Friday, September 18, 2020

An Existential Threat

 

 

The Bob Woodward book revealed more concrete evidence about the inauthentic character of Trump. It depicted audio recordings of Mr. Woodward’s questions and the answers provided by Trump. For example, it was apparent that in early February, Trump knew about the pandemic and lied about its danger to our country. Trump admitted downplaying the virus. He stated that he did not want to panic the citizens. There have been numerous Republicans stating that they are no longer supporting Trump but are supporting Biden. This essay addresses the existential threat posed by Trump and his supporters.

Briefly, existentialism is based on humanistic studies, philosophy, psychology and psychiatry. Some of their ideas include that man is driven by  irrational forces; man is too easily manipulated by propaganda and mass media;  man conforms too easily; man has to confront  the brevity of human life [I recently and unexpectedly lost a 52-year-old cousin]; man , because of the contradictions in society, has to deal with ontological anxiety and guilt; man has the potential to become authentic but far too many men are  inauthentic; man can’t be comforted by religious, political, scientific or other illusions; and  man’s choices and decisions determine his character and quality of life .

Recently, there have been a number of books written about Donald and one about his wife. Rick Wilson “Running Against the Devil”, Mary Trump’s “Too Much-Never Enough”; John Bolton’s “The Room Where It Happened”; Stephanie Winston Wolkoff “Melania and Me;” Michael Cohen’s “Disloyal;” and Bob Woodward’s “Rage,”  are examples. These five books have painted a picture about the character who lies, cheats, manipulates and exploits in the service of himself with little care and concern about the country and others. Further, there have been additional responses about Trump being an idiot, unfit and a danger to our country by Tillerson, Matus, Coats, whistleblowers and others.

His impeachment trial and the Mueller report addressed Russian interference in the 2016 election and Trump’s attempt to coerce or blackmail the Ukrainian leader to create false information on the Biden’s. Donald’s flagrant non -cooperation with Congress; not allowing his administration to respond to subpoenas; his firing of so-called  the disloyalty’s or whistleblowers; and his misuse of the Atty. Gen.’s office not to hold him accountable for his illegal actions . According to Barr, he cannot be indicted. are a few examples of this lying, corruptive, authoritarian. His character is based on lying, cruel decisions and authoritarianism which result in his inauthenticity.

In 1932 with the great depression, over 40% voted and supported Calvin Coolidge. Today, current polls place Trumps approval rating in the low 40% range. We have the worst pandemic of the century; close to 200,000 dead from the virus; high unemployment numbers; too many people not being able to pay their rent; schools being taught online; and not being able to attend, in person, sporting events. In fact, Donald has support from conspiracy and hate groups. That fact is despicable and speaks volumes about his sycophant followers. Why does he have, In spite of all the negatives, so much continued support? It’s about the character of the followers.

It’s clear that some, do not know about all his negatives either because of ignorance or stupidity, lack of information, belief in illusions, denial, rationalization, cognitive dissonance [avoiding negative or unflattering information regarding Trump] or relying on social media and/or listening to Fox news. Just recently, I heard numerous individuals from Fox news supporting the lie, going along and just focusing on “I don’t want the country to panic so I’m downplaying the virus threat.” No one suggested for him to be a cheerleader. No one told him to jump up and down. If he acted like a coach, he could’ve come up with the strategy to handle the threat. He didn’t and said “It is what it is.” He made it worse with the greatest lie in our history.

We know that a number of his people know the truth and yet still support his behavior and chaos. Yes, people like to be around power and do not want to lose it. Other previous supporters like Kelly, Coats, Bolton and others stated they disliked him but stayed on the job because they thought they could help the country through his ineptness. I’d call that rationalization and intellectualization. Some said they put up with him as long as they could and then left. I I’ll call that denial. Who didn’t know about his character?

Why it is that others still follow this Pied Piper? We know that man is biological and psychological with need structures. We could argue that man’s biological needs are not the prime motivators to support Trump. Psychologically, is likely where the answer lies regarding supporting this man. The total experience of one’s mentality, emotions,  intelligence, awareness, perception, senses, intuition, memories, fantasies, anticipation’s and orientations toward others influence man’s behavior and choices in the world.

Man clearly benefits when he’s fully able to use all his cognitive capacities. Don’t let irrationality, emotions and defense mechanisms get in the way. Man has to navigate his environment by exercising his cognitive capacities along with taking responsibility for behavioral actions. He has to incorporate his past, present and his future. In other words, man has choices and decisions to make throughout his lifecycle. He has to be able to symbolize and classify countless amounts of information. Words are symbols. When more categories exist in one’s cognitive mass, the greater will be the meaningfulness of experiences. Greater amounts of objective information will in turn create a greater and more active amount of imagination. Man has to employ judgment. Judgment means evaluating experiences in a manner that leads to either considering good or bad as in moral judgment or pleasant or unpleasant as an preferential judgment. Man is a symbolizing, imagining and judging oriented. These cognitions allow man to feel more satisfied and hopefully to avoid some frustration.

Life is full of challenges which makes choosing difficult. One can be afraid of making a choice because of the fear and anxiety emotions. The choice or one alternative might be anxiety producing because it’s related to the future which is an unknown as well as an unpredictability. Another alternative, in a series of choices, might be related to the past, the status quo or the familiar. Making that choice might result in the guilt of a missed opportunity. Another problem can occur when one makes a choice in order to meet important goals but there’s no guarantee that the favored outcomes will occur. Obviously a Monday morning quarterback, can make better decisions. Just think about the future decisions based on predictions of what might, or what might not occur. More often than not, one doesn’t have any control over the variables. Just think how often we are wrong when it comes to making a prediction. We want as much control as possible. So it’s certainly understandable why we attempt to reduce anxiety by making a prediction. Many times individuals, because of fear, avoid making a decision by playing it safe. This avoidance actually winds up as making a decision anyway.

Conformity is a trap that can result in lying to self which is not taking responsibility for one’s decisions and actions. Lying to others can simply be a dependence upon the wishes and belief of others.  Both instances result in negatives to self. Going along with the crowd means not paying attention to oneself or one’s needs but simply being part of a consensus.  Being part of the group or being part of the consensus often does not necessarily mean the truth.  Conformity suggests employing many social roles and results in having thoughts that are limited, gross and stereotyped. The conformist is irrational, does not tend to question and buys into the propaganda falsehoods.

Sometimes decisions are made over and over without thinking about consequences. In fact one might not even be aware of all the consequences of the decision or decisions. Hopefully, man can utilize all his cognitive skills in making important decisions. We know there vast amounts of incompleteness of information when it comes to decision making. It’s important to realize the value accompanying the decision and importantly the courage to disagree with the crowd. Don’t forget that some decisions are based on actual necessities and not all decisions are based on possibilities. It’s also important not to lie to oneself regarding ones decision making. For four years, everyone has seen Trump in action. There should be no surprise or doubt about what the next four years would bring if reelected.

A view questions to consider: 1. Is Trump moral? 2. Is Trump ethical? 3. Does Trump lie and cheat? 4. Does Trump break the law? 5 Is Trump above the law? 6. Does Trump make decisions based to totally benefit to him? 7. Does Trump seem okay with a number of deaths from the pandemic 8. Does Trump want Russia to assist him in the election 9? Does Trump withhold information from his taxes? 10. Does Trump act like an authoritarian? 11. Do Trump’s tax cut benefit the top 1%? 12. Are Trumps border policies, cruel and sadistic? 13. Did Mexico pay for the wall? 14. Are Trump’s trade wars detrimental to the United States? 15. Is Trump doing everything he can to sabotage a democratic based election?

It would seem to me that answers to the questions above say a lot about the respondent. If one uses all his cognitive abilities effectively, has a well-functioning conscience based on moral and ethical values, that suggests a very human quality based on welfare of self and others. However, those that support him based on prejudice, incomplete, limited or erroneous information are certainly not employing their ability to symbolize, to employ imagination and to use proper judgment. Their emotional overlay, as to overcome fear, inadequacy and seeking power, also interferes with their rational judgment. Those that are members of racist and conspiracy groups have their negative hateful and sadistic emotions interfering with their cognitive processes especially when it comes to moral and ethical judgment. Those that are part of the Republican consensus or illusion, going along with the crowd and buying into the propaganda also are not fully employing their cognitive processes. Those that joined him because they believed they could either change him or thought they could still save the country were employing defense mechanisms and not their full cognitive processes. In essence, the plan to vote for this inauthentic man by the inauthentic crowd, would be a terrible decision and choice. This group poses an existential threat to our country.

Friday, September 11, 2020

An Enemy Of The People

 

 

It has been written and I quote that Carl Jung has one of the most far-reaching and penetrating minds and one of the greatest thinkers in modern psychology. For example, Jung has researched ancient myths and modern fairytales in both primitive life and in modern civilization; in the religions of Eastern and Western world’s; in alchemy, astrology, mental telepathy and clairvoyance; in the dreams and visions of normal people; in anthropology, history, literature, and the arts and in clinical and experimental research. This essay will incorporate some of Jung’s personality concepts to Trump.

To begin, Jung postulates that all humans have a Collective Unconscious which is an idealized image. This concept suggests that we inherit, in addition to our biological instincts, an inheritance of ancestral experiences. These experiences are similar to the experiences of our ancestors and are inherited in the form of archetypes. The archetype is a racial memory that has become part of man’s heredity by being frequently universally repeated over many generations. In other words, it’s  a storehouse of latent memory traces inherited from man’s ancestral past,  includes not only the racial history of man as a separate species but his pre-human or animal ancestry as well.

According to Jung, the Collective Unconscious “the all controlling deposit of ancestral experiences from untold millions of years, the echo of prehistoric world events to which each century ads an intestinally small amount of variation and differentiation.” This racial past provides “a living system of reactions and aptitudes determining the individual life in indivisible ways.” Within the collective unconscious, in essence, these historical events transcend the experience of the individual. The do not appear frequently in normal thinking, even thinking of dreams since they are in a way antithetical to the development of ego consciousness. Notably, we acquire knowledge, and wish fulfillments which are built into man’s brain, in part, by the experiences of race.

The archetype is not necessary isolated within the collective unconscious. Thus, the archetype for hero is the archetype of a wise old man that may blend together to produce a conception of the philosopher king which is a person who is to be revered  because he is both a hero leader and wise seer. However there can be a fusion of the demon and hero archetypes. When this fusion happens, we wind up with a satanic or demon leader.  Archetypes in the collective unconscious that have been identified include power. This archetype contains a large amount of emotion; predispositions, perceptions; being fascinated by power and the desire to create and control power.  I’m going to add the complexes of possession and prestige along with power. This results in the development of a personality that is motivated with the tendency to dominate or control, to humiliate and to deprive others without concern for the welfare of others. This essentially means the desire of loosening contact with others while fortifying one’s own position.

The striving for obtaining power, prestige and possession is to channel repressed hostility which can then be discharged. It also serves as protection against the danger of feeling or being regarded as insignificant. Thus, there is a development of a rigid and an irrational ideal of strength which makes the person believe he should be able to master any situation no matter how difficult or complex. It’s simply the desire to have control over others as well as over self. This complex or lust is essentially based on an image or predisposition to act based on racial memories, personal and historical experiences. This complex becomes an aspiration, an ideal as a motivating force for thoughts, feelings, sensing and behavior.

With that being said, let’s take a look, in our history, at some of the racial memories of despots that had complexes of power, possession and prestige and potentially a part of Trump’s racial history.  The ruler’s word was law and they conquered and exploited others. 1. We had the Pharaoh, the most important and most powerful person in the Kingdom. He was the head of the government and the high priest of every temple. The Israelite slaves built the pyramids 2. Alexander the Great invaded and conquered so much of the known world and took with him slaves in the process. Alexander is ranked as among the most influential people in history. 3. There was Attila the Hun the leader of tribal empires consisting of Huns, Ostrogoths and Alans among others in Central and Eastern Europe. 4. We had the Caesars. Julius was a Roman general and statesmen and is credited with the rise of the Roman Empire. He stated “if you must break the law, do it to seize power; in all other cases observe it.” 5.  The House of Medici, the Italian banking family and political dynasty. These family members even became religious leaders per Pope Leo X and Pope Clement V11. 6.  Ivan the Terrible was the first Tasar of Russia. 7. Don’t forget Henry the V111. He was known for his six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage annulled.8. Napoleon Bonaparte conquered much of Europe in the 19th century and rose rapidly through the ranks of the military during the French Revolution. 9. Hitler, Mussolini and Franco were authoritarians in the 20th century. Would Trump call the Nazi soldiers suckers and Hitler a loser or is it just our American soldiers? Currently, at the conscious level, we have Trump admiring the authoritarian Putin, his power, control, and perhaps the richest man in the world.

Let’s turn to Trump’s racial history and man’s exploitation of man in our country. Our country was founded on racism. Black skinned people were not counted as whole people. They were slaves and property of the wealthy. The entire populace was not entitled to vote for Senators or for the president. The white wealthy were fearful that the commoners would take the power. Slavery was important for the economic development in the Confederate states. With the 13th amendment, the slaves were free providing they didn’t commit a crime. If they committed a crime, they were slaves again. In fact they were slave patrols that searched for slaves to incarcerate and criminalize. In the north, police were formed to deal with immigrants, workers demanding rights and to control blacks. Blacks were characterized as amoral, violent, uncivilized, asocial, non- intelligent and not worthy human beings but subhuman beings.

Slave patrols and police were in charge to keep the peace and deploy any tactics without consequences for their actions. While this was going on, women were not allowed to vote until the 19th amendment. Democracy defined as a form of government in which the people have the authority to choose their governing legislation has been under attack by the white ruling party. There has been gerrymandering, voter questionnaires and tests, limiting voting places, decreasing voting hours and numerous rules restricting eligibility to vote. In essence, racism, slavery, police brutality, lack of a democracy is not new in our history but part of Trump’s racial memory.

Let me add that Trump’s father, who denied his German heritage, in 1927, was seen at a KKK rally in New York. He was investigated by the U.S. Senate committee for profiteering in 1954 and again by the state of New York in 1966. Donald became the president of his father’s real estate business in 1971 .They were sued by the US Justice Department’s civil rights division for violating the fair housing act of 1973.Years  later Fred conducted fraud to benefit Donald and then  suffered from Alzheimer’s. His worth exceeded a billion dollars. He then transferred the majority of his buildings to his surviving children who sold them in 2004 for over 16 times the previously declared worth. They effectively dodged hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes.  On a side note, Fred’s father died in 1918 from the flu pandemic.

Fred’s father, Frederick, Sr.  was banished from Bavaria for dodging the draft. Donald also dodged the Vietnam draft with his so-called phantom bone spurs. Donald also told his son Donald Jr. that he’d be disinherited if he entered the military. Does that history suggests that there are no suckers and losers in the Trump family? Moreover, Donald’s disparaging remarks and negative feelings regarding John McCain and other heroes suggest, along with the military history of his family, that he is not at all patriotic.

Trump had a racial history of ruling individuals of great wealth, called Titans of industry. They included Cornelius Vanderbilt, Andrew Carnegie, John D Rockefeller, Henry Ford and others. Further, we have had political family dynasties such as Theodore and Franklin Delano Roosevelt; John, Jackie, Robert, Ted, Rose and Joseph Kennedy and the George H. and George W. Bush family. They had power, prestige and possessions and are part of consciousness.

Jung wrote about the Persona archetype. The persona is a mask which is worn by the person in response to the demands of social convention and tradition as well as to his own inner archetypal needs. It’s a role assigned to him by society or aspects of it, in part, what society expects him to play in life. The purpose of this mask is to make a definite impression on others which might or might not conceal the real nature of the person. It is been said that Trump has been brutal and sadistic with his children in person. He only appears non-aggressive, or non- sadistic when he interacts, in front of the camera, with authoritarian leaders. What lies underneath Trumps persona?  Which is the real and authentic Trump?

Jung described the Shadow archetype as the animal instinct which man inherited in his evolution from lower forms of life. It’s the animal side or dark side of man’s unconscious.  Shadow is a highly personal creation, in our unconscious of our specific personality trends. It reflects the universals of human experience and is personal for everyone.

It’s the archetype that’s responsible for man’s conception of original sin and when it’s projected outward, it becomes the devil or an enemy. It’s also responsible for socially reprehensible thoughts, feelings, and actions.

Employing the collective unconscious, archetypes of power, possession, prestige, persona and shadow to Trump, we have a ruthless asocial, exploitative driven evil personality.  It’s not a surprise that Trump’s behavior is amoral, racist, lawless and ruthless in his drive to retain the power of the presidency.

Some of his anti-democratic amoral policies have included: 1. Firing of inspector generals, staff members, FBI, intelligence individuals etc. that do not obey him 2. Disregarding subpoenas for self and others 3. A quid pro quo with Ukrainian government 4. Colluding with Russia in the 2016 and in the 2020 presidential vote 5. Secretive meetings with Putin and other authoritarian dictators 6. Withholding tax returns 7. Interfering with the objectivity of CDC, FDA and other government agencies 8. Mishandling and lying about Coved- 19 as if American death rate is acceptable 9. Supporting white supremacist groups over Black Lives Matter 10. Perpetuating racial division 11. Exonerating police regardless of circumstances. 12. Suppressing the vote by dismantling US Post Office operations and spreading false lies that mail-in voting is fraud. 

Employing the concepts of Jung, we get a view into Donald’s personality. With the racial history of the world, the racial history of United States and family history, we have a background of the driving forces of power, possession and prestige for Donald’s ideal and wish fulfilment. His striving for power, possession and prestige archetype is so dominant that it smothers and interferes with developing a more human personality. Therefore, his personality is not integrated, healthy nor able to optimally progress and develop. He lacks individuation. Individuation is necessary to create an ideal goal of perfect wholeness (selfhood) as in the Mandala symbol. Instead, he remains a crippled neurotic. He is like the Devil in that he is evil, hostile and destructive.  He says he’s the greatest Pres.; should be on Mount Rushmore; more intelligent than the general’s; might not leave office; fake news on stations other than Fox; are just some of the things that this despot has expressed based on his ruthless attempt to retain power. This is who he is. He should be taken seriously.

Friday, September 4, 2020

The Lies Never End

 

 

One night, was enough, of the RNC hypocrisy, propelled interest in writing this essay. The speakers presented hours of inexhaustible insincerity. They gave fear-based lies, superficial generalizations, no facts and baseless predictions. For example, the word “we” was used with its multiple meanings. This pronoun might include you and I; you, I and another or others; another or others not including you. Notably, there are many synonyms for the word “lie.” For instance” clever,” as in, good in achieving what you want, especially using unusual or slightly dishonest methods; “dubious” meaning not completely good, safe or honest;  and corrupt,  fraudulent and unscrupulous.  To lie, is a false statement made with the deliberate intent to deceive; with an intentional untruth. There are also lies of omission by not telling the entire story. This essay focuses on conscience, lying, and paranoid delusions.

At this convention, some of the deceitful lies included the following: 1. Imagine the life you want to have, great job, beautiful house….. (For white Christens only?  ) 2. They will turn our country into a socialist utopia…… (More people involved in production, distribution and exchange are a good thing) 3…. local businesses shut down because of the…. riots (What about Covid -19, the worst unemployment figures in history, more deaths than the Vietnam War. I forgot that 57% of Republicans believe the 186,000 deaths are acceptable) 4. …. disarm you, empty the prisons (Only in those instances to reduce the Covid- 19 spread)….. 5…… the fake impeachment…. (The impeachment occurred and was not fake) 6….. His promise was to put America first…. (Yes, we have more Covid -19 deaths than any other country 7……. Justice is served……. (He can’t be indicted is a joke. Jesus was indicted) 8. People of faith are under attack (By whom?) However, we have a different reality from Individuals like Mary Trump, Marianne Trump, Michael Cohen, and others that have talked and written about his numerous lies, deceit, criminality, deceptions, narcissism and  sociopathy.

Freud wrote about the superego in his organization of mental functioning. The superego’s job was to scan ego activity at all levels, incorporating the basis for approval, disapproval, self-criticism and self-esteem .In this occurrence, the individual, under optimum conditions,  can develop a guilty ego or a guilty self in a well-functioning conscience. This conscience then functions with the disapproval of unfortunate and abnormal deeds, words and thoughts.  Moral values and ideals also develop with a hierarchy of good, better, best, bad, worse and worst.

This superego- conscience was formed by identification. Identification is initially based on parents and/ or other caretakers beginning very early around the second year in life. The parent or parents by their words, behavior, and attitudes express their values. These values then become part of the child’s superego and conscience. With identification, the child, without any direct training, reward, or intentional learning, begins to think, feel and behave through the characteristics of the other person or persons. It’s as if the   child now possess some of the characteristics, feelings or emotions of the parent with whom he identifies.

Imagine the youngster growing up in an authoritarian household filled with tension, angst and anger. Research with Authoritarian controlled households found restricted curiosity and originality. The children were punished for exhibiting curiosity and spontaneity and were rewarded for obedience for conforming to parental standards. Responses of compliance and conformity therefore become strong habits for these children both in and out of the home. The cold non-nurturing authoritarian parents were described as highly controlling, using power freely and not encouraging the child to express himself when he disagreed with his parents. Authoritarian parents do not practice what they preach. They are more concerned with their own ideas and standards as opposed to the child’s interest and welfare. Now you know why Authoritarian leaders demand loyalty.

Further, imagine the identifications, models and imitations from parents that fight, cheat, lie, are dishonest and with attitudes that are demeaning, racial, anti-Semitic and hateful. Parental attitude and behavior of rigidity, harshness, inflexibility and unreasonableness interfere with superego or conscience development. Conscience ,in most children,  initially are related to specific behaviors and then  develop  into more generalized abstract standards; become less exclusively determined by external rewards and punishments and more by internal sanctions; and begin to involve not only the voice of prohibitions but also the pursuit of what one should do. How is the child, that’s reared in a dysfunctional atmosphere, that’s delusional, narcissistic, and without an appropriate conscience, going to develop trust? He doesn’t.

 As youngster proceeds in age, so does his mental representation, language and moral and ethical capacity. Briefly, the verbal world of the child is not identical to the external world of reality or the inner world of imagination. Thus, contradictions, errors, difficulty with reality occurs. The normal worship of the word, is the belief that the verbal world is somehow more real than direct experience.  Of course the difficulty occurs when the verbal world is made to appear preeminent. However, logic is widely considered to be more realistic than direct experience.

Jean Piaget wrote that the child’s intellectual growth is characterized by a series of stages. According to Piaget, in ages 1 ½ to 7 or the preoperational stage of development, the child treats objects as symbolic of things rather than themselves.  With development, Piaget’s final stage of intellectual growth is called formal operations. With formal operations, the adolescent is able to generate and explore systematically various hypotheses; can employ deductive reasoning; and able to use abstract rules to solve a number of problems. Piaget, with research, found that children, eventually becomes less controlled by external rewards and punishments and more by internal sanction.  The individual begins to be able to avoid prohibitions, but also the pursuit of what one should do. Lawrence Kohlberg also studied moral development. He found that for the adolescent, conscience, at its highest level, was then able to view morality in terms of democratically accepted norms or laws.

Even with this limited overview, it’s not difficult to understand how an individual can develop an impaired conscience. Distortions of reality, difficulty determining reality from fantasy and the use of lying are driving forces for behavior. We know that lying can be innocuous by stretching the truth or an interest of a wish fulfillment. An individual may resort to lying because of fear of failure to meet certain or particular expectations and external approval. On the other hand, persistent lying reflects deep-rooted psychological problems and reflects a severe disturbance in conscience development and/or in the capacity of distinguishing reality from fantasy as in paranoid delusions.

Paranoids do not trust and their sense of reality is impaired. Being suspicious, arrogant, aggressive and megalomaniac, suggests that this paranoid is unable to perceive what normal people perceive. He picks out “a kernel of truth” or some fact for his statements. As a result, with suspicion, he distorts reality and is oblivious to the entire story of facts. He also incorporates the falsehoods within his own autistic way of thinking.  His subjective world is constructed only through his perceptions, which is autistically biased in his interpretation. The danger for the rest of us is that this paranoids distortion of reality rests only in favor of his autistic interpretive preoccupation .He can be logical and sound reasonable within his sustained systematized delusions. His lies, at times, can sound so convincing and believable. This paranoid never searches for truth. On the contrary, he searches for clues or pieces of information that fits his own biased conclusions.

In essence, we are faced with the delusions of a megalomaniac Donald. His many followers form a disturbed element and impaired conscience. This group is morally and ethically bankrupt and a grave danger to our country. Lying and delusions is the norm in his pursuit of power and control. He is proficient at deception.  His sheep consists of high school educated  white skinned folks,; Evangelicals waiting for Christ to return for only them; the top 1% of the economic ladder; a great number of  racists ; and too many head in the sand Republicans. Psychologically, the powerless seek and identify with an authoritative father figure.  Donald is a terrorist and many in his crowd are as well.

What about the scientific reality of Covid-19, economic catastrophe, systemic racism, inadequate health care, push to suppress voting for the populace, global warming, and the Doomsday Clock?  The first obligation of the president is to model obeying the law. Instead, we have a criminal who disrespects the law, and is running on” law and order?” He is paranoid and delusional. Do not forget that The Hatch Act was violated by this terrorist and his criminal party with their shameless TV propaganda event.

Friday, August 28, 2020

Are We Doomed?

 

 

Being a PhD psychologist in the eighth decade of life provides me with both a personal and professional perspective of the aging process. I looked back and traced my beginnings. I’m going to use aspects of my life story as a metaphor and compare it, using a few significant psychoanalytic concepts, to a brief history of the United States. Of course, I’m going to take some liberties.

Otto Rank described the birth trauma in his book “Das Trauma der Geburt.” Rank believed that there was traumatic change in the transfer from the all-encompassing, bliss of the womb going to painful postnatal conditions. He wrote that this propulsion had a deleterious effect on the newborn. This physical and psychological experience, results in a “mortal fear. “ It not only effects life but it is also a consequence of it.  Therefore, it is most normal for us, to carry a load of primal anxiety throughout the life cycle. This means, the first human goal is an attempt or need for a reinstatement of embryonic bliss and second, to avoid the greatest human terror which is fear of separation anxiety.  On a side note, separation anxiety is a main barrier and psychologically interferes with Covid -19 public health recommendations.

The Puritans, in the 1600’s under King James, the father, lived in the greatest empire on earth. Living conditions were not copacetic for these Puritans residing in this most powerful country, where the sun never sets, on this Empire. They experienced significant socio -economic and religious conflicts. Regardless, it took great courage to separate from one’s mother homeland and set sail for uncharted lands across the Atlantic. In 1607, with the London Company, they established the first colony in Virginia. Thus, these new settlers experienced a traumatic homeostatic change in their psyche, from separation, the rough voyage, and encountering Native Americans in a new land. There was separation anxiety in leaving their familiar homeland. Did they make the right choice to leave the “womb? “ They had to eat, make shelter and deal with all the necessities for survival. Thank goodness there was a “Pocahontas” to provide nurturance. Did the Puritans think about returning to their womb, of course they did?

 I was born with all my fingers and toes. I was totally dependent on my mother for meeting my physiological needs. Could she or any mother know what I needed, at the exact moment, during my early existence? How could she know or anticipate when I was hungry, cold, warm or thirsty? Yes, I could cry, move my arms and legs uncontrollably. Was she able to meet all my physiological requirements? Yes, but exactly when I needed them is another story. Psychologically, a mother is to provide some delay in meeting one’s gratifications in order for healthy ego development. In doing so, the ability to delay and develop frustration tolerance is important for the development of a healthy ego. A spoiled child, has not experienced a delay of gratification and is without boundaries. That child never learns about limits and consequences for actions.  Moreover, Alfred Adler wrote that the spoiled child forms the expectation in life that he will always be taken care of and that his whim is law. He added that many criminals were spoiled children. Currently, we have a criminal in the White House.

During development, I learned quickly about dependence, dominance, power and control in terms of interactions with mother. My jaw muscles developed and I guess, it’s only a guess, that I was aggressive during feeding.  Did I bruise her nipples? Perhaps, and the next major battle of wills between us, dependence, dominance, power, and aggression was over toilet training. Did I win that sphincter control battle? Then of course, I identified with both parents and began incorporating societal, moral and ethical rules and regulations. During this process, I formed my ego -ideal.

 Psychologically, my ego -ideal provided me with an unrealistic and narcissistic overvaluation of myself related to the idealization of parental power and perfection.  Notably, the ego -ideal can provide a source of dissatisfaction with life because its goals are perfectionist, requiring evidence that’s often unattainable. However, I fantasized about sport heroes and followed the careers of these individuals; and their teams became my teams. I identified with Gordie Howe of the Red Wings; Ted Gray of the Tigers and, Doak Walker of the Lions and others along the way.

 As an ordinary person, I learned more about delay of impulses, frustration, aggression and conflict. I also experienced dependence, dominance, aggression, and power in interactive experiences. Moreover, I  won football honors at  Denby high school in ; received a football scholarship to the University of Detroit; attained  a  PhD from Wayne State University ; earned a  100 mile Tevis buckle; mastered the Western States 100 mile run and conquered the Swanton Pacific 100 mile Ride and Tie.

Going back to the colonies, there were many dependence, dominance, aggression and power interactions over the next 400 years. Just think of all the conflicts between the land grabbing settlers and the Native Americans. Originally, we were dependent on the Native Americans but eventually dominated and wiped them out. A current fictional story between John Dutton and the Native Americans can be viewed with Kevin Costner‘s Yellowstone.

There were delays, frustration and conflict in separating from the mother homeland and their Kings {father}. The British Empire taxed the colonies unmercifully. On December 16, 1773, at Griffin’s Wharf in Boston, Massachusetts, a political protest occurred.  The dependence, dominance, aggression, and power conflict was exacerbated in the American Revolution from 1775 to 1783. We fought for separation or independence. The founding fathers identified with Great Britain and incorporated a government with a president instead of a king along with other legislative branches similar to their home country. Because of separation fears, they created safety constitutional amendments such as freedom of speech and the ability to form a militia. In fact, George Washington, our first president, was called the father of our country. Dominance, aggression, power, and submission conflicts occurred again with our English parent country in the War of 1812 on June 18.  We’ve had other battles for dominance, submission and separation as in the Civil War.

It cannot be a surprise that the South did not want to relinquish their dominance, power, control and exploitation with their slave based economy. In fact, they wanted to separate from the union. They had total social and economic dominance and they did not want to be subjugated, controlled or told by Abraham Lincoln that slavery was not allowed.  The battle of wills, frustration, conflict, delay of gratification was experienced with sadomasochism practices in the process. Do not forget about Andersonville and the destruction of Atlanta. Separation from the union was not allowed.

Our country also had conflict with others as in the Battle of the Alamo in 1836. General Santa Ana reclaimed the Alamo mission during a 13 day siege. During that fighting, roughly 200 Texans defenders and Davy Crockett died. Later in 1898, there was an armed conflict between us and Spain in Cuba over dominance. Our dominance, aggression and power was established as we acquired new territories in the Caribbean and the Pacific.

 Dominance, aggression and power over others was predicated on many things such as Manifest Destiny. This belief was that the settlers of the United States, were destined by God, to control North America. Sorry, Native Americans, we have that kind of god! The ego- ideal of the United States to dominate and control the world came to pass on August 6 and on August 9, 1945 with the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. At that point, we were supreme on the world stage. Other ego- ideals such as the New Deal, The Great Society, and landing on the moon were attained.

In the 1970s, the economic policy of neoliberalism was initiated. Under that dominant and aggressive economic policy, the federal government was diminished or dependent and Wall Street, wealth and the corporations became king and master. The goal was to privatize everything. During this occurrence, labor unions were decimated; federal government weakened; war on drugs specifically incarcerated more blacks; privatized prisons established, wage slavery became the norm; and the disparity between low and high income earners sky rocketed. Once again the dominance, power, aggression submission dynamic played out with greater frustration, anger and resentment among the populace.

Back to my story, in my development, the body-image or representation of body parts was significant. Body image enters into and becomes a necessary component of the self-image and of social roles. Typically, women have a more realistic depiction of their bodies because their body confirmation is more striking .Also, their body narcissism is normally greater than a man’s.  Body image and body contents are distorted for both sexes.  The area of the mouth becomes the initial mouth ego. Moreover, it’s not uncommon for an attractive woman to consider herself ugly. Just ask her if she has put on some weight? Body image distortion may have deep unconscious roots.

The self-image like the body image has both an external and internal or private social aspect. They are not identical and vary as external and personal circumstances change. People are sometimes unexpectedly pleased or shocked to learn how others regard them.  The image they have of themselves often does not correspond to the more objective and less complete picture that others have of them. Self-image is narcissistic because of the origins in the ego -ideal. My dad had free weights in our basement. That identification was clear and I went downstairs and begin working out with the weights. I became particularly strong and had my younger brother Ron and his friend Dave hand me the heavyweights so I could perform 350 lbs. bench presses. With other friends, we placed over 650 lbs.  or so on our shoulders to become comfortable and see how low we could squat.

With testosterone, hGH, DHEA, and free weights my body changed and I developed more strength and muscle. Other changes, over the years, took place as well. As a psychologist, I grew a full-length beard and had my hair tied in a ponytail.

Then, when I reached the six decade of life, things began to change in my body. There was no more pony tail, but there was a change in hair color. Thank goodness that Ron and Dave were not around to hand me the heavy weights. My running times slowed over the yearly competitive races. By mid-70s, I substituted 50 K’s for 50 mile trail runs and ran a fast ½ marathon in February of this year.  I have had a two hernia operation; consulted an optometrist and an ophthalmologist; had two MRIs’; and a meniscus surgery in one knee. Thus, there were external and internal reality changes regarding both body and self-image.

Returning to our country, there have been many changes over the past eight decades. We have the highest amount of Covid -19 death and disease; we have more gun deaths; we more obesity and overweight; we have continued systemic racism; we have more sick hate groups; we have more delusional conspiracy theories with paranoid followers; we have  more disturbed  amoral  and lying individuals and a dumbing down of the populace. Our statistics and achievement, for our students, in science and math are not good. We trail China, Singapore and too many other countries. We are no longer in the Paris Agreement Accord or Iranian Nuclear deal and are rapidly destroying our planet. Our time is running out. The Doomsday clock clicks closer to midnight than ever before. Our outdated electoral college is still relevant thanks to James Madison. Madison did not trust the populace with the important vote for the president .He thereby enabled the Electoral College with the dominant –dependent dynamic. Trump is a criminally perverse and lying threat to our democracy. In our Republic, the Republican Senate continues to disrespect the populace with their lies and silence on legislation coming from the House.

It obvious that my body is changing and I can’t reverse it. Our country is trending downward too. It remains to be seen if that can be reversed. Remember the dynasties of Alexander; Caesars; Ottoman Empire; and the British Empire are dead. Dynasties are made up of people so they are similar in regards to the functioning of the human body and die. We reach a zenith of power, aggression, control and then dependence; and then submission, frailty and “death” follows. Moreover, related to reality and future, are Murray’s abasement need which is associated to submit passively to external force…… To seek and enjoy pain, punishment, illness and misfortune. Freud wrote about the destructive drive that ends in the life cycle of death. The finis.

Friday, August 21, 2020

Call it Dominance

 

 

With Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and the Democratic Convention, the comparison and contrast was crystal clear. Earlier, on the Wrap, it was reported that MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski called out diehard Trump supporters: “How Stupid Can You Be?” She added “look at how he’s worn us down, from his paid off porn star to Russian  allies, to racism in Charlottesville, racism across the board, children in cages, mean lie after lie after lie….. Conspiracy theories.” She went on to accuse Trump of “choosing not to keep people alive amid the Corona virus pandemic and accusing his fellow GOP lawmakers of letting it happen.” This foreshadows an August 9, 2020 article in the New York Times titled “Christianity Will Have Power”   How a Promise by Trump Bonded Him to White Evangelicals.” This essay critiques that article.”

Sigmund Freud’s “In Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego” wrote that group behavior or the relationship of the leader to his followers was related to the formation of attitudes toward both the father and siblings. We know that a helpless infant has specific biological needs that are encountered with ministrations and frustrations as a result of the behaviors of parents or caretaker. Thus, dominant-submissive interactions originate and begin. Then, what often follows is a rivalry toward siblings resulting in additional dominant-submissive and aggressive interactions as well. Notably, attitudes are formed. We acknowledge that individuals, because of their needs, are prepared to expect almost complete support and gratification from that outside power. This awakens these early forming attitudes towards the father- leader. This pattern of total self-abnegation and blissful response, beginning in infancy  , can later fill itself toward God or toward any person, idea or whatever that fits well enough to serve as an adequate stimulus. Moreover, what also happens is that the Individual with internalization and identification tends to build or expand the power of the leader based on his own need structure. This allows and results in the demagogue to pander to the will or needs of his sheep. The leader or demagogue with words and actions then demonstrates his power, and cohesiveness to his sheep.

 Also discovered, by Freud, was that the leader conscience, can take over the conscience of the followers. Much too frequently, the substitution of one’s conscience involves the impairment or lowering of the intellectual, rational and moral capacities of the followers. In other words the  leaders conscience and attitudes becomes the individual’s conscience as in good or bad, right or wrong etc. through identification. Also, that leader can formulate with clarity and cogency the trends and needs which are already obviously present in the group.

Freud’s concept of identification, set the framework for submission, for an irrationally-diminished intellectual and moral functioning by the cohesive group followers with their leader.  Turning to 2016 at Sioux Ctr., Iowa, and Trump stated “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and s shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters. He also stated, with a raised finger, this cold January morning “Christianity will have power. “If I’m there, you going to have plenty of power, you don’t need anybody else. You’re going to have somebody representing you very, very well. Remember that.” That wording by Trump is a good example of his internal guide to the rightness or wrongness of his behavior.

A 56-year-old white male, who was present, stated I guess the biggest concern for me is trying to keep our country the way it was. He added you don’t lock the doors and I never take the keys out of the car. Further, small government, ending abortion, judges who share my political views, and traditional families he stated. The religious part is huge for us as we see religious freedoms being taken away. His wife added you don’t believe in homosexuality or something you lose your business because of it. Trump with an executive order put the Bibles back in the public schools. Has something very worrisome and dear to us our religious freedom. We started out as a Christian nation, we want America to be a Christian nation for our children, but you try to protect what you got, you might say. Our town is changed and there is greater number of Catholic Latinos.

Other resident comments by different individuals: 1. Trumps an outsider like the rest of us. We might not respect Trump, but we still love the guy for who he is. 2. There is fear. The fear, the fear of losing everything. 3. Obama wanted to take my assault rifles, he wanted to take out all the high-capacity magazines. It felt like your freedoms were getting taken from you. 4. I’m safe when I’m here. I’m not afraid when I’m here. 5. We have life very easy. It’s laid-back, it’s like-minded people. And that’s just and it’s just, I like the bubble. 6. People in my circles you really don’t hear about racism. I guess I don’t know much about it. 7. This country was based and built in God fearful leaders and changing that is going to change one of the reasons why this country started, the thing that everybody loves about this country. 8. We’re making this huge issue of white versus black. Black lives matter, all lives matter. They’re more deaths from abortion than there are from Corona, we are not fighting that battle. 9. We have the greatest country in the world. We’re going to keep it nice and safe. 10. Mike pence is a wonderful gentleman. This is probably very bad analogy, but I say he is like the very supportive, submissive wife to Trump. He does the hard work and the husband gets the glory.

A Hispanic Catholic, age 64 who became a pastor stated: 1. Doing things like dividing the family, I don’t think that is very Christian. Building walls instead of helping people with medicine, food especially now people are getting sick for not having enough income 2. Maybe they know that they realize that he is kind of persecuting Hispanics, so they won’t talk very much about that in front of me. I want the same thing, but I won’t tell them my opinion.

George Washington was referred to as the father of our country. What does that make Donald? A rebellious son? A stepson? We know that weak and fearful individuals turn and identify with an individual perceived as stronger as or more powerful than them. We also know that this identification is based on insecurity, a need for protection and security. We also know that the leader’s conscience or lack of becomes the conscience of the followers. Shooting somebody on Fifth Avenue is not part of Christian teachings nor is having somebody vote for that same person that just murdered another. We also know that the enabling follower’s use of reason and logic is diminished as well as their own moral and ethical compass.

These evangelicals express the importance of freedom for religion, for guns and the importance of the original God-fearing leaders. Yes, Jefferson, Hamilton, Madison, Franklin and others established a U.S. Constitution on March 4, 1789 that was ratified or voted on in 1788. Now we have a Democratic Republic. Since that time, there have been 27 amendments to the Constitution. With our Constitution we have freedoms of free speech; freedom of owning a gun; freedom of worshiping; separation of church and state; freedom to vote among others. There has been no amendment abolishing Christianity nor has there any threat to practicing Christianity.  Our monetary system is symbolized by “In God We Trust”; and various songs like Onward Christian Soldiers have not been abolished. Democracy and its democratic norms allow many freedoms especially freedom of religion.

On the other hand, the evangelicals are more than likely on a mission for power or dominance like the Puritans. They are currently by looking for public school funding and to be the religion of the land. The Puritans or English Protestants purified the Church of England by eliminating the Catholics.  Power is not one of the 10 Commandments? If these evangelicals, are on that mission, then supporting the anti-democratic, lying, amoral, narcissist makes sense. Moral and ethical principles take a back seat to power- dominance needs.

The U.S. Postal Service an independent agency that goes back to 1775 and more importantly is explicitly authorized by the United States Constitution for providing postal service in the United States, including its insular areas and associated states. Back in the 50s, I was hired, as an extra because of increased mail volume, and worked in my father’s post office during Christmas time. My dad wanted me to work inside because of the nasty sleet, snow, and cold weather conditions. I told him I preferred to be outside in the elements so I could deliver the much needed mail. 

Currently, we have this sick, lying paranoid, sycophant in the executive branch who has interfered with our democracy. He now is by attempting to diminish the presidential vote by mail and cripple – privatize the US Post Office service in the process by removing mail boxes, eliminating expensive mail sorting machines, not hiring additional staff, and interfering with timely mail distribution. What would Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison say to these evangelicals? How can you support this anti-democratic narcissistic, sociopathic, paranoid and destructive man that threatens our democracy which we fought so hard to establish? All your freedoms are guaranteed by our Constitution that was democratically established and voted upon. That man threatens your way of life in the most profound ways. We no longer wanted a king or autocrat in power. Your beliefs regarding this man run counter to how our country was established. However, they would understand the pursuit of power -dominance.

Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Holding a Bible upside down front of St. John’s Episcopalian church, while protesters were tear gassed and shot with rubber pellets was not Christian. Not lying, not stealing, not loving thy neighbor/enemies, not coveting thy neighbor’s wife are just some of the biblical teachings. But, is it more important to have small government {forget homeland security and the biggest military budget in the world]; abortion laws {regardless of the circumstances and not wanting to offer financial assistance to the young]; and have like-minded judges? Forget about the values of the 10 Commandments which are based on people treating people in noncriminal and humane manners?

One evangelical supporter made a statement that he doesn’t respect the man but that he loves him demonstrated his lack of understanding love. How can you love someone that you do not have regard for the feelings, wishes, traditions and rights of another or others? If you do not esteem, have positive or warm feelings for a person, you don’t love them. Love is a positive feeling. A few antonyms for respect include scorn, despisement, abomination, condemnation and mistrust.  This man was just making a nonsensical, illogical and contradictory statement.  Having peaceful protesters tear gassed and shot with rubber pellets; having children at the border separated from their parents and placed in cages; sending armed militia to Portland, Oregon and much worse is allowing, without a comprehensive plan, for 170,000 citizens  to die with over 1/2 million   becoming contagious is not a biblical-Christian teaching. For more about love consult Erich Fromm’s “The Art of Love.” Who is going to save Christianity from itself?

Also apparent from the article was the tremendous amount of false information propagated by evangelical residents. They provided no documentation, logic or references to support their phony and false statements. Pres. Obama was not after their weapons. There were no executive orders take away their guns. Abortion is not the fifth leading cause of death in United States. Covid-19 is the fifth leading cause of death. Why should the government have a law regarding the right to choose supersede a woman’s right for that important decision? Maybe the problem for these and evangelicals is that the woman is choosing.  An embryo is an early stage of development of a multicellular organism, and it’s just that that occurs just after fertilization. You can’t kill an embryo but you can kill an unarmed black skinned person? How can this be the greatest religious country in the world with so many sins resulting from racist deaths?

These evangelicals forget that the pilgrims wanted religious freedom and then criticized and burned at the stake those that thought differently.  That’s power and dominance. Our US policy was to eliminate and obliterate the American Indians along with enslaving people with black skin. This practically lily white community doesn’t know firsthand much about racism unless they consult reliable media, history of Little Bighorn , Jim Thorpe, the 1619 project and so much more.  For more about racism, the enslavement of black men and boys in our prison system and the injustices, consult “Mercy, a Story of Justice and Redemption “by Bryan Stevenson.

The words and the behavior for these evangelicals are associated with racism, bigotry, and the sadomasochistic practices of the inept executive. It’s not about saving the Christianity of Jesus. Their moral compass is weak, primitive and cruel as indicated by their irrational following and their silence of the crimes of perpetuated by a self-righteous Trump. How is an amoral, narcissist, sociopathic and paranoid individual going to save Christianity? To call Trump a Christian, is nonsense and a delusion. He’ll do practically anything, or say anything to hold onto the power of the office. What about “Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor”? He’s already calling voting by mail fraudulent; cutting back Postal Service delivery; and attempting to stop states from employing mail in voting. Further, dead people from the pandemic can’t vote. The Republican Party also has a long history of experienced ways to suppress voting. His need for excessive attention, admiration, lack of empathy and lying is apparent. You can’t see, what you do not want to see, if your head is buried in sand. These individuals also have a number of defense mechanisms like denial, rationalization and projection to distort the truth.  Mika said they were stupid. They are more than stupid, they are sick, misguided, needy, and amoral, without ethics and misinformed individuals. For the evangelicals, he’s their vehicle for power- dominance.

Friday, August 14, 2020

A Sick and Damaged Executive

 

 

 Donald has narcissistic and sociopathic personality disorder characteristics as previously stated. As a narcissist, his television appearances, tweets, and policies are transparent. With that being said, there is more to this troubled person. This essay delineates Donald’s paranoid reactions.

Lack of trust and the inability to place faith in someone else is associated with a paranoid personality. For him, the world is not safe, stable, friendly or dependable, it’s full of danger with too many enemies.  It’s no surprise that this individual ran his casinos and real estate activities, as a one-man show. He was the ring leader and had a few minor players. He didn’t delegate major responsibilities. He was king and everybody knew it. For the autocrat, it was his way or the highway.

Donald had a TV show in which he was the master in charge. He was known for “you’re fired.” Likewise, as the Executive Order in-Chief (Donald holds the record}, he operates the same way. He has eliminated a number of Chief of Staff’s who have been unsuccessful in attempting to change him. He has scripted speeches but doesn’t stay on task. When deviating from the script, his just repeats his verbiage. Demanding complete control and difficulty delegating defines his mistrust. It’s been said that he relies on his guts, which means he doesn’t trust others. It also suggests, that when he’s around others, he’s sensitive to hostility. It is also clear, that his lack of trust is a major factor, and as an executive, it interferes with his interactions and weakens his managerial responsibilities. A lack of a well-rounded plan or strategies or team to protect the health of our country is an example. However, when not threatened, he appears friendly and likable. He knows how and is effective at schmoozing when to his advantage.

Also associated with a paranoid personality, is a man who can be pleasurable and interact with others, but often seems tense and angry. We see him with a mean or angry look, unless he’s at a rally. Generally, having a smile on his face is not typical for him. Donald is prone, with the expectation of an attack especially when asked questions. He whines about being badly treated or deceived by the press. As a result, he is prepared and ready to transmit some cruel, aggressive counterattack to get back at them and put them in their place.  This persecutor role or style suggests he has a low frustration tolerance level. He also seems to be hypersensitive and ready for a fight, in his mind, because it’s as if he’s surrounded by sharks. Psychologically, with anxiety and a lack of inner security, he unconsciously projects his inner turmoil, his anger, his sadistic hatefulness, his racist threats, his misrepresentations, his cheating, and his amoral tendencies on to others. This is a replacement of a real danger, of within, to a factious one. In other words, projection is a defense for this angry person who is overwhelmed by tension, anxiety, impulses of rage and hostility who feels surrounded by hostility.  Moreover, this low self-esteem individual holds grudges, plots against others, never forgets a slight or narcissistic injury, and likely takes it for granted that others know how he feels about them and why. Thus, he is ready and on guard for sadistic attacking and accusing others like the press. However, projection as a defense never brings peace and security but only more turmoil.

Paranoid reactions seem to be a bridge between normal, common sense and delusional thinking. Within this dynamic, the employment of Denial is a major defense mechanism which serves as a protective device. Denial “is used to resolve emotional conflict and allay anxiety by disavowing thoughts, feelings, wishes, needs or external reality factors that are consciously intolerable.” With denial, Donald also disowns the truth. To say that the virus is under control, it is going to go away, our numbers are good compared to the worlds, kids are practically immune from the disease and should return to school, Pres. Obama was not born in United States are examples of sheer hateful nonsense with conclusions that seem to be fixed, adamant, inflexible, and untouched by contrary evidence. Recently, in an interview, Donald maintained his ridiculous Covid- 19 stance and even had a chart to make his point. Within this delusional framework there are some truths, some assumptions, and some probabilities that could be or might be true. He accepts his “delusions”, he sees nothing wrong or peculiar about them and believes in the reality of what he projects. He also has no difficulty spreading nonsense. There is so much distrust in information, one has to pick and choose, often on incomplete data, as there is so much that is not actually known. For example, yes, at some future point the virus will more than likely be contained by a valid vaccine or vaccines? Yes, our numbers are good when comparing them to the worlds.  We have 5% of the world’s population. Yes, children without pre-existing illnesses are not as vulnerable as older people with pre-existing illnesses .But, children are not immune. Barack Obama’s father was a Kenyan .That does not mean he was born in Africa.  That birther nonsense remark was racist.

 Per Norman Cameron’s “Personality Development and Psychopathology A Dynamic Approach, “ “A delusion is a fixed belief which persists even though social reality contradicts it.” Furthermore, we are talking about the knowledge and expertise of the medical-scientific community and not about the political, biased beliefs by politicians, media, laypeople or other consensus found on social networks. Don’t forget, so many of the population hold many irrational beliefs and it doesn’t matter if they do not have supporting evidence or even evidence to the contrary.  Epicurus said, “Nothing is good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”

Within this paranoid personality style, unfortunately others especially the Democrats, Dr. Fauci, Black Lives Matter and the press, are seen as bad, hostile and attacking. His relationship, other than those he perceives as loyal, are subjected to a sadistic, obstinate, persistent and hateful responses. Unfortunately for Donald, we’re talking about the House of Representatives, a major part of the government and the Free Press as in article one of the Constitution. This autocrat does not want to share power with anyone. He also has to deny responsibility for his failures. He does not have a large enough moat around the White House for protection. He has the secret service, the military and other federal agents including a fence but the threat comes from inside him. It’s not a surprise that he misunderstands, distrusts, questions, and harbors resentments. This results with internal tension, anxiety and projection as a defense which means there is no protection or safety for him. He is unaware that it is his hostile attitude that he accuses others of having. In essence, he believes he is innocent and it’s all the bad guys that’s the problem.

It’s obvious that the insecure bigot Donald is doing his best to steal the November election. He covets the power. It’s also obvious that Donald is a pathological liar. Mail-in voting is fraudulent and not safe?  Is he lying or employing denial regarding mail in voting? A lie is an intentional statement meant to deceive. In other words, a lie is conscious contrasted with denial the defense mechanism which is unconscious. One way to differentiate between a lie and denial, is the subsequent verbal or behavioral response when challenged regarding fact or fiction. With a greater verbal attack, it’s more likely an unconscious denial. In essence, his lies, denials and deceptive verbiage, describe this amoral individual. His ignorance and use of lies and denial are extremely noticeable at press conferences and with interviews other than on Fox news. He just does not have a wide range of information or knowledge about so much in our world. Not knowing, for him, results in his attempt at deception. However, his intellectual weakness is so obvious for those that know the truth.

Donald, in his powerful position, and along with his tweets is like a piñata for all to see.  Every word, on or off camera, reveals his character. He is an open book and thus is placed in a vulnerable position. His racist, lack of empathy and sadistic behaviors result in much criticism. Not only that, but he has difficulty being rational, precise, practical, and appropriate. Therefore, low self-esteem Donald faces an emotional crisis and expresses insatiable hostility inward and/or outward on a daily basis. His narcissism, sociopathic and paranoid tendencies get in the way and actually work against him. His personality impairments of narcissism, sociopathy, and paranoia interfere with solid Executive action and thus he is a perfect example of the Peter Principle. Lawrence J. Peter suggested that individuals often reach the level of incompetence in their world of work. Donald’s mistake was that even though he didn’t expect to win the presidency, he did. Wishing for what you want or desire is not always a good thing.

Friday, August 7, 2020

Today's World

 

 

World War II and the atomic bomb destruction of Japan’s two cities, highlighted man’s aggressive sadistic tendencies as well as his scientific potential for good. At this time, there were two main schools of psychological thought. Freud‘s psychoanalytic model of the mind which included the biological drives of sex and aggression. The second model was the school of Skinner and others who described learning as a result of reinforcement schedules with hungry pigeons-thus establishing behaviorism. Were their more to man than aggression, war, and hate and/or stimulus tendencies? Philosophers, Rousseau and Marx had a more favorable view of man within society. They suggested that the socioeconomic conditions of man was the problem. Change those conditions in order for man to be more fulfilled. Also , the existentialists  added that in order for man to overcome his limitations, he had to overcome his irrationality; directly experience life; not to rely on scientific and technical achievements; and to counter economic and social propaganda and certainly not  becoming part of the crowd . With these ideas in place, an exciting psychological force rose from these depths. This new philosophy suggested that man has the capacity for growth and optimum development. Thus, a third force in psychology was created and resulted in a more humanistic philosophy of man. Neo-Freudians like Adler, Horney, Fromm and other clinicians like Maslow, May, Rogers, Goldstein, Allport and others believed, in part, that man can discover his real self and become self-actualized. This essay employed Abraham H. Maslow’s model to the current situation of man today.

Hearing the malignant sociopath with his meaningless threats, one gets the impression that everything is fine in our country and he should be reelected. His supporters claim that he’s done a good job with the Covid-19 pandemic. They talk about the great job he’s done with testing. Just yesterday, Sanjay Gupta, the neurosurgeon, told an HHS Admiral that he recently performed an operation on a patient. However, that patient was not given a Covid- 19 test prior to surgery because of lack of testing supplies. Numerous doctors and researchers have also complained about the lack of testing supplies and the long turnaround time for results, thus making the test results meaningless. Do not forget about the number of false positives errors. In fact, I can’t get tested because I don’t have any symptoms. Thus, information from the medical community is consistent in that we have a major problem with testing, PPE equipment, social distancing, and the lack of quarantine space in the hospitals. The Trump Republicans say he’s done a good job. Yes, he’s done a good job with ineptitude. One way to suppress the voting turnout is to contaminate potential voters.

Not only do we not have enough health supplies nor a sound plan to confront this virus, we have over 160,000 deaths and about 5 million cases. The only good job is the rampant explosion of this disease in our country. We statistically lead the world.  Schools are going to open despite the health concerns. We know that the schools in certain ZIP Codes will probably do well. We know that these schools are the minority in the country. We know why, South Korea can educate all its children safely, in the schools, from the disease.

Major league Baseball opened last week and already the Florida Marlins are in quarantine because of the Covid-19 disease. For those teams still playing, there are cut out cardboard fans sitting around the stadium with artificial crowd noise for the television watching audience. Professional baseball in South Korea has actual fans in the stadium. They don’t have cutouts of artificial crowd noise. This is another example of the incompetent Trump Republican administration. He wants you to reelect him again?

Just recently, the United States suffered its worst quarter GDP decline in history of 32.9%. We have too much unemployment; too many have received insufficient monetary assistance from the government; and a Republican-controlled Senate that wants to reward primarily corporations and other wealthy individuals. A number of these helpful stimulus funds expired at the end of last month. The Republican Senators are going home? There was a report that one individual was buying a Lamborghini with his stimulus check.  The economic outlook for a country does not look promising. The black, the brown, and the poor are being exploited again. More income inequality as the billionaire’s wealth increases.   Let’s take a look at the mental and physical health consequences, the degrading qualities of life by Trump’s sadistic ineptitude.

Dr. Maslow, in” Motivation and Personality,” postulated a number of instinctoid basic needs. Briefly, if man was able to navigate his hierarchy of needs, he can potentially reach a state of self-actualization. Maslow presented, based on his research, 15 characteristics associated actualized individuals. A glimpse: ability  to perceive reality;  ability to accept others; ability  to mainly focus on problems ;ability for being  autonomous; ability to identify  and empathize with others;  ability for deep interpersonal relationships; ability to develop a democratic character structure;  ability to be creative; and ability to resist conformity by the pressures of the culture.

In order to reach self-actualization, man has to resolve each prior stage within the hierarchy of needs. The stages: 1. Physiological needs like hunger, thirst, sleep etc. In times of disasters, fearing starvation becomes prominent and behaviors attempt to satisfy or gratify that need. 2. Safety needs are next in line and can also dominate behavior. Children and infants experience anxiety and are vulnerable to strangers, sudden noises, the threat of being dropped, parent leaving etc.  For adults their safety needs are generally gratified in a well ordered or regulated society. However in emergencies like war, Covid-19, unemployment, hurricanes, fire and other natural and man-made conditions, it becomes difficult to gratify or combat one’s anxiety when one’s safety needs are not being met. 3. Belongingness and love needs can be disrupted especially with Covid-19, hurricanes, unemployment, and fire. Our affiliation needs are strong and quarantine, social distancing and wearing a mask interfere with the gratification of this need. The tension experienced when alone may be separation anxiety .This results in the need for direct human contact. What about the 700 young that partied in New Jersey?   4. The esteem needs are next in the hierarchy which is a need or desire for a stable, usually high evaluation of self, for self-respect or self-esteem, and for the self-esteem of others.  In addition, there’s a desire for strength, achievement, for adequacy or mastery, competence in the world. Also there is a desire for reputation, prestige, status, dominance, recognition, attention, importance or appreciation.

Maslow’s need structure is predicated on gratification or non-gratification. If a lower need is not met, the likelihood of advancing to a higher need is suspect. For example, if the physiological needs are unsatisfied, that behavior of seeking food gratification tends to dominate the organism. However if the physiological need is gratified, instead of being hungry obsessed, the person becomes more safety obsessed. Going from a lower to a higher need results in a more healthy direction for the development of the person. When the safety needs are gratified, subjective feelings relate to a restful sleep, loss of a feeling of danger, greater boldness, courage etc. are experienced. On the other hand, if the safety needs cannot be met, the individual is apprehensive, fearful, feeling dread, anxiety, tension, nervousness and jitteriness. When met, the person benefits, and is now in a better and improved position cognitively to better able to attend, to perceive, to learn, to remember, to think and to reason more effectively. The gratification of needs leads to a more fulfilled or healthier state of being.

For our purposes, I’m stopping with the esteem needs. According to Maslow his hierarchy is not absolutely fixed. However, more importantly, the failure to satisfy basic needs leads to deficiencies or conditions associated with neuroses. The maladjusted person that has unmet needs related to physiological, safety, belongingness, love and esteem experiences anger, frustration, exhaustion, disease and sometimes death.  The body produces degrees of adrenal, cortisol, adrenaline, noradrenaline to thwart the threats but Inflammation follows and can lead to headaches, allergies, ulcers, heart disease and depression.

How can a poor unemployed or underemployed individual be expected to feed his family appropriately without governmental assistance? How can an economically poor individual provide adequate housing and pay the rent for his family? How can a low income or economically poor individual provide healthcare insurance for his family?  How many of the economically poor individuals have pre- existing health issues?  How can economically poor individual provide adequate quarantine for his family? How can an economically poor individual provide an appropriate, safe and quality education for his family? How can an economically poor individual cope with a present and future doom and gloom outlook? How can the poor individuals be concerned and vote for the national interest with so many unmet needs? The government, this time the Trump government, once again is racially discriminating against citizens of our country and attempting to suppress the vote. The amount of anxiety and stress continues to rise. The wellbeing for too many in our country is seriously at risk. Will November 3 bring relief?

According to Maslow’s theory, the individuals that have difficulty gratifying their physiological, safety, belonging and love needs are more than likely not in a good place to meet  any of their  needs, especially esteem needs.. We know that loss of meaningful control, having a sense of inadequacy, with societal and disease threats affect a sense of worth and positive self-esteem. However, they are in a good place for suffering. These frustrated individuals will more than likely react with anxiety, anger, and hostility directed both inward and outward. Children and spouses are targets. Other physical and mental health consequences include depression, suicide, gastrointestinal disease, cancer, hypertension, heart disease, arteriosclerosis and/or even die from Covid-19. This disease is now the fifth leading cause of death in our country. By 2021-2022, research and statistics will tell the gruesome illness story of the Trump consequences for mishandling of this disease.

In essence, too many of our brothers, sisters and their children will be unable to live healthy and productive lives as result of the 2020 disaster. Racism and ignorance are two consequences. Lack of loving productivity, creativity, ability to cope, impaired competence, degrading lifestyle and better interpersonal interactions are also at risk. There is too much frustration and conflict present. Trumps administration lying threats to democratic principles places everyone at risk. In order for man to live more productively, he has to be able to reach his higher esteem, social and personal approval and self-actualization needs. Learning, employing rationality and developing wisdom will then follow.