Does the US have a mental problem or a right wing media problem that lead to mental health problems?

[tenderfoot]

I ask because we all know people pre-Rush Limbaugh who were kind, thoughtful, and tolerant that turned into raging lunatics once right wing AM talk radio and Fox News took hold.

It is my opinion that right wing rhetoric, that fills peoples' heads with lies and irrational fears is causing many of these mental health breakdowns.

Your thoughts?

[SheltieLover]

1. Rw media is causal to the hatred & violence, imo.

[crickets]

24. Right wing media is a big, big piece of the puzzle.

The Brainwashing of My Dad
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brainwashing_of_My_Dad

As Jen Senko tries to understand the transformation of her father from a nonpolitical Democrat to an angry Republican fanatic, she uncovers the forces behind the media that changed him completely: a plan by Roger Ailes under President Richard Nixon for a media takeover by the Republicans, the 1971 Powell Memo urging business leaders to influence institutions of public opinion (especially the media, universities, and courts), the 1987 dismantling of the Fairness Doctrine under President Ronald Reagan, and the signing of the 1996 Telecommunications Act under President Bill Clinton. The documentary aims to show how the media and the nation changed, which leads to questions about who owns the airwaves, what rights listeners and watchers have, and what responsibility the government has to keep the airwaves fair, accurate, and accountable.

https://www.thebrainwashingofmydad.com/

Ms Senko’s groundbreaking film examines the rise of right-wing media through the lens of her father, whose immersion in its daily propaganda had radicalized him. His new fanaticism rocked the very foundation of their family. She discovered that this phenomenon was occurring with alarming frequency in living rooms across America. The film reveals the consequences that this radicalized media is having on people, families, America, and the world.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

2. The U.S. has a culture of violence, white supremacy, and individualism that hurts the most

vulnerable the most. Also, just because someone is irrational, ignorant, angry or willfully obtuse doesn't mean they have a mental illness. The desire to conflate political beliefs/actions with mental illness is a weird and dangerous one, as well.

[Ocelot II]

4. Yes.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217304210

[tenderfoot]

7. I agree.

I am also tired of "mental health" being used as an excuse for violent behavior.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

18. I'm curious, what do you mean by "excuse" here?

[mopinko]

20. i hate that. it doesnt get u off the hook.

it gets u indef detained in a locked hospital w worse ppl than prison.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

3. The reich wing claims libs/dems/progs are all mentally ill and illogical and uneducated

Facts show that RWs are less educated, more likely to die, more likely to live in a taker state than a maker state, more likely to be a complacent member of a religious flock, more likely to suffer from Dunnings-Kreager, more likely to have confirmation bias, ....

[RKP5637]

5. IMO both! It is not a well country. The hatred is way out of control.

Last edited Mon Oct 31, 2022, 05:05 PM - Edit history (1)

It is also really becoming the land of Idiocracy! Plus bullying has become a national disgrace. All types of people get bullied for whatever reason. It is sick!!!

[Voltaire2]

6. framing the problem as medical rather than political

is a way of avoiding the problem. Right wing extremism is a political problem.

[bucolic_frolic]

8. People are raised from an early age without mental boundaries because of media onslaught

They are open and susceptible to whatever is fed them.

[nolabear]

9. As a retired therapist I think it's complex but connected.

There’s not as clear a border between “normal” and “mentally ill” as people like to think. Well-functioning people, under enough stress and fear, can develop aberrant thoughts and behaviors. Not all do by any means, but some do. Genuinely disordered people, i.e. bipolar, paranoid, anxiety disordered, psychotic, etc., are not separate from everyday life, and attach those disordered thoughts to the things they’re exposed to in the world around them, as can the usually high functioning. So if you’re paranoid or your mind is racing and you hear lots of conspiracy theories, you might well become obsessed with that. If you’re far enough along that you think you must do something, you can be dangerous.

Cults “program” pretty much mentally healthy people who for whatever reason need connection or acceptance or relief from the anxiety of not knowing what will supposedly keep them safe. The fear of losing that safety can also cause aberrant behavior.

And a whole lot more. Our current environment is dangerous for everyone. Even those of us who aren’t susceptible to the manipulations going on are suffering stress, fear, PTSD and the collapse of relationships. It’s dreadful. Though I’m not in practice any more I’m in touch with many colleagues and things are very difficult for people across the board.

[spooky3]

19. Thank you for this post. Nt

[crickets]

23. Thank you so much for this.

My heart goes out to people who struggle with mental disorders, whether mild or severe.

Between muddling through the COVID mess for two years and the crazy political/media landscape we're all dealing with, it's no wonder that anyone and everyone may feel overwhelmed from time to time. There is no shame in going to the doctor to discuss the effects that stress are having on your health, and asking for help. If you feel that your provider is not receptive, keep looking.

Even in the deep South, where a patient might hesitate before saying something (and I did) my doctor was an angel, and professional as hell. She was immediately understanding and kind, and got right to business discussing options and providing the care I was hoping for. I only wish I had spoken up sooner.

I'm dealing with my stress issues in the most constructive way I can, voting my heart out in the midterms, and holding out hope that by this time next year things will at least be a bit better. It helps to hear that I am not alone in going through this. I'm just hoping that others who may need help do not sit and suffer in silence.

While there's is no magic wand to change yourself or the world overnight, compassion and treatment are there. You just have to reach out for it.

[nolabear]

25. Recognizing that fact is itself a really good sign.

It’s been hard on us all. I’m glad you’re proactive! It’s the only way through imo. ❤️

[RKP5637]

26. Well said! n/t

[Kaleva]

10. There was no hate radio when we destroyed Native American nations

Or imported slaves from Africa.

[jalan48]

11. +1

[tenderfoot]

12. Yes, an excellent example of right wing thought that leads to attrocities

Thank you!

Oh wait! You forgot to mention that there wasn't right wing talk radio when Turkey slaughtered millions of Armenians.

[Kaleva]

13. There's always been hatred in this country and around the world

People might not notice it untill they are on the recieving end

[IA8IT]

14. Yes My Dad. Moved in with health problems and I had to get nasty at him.

Limbaugh Bill O'Reilly Hannity and little fucker tucker. Dad was spouting shit I never heard from him before. So shitty that my wife left the dinner table. Slow little by little things he said when still at his house would come out. I warned him they were wrong and bad.

[NewHendoLib]

16. It's a bug in our species. Propaganda works

We also have an inherent need to identify with groups.

The next version of humans need a lot of work

[sanatanadharma]

17. The USA has a self-identity problem

The nation is al problem is rooted in individuals' self-identity problems.
It is a human condition problem. From birth, the self-aware-being is bombarded with labels and identities. It starts with namin
The child is told who they are, what their identity is.
Then we all start having desires for new identities, clothes, teams, friends, tribes, fellow thinkers with their own same problems.

But what of those born with knowledge of self-identity that is not congruent with the labels of birth?
Objective self-identity is not tribal.
Where tribal identity predominates, politics deteriorates.

Overly subjective (because we all have some) self-identity is a setup for failure.
It is not good to mix up 'my' and 'mine' with 'me'; it leads to feeling personally insulted when a State is criticized.
Conservatives are overly subjective.

[Midnight Writer]

21. My theory is that RW media use sophisticated techniques to target specific personality types.

Advertising works, and businesses have their influencing methods down to an exact science.

Now that science is being used to influence political choices.

With detailed user profiles culled from internet user data, they can now hone in on specific segments of the population and exploit their personal biases, their previously held belief systems, their naivety, their emotional triggers, and unlock and nourish their suppressed desires.

As we all gaze into our electronic devices, our electronic devices gaze into us and feed us the "junk food" we find so hard to resist.

[IcyPeas]

22. 205 republicans voted against mental health services.

So when they say "mental health" on the tv news there should be pushback and they should be asked why they ALL voted against it.

[RKP5637]

27. Plus many in the media know full well how to convert the ugliness, hatred and

divisions in the US to maximize their bottom line profitability. Hatred sells well and they capitalize on it under the guise of free speech. It's disgusting and one day might well do in the US.

[The Magistrate]

28. The Latter, I Suspect, Ma'am

What people fill their minds with comes to define their reality....

[Caliman73]

29. There has always been a strain of "sickness" within the American People.

I use sickness as a term to substitute for the various and interwoven strains of White Supremacy, Misogyny, Jingoism, Anti Intellectualism, and others that have been with us in society for a long time. We are not unique to these ideas, but what separates us from other countries is this idea of American Exceptionalism, where we have a mythic place among all other countries and we are somehow, the best, where bad things can't happen here.

If you think back to the accurate accounting of our history... The "Pilgrims" or certain subsets of them brought both religious intolerance AND slavery with them to the United States. Certainly it was a global problem, but we were founded on freedom from certain monarchical systems and freedom for only certain people. We ended formalized chattel slavery 74 years after the Constitution and only after a bloody Civil War. That war ended the formal practice of slavery, but it did not end the concept of White Supremacy. It did little for women either. While Black men were allowed the franchise (to certain degrees) after the Civil War and the passage of the Reconstruction Amendments, women were not allowed the franchise until the 1920's. more than 100 years after the Constitution was written. We took land from the Indigenous People and tried to "civilize" them at the end of a gun, and by taking their children away and putting them in schools to wipe out their traditions and culture. Before the Civil War, we attacked Mexico because Texas wanted to keep slaves and we wanted Texas. After the Civil War former slaves were subjugated in the South through Jim Crow laws and in the North, through other forms of discrimination. These discriminatory practices may no longer be legal, but they are systemic. Women and minorities are treated differently and worse than White men in this country.

Right wing rhetoric, and the political victories of the right wing in the last 30 years especially; along with the rise of the right wing media ecosystem, have certainly influenced people to move further in the extreme. It has granted legitimacy to what were once fringe ideas uttered in secret. They have always been there, but were pushed into the darkest corners of society. They never went away because we have never dealt with the problems in an honest way. The very existence of the "Lost Cause" mythology, which is still present in some of our children's textbooks, is proof of that. The idea the children are being "indoctrinated with CRT" and "Feminism" as a major problem in society (which is believed by a good chunk of society) shows that the "sickness" has been there and is being exacerbated by right wing media.