For four years we watched the cruelty and utter indifference to human life yield broken families and over half a million dead Americans. Now we see the same sociopathy continuing to guide Republican leaders, with their voters seemingly sticking with them. Can the spell be broken or is the death cult that strong? A serious question. I welcome answers and constructive conversation—an open forum now for all subscribers.
I've held off on commenting because I don't have anything "positive" to say here. But you did ask for opinions, so here is mine, FWIW. It feels to me like Western civilization has been circling the drain for some time now, >20 yrs at any rate, and that the invention of social media has only accelerated this (I've been heard to say that social media's effect on civilization is analogous to the effect that the 1859 discovery of oil has had on climate). All of these destructive forces (including Fox) are being underwritten by billionaires who appear to be without conscience (i.e. psychopaths). Unless a critical mass of these guys undergoes a near-death experience (which seems unlikely) I don't see any way out of this death spiral. I'm a psychiatrist and can see the forces of the unconscious at work here; they are every bit as powerful as they were back in 1933. Clearly pointing this out (as Dr. Bandy Lee and others have done so well) is completely without effect. These forces tend to go underground when times are good, only to re-emerge when things get bad (as they inevitably do). I sincerely hope that I am missing something here!!
The death cult started with Nixon; was dressed up by Reagan; glorified ignorance by the Bushes; and institutionalized by Trump. The last Republican who cared about American values was Eisenhower.
Republicans have mastered the art of hiding their greed behind racism, anti-intelligence, anti-science, misogyny, ... faux principles.
They continue to rape people and the planet to enrich themselves at the expense of citizens and other democracies.
Until voters recognize they are being used by Republicans, the US continues its spiral to become another defective society.
I feel like the band-aid has been ripped off, and the wound we thought was healing is actually spreading. It makes me wonder if my lifelong optimistic outlook and naive belief in the basic goodness of humankind has allowed me to ignore reality for the sake of my sanity. I am 74 years old and have had a wonderful life because I have always had hope for a better world. The past four years have erased all of that and for the first time in my life I am fearful the I am seeing the beginning of the end of our great democratic experiment, one that we never got right but that we were still pursuing with energy. Have these people who really don't give a damn always been with us and just been our of sight because we had no social media or internet presence? I only know that if we don't turn this around NOW we will not have a future. This phenom is not only present here in the USA but can be noted all over the world. Humanity is reaching the tipping point.
Donald Trump does not have just a "different" personality. He is mentally ill. Just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it's not real. He is NOT normal. He is psychopathic. His psychopathology has drawn people into the cult community. We need to heal the cult energy as a nation. Steven Hassan, PhD is an expert in recovery from cults. He says the first step is not shame people in the cult, but to welcome them and talk to them. Braver Angels is one group trying to have open discussions with rules of engagement for people with differing opinions. Bandy X. Lee, MD, is a forensic psychiatrist who studies authoritarian societies. She says we need to name and recognize who is happening. I have just started studying cults to see how this can be healed, so I don't have answers. I know we need to study this, put out empathic treatments, and put laws in place to make sure the news media isn't lying to the populace.
These last four years have been so tragic, and so dispiriting. As a nation, especially with "the former guy," we are truly seeming to be in the throes of, or negotiating out of, a cruelly debilitating and dangerous relationship that encapsulates all the abusive relationships we all ever have had. It is as if, (I hope) this is a massive healing crisis, and that we WILL negotiate our way out of it and heal, if we have the time and patience, and are willing to do the work. What this has proven to me is that this will take inner work, and outer work, on ALL our parts. Just as we have had the abuse in common in some way, we now also have in common the need to rise in strength and commitment. I too cannot believe my level of naivete that things were working, just because they were working FOR ME. This time period has caused me to look at so much: what I truly believe at the core of my being; what I can legitimately do, even if it pushes me beyond the bounds of my comfort levels; what my status as an observer of events truly means knowing that I have my own lenses and perspectives shaping my worldview. Every religion talks about compassion, and it seems to me now I know why; we cannot move forward together without a perspective of compassion for our own experiences, and for the trials and experiences of others. But we cannot get caught out--defining compassion only as "do goodism" or blindly dismissing the evil present. We must confront this evil, including any "organizational sin" present. And this is hard. We have real work ahead of us, in disbanding silos, in knowing ourselves, and in seeing our truth and acting, compassionately, on all those things. In determining if we want, and then working toward, a true democracy that works for all of us. And through all that we must maintain hope, in this, such a burning and hopeless time. Bless us all, I do believe we can negotiate it.
Can the spell be broken? Yes! To start: REBOOT THE MIDDLE CLASS! A 4 trillion dollar infrastructure plan with Union wage jobs that give folks back their dignity and self-respect. That offers a pathway to the American Dream. You give the American people the opportunity and they’ll do the rest. It’s awful hard to stay angry when you’re living the dream: a new house, in a great neighborhood, with good schools and that new truck in the driveway. And trust me, ain’t nobody going to f**k that up over Trump. And someday soon, all these good folks will be convinced that the good life would never have happened if they hadn’t stormed the Capitol, raised a fuss and changed the course of history! Soon it’ll once again be about huntin, fishin, POP Warner, Little League, Friday night football and the frickin Cowboys. Oh, and talkin about those good old days storming the barricades at the tailgate party.
And while we are rebuilding America we look back to the great Eisenhower years for direction in how to move forward and pay for all this. We adopt the tax structure that made us the greatest country in the world back in the day. By taking a page out of Eisenhower’s book we move forward to the greatness that awaits us.
One of the many things that came out of the reports on January 6 was the fact that many of the people who were there were out of work and behind in their mortgage payments. I am hoping that when their checks from today’s bill come through and the economy gets better with jobs for them and food on their tables, many will sit back and realize the difference between trump and Biden. Sadly, there have always been some people who hate. And many of them have been taught to hate. If we do our part as Democrats and make sure the party keeps Congress, just perhaps the good that will be done will help.
Laws keep antisocial people in check(mostly). Anti- bullying programs engage the bystanders and victims to stand up against the behavior. Trump loosened these controls to rile people up and feel aggrieved and victimized, then some took it a step further into antisocial behavior. So you need limits, engagement of people with empathy to stand up, and education on how politicians manipulate us into grievance and victim hood. The limbic system is activated rather than the executive function.
I've held off on commenting because I don't have anything "positive" to say here. But you did ask for opinions, so here is mine, FWIW. It feels to me like Western civilization has been circling the drain for some time now, >20 yrs at any rate, and that the invention of social media has only accelerated this (I've been heard to say that social media's effect on civilization is analogous to the effect that the 1859 discovery of oil has had on climate). All of these destructive forces (including Fox) are being underwritten by billionaires who appear to be without conscience (i.e. psychopaths). Unless a critical mass of these guys undergoes a near-death experience (which seems unlikely) I don't see any way out of this death spiral. I'm a psychiatrist and can see the forces of the unconscious at work here; they are every bit as powerful as they were back in 1933. Clearly pointing this out (as Dr. Bandy Lee and others have done so well) is completely without effect. These forces tend to go underground when times are good, only to re-emerge when things get bad (as they inevitably do). I sincerely hope that I am missing something here!!
The death cult started with Nixon; was dressed up by Reagan; glorified ignorance by the Bushes; and institutionalized by Trump. The last Republican who cared about American values was Eisenhower.
Republicans have mastered the art of hiding their greed behind racism, anti-intelligence, anti-science, misogyny, ... faux principles.
They continue to rape people and the planet to enrich themselves at the expense of citizens and other democracies.
Until voters recognize they are being used by Republicans, the US continues its spiral to become another defective society.
I feel like the band-aid has been ripped off, and the wound we thought was healing is actually spreading. It makes me wonder if my lifelong optimistic outlook and naive belief in the basic goodness of humankind has allowed me to ignore reality for the sake of my sanity. I am 74 years old and have had a wonderful life because I have always had hope for a better world. The past four years have erased all of that and for the first time in my life I am fearful the I am seeing the beginning of the end of our great democratic experiment, one that we never got right but that we were still pursuing with energy. Have these people who really don't give a damn always been with us and just been our of sight because we had no social media or internet presence? I only know that if we don't turn this around NOW we will not have a future. This phenom is not only present here in the USA but can be noted all over the world. Humanity is reaching the tipping point.
Thank you Kathy and Steven. So well said Kathy.
Donald Trump does not have just a "different" personality. He is mentally ill. Just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it's not real. He is NOT normal. He is psychopathic. His psychopathology has drawn people into the cult community. We need to heal the cult energy as a nation. Steven Hassan, PhD is an expert in recovery from cults. He says the first step is not shame people in the cult, but to welcome them and talk to them. Braver Angels is one group trying to have open discussions with rules of engagement for people with differing opinions. Bandy X. Lee, MD, is a forensic psychiatrist who studies authoritarian societies. She says we need to name and recognize who is happening. I have just started studying cults to see how this can be healed, so I don't have answers. I know we need to study this, put out empathic treatments, and put laws in place to make sure the news media isn't lying to the populace.
Education is key. An uneducated populace is ripe for manipulation.
These last four years have been so tragic, and so dispiriting. As a nation, especially with "the former guy," we are truly seeming to be in the throes of, or negotiating out of, a cruelly debilitating and dangerous relationship that encapsulates all the abusive relationships we all ever have had. It is as if, (I hope) this is a massive healing crisis, and that we WILL negotiate our way out of it and heal, if we have the time and patience, and are willing to do the work. What this has proven to me is that this will take inner work, and outer work, on ALL our parts. Just as we have had the abuse in common in some way, we now also have in common the need to rise in strength and commitment. I too cannot believe my level of naivete that things were working, just because they were working FOR ME. This time period has caused me to look at so much: what I truly believe at the core of my being; what I can legitimately do, even if it pushes me beyond the bounds of my comfort levels; what my status as an observer of events truly means knowing that I have my own lenses and perspectives shaping my worldview. Every religion talks about compassion, and it seems to me now I know why; we cannot move forward together without a perspective of compassion for our own experiences, and for the trials and experiences of others. But we cannot get caught out--defining compassion only as "do goodism" or blindly dismissing the evil present. We must confront this evil, including any "organizational sin" present. And this is hard. We have real work ahead of us, in disbanding silos, in knowing ourselves, and in seeing our truth and acting, compassionately, on all those things. In determining if we want, and then working toward, a true democracy that works for all of us. And through all that we must maintain hope, in this, such a burning and hopeless time. Bless us all, I do believe we can negotiate it.
Can the spell be broken? Yes! To start: REBOOT THE MIDDLE CLASS! A 4 trillion dollar infrastructure plan with Union wage jobs that give folks back their dignity and self-respect. That offers a pathway to the American Dream. You give the American people the opportunity and they’ll do the rest. It’s awful hard to stay angry when you’re living the dream: a new house, in a great neighborhood, with good schools and that new truck in the driveway. And trust me, ain’t nobody going to f**k that up over Trump. And someday soon, all these good folks will be convinced that the good life would never have happened if they hadn’t stormed the Capitol, raised a fuss and changed the course of history! Soon it’ll once again be about huntin, fishin, POP Warner, Little League, Friday night football and the frickin Cowboys. Oh, and talkin about those good old days storming the barricades at the tailgate party.
And while we are rebuilding America we look back to the great Eisenhower years for direction in how to move forward and pay for all this. We adopt the tax structure that made us the greatest country in the world back in the day. By taking a page out of Eisenhower’s book we move forward to the greatness that awaits us.
One of the many things that came out of the reports on January 6 was the fact that many of the people who were there were out of work and behind in their mortgage payments. I am hoping that when their checks from today’s bill come through and the economy gets better with jobs for them and food on their tables, many will sit back and realize the difference between trump and Biden. Sadly, there have always been some people who hate. And many of them have been taught to hate. If we do our part as Democrats and make sure the party keeps Congress, just perhaps the good that will be done will help.
I mean, it was ever thus. You’re talking about fundamental changes to the human condition. Those sentiments are easily expressed but hardly realized.
Laws keep antisocial people in check(mostly). Anti- bullying programs engage the bystanders and victims to stand up against the behavior. Trump loosened these controls to rile people up and feel aggrieved and victimized, then some took it a step further into antisocial behavior. So you need limits, engagement of people with empathy to stand up, and education on how politicians manipulate us into grievance and victim hood. The limbic system is activated rather than the executive function.