WEEDING OUT SOCIETY'S MISFITS

 

 

Heidi Cappadona
January 6, 2005
NewsWithViews.com

Are you fit for today's new society? Do you think you could get a job anywhere taking even a minimum wage job if you had to until something better came along? Years ago we only had to dress for the interview and present ourselves ready to learn and willing to work. Today however, it is becoming very different as alarmingly more and more companies are hiring on far different standards.

All Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights�this cardinal truth is at the foundation of our American way of life. Yet while most of us are busy raising children and working for our welfare a sinister thing is happening right before our eyes. Secular Humanism is taking the place of our Christian foundation. This new world view denies the existence of God and according to an article in The Humanist (Jan/Feb 1979, p5) the writer describes those who "contract the condition called 'knowing Jesus' or something analogous thereto" as having an "incorrigible world view,�immune to education and incurable,�" What can society do with someone considered "immune to education" and "incurable"?

Recently I applied for a sales position at Ann Taylor Loft in our local Mall. I had four hoops to hurdle to secure the job. Confident in my ability to secure a minimum wage sales position, I began the process. The first day I signed a waiver to allow them to process a background check on me and obtained my application which would have my references both personal and business. I had a quick interview with the store manager who afterward stated that I would be perfect for the sales position. However, she did not take my application that day to complete the process but told me there was one more "mandatory" thing which had to be done in order to be hired that was out of her hands. I was instructed to go home and fill out the "online assessment" which turned out to be a psychological personality test.

What could they determine from such a test on me? No matter. This kind of thing should only be a problem for those few folks who escape from prison or steal from their own mothers, not for God-fearing, hard-working moms looking to make some extra money folding clothes in a retail store. I sat down to my 'assessment' and found myself rushed through question after question on my honesty and integrity and my team player ability. I was forced to answer questions in multiple choices even if none of them really fit who I am. There was even a question that asked in essence what I put first in my life, family or work.

I was more then astonished the next day when I met with the manager to hand her my references and was told that the results of the assessment had given her a "No Hire." She knew of no reason for their decision, only that it was final and undisputable. Concerned, I placed a call to Ann Taylor headquarters. A few weeks later, Michelle from Human Resources returned my call. She assured me that my non-hire was based on many factors and not just the psychological assessment though she hadn't seen me, had never spoken to me before then, didn't have my application to check my references, and I haven't so much as a speeding ticket in my background. She adamantly assured me the decision was not merely based on the assessment test, yet this is the only factor she could have based her decision on. She would not tell me what her company looks for with personality testing except to say they wanted the best person fit for the job.

This example of regular Americans willing and able to work but not meeting a mysterious set of guidelines is becoming the norm at an alarming rate in our society today. Just what are they looking for if it's not honesty and integrity? To begin to understand we can look at a little book called The Authoritarian Personality published in 1950 and written by Theodor Adorno, Else Frenkel-Brunswick, Daniel Levinson, and R. Nevitt Sanford. Adorno viewed the traditional family as a breeding ground for fascist tendencies or what Adorno called "the authoritarian personality." He was the creator of the California F scale which is a psychological test to determine who had authoritarian tendencies. According to Adorno, authoritarian personalities are expressed by: Excessive conformity, Submissiveness to authority, Intolerance, Insecurity, Superstition, and Rigid, stereotyped thought patterns. Many of these traits can be linked to all Christians who believe in God as well as to Conservatives and true patriotic, freedom-loving Americans. Using this test and those modified from it, it was determined that those who attended church more regularly and those who were conservative in political view were significantly more authoritarian. Although Adorno was looking at the extreme fascist, the one who would follow orders even if it meant killing innocent people, he did find a general "authoritarian" principle and linked it to personality. This paved the way for those bent on eliminating God from America and eroding our freedom, to test us for our beliefs.

Today's Secular Humanists view those who believe in a Supreme Being as incurable. The Humanist Manifesto II states, "[T]raditional dogmatic or authoritarian religions that place revelation, God, ritual, or creed above human needs and experience do a disservice to the human species." This authoritarianism is the mysterious element these psychological assessments are looking for. With these assessments they are effectively weeding out the "immune to education;" those who have gone through the school system and have not been made well. As Dr. C. M. Pierce of Harvard University stated in 1973, "Every child in America entering school at the age of five is mentally ill, because he comes to school with certain allegiances toward our founding fathers, toward our elected officials, toward his parents, toward belief in a supernatural Being, toward the sovereignty of this nation as a separate entity. It's up to you teachers to make all these sick children well by creating the international children of the future." Beginning with what amounts to discrimination hidden behind the guise of "hiring the best person fit for the job", they are slowly weeding out what once made America great. Are you fit for this new society?

� 2005 Heidi Cappadona - All Rights Reserved