Higher Learning and Class Struggle: If There Is No Struggle, There Is No Progress

[DISCLAIMER]

*Ladies First (2026) and Higher Learning (1995) spoilers contained herein.

Ladies First

I recently watched Ladies First (2026) while intentionally practicing Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT). As I patiently sat through the film, I created mental notes for a psychoeducational lesson on unity (a condition of harmony).

Yet, I rejected the feminist piece of propaganda, which the American Psychological Association defines as “a method of social control that attempts to strengthen or change the beliefs, attitudes, and actions of others by presenting highly biased information or sometimes disinformation.”

“Deric,” I reminded myself, “think back to when you unwittingly supported the mission of the Central Intelligence Agency [CIA] while assigned to the Marine Security Guard program. When you tried to warn others about the Agency’s propaganda, how did people respond?”

Many individuals called me “crazy” (not mentally sound) when I cautioned them about the CIA’s influence regarding procedures conducted in North, Central, and South America. “You’re crazy,” a composite of these people responded, “they can’t operate in the United States [U.S.].”

Per one source, Gloria Steinem—a pivotal figure in the history of feminism—“spoke openly about her relationship to The Agency in the 1950s and ‘60s after a magazine revealed her employment by a CIA front organization, the Independent Research Service.” She was a spook!

For the uninitiated, a “spook” is an operative, officer, agent, asset, or other adjunct of an intelligence entity (e.g., CIA). If spooks haven’t operated in U.S. borders since feminism visited this nation, then how does one explain Steinem’s feminist psychological operations (PSYOPs)?

Like Tulsi Gabbard—whose military occupational specialty was literally PSYOPs, and who questionably resigned her post as Director of National Intelligence due to an apparent family-related matter—spooks such as Steinem do operate within all of the Americas! Ask Gabbard!

“Whatever you have to say about feminists’ ties to the Agency and terrorism,” I told myself as I watched Ladies First, “will likely fall on willfully deaf ears.” Still, it wasn’t a struggle (to make strenuous or forceful efforts in the face of difficulties or opposition) for me to watch the film.

Regarding care for mental, emotional, and behavioral health (collectively “mental health”), I encourage people to use hyperbole (e.g., “struggle”) sparingly. This is because, from the view of the ABC model used in REBT, one can conflate mere inconvenience with actual struggle.

In so doing, an individual may transition from negative and healthy distress (e.g., frustration) to negative and unhealthy disturbance (e.g., rage). For example, suppose I interpreted Ladies First to be little more than feminist propaganda that was divisive (creating disunity).

I then took time to draft and post a blog entry about how much of the film’s message was irrational (not in accordance with both logic and reason). First, I didn’t enjoy the movie to begin with. Second, I would’ve probably wasted my time and effort writing about my opinions.

Last, even regarding my posts with relatively high view counts—mostly related to movie reviews through the lens of REBT, people would probably carry on with their preconceived notions anyway. If a feminist read my critique, then I doubt my opinion would change one’s mind.

Therefore, I decided to forego an in-depth examination of Ladies First, and instead re-watch a film that was released during my senior year of high school, Higher Learning (1995). “How might my perspective have shifted since I first saw the movie?” I asked myself.

Before I go any further, allow me to provide any feminists in the audience with an undesirable Activating event about which they can use unhelpful Beliefs which will cause an unpleasant Consequence, per the ABC model. This could be good practice for irrational thinkers!

The Higher Learning soundtrack included the R&B song “Ask of You” by Raphael Saadiq. On a number of occasions, when high school classes let out for the day, I’d walk over to my girlfriend’s house and we’d have sex to “Ask of You”. But wait, there’s more!

When re-watching Higher Learning earlier, hearing “Ask of You” during a sex scene, I thought about the times that my same-grade high school girlfriend and I used to knock boots, bump uglies, or engage in, as rapper Kyper used to say, “Is it sex? Oh, maybe so. Tic Tac Toe!”

There I sat, watching Higher Learning while knocking on the proverbial door of 50-years-old, thinking about “Tic Tac Toe” with my high school sweetheart. Now, feminists, disturb amongst yourselves as I instead use thinking which is rational (in accordance with both logic and reason).

For the remaining members of the audience, please try to maneuver through the self-disturbing feminists. Also, it isn’t advisable to make eye contact, as one source states, “Persistent leering or staring may be sexual harassment in and of itself.” What a time to be alive!

Higher Learning

When Higher Learning was released, I was excited to see lyricist Ice Cube on the big screen. By the time I attended an N.W.A concert in junior high school, Ice Cube had recently parted ways with the group. Thus, I was tolerably disappointed about not being able to see him perform.

Unlike the War of the Worlds (2025) film in which Ice Cube has arguably fallen off, no longer even a shadow of his former entertainment role, the lyricist once played a thought-provoking role in Higher Learning. For context, one source thusly summarizes the plot of the latter movie:

This drama examines the personal, political, and racial dilemmas facing a group of college freshmen as they begin their first semester at Columbus University. Malik Williams (Omar Epps) is an African-American student attending on a track scholarship; academics are not his strong suit, and he goes in thinking that his athletic abilities will earn him a free ride through college.

Fudge (Ice Cube), a “professional student” who has been at Columbus for six years so far, becomes friendly with Malik and challenges his views about race and politics in America, while Professor Maurice Phipps (Laurence Fishburne), a black man who teaches political science, firmly tells Malik that he will not be graded on a different standard either because of his race or his ability to run quickly.

With Deja (Tyra Banks), Malik finds a girlfriend, a tutor, and a training partner all rolled into one. Meanwhile, Kristen Connor (Kristy Swanson), a somewhat naive young woman from California, meets a boy named Billy (Jay R. Ferguson) after both have had too much to drink at a beer blast.

Kristen soon becomes a victim of date rape and becomes involved with a campus feminist group to deal with the painful experience. While working with the women’s group, Kristen gets to know Taryn (Jennifer Connelly), a strong but understanding woman who is also a lesbian, and she finds herself becoming attracted to her.

And Remy (Michael Rapaport) is a confused young man from Idaho who feels lost in the multi-cultural atmosphere of Columbus. He is approached by Scott Moss (Cole Hauser), a member of a group of racist skinheads, who believe that Remy is a perfect candidate to help carry out his group’s violent goals.

Over three decades since the film was released, I still appreciate the juxtaposition between Fudge’s pro-black militancy (i.e., collective code of conduct) and Professor Phipps’ counterbalancing view of personal responsibility and accountability (collectively “ownership”).

Throughout my life, my perspective has waxed and waned between these two polar belief systems. For instance, taking Fudge’s approach to collective ownership, I’ve assumed a victim mentality by irrationally believing that other people were to blame for my own struggles.

Alternatively, through practice of REBT, I’ve accepted a position of empowerment versus disempowerment by taking Professor Phipps’ approach to personal ownership. In this way, I don’t blame other people for my reaction to struggle – irrespective of the origin of hardship.

As an example of Professor Phipps’ method, there’s a scene in Higher Learning when Fudge’s persuasive efforts began to have an impact on Malik’s worldview. The following dialogue between professor and pupil then occurs:

Professor Phipps: Are you having problems here at Columbus?

Malik: It’s alright. Sure, I got a problem with it. The way these fools be trippin’ when they see a black face!

Professor Phipps: Someone spit in your face when you first came to campus? Was there a cross burned outside your dormitory?

Malik: No, and I know what you’re tryin’ to get at! Look, man, just ‘cause it ain’t up in my face, that don’t mean that it’s not happening. It’s less physical now. It’s more mental! I gotta run and study, man! [Malik is on only a partial athletic scholarship] I don’t see these white folks worryin’ ‘bout nothin’ but, but goin’ to class and playin’ handball. You know? ‘Talkin’ ‘bout skiing, and all. Man, they don’t have the same worries I do!

Professor Phipps: Then your problem is financial. Not racial, but economic.

Screengrab from Higher Learning (1995), property of Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Releasing, fair use

Professor Phipps’ rational conclusion is where Ladies First and Higher Learning intersect, be it misogyny (hatred of, aversion to, or prejudice against women) or racism (a belief that race is a fundamental determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority or inferiority of a particular race).

Arguably, the struggle for most people across the globe, let alone the U.S.—in which Higher Learning takes place, is one of class – not sex, gender, race, ethnicity, etc. About this matter, one source states:

In political science, the terms class struggle, class conflict, and class war refer to the economic antagonism and political tension that can exist between social classes because of clashing interests, competition for limited resources, and inequalities of power in a socioeconomic hierarchy.

Commonly cited historical examples of class antagonists are slavemasters and slaves, feudal lords and serfs, landowners and tenants, and capitalists and workers.

The writings of several leftist, socialist, and communist theorists portray class struggle as a core tenet and a practical means for effecting radical sociopolitical transformations for the majority working class. It is also a central concept within conflict theories of sociology and political philosophy.

Whereas my former disempowering perspective, related to Fudge’s outlook, regarded how my reaction to a class struggle was the fault of other people, I now empoweringly view matters according to Professor Phipps’ outlook, taking personal ownership for my own response.

I didn’t create the socioeconomic conditions which paved way for spooks like Steinem to ostensibly agitate sociopolitical tensions with a fruitless so-called battle of the sexes—whereby men and women proverbially fight one another instead of focusing on actual centers of power.

How clever the CIA has been at stirring an axiomatic pot of shit by keeping people distracted with petty skirmishers rather than directing their grievances at bankers, lobbyists, oligarchs, plutocrats, technocrats, politicians, and others who hold genuine reins of power! Ask Gabbard!

Firsthand, I’ve witnessed the Agency stirring shit in South America when I was assigned to diplomatic posts in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil and Lima, Peru. The same PSYOPs which were effective in those regions are manifest in the U.S. All the while, class struggle is largely ignored.

As long as female and male feminists self-disturb about me reminiscing over having fucked my girlfriend in 1995 – when minors supposedly aren’t capable of consenting to sexual intercourse – then who will focus on the rise of data centers? Distract, distract, distract! Stir that pot of shit!

As people bitch about reportedly “Elon Musk’s outrage at Christopher Nolan” for racial swapping in The Odyssey (2026), information from artificial intelligence (AI) is being stored in data centers. Have you paid any attention to how the U.S. and Israel has used AI aboard?

Target packages (i.e., kill lists) are compiled for those who pose threats to power centers, and are subsequently eliminated by autonomous weaponry (e.g., drones fitted with bombs). Meanwhile, people here in the U.S. will take issue with my use of the word “bitch” herein. Distract and stir!

If Higher Learning taught me anything, it’s that class struggle is the true problem – not frivolous distractions pioneered by PSYOPs. Fascinatingly, one of the final scenes in Higher Learning thusly appeals to the memory of social reformer, abolitionist, and statesman Frederick Douglass:

Malik: [following Deja’s murder by Remy, discussing his future plans with the educator] What do you think I should do?

Professor Phipps: What do I think?

Malik: You’re right. That’s my job. [personal ownership!!!] Man, I don’t know. Maybe if I hadn’t… it’s just… man, I don’t know what to do, man.

Professor Phipps: Mr. Williams, in spite of the recent tragedy here, you have persevered. And you have overcome a great many obstacles this semester. For those reasons, you have my utmost respect and every confidence that you will make a wise decision concerning your future. [reinforcement of personal ownership!!!]

Malik: I think… gotta get my head straight. I’ma go now.

Professor Phipps: Malik! [first time that Professor Phipps uses Malik’s first name, representing a perspective of equal footing] ‘Without struggle, there is no progress.’ [a reframe of Douglass’ quote, “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.”]

Malik: Frederick Douglass.

Professor Phipps: Right. Right.

Regarding mental health, accepting personal ownership of class struggle, one may reasonably anticipate or expect hardship in life. This is the helpful REBT practice of unconditional acceptance. It’s the antithesis of unhelpful collective ownership for one’s own struggles.

As Douglass comprehended, if there’s no struggle, then there’s no progress in this regard. Therefore, one can refrain from self-disturbance while instead settling for self-distress when facing discomfort – rather than pointing the finger at who’s to blame for one’s own reactions.

Conclusion

I originally planned on writing in detail about Ladies First herein. However, I concluded that the distraction of feminism is divisive. I don’t want to stir the shit! Does our nation truly need any more justification for citizens disempoweringly turning against one another? I don’t believe so.

Besides, feminism has benefited power centers by doubling government revenue (i.e., income from taxation). Adding women to the workforce, penalizing women for receiving government assistance when men are in the home, and fracturing families is what feminism wrought.

People who are fortunate enough to have jobs are getting fucked in the ass with no lube, as the government exploits the citizenry, performs PSYOPs on our population to pit us against one another, and sends our money aboard to fuck over other nations. Stir and distract, fuck in the ass!

My ass hurts, and I bet yours does, too! You aren’t my enemy, nor am I yours. Therefore, I instead decided to write about the empowering message of Higher Learning herein. Rather than one of division, it’s a unifying psychoeducational lesson.

Currently, many of us have an economic problem – not racial, ethnic, sex-based, gender-based, or otherwise. Our class struggle is evident. Just go to the store, stop by any gas station, glance at your energy bill, or even compare the cost of psychotherapy from different providers.

Getting fucked in the ass by the government is expensive! All the same, if you take personal ownership for your own reaction to a sore asshole, then you’ll lean more toward the helpful perspective of Professor Phipps, and less in the unhelpful direction of Fudge.

That is, as long as we maintain a functional society. Otherwise, the latter view may be needed in order to reverse course or bring about an altogether different system of socioeconomic existence – as we no longer have a Constitutional Republic – for which I’m not advocating herein.

Ultimately, if there is no struggle, there is no progress. So, I invite you to struggle in as healthy a manner as possible. No distractions. No blaming others for your condition. Simply accept personal ownership, and let’s get free of our self-imposed shackles! Are you with me?

If you’re looking for a provider who tries to work to help you understand how thinking impacts physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral elements of your life, I invite you to reach out today by using the contact widget on my website.

As the world’s foremost hip hop-influenced REBT psychotherapist, I’m pleased to try to help people with an assortment of issues from anger (hostility, rage, and aggression) to relational issues, adjustment matters, trauma experience, justice involvement, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and depression, and other mood or personality-related matters.

At Hollings Therapy, LLC, serving all of Texas, I aim to treat clients with dignity and respect while offering a multi-lensed approach to the practice of psychotherapy and life coaching. My mission includes: Prioritizing the cognitive and emotive needs of clients, an overall reduction in client suffering, and supporting sustainable growth for the clients I serve. Rather than simply trying to help you to feel better, I want to try to help you get better!

Deric Hollings, LPC, LCSW

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