The Liminal Learning Portal

What we now call Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) training in virtually any format, including “cultural competence” and “unconscious bias” trainings, derive from an earlier program more simply known as “Sensitivity Training.” Well, in 1974, the CIA published an internal memo about whether or not Sensitivity Training (or “Encounter Group” training) is appropriate for the agency, and they determined that it is not. The reasons are really something too: it creates groupthink, destroys independent thought, may not produce real (only false or apparent) results, and appears to be similar to thought-reform and brainwashing programs in Mao Zedong’s Communist China! Join me in this episode of James Lindsay OnlySubs, my subscribers-only podcast, to hear all about it.