The Crucible: 2008 Edition - a psychologist's take on Palin & rightwing paranoia

[Shallah Kali]

http://drx.typepad.com/psychotherapyblog/2008/10/updatei-see-that-george-packer-also-discusses-the-distinctly-paranoid-atmosphere-on-the-right-in-a-new-yorker-piece-it-remi.html

note: emphasis added by me

Even before I read the Packer piece, I had intended to comment more on the rapid escalation of right-wing political paranoia with its growing list of conspiracy theories, calls for post-election riots, civil war and calls, even, for the dissolution of the United States. Ironically, as these supposedly pro-American extremists fan group paranoia and advocate violent overturning of the collective will of the American people, the mindset they are cultivating looks increasingly similar to the mindset of Islamic terrorists.

I'm reminded that as the sprawling debacle in Iraq unfolded, pundits both on the left and the right called President Bush's assumption that all human beings yearn for freedom and democracy 'naive.' Given some of the things we're hearing lately, it is clear that many Americans on the right do not want and cannot handle life in a democracy. They reject the notion of a government elected by the people, insisting, instead, on the collective purification of American politics and society. But since their real 'purity' problem—the sense of inner impurity—never fully abates, the paranoid net widens, growing more insistent and extreme.

It is no accident that this political paranoia festers among right-wing, fundamentalist Christians who place a heavy emphasis on eschatology. These Christians tend to conflate spiritual sanctification with political purification. Personal salvation is embedded within the larger narrative of collective sanctification that culminates in the final judgment when all evil is destroyed, once and for all. But the self-designated elect never feel quite sure, deep down, about the progress of their own sanctification and the state of their own salvation. So, they purify themselves by projecting and attacking evil as an external phenomenon. The eschatological narrative supplies the manifest rationale for the projection—the human collective must and will be sanctified in the fulfillment of scripture.

This is nothing new, of course. It's the stuff of witch hunts. And tt is easy to see why Sarah Palin, a fundamentalist Christian, is such an important political player in the fundamentalist mind. She is part of a paranoid, eschatologically-driven view of American politics. And she has been more than willing to play the manipulative Abigail Williams to Salem, fanning the fires of mob paranoia.

[katty]

1. all they do is: Project THEIR shadow, fears, etal onto OTHERS

that's it-no big secret. this is a good post, thanks.

[ACTION BASTARD]

4. How come most fundamentalist Chritians seem almost childlike in

their critical thinking abilities? With them everything is either Good or Bad? Black or White? No wonder real Republicans think they're stupid and easily manipulated puppets.

[The Hope Mobile]

5. I've thought about this a lot. I think maybe because they're asked

to accept something on faith alone, no visual evidence, etc.. To maintain their identity as Christians they need to buy the whole enchilada. If the same person who taught them to believe also says that democrats are evil or baby-killers or a threat to our beliefs, etc., they agree because if they reject part of what this person says . . . maybe the rest of what they say is suspect too, and maybe their faith isn't as strong as they want to believe and it can all deteriorate pretty quickly. Faith is a pretty fragile thing. You have to train yourself to accept what your church leaders say. Even if you question it, you can't really say it out loud.

[RedLetterRev]

9. I've got a slightly different take

Those built-up, koolade-driven belief systems are fragile because they're built on schemes, magical thinking, verbiage that's totally dissonant with what's plainly and provably different to what can be seen. Faith -- real faith -- not some set of rules that will fall apart when science comes along, OTOH, just "is". It can change, adapt, and grow with new information and circumstances.

Belief systems can be quantified by rules, and "this is sin and that's not" and the Big One, "I know for certain". That's what the fundies have and that IMHO ain't faith at all. That's a belief system. Faith says "I don't know, but I trust that there's a Something Greater and if I try to live gently, there's probably Someplace Nicer to go on to. I don't know exactly what it is, because no one has been there to send back an email, but I think I'll go there." Nothing more than that.

Faith is willing to accept that it doesn't know for certain, and that, I think, is its very strength. Belief systems will snap the instant they're put to the test -- and that's the reason the fundies freak when they're tested on it. Faith will adapt; belief systems won't.

In other words, if someone tells ya they've got an absolute lock on absolute truth, keep ya hand on yer wallet.

The preceding is totally my own opinion.

Peace!

:hippie:

[Shallah Kali]

6. some because they are raised that way and abused when they dared question

some sects go so far as to advocate and brag about beating babies becasue infants are evil and you gotta break 'em when they are young. seriously. one family the pearls has written books about switching kids with plastic tubing. sick. sick. sick. vile and sick.

http://stoptherod.net/NGJ.html
http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2006/05/25/the_pearls/

[Grinchie]

10. Poisonous Pedagogy has been promoted for Centuries

After reading http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Miller_(psychologist)">Alice Miller's - "For Your Own Good" book a few years ago, I came to the realization that she was right in her theory of parental abuse as the cause for most people being mean, intolerant, or self destructive.

The damage caused to children when the parents abuse them is buried deeply within their mind, repressed due to the need for parental love and support.

When parent follow the centuries old practice of "Breaking Their Will", they implant the seeds for neurosis that show up in various forms as an adult.

If you can find a copy of Alice Miller's "For Your Own Good", read it! It will change your life. When I read it she described behavior used against me as a child almost verbatim, and it allowed me to come to the realization that both of my parents had been responsible for mistreating my brother, sister and myself.

Alice Miller's work is truly important, and more people need to get acquainted with it.

Her linkage of the strict upbringing imposed on the child in Germany to the willful obedience to Hitler (Mein Furer/My Father) is truly frightening, and I see similarities in the blind obedience to Bush, and now the Grumpy but Fatherly McCain and the pretty Motherly Palin aka Pitbull.

[Shallah Kali]

11. Alice Miller is brilliant! Everyone should read "For Your Own Good" - link to read it free

here: http://www.nospank.net/fyog.htm

I was spared the sort of treatment that you and so many others went though but even the much less severe spankings and the reasoning I was offered left it's mark on me. Spanking did not teach me to respect it made me fear them. That book helped me examine how what my family did and how our culture effected all of us. I see so much of what Miller described in people I know and it goes to explain why there are a good number of people longing for authoritarian people in power.

Slight OT I also think everyone should read Touching: The Human Significance of The Skin by Ashley Montague. The importance of good touch is so undervalued in American culture. It seems that the only touch promoted is romantic/sexual touch. IMO most people could do with a good friendly hug on a regular basis

[Laelth]

15. Just read a chapter. It's brilliant.

Thanks for the link.

The United States is a LIBERAL Country.

:dem:

-Laelth

[GTurck]

8. Predestination..

is the theory of the fundies that you are predestined to be socially, economically, and educationally exactly where you are and that is part of salvation. Accepting this is proof that you have accepted God's plan. It is akin to the idea of Jehovah's Witness' to there being an elect who will go to heaven and those who will get there as the elects servants. In this viewpoint there is no benefit to challenge, explore, learn because if God has willed it anything else is going against God's will.
I never could accept that thinking when my father wanted me too and so I moved far, far away from that. One can believe in God and not believe in the theories offered over the centuries about It/Him/Her. But then my view puts me outside of all of the organized churches and their rites. Today I am a nominal Catholic partly because it does not believe in predestination and also because of its old tradition of honoring thinking (yes I know about Galileo and Copernicus but overall it is a true statement).

[teknomanzer]

12. Is this a serious question?

You are asking why someone who has a giant omnipotent imaginary friend has childlike reasoning skills. I think it is self explanatory. The fundamentalist view of religion is infantile and without nuance. These people need to be exposed to the works of Joseph Campbell or Carl Jung to get a better perspective on their religion, but the reality may be that they would not be able to digest such material. Campbell said that Religion is a defense against the religious experience. I would add that what some of these folks are experiencing isn't spiritual i.e. speaking in tongues and writhing on the floor in spasms. It is mass hysteria. A symptom of their paranoid delusions.

[katty]

13. 'infantile and without nuance' - precisely, thank you!

[Locrian]

7. yes

I think it is the ancient reptile brain. Those "fears" and "anxieties" manifest themselves as "demons". You can grow up and fight these demons with compassion, logic, understanding, whatever. Or you can give into them and make them "real".

Anybody have a link to the old Bloom County monster from Milo's Anxiety Closet?!

[foxfeet]

2. She's a hair's breadth away from rolling on the floor, while screaming,

"Goody Obama and the Devil are torturing me!"
:tinfoilhat:

[katty]

3. hahah-wld luv to see that clip

[Danascot]

14. They don't want to have to make any decisions or choices

They're afraid to take any responsibility for their thoughts or actions. They want to be told what is right or wrong, and what they should think and do. That's why it's so easy for dictators and demagogues to control them.

[LynnTheDem]

16. "republifascists".

Same shit.

Different assholes.