Salt City Sinner

posted on 11/29/2018 by the Salt City Sinner (You can find part one here ) Why does Robert Lifton’s Thought Reform matter? It was written in 1959, based on interviews conducted between 1954 and 1959, and first released in 1961. Is it still relevant? It is, for better and/or worse. “Better” because what Lifton documented – and what the Chinese Communist Party developed through experimentation with Stalin-era Soviet tactics – is a form of applied political psychology that to an extent works , and can be used for good or ill (like any other tool). Now, as Lifton himself has been very careful to point out, there are enormous caveats to what thought reform can achieve and on whom it is effective (for example, thought reform is a mixed bag at converting religious believers). Caveats or no caveats, its effectiveness means that some forms of thought reform-adjacent manipulation are more widely used in 2018 than you might think. Thought Reform Is Still Going O...

posted on 11/26/2018 by the Salt City Sinner Hello, and welcome to the first installment of what I hope will be an ongoing series; the Sinner’s $.25 Psychic Self Defense and Literature Review ! Now: what on Lucifer’s black earth does that pretentious appellation portend? For reasons that will be revealed over the course of these segments – like my hairy, enticing body parts appearing from behind fans during a fan dance – I have developed an interest in political psychology. More specifically, I’ve been mulling over applied political psychology, or what I’ve been whimsically calling practical psychic self-defense. Now, a good jumping-off point for such ruminations is Dr. Robert Lifton’s 1961 psychology classic, Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism; A Study of ‘Brainwashing’ in China . Lifton interviewed American, European, and Chinese men and women who had been imprisoned in the People’s Republic of China and subjected to totalitarian communist “thought r...

posted on 11/21/2019 by the Salt City Sinner   So you’ve made gravy and cranberries, and pre-made your stuffing, you say? Well, hot diggity dog! You’re almost home free! To get you even closer, today we address a subject of vital national concern and existential import; pies. Now, your traditional Thanksgiving pie is (obviously) pumpkin. While pumpkin is literally my least favorite pie, I am selfless and enlightened enough to acknowledge that if you dummies want pumpkin pie, it should at least be halfway decent. AND I insist that I get an apple pie out of the whole affair. Thus, let’s start by talking crust. A home-made crust is not as hard to make as you might think. Start with 2.5 cups of all-purpose flour and 1 teaspoon of salt. Add 2 tablespoons sugar and x. Mix your dry pie crust components thoroughly and then cut in 12 tablespoons of chilled butter using two butter knives like so: Then cut in 8 tablespoons of chilled vegetable shortening. Fold...

posted on 11/19/2018 by the Salt City Sinner Thanksgiving! That time of year when long-simmering political tensions combine with booze, forced fellowship, and sharp cutlery! What could go wrong? In the interests of reducing the number of stab wounds you have to inflict on your loved ones this year, I thought I’d share a few down-home Turkey Day secrets from the Salt City Sinner Consolidated Data Products and Home Cookin’ Division. Enjoy! Cranberries from Scratch Are Easy (and Unspeakably Delicious) It isn’t as hard to make home-cooked, from-scratch cranberries as you may think! Start with a large bag – easy to find in the produce section this time of year (“unavoidable” might be the word). Wash your berries (just like coach taught you to do after gym class). Put them in a large pot (see photo), and mix in about a cup of orange juice, half a zested orange peel, and a peeled orange, seeded and diced into cranberry-sized chunks. Add about four cups of...

posted on 11/15/2018 by the Salt City Sinner Utah’s population is quickly growing , due to both our leporine birth rate and a steady influx of new residents from other states. One such incoming resident is Willard Mitt “Mittens” Romney, our new junior senator! Now, Utah is a unique place, both geographically and culturally, and I worry that Mitt – a native Michigander who went on to become a Bay Stater – is going to have a hard time adapting. Well, one of the first things Mitt is going to learn about Utah is how gosh darned neighborly we are! In that spirit, here are a few things I think he ought to check out, things that will help him to comprehend the buzzing soul of the Beehive State. Family Dinner At Chuck-A-Rama As Mittens is stepping into the tattered, ancient house-slippers of Orrin Hatch, what better way to understand the culture of Utah than by dining at Orrin’s favorite eatery ? Whatever clever staffer has been tweeting as Orrin has had great f...

posted on 11/13/2018 by the Salt City Sinner Once upon a time when I was but a lad, I managed to contract pneumonia. I won’t go into all the juicy, phlegmy details, but suffice it to say that it was no picnic. By the time I began to get better, I was thoroughly sick of being sick and ready to get back to all the urgent dumbassery that younger me no doubt was up to. Silly me! Just when I thought I was all healed up, the pneumonia came roaring back, feistier and nastier than ever. Think of this humble bloggue as a persistent bacterial infection of the soul. Just when it seems like I’ve been expunged, hey presto, I’m back! (This has happened before and probably will happen again.) So! Let’s get right to it. What can you, the discerning degenerate, expect in the coming days?   salutations! Satan Loves Me, This I Know Since I’ve come out of the closet as a Satanist (I’m a card-carrying member of the Satanic Temple, although my affiliation predates our ...