Thursday, July 6, 2023

Virtue or Vice

  

The Old Testament , the  New Testament and Hammurabi code provide descriptions of man's  moral failures, vice, and irrationality as well as man’s strivings for happiness, virtue and health . With that being said, The New York Times provided two recent illustrations of man’s nature and its consequences with  "House of the Dragon"  in April 23, 2023 and the "Speaking of the War at Long  Last”  in the April 30, 2023 of that newspaper.  This disquisition depicts man’s vulnerabilities , his moral decisions , his  potential for good(humanism) and for evil ( authoritarianism )for two 20th century American citizens.


In the 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan ( authoritarian principles) expanded its reach in American life.  In Kokomo, Indiana in  Creekside Park, there was a celebration on independence  day ( hypocrisy , as independence is not related to exploitation, discrimination  and sadomasochism) on July 4, 1923.  There were patriotic songs, parades, and many thousands in numbers wearing white hoods and robes of the Ku Klux Klan with banners depicting  "America is for Americans."  During the celebration ,floats portrayed Klansmen defending women from black people and Catholics .The keynote speaker was  David C.  Stephenson ( authoritarian) ,the Grand Dragon of the realm of Indiana, who arrived on a Klan branded biplane. The tribe of  narcissist's and sadomasochists dropped to their knees and in rapture reached out their arms and he replied, "My worthy subjects."


The powerful clan expanded its reach across the American Midwest in the 1920s.  He perpetuated racial hate, the mythology of white victimhood with a broadened appeal to the old Confederacy.  The klan provided an expansive set of resentments providing more points of entry for the loyalists.  They stoked hate and the fears of being replaced by the "insane,  diseased" Catholics and Jews.  They were waging war from the pulpits against eugenics  and enlisting the KKK vice squads to beat adulterers and smash  speakeasies. The klan perpetuated  a neurosis of hate , an insane  purpose as well as providing shopping opportunities at klan approved stores, cooking Klan approved recipes , enrolling children in junior KKK’s , daughters in Tri K clubs and spending the evening singing Klan songs by the piano.  Individuals got their misinformation from editors loyal to the Klan along with  disinformation network’s  spreading fears, lies and hate .  Corruption was rampant and growing.  Police and politicians were bribed and businesses owned by Jews, Catholics or Blacks were shaken down . Leaders and  recruiters ,including pastors ,  got a cut from initiation fees, dues and robe sales.


The Grand Dragon was a sadistic ,narcissist, authoritarian  loyal to none other than himself.  He was evil ,racist, hateful and destructive.  This man studied Mussolini’s  speeches and described himself as the world's " Foremost mass psychologist."  This master of hate controlled the Klan in 21 states. He ruled from  an office that included seven black  and one white telephones. He claimed it was a direct line  to the President of the United States  and a  title he expected. With extortion and embezzlement , he was wealthy, powerful and  either lived in a mansion  or on his 98 foot yacht.  He threw parties and his guests included judges, elected officials, captains of industry that drank bootleg liquor. He was  also a sexual predator, and beat his second wife so savagely that it took her months to recover. He drugged  and sexually assaulted women .  He ate their flesh  and on one occasion spent the night in jail only to be escorted out quickly and quietly.  The next morning he claimed "I am the law."He  had control and power over his like minded masochistic loyalists.


In 1925 he abducted, raped and murdered a woman named Madge . During his  incarceration,  the sheriff kept him supplied with whiskey, cigars and home-cooked meals .Once convicted and his hypocrisy surfaced, he fell from grace. But, hate remained .


David's primary narcissism was evident as it was all about him and only him.  He was suspicious, paranoid, did not trust and obviously personified " Bad Mother."  He exhibited authoritarian morals and ethical principles.  His malignant  narcissism resulted in his quest for achieving power and control of a hate  sadistic and necrophilia tribe of like minded followers . His power , control and influence was extraordinary and he was , for a time , above the law as there were no consequences for his evilness and exploitation. He  easily misled the  gullible, fearful and hateful loyalists that submitted  to this godlike phony until he was held accountable for his evilness .

Once again, insecurity, fear and hate become prime motivators for authoritarian ,evil destructiveness.


The second article had to do with John Wenzel (humanistic)  nearing 100 years of age.  John was a young college student 19 years of age when he enlisted in the second world war.  Close to 16 million Americans served in that war and 99% of them are now deceased.  He had never been on an airplane , prior to his enlistment, and yet was dispatched to flight school in Miami In 1944 . John became a firefighter pilot flying P 47 Thunderbolt bombers as the lone occupant in an 8 ton weapon fully loaded.  He was subsequently  sent on missions to the Italian front to fight the Nazis.


 Lieut. John Wenzel had a number of missions in northern Italy near Milan  and over the Austrian border destroying axis railroad cars, gasoline trucks, dozens of enemy cars with machine guns serving a rail line, fired rockets , strafed enemy trains and stalled cars with machine guns.  In fact, he achieved two purple hearts in eight days. He flew several missions every week guiding his team through bad weather with persistent accurate anti aircraft fire.  In one of his notes, he wrote "Is that we are working harder than ever , flying some of our best missions for the first time we openly talked about survival."


After serving his country , John graduated from college and spent time in New York alone, attempting to find comfort in other people like him but without interacting with them.  He drank too much and kept  to himself hoping to erase  from his consciousness his inner demons.  He referred to this as "The dark times."  He admitted he was "a mess. " Luckily, he met a young social worker , married , started a family and stayed busy  avoiding  and not confronting his fears, guilt and shame.  He entered the Ideal Corporation, worked his way up and eventually became president of the company.  He  retired  and played  a lot of golf  until his aging body caught up to him .  


John's depression  and PTSD after  returning home made sense.  Returning to his exploits in World War II, this pilot was anxious, fearful , worried and felt guilty . He recounted,  On April 14 , I led a team of four fighter planes providing air support for units pushing toward a rail hub in the town of Zocca scoring direct hits with our bombs.  Then, a German shell burst right outside my cockpit, fragments sliced into my plane tearing my uniform and blood coming from my neck. I circled around for another attack before guiding my  damaged aircraft back to the base.  Flying another mission with German troops on both sides of the river and beating our guys up with all kinds of guns, our team moved toward the farmhouse that held a machine gun nest . In our first pass, plenty of tracers came at us,  and I got hit from underneath.  It felt like somebody pulled my rear end.  Then , smoke started to fill my cockpit and my parachute seemed to be on fire.  I was told by another officer don't be a jerk, John , go home.   We  attacked  again until satisfied, then  we turned home toward the  base.  Fire consumed most of my parachute plus, the seat of my pants hurt along with my  seatbelt which burned . I  could not eject without a parachute and opening my cockpit would feed the flames with oxygen. My only option was to push and  return to Pisa,  home base.


We  begin life fearful ,anxious, helpless and dependent for survival. Emotionally, fear and anxiety never leaves us.  Then, as a pilot, John had numerous terrifying war experiences.  In times of war, Individuals sometimes  risk their lives to save their buddies in spite of the dangers.  Is it heroism or is it being counter phobic?  Counter phobia is heading towards an unconscious fear . It’s  repressing fear despite the reality of dangerous obstacles.  Being the leader of the group also has something to do with demonstrating , modeling by example or an expectation . He was  without a parachute and was trapped in that cockpit .With skill he survived and made it back to base.


John  attempted to repress many memories by denying and rationalizing in his unconscious mind. He had symptoms of distress and used alcohol as an elixir,   but  was unable to  talk about his  war experience . He had a PTSD  diagnosis , was depressed , withdrawn and according to him a mess.  He repressed , from his consciousness, his  war experiences and attempted to deny those horrible  traumatic realities .  Even with his family, he was resistant ,would not talk about his trauma and  kept his medals, a Distinguished Flying Cross, an Air Medal, a Silver Star and two Purple Hearts sealed in an unopened box.  He stayed busy attempting to keep his thoughts and memories  buried .  However, he reached that stage in life when, again, he experienced  significant fear, anxiety, helplessness, and dependence related to his age  and weakened physical condition. His  unconscious symptoms surfaced with weakened defenses  resulting in night terrors.  Finally, he began to talk with his family about his emotional state , his service and retrieved his box of medals.  It was a catharsis , a release of  his repressed  terrifying  war based experiences . Finally, his nightmares ceased.


In conclusion,  David’s character was associated with an indifference to a productive sense of self , vice and self destruction while the Klan represented hate, destruction, discrimination , exploitation and death .  It's not surprising that  this social group  had an authoritarian, sadistic  narcissist  leader  for the sycophant followers  to submit, demonstrate  loyalty and obedience to an insane David.  Their illusion, hypocrisy,  and irrationality is  obvious with their celebration on 4th of July.  The 4th of July represents freedom and autonomy from the yoke of Great Britain and not hate and prejudice.  The Klan's values and ethics  represent the  perpetrators of death.  They pretend  that they are Christian .  Love thy neighbor might be impractical, but not  to like thy neighbor ?  To hate and murder thy neighbor is simply evil. On the other end of the spectrum,  Lieut. John  Wenzel’s  productive character constituted a basis of virtue . This patriot also  had the necessary psychological and character supplies associated with secondary narcissism which is love, growth and life.  He was able to like , respect and treat his neighbors according to the Golden Rule.  Not only that, John put his own life at risk, and served his country by fighting  the evilness that threatened the  world's humanity during World War II.  This man was a hero and decent human being.  He  served others, and his behavior was related to improving the welfare of many by fighting against the devil  and its worshipers . Thank you, Lieut. John Wenzel for your decency and humanitarianism . Confucius “ what you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.”


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