Mastodawn

#WordWeavers 2026.03.22 —Is there a subject that’s represented poorly in media that you’d like to cover in your work?

Indoctrination.

I am a gender fiction writer well aware that gender roles are indoctrinated into every one of us. Even myself. I struggle. Daily. However, the word indoctrination is practically never explained or used properly. I'm taking the word "poorly" in this question as meaning both "rarely done" as well as "without proper understanding."

Indoctrination means to be taught to accept something without evidence as unquestionably true.

What's represented poorly in the media is that those most guilty of indoctrination are those who employ it themselves and have themselves been indoctrinated, arguably unwittingly, but that doesn't stop them from being hypocritical. Use of any form of the word belief instead of "I am convinced," or "I understand," or "I deduced," goes hand in hand with indoctrination, as does ignoring contrary evidence even to the point of self-harm. Journalists, pundits, even educators misuse or misapprehend the meaning; I see it wielded as a political weapon daily to tear down public schools and higher education, but it also leads to wars, the oppression of women, and most the ills of the world. I am tempted here to point fingers and use the phrase, "Forgive them lord, they know not of what they speak," in complete irony with sarcastic miscapitalization.

Well… I guess I did.

Though indoctrination isn't a focus of my works, my characters often slam face first into the walls of their cultural indoctrination to bloody their noses, but sometimes end up searching for the door out.

Here is a great article defining the word, though it is heavy on definition and light on fixing problems: https://bigthink.com/mini-philosophy/the-philosophy-of-indoctrination-and-how-to-fix-it

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