When ideology is your religion and truth becomes just a matter of opinion, anything goes. "There is great danger when lies are institutionalized as truth," asserts Daniel J. Flynn.

In his new book, Intellectual Morons, Flynn provides us with abundant examples of dangerous ideas that intellectual "gurus" have dreamt up and convinced others to embrace. He exposes a number of cognitive elites whose "idiotic theories, beliefs, and opinions" have attained mythological status, despite the lack of objective and rational analysis of these ideologies' origins and implications. In lifting the veil of secrecy and ignorance surrounding these individuals, Flynn provides a clear and sobering look into the madness and hypocrisy lurking in the minds and pasts of these demagogues.

Intellectual dishonesty and duplicity exist across the ideological spectrum, alleges Flynn. He argues that the problem is not so much a political leaning as a lack of rational thought and ignorance of the truth. However, with such a large volume of lunacy coming from the Left, Flynn cannot be faulted for including many more examples of liberal idiocy in his analysis.

Flynn meticulously documents evidence of the "crackpot fringe." The ideas of this group span the spectrum of folly, such as:

• claiming "earthworms are far more valuable that people"
• denying the communist-created Cambodian genocide
• calling America the most evil and oppressive nation on earth, and
• comparing the killing of chickens to the Holocaust.

Chief among Flynn's list of intellectual elites is the late communist Herbert Marcuse, who preached that "freedom is totalitarianism, democracy is dictatorship, education is indoctrination, violence is nonviolence, and fiction is truth." Marcuse believed that "there is no such thing as a purely scientific order" and that "senses distort reality by portraying reality as that which is experienced" - making men incapable of visualizing the "Marxist utopia" he promoted. Anyone with an ounce of common sense can see that Marcuse's proclamations were categorically insane. Sadly though, his philosophies are alive and well - and even required reading - on many college campuses.

Flynn also exposes the lunacy of Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger, advocate of "abortion for any reason at any time." As an early backer of eugenics, Sanger shared many of Hitler's philosophies, championing the elimination of "human weeds" from society through sterilization, unfettered abortion, and segregation. Flynn also documents how Sanger supported terrorism, assassination, and even the overthrow of the U.S. government. Don't expect to find such revealing information in most sanitized accounts of Sanger's life, however. The unlimited-abortion movement refuses to allow these facts to taint the reputation of its "charismatic leader."

More sickening declarations spring forth from the mouth of Princeton University bioethics professor Peter Singer, a passionate promoter of infanticide:

But however horrifying these Singer revelations are, they are not the most disturbing of Flynn's findings.

"I congratulate you on the research spirit which has lead you to collect data over these many years," wrote Alfred Kinsey to Rex King, adding, "everything that you've accumulated must find its way into scientific channels." King, a serial child rapist, molested hundreds of children and provided Kinsey with correlating "data." The depths of sickness and depravity experienced by Kinsey and his cohorts in their quest for notoriety are shocking. Yes, this is the same Kinsey revered in the world of academia, and in this year's feature film Kinsey, as a "hero of science," whose research is considered "unimpeachable."

If these "postmodern" theories were just parodies, Flynn writes, "it might be something we could laugh at." Unfortunately, this kind of thinking is rampant among scholars, and thus is truly a "source of despair rather than humor." Countless lives have been - and continue to be - destroyed and corrupted by such false and demented theories.

"For too long," Flynn writes, "intellectuals have been traveling briskly down the wrong paths, taking the rest of us along for the ride. It's time to get off and turn back, quickly." Hopefully the illumination of truth and reason he provides in Intellectual Morons will open the eyes of many. In a world full of lies, hypocrisy, perversion, and deception, exposing lethal ideologies and helping lost souls turn back from the brink of chaos and hopelessness is indeed a worthy cause - much more so than telling them that totalitarianism is freedom, humans are weeds, fiction is reality, falsehood is truth, and children are disposable.

Chris Banescu is an attorney, entrepreneur, and university professor. His business, ethics, and management articles and podcasts can be found on ChrisBanescu.com. He is a regular contributor to OrthodoxyToday.org, manages the conservative site OrthodoxNet.com, writes articles, and has given talks and conducted seminars on a variety of business and management topics. He has also written book reviews for Townhall.com and articles for Acton.org. Other articles available in his archive. This review was originally published on Townhall.com.