Sunday, August 17, 2008

More on Black and White from Steven Martin

A little reminder about what Steven Martin has to say about Lifton’s “Doctrine over Person”:

Fitting the Rigid Mold ( from Pg. 109)

Doctrine Over Person consists of fitting everything under the leader’s dominating control into a pre-conceived mold.

This involves:

  • Human experience and the interpretation of those experiences.
  • Human feelings and the interpretation of those feelings.
  • Disregarding one’s feelings or sensitivities.
  • No appreciation of someone’s talents, individuality or creativity; the only goal is to fit everyone and their personalities into the dominating vies and influence of the one in control, opposing diversity and individual differences.
  • The rigidity of the doctrinal mold resists adaptation even when adaptation may prove to be best.
  • The rewriting of history to fit the system of the doctrinal mold.


Stating it another way, the controller reinterprets the personal feelings and experiences of the group members to fit his own dominating views and influence. He disregards and remolds past events, individual differences and capabilities to fit his own preconceived mold. In essence, the controller rejects everything that does not fit into his preconceived mold or framework.

-Summary & paraphrase of Dr. Lifton on Doctrine Over Person


Read more from Steven Martin HERE.