At the core of self delusion is the inability and/or the unwillingness of facing reality. While psychological disorders can often explain abnormal behavior in individuals, the exegesis for deviant social attitudes and accompanying conduct is reserved for society. Or so we are told! But does this make sense to you? As long as you accept that reality does exist and that it can be understood, it follows that we have the right, the ability and the obligation to comprehend it and adjust our actions accordingly.
Most Americans view, of their own personal identity, is inculcated by the political culture. Delmar England, in his provocative work – Mind and Matters, The World in a Mirror – offers this valuable insights into our mutual and shared condition: “In human affairs, as surely as effect is preceded by action, action is preceded by belief, and belief is preceded by thought and conclusions.”
Applying this standard to politics Mr England depicts government is this fashion:
“For all the sidestepping, dance arounds, word games, and confused rhetoric, the term government is easily defined; not by subjective agreement, but by reference to objective reality and the actual entities involved. First, we know that there is no such thing as an infinite entity and that the term, government, necessarily denotes a relationship. The actual entities involved are human individuals. The base options of relationships between individuals are non-initiation of force and non-coercion, or initiation of force and coercion. It makes no difference how many different subjective labels are put upon the situation, the objective fact remains that at the root of it all, these are the only two options. The former is in recognition of the individual as a self-owned entity. The latter is based on the idea of an individual being the property of an “infinite entity”; which is the “justification” for rule by the individuals who hide behind the abstracts and exercise their will to dominate and control all others.”
“The subjective and arbitrary labels arbitrarily associated with government such as democracy, socialism, communism, etc. are purely for the purpose of self-delusion. Although form of implementation may vary and some versions start closer to ultimate self-destruction than other versions, the common and identifying objective content of each and every one is initiation of force and coercion. Millions may volunteer for such an anti-social system and play self-deluding word games for the sake of preferred self-image, but all the pretense in the world and “definitions by agreement” will not erase the truth about government, nor prevent the certain violent consequences of initiation of force and coercion.”
No doubt, this is a correct assessment. Virtually every society and country operates with the implied and universal acceptance that government is natural and ordained. The individual accepts force and coercion as a substitute for avoiding the risk and responsibility of personal Freedom. MindMatters concludes with this point:
“Rather than freedom being the highest value sought by most, it is their deepest and most abiding fear. So much so that they can’t even envision it.”
American denial has caused an epidemic dysfunctional confusion. The delusion that our own self identify is equivalent with the “collective will” of society; which, in turn is synonymous with the government and its policies, is a sociopathic sickness. The antisocial behavior of the STATE demonstrates all the characteristics of a profile of a sociopath. Apply the top five to the demeanor of government: Glibness/Superficial Charm – Manipulative and Conning – Grandiose Sense of Self – Pathological Lying – Lack of Remorse, Shame or Guilt. We are all taught what we should believe about government; but only the fool, the liar or the delusional accepts that our – self-owned entity – benefits from the force and coercion that the State demands upon us.
Robert L. Kocher has compiled a body of works far too numerous, on this topic to cite sufficiently. We urge you to review and absorb the wisdom in his insights. Most of the lessons detail the last administration, but are completely relevant to the current regime. One essay, especially compliments the Delmar England conclusion. Mr Kocher writes in American Mental Health and Politics:
“If some of us are appalled, frightened, and even driven half crazy by the maddeningly and complacently silly or psychotic levels of denial, by the superficiality, by the abysmal immaturity, by the primitive level of personality structure, by the too-easily employed distorted rationalizations, by the lack of contact with basic reality that we deal with in our daily lives, hear in our college faculties, and see on TV and in high political office, we can nevertheless know that the reality of our perceptions is validated by mental health figures as well as those patients being seen in therapist’s offices.”
Currently, the national mood is absorbed in the illusion that Americans are at risk and that they are in danger from terrorists abroad. While reality demonstrates that enemies of America are plentiful, the disconnect that their veridical hatred is focused upon the U.S. Government and its policies, is concealed. Vast numbers of Americans feed their denial that they are the target of madmen; while they seek comfort in the fallacy that support for the WAR Party will make them safe. The force and coercion that the government imposes upon you, under the pretext that it is necessary and protective, diminishes your safety as it destroys your Liberty. The utter fraud of national security policy, seeks only to preserve the government, no matter how much harm it inflictes upon citizens.
So why do so many misguided flag-waving zealots rally to a jingoistic cause? Kocher provides the answer: “We now live in a society where many people no longer want or value freedom. Personal freedom and the responsibility that goes with it are abrasive intrusions or demands upon a crippled self-absorbed internal state.”
“American Denial” prevents the admission that U.S. policies only benefit the government. Their own personal delusional perceptions are interchangeable with a phony litmus test, judged by their support for State illusions. The thought of exercising the Freedom to think, criticize, condemn and resist is far too disconcerting to the sheeple. They view their own self worth as an adjunct of an abstract deception; while, the true motives of the government are to control society and all individuals, using force and coercion. Both England and Kocher have it right. The association between an individual and an infinite entity denotes a relationship; and the reluctance or unwillingness to exercise freedom and responsibility, allows the government to implement force and coercion.
“Eternal Vigilance” is no longer enough to preserve Liberty. Sound mental health, appreciation for your own self worth, trust in the integrity of reality and the courage to do battle with the forces that seek to delude your own dignity are all necessary to win this struggle. America is NOT the Government. When policies are dishonest they must be opposed. When officials are depraved they need to be removed. And when your neighbor demands your allegiance to a corrupt government, it is your duty to confront his delusion.
We can no longer afford to be silent in the face of “American Denial”.
SARTRE – January 22, 2003
Well that explains it and why we are doomed. No matter how much we desire our freedom, how much we just want to be left alone to pursue our own lives and leave others alone to do the same, it is not to be. The psychopaths in charge and their willing submissive sycophants of the general population are going to see to it we are all in chains. Unfortunately the lunatics are in charge of the asylum and they out number us 1,000,000 to 1.
Refreshing insight into the political/psychological manipulation played out against those Yahweh created to be free.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
I particularly enjoyed the comparison of the traits common to a sociopathic individual and the form of a coercive government. If you are able to find some folks in your address lost who aren’t drugged out of reason, this would, I think, be an eye-opener.
I have to disagree with the author on a few points, but mainly that he attributes “American denial” to the belief that “We now live in a society where many people no longer want or value freedom”, and I think that’s an erroneous premise to begin with.
Americans do value freedom, but the majority of them don’t even know they’ve lost it, because most of their lives are spend between work and television. They’re quite simply being duped, and most of them never even realize their freedom is gone until they have a personal encounter with our “legal system”, or local police. When they do see through the lies, they quickly devote much of their time to exposing the truth, and that fact pretty much destroys that aspect of the author’s theory.
“…action is preceded by belief, and belief is preceded by thought and conclusions.”
I disagree with this premise, too. I WISH belief were preceded by thought and conclusions, but if that were the case, there would be fewer believers in the multitude of lies that are now propagated by the media. Belief, in my estimation, is usually the result of a lack of thought, and people’s refusal to apply logic to what they are told.
“The thought of exercising the Freedom to think, criticize, condemn and resist is far too disconcerting to the sheeple.”
Here again, I see the problem being that people are simply duped, and have their choices limited to the information provided by the media. They DO believe they’re thinking freely, they DO criticize, and condemn when they’re shown something worthy of that response (no shortage of protest actions in the country), but the problem is that they simply don’t know the true extent of the problems we face.
The main problem with the “sheeple” is that our culture has taught them to look to the television for reliable information. They believe there’s competition between the various media outlets, and that the competition will result in all of them struggling to bring the truth to the public. They rely on competition that just isn’t there, and have been raised with certain misconceptions regarding the news media, such as “they couldn’t say it if it weren’t true”, and other reinforcements of the media’s credibility that are false.
The fact of American’s mythical heroes (Superman and Spiderman) working for newspapers is just one aspect of how they’re conditioned to trust the news since childhood.
“Americans do value freedom, but the majority of them don’t even know they’ve lost it, because most of their lives are spend between work and television.”
Exactly, JR.
‘Programming’ works, obviously.
I DO think some Americans no longer want or value freedom, but I also DO think the majority of Americans value freedom, and of those, about ten percent more or less WILL fight to restore it.
I think a much bigger problem is with those many believe will lead the restoration, where so many of these leaders are just wanting to replace one oppressor with another, and this is a problem because so many freedom-loving people are still under a collective mindset and would rather let other connect the dots for them so they don’t have to do it themselves.
Example: last week I heard a scholar/preacher say many truthful things about the US and current abominations taking place here that could lead to the “wrath of God.” Then while basically speaking truth he comes up with this “gem” that most listeners will (due to their acceptance of everything else he said) accept as truth along with the rest: God will send His wrath “because the United States continues to stab Israel in the back”.
It was at that point where I stopped believing what he had said, for the most part. A Liar is a liar. Period. End of Story.