonisers.
As I mentioned in my paper, they reject traditional western liberalism as a fraud meant to placate black people. Even democracy is seen as a western trick. They have seen the confusing ideology and rejected it. Why wouldn’t they? Progressive Intersectionality would eradicate their identity once and for all. The west comes here with one hand saying sorry for the past while delivering culture destroying ideologies to their children through these radical theories. No doubt Traditional culture has many problems, I don’t condone the glorification of tribal beliefs and practices. But, are we not repeating the destructive practice of the original colonisers who sought to “divide and conquer”? Isn’t “intersectionality” meant to divide us further? To create deeper binaries of victim vs oppressor? It is after all the stated goal of Critical Theory to deconstruct culture, usually western normative systems, which supposedly support inequality. This implies traditional, tribal systems are peaceful and equal, this is grotesquely naïve. It’s contradictory that other modules in our curriculum teach us to build social capital, in turn, this will help create political change unless of course, the change would see the socialists thrown out?
The decolonisers call it neo-colonialism and I agree! It disgusts me to see the children of Apartheid survivors having to navigate newly invented categories of victim status. They approach it with the bravery their parents must have had, they know life is full of challenges, but here is an educator telling them the world hasn’t changed and now you have to face sexism, patriarchy, gender confusion, runaway capitalism, AS WELL AS all the old racism and bigotry because Mandela achieved nothing after all?? __
It may be difficult for westerners to understand how dangerous it is for a child in Africa to go home after being “affirmed” in his gender confusion by a student counsellor. Currently, it is already the policy in National education to AFFIRM gender confusion. A young boy in a rural area will be beaten and possibly killed for uttering this at home! It’s already common. The fathers often grew up as cattle herders now they have to hear how their son wants hormone blockers, but he can’t afford to pay for his child’s clothing? Is dividing children from their parents a good idea in a nation with 3.7 million orphans?
Don’t let the fact that SA was one of the first nations to allow same-sex marriage lure you into a vision of a peaceful, open, accepting society! That is utter nonsense and I am disgusted by the cognitive dissonance of privileged people who STILL profess South Africa to be some kind of Rainbow Nation, it’s more like the Badlands in the Mad max movies, all we’re missing is Mel Gibson!
So my point is; bypassing an adult community to infuse its children with untested and dangerously irresponsible ideology is a form of colonisation! The west has passively allowed this to spread in its tertiary education and now it’s spreading in developing nations. But here it will meet the already traumatised population who are only just coping with massive cultural change within their lifetimes, who have learnt about the oppression and dehumanisation perpetrated by the west in the past. These communities need “legitimate knowledge” as envisioned by the Enlightenment, not more ideology!
The educated elite is leading the decolonisation drive, replacing economic poverty with spiritual poverty. Who can blame them? If the same group has traumatised your people repeatedly wouldn’t you want them completely and utterly discredited? Make no mistake the decolonisers are not a motley crew, they are deeply intellectual. Their argument is hard for me to refute under the circumstances, even tho I know they are ultimately misguided.
They are misguided because not everything from the west is evil. Freedom is at the heart of all western progress, I suggest this is what Africa still lacks in 2021. It is perhaps their disjointed and mutually suspicious communities that leave them vulnerable to this contagion of opportunistic political ideas. You can see them argue for African Nationalism, this is laughable to anyone who has lived in Africa. Their idol is Muammar Gaddafi! I don’t mean to say that a unified Africa can never happen, but Europe unified after a cataclysmic war, it was a forced conclusion no one could argue with. On the other hand, Africa is geographically and culturally very isolated even from each other. Xenophobia here results in stoning and burning! Whether it’s the fault of resource looting by the west, a common claim by decolonisers, or the inevitable greed of politicians who find themselves in positions of power over massive natural wealth, the result is power-grabbing, nepotism and entitlement not seen in Europe since the 1800s. I am not the first person to make this observation; the current political elite behaves like the untouchable land Barons and Bourgeoisie of a bygone era. They have convinced the masses that “truth, knowledge and Power are the same things” Foucault would be mesmerised.
I would suggest that the point of dismantling Apartheid was to allow the children of Africa to grow up as proud Africans, to be aware of their culture while learning the best ways to succeed in the modern world. It was not to supplant one ideology with another! To re-enslave the poor to a political cabal who pander to trends from the western intelligentsia who control funding and loans. A very outspoken critic of western loans and Aid is Dambisa Moyo, she even suggested all Aid should be stopped because you would see massive political change in Africa. Sadly that would likely come with war and genocide so it’s not a realistic suggestion.
….
“Critical theory in psychology needs us to act as activists in therapy”, I’m quoting one of my educators who also rejected my questions about why there are so few men, ok specifically straight white men, in counselling psychology! She admitted my question was offensive and it was only through some good old fashioned Italian charm, and obedient rehashing of progressive ideals that I passed that module! She was satisfied when we all recited the mantra of the AFFIRM approach to children in South Africa from the age of 6 in our essays! Many of the class remarked on the obvious disapproval of questions. This is currently promoted in the National education mission statement. Of course, the minister who writes it is a trained Marxist who has reigned over a collapsing education system leaving children unable to compete in the job market of a developing nation.
Most South Africans have no idea who Marx was, what he proposed and why. They don’t even know that our current leadership was educated in Cuba, Vietnam and Russia funded by radical post-modernists in Europe. But once you’ve read any Marx, Marcuse or Foucault you can see the themes in the rhetoric used by many developing nations leaders, especially the ANC in South Africa!
South Africans pretend to be very liberal, but surveys have revealed the majority are quietly conservative. This is the ticking time bomb that I see; we will politely allow this material into our schools, naively believing it’s accepted internationally, we will affirm our children and fund their misguided narcissism while the rural poor stew in their betrayal. Their children starve, fail to develop and drown in toilets while the elite are distracted by Netflix, the Kardashians and the next iPhone.
I ask you what grotesque parody of freedom is this?
What role is the privileged radical feminist educator or counsellor playing in this deeper divide between the haves and the have nots? Because now we have the in-the-knows and the know-nots! I mean, the intellectual leaps required to understand, let alone accept Critical Theory, Intersectionality and Gender ideology is beyond most people! Now they are not only living a harsh reality, but they are victims of newly invented demons too!
If it’s not obvious by now I am fiercely defensive of my countrymen and women. I see the hardships, the suffering, the insecurity and the crippling futility of life here! I deal with it because I only hire people without skills, they are usually barely above starvation. Don’t let the touch screen phone in their hands confuse you! They will starve before releasing that phone, it’s now their lifeline to jobs, hope, and family far away waiting for financial support from the city dweller. These people need
social capital, not intersectionality,
legitimate knowledge not pointless challenges to western science,
economic progress not deconstruction of the family unit,
Inspiration to bravery, not constant reminders of naturally occurring hierarchical structures.
They need traditional liberal policies, not more of the same socialism the ANC is already using,
And they need genuine empathy in counselling, not subversive activism.
I bring you back to the neglected tropical diseases, I propose that unconditional positive regard, person-centred therapy and Cognitive behavioural therapy are becoming neglected in favour of progressive ideology in counselling. That the echoes of the victories in the 1990s have re-emerged in tertiary educators with outdated and useless ideas which will further alienate us from the poor. The activists are a restless, but privileged group who may be driven by noble goals, seeking the post-Apartheid and Cold War euphoria, but are misled by long-dead socialists, they are immature adults seeking meaning in an otherwise peaceful modern era. I recognise the anarchism behind the activism; after all, no one would say the world is perfect! But their personal fulfilment should not come at the expense of unsuspecting clients! Those of you in the west need to stand up, speak up and resist this infantilising of developing nations. Remind the post-modernists that you already imposed ideals on them through colonisation, that every culture must find its own path to Enlightenment, all you should be doing is holding the lantern for them.
I will end with some optimism. I have also seen the bravery and resilience of Africa, we get on with it because we see nature doesn’t care about our petty complaints. The youngsters I study with are a bright and sensitive bunch determined to help people. They are NOT receptive to this progressive ideology because they are sufficiently exposed to other ideas through social media. I have quietly led a small group towards questioning the conflicting material, they are eager to know both sides and they easily understand the contradictions even questioning the educators! I see young black students who reject reminders of Apartheid as futile; they are open to discussions and are eager to learn new and BETTER ideas about the world. I’ve quoted Stephen Pinker and Thomas Sowell in class, hardly the most woke writers today! So I want you to know that developing nations are not backward, we’re simply underdeveloped, our youth are full of hope and energy,
We, the adults in the room need to defend them.
Thank you for listening.
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Critical Theory, Uncategorized
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