Reichians, disciples of Dr. Spock and the Summerhill School,
etc. have called attention, with some impatience, to the brutality
and stupidity of many of our traditional child-rearing methods.
These methods are “brutal” and “stupid” only if, like the above-
mentioned heretics, one regards the goal of child-rearing as the
production of a sane, balanced, creative [NOT CRATED] human
being. THIS HAS NEVER BEEN THE GOAL OF ANY SOCIETY
IN THE REAL WORLD. The traditional childrearing methods are
quite logical, pragmatic and sound in fulfilling the real purpose
of society, which is not to create an ideal person, but to create
[CRATE] a semi-robot who mimics the society as closely as
possible—both in its rational and its irrational aspects, both as
the repository of the wisdom of the past and as the sum total of
all the cruelties and stupidities of the past. Very simply, a totally
aware, alert, awakened (unbrainwashed) person would not fit
very well into any of the standard roles society offers; the dam-
aged, robotized products of traditional child-rearing do fit into
those slots.
