Looking for Humanism

 

 

Karl Marx has been a controversial figure in our country for a long time. Thanks to the propaganda of the capitalistic power elites, he has been discredited and called a communist and/or socialist both “bad” names. Just ask Bernie Sanders about the misrepresentations? In part, Marx’s misrepresentations are likely the result that his writings, in German, were translated only as recently in 1959 by T. B. Bottomore at the London School of Economics and Political Science. This essay focuses on Marx’s philosophy of man living in the industrialized Western society. Marx’s model does not refer to the Hunter- Gatherers, the Zuni Indians or other “non-civilized” cultures.

Karl Marx, the philosopher, wrote about man’s alienation to self, to others and to nature without the benefit of Freud’s psycho dynamic insights. According to Marx, with the development of Western industrialism, man has been transformed by automatization, and has become dehumanized.

For Marx, the existence or essence of a real individual man or who he is simply what he does. Can modern man liberate and free himself from the current economic society stranglehold and importantly realize his intellectual and physical potential? If not, he becomes alienated within and with others. In capitalism, it’s about production and consumption. For Marx, the problem was the alienation related to materialism, consumption or being in a meaningless, unproductive or alienated job.

 Marx, might have a comment or two about the fact that Bezos and Musk have accumulated more wealth than 40% of other Americans and the recent bribery scheme regarding college admissions to elite schools?  His comments along with Gates and Buffett would more than likely suggest that there is more to life’s fulfillment than acquiring more wealth than anyone else and chasing prestige and status is just the desire for money. More specifically, Marx believed that excess and immoderation becomes only a standard and are artificial needs. This need to acquire wealth is simply used to exploit others while chasing the money. Bezos’s position against unionization in Alabama is an example.  The more alienated one becomes, the more is a sense of having and using others as in exploitation and this becomes and constitutes one’s relationship to the world. In other words the more you have, the more you are alienated from self and from the world. .

 Marx also didn’t believe that accruing more wages in a meaningless job would result in man’s fulfillment.  Today’s alienation is seen in absenteeism, frequent employment changes, drug and alcohol addictions, workmen’s comp claims, depression, anxiety  and withdrawal from job seeking. Marx added that being interested in money, material or the production of useful things resulted in too many useless people.

 When man becomes productive both intellectually and physically, with intrinsic meaning, he becomes able to be productive and form fulfilling unions with other humans.  In essence, Marx’s view of man is one in which man has the potential to become fully functioning in the area of work and love and when that happens humanity for all prospers. Incidentally, Freud agreed that a healthy individual was one that was able to productively work and love.

 Marx believed that man can change and evolve because he created his own history. He also believed that there are two types of human drives and appetites. Initially he believed that there were constant or fixed ones such as hunger and sexual urges. He added that these can only be changed only in their form and in the direction they take depending upon the nature within that society. The second drives were the relative appetites which are not integral part of human nature but which in origin, pertain to certain social structures and to certain societal and economic conditions such as the appetites for power, prestige, money, possession, success etc.

 Man can be alive and fully functioning only when he is active and productive. Being receptive and passive, negatively interferes and impairs creativeness, vitality, energy, human passions in man’s relationship with women and other men. Most of what man consciously thinks, according to Marx, is false such as his beliefs, illusions, ideologies and rationalizations. These misgivings interferes with man’s actions because of his unconscious. It’s important for man to wake up, become aware and not follow just his illusions. Man can become more alive, motivated and excited with meaning when labor becomes an expression of his physical and mental pleasure.

 In our economy, a capitalist exploits because he owns the means of production and can hire a property less individual to work for him under conditions in which he is forced to accept.  Furthermore, Marx wrote that” private property has made us stupid and partial, that an object is only ours when we have it, when it exists for us as capital or when it is directly eaten, drunk, worn, inhaled, utilized in some way; the physical, intellectual senses for us have been replaced by simple alienation of all the senses, a sense of having.” On a side note, Marx hasn’t looked in our garage, gone to yard sales or visited a flea market. What has having and possessing solved? Nothing, man is still depressed and empty inside. He yearns, but does not know what he’s looking or seeking. Not surprisingly, according to the New York Times March 7, 2021, a 2013 research study found that having purpose in life may motivate one in stressful situations to deal more productively and increase one’s longevity as well.

Incidentally, Bernie Sanders Is not a Marx Socialist or communist. Promoting healthcare for all and not tying it to employment, raising the minimum wage to $15 and reducing college debt is a humanistic attitude. Hopefully, those ideas would reduce the economic chains of slavery and reduce stress and anxiety for many. Notice, I used the word “reduce.”  Would these policies allow the many to fully develop intellectually, physically, spiritually and morally? No!  Even though, would the capitalistic power elite be thrilled by employing and legislating a humanistic attitude? No, it’s about profit!

According to these humanistic ideas, the opportunity for a better world exists. Humanistic ideas are directly opposite to authoritarian, submission, conformity, irrational thinking and dependence on something else other than man relying on man. It’s a real challenge to fulfill our past history of humanistic thought. Remember, your values are not what you think they are. Values are what you do and what you do is who you are.  Perhaps, not all can take advantage of their human spirit and fully develop in today’s capitalistic society. Marx provided a roadmap. If his roadmap does not fit, create your own. Are today’s workers relevant to Marx’s philosophy?  In any event, stay tuned as next week’s disquisition focuses on the twig of Karl Marx and Steph Curry.

Obedience and Disobedience

 

 

Roughly 50 to 60 years ago, with beard and ponytail, a few memories come to mind: 1. Armstrong’s “Taking a giant step for mankind” 2. Cuban missile crisis 3. The assassinations of the Kennedys, Dr. King and Malcolm X. 4. Johnson’s Great Society Legislation 5. Riots in Detroit and other cities 6. Michigan’s classic win over Ohio State 7. The Pill 8. Woodstock, Haight –Ashbury Golden Gate Park, marijuana and the drug revolution 9. Mohammed Ali’s conscientious objectors status and his being stripped of his title 10. Pentagon Papers- Daniel Ellsberg and Noam Chomsky 11. Watergate and resignations of Nixon and his VP 12. The killings of Kent State students by the National Guard 13. Vietnam War protest.

 Further, more memories within the last 20 years, without ponytail, include: 1. 9/11 2. The “Mass Destruction” lies and wars in the Middle East 3. Wall Street’s market collapse 4. Barack Obama and his important Affordable Care legislation 5.  The Covid-19 global pandemic 6. Trumps 2 impeachments and his current legal issues 7.  Trumps first Electoral College win and then his Electoral College Capital riot on January 6. 8. Biden’s overwhelming presidential victory and historic relief bill 9. The nationwide peaceful protests over the police murders of George Floyd and other blacks. This essay focuses on moral disobedience against the amoral Vietnam War and the obedience pertaining to the amorality and criminal acts on January 6, the capital riot.

History began with an act of disobedience according to the Hebrew myth of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. They were like fetuses in nature as in the womb of mother earth. They were not quite human at the time but that changed when they disobeyed. They broke the ties with the mother, cut the umbilical cord and emerged from a pre-human harmony. Now, they were able to take the first step toward independence and freedom. The act of disobedience freed Adam and Eve as they opened their eyes. According to the prophets, they were not at all corrupted by sin. Instead, they were able to develop their power of reason, of love and therefore created a new harmony between man and nature. Thus, disobedience is a failure or refusal to obey rules of someone in authority along with having a fully functioning intellectual and moral conscience.

Karl Marx, Albert Einstein and Bertrand Russell are noted for their beliefs in reason, rationality, humanism and alienation. They wrote about the ability to say “no because man can affirm and can disobey precisely because he can obey his conscience and the principles which he has chosen.” Russell was speaking of the revolutionary not the rebel or rebelliousness. In essence, disobedience is the affirmation of reason and will.” It is not primarily an attitude directed against something, but for something: for man’s capacity to see, to say what he sees, and to refuse to say what he does not see. “He does not need to be aggressive or rebellious, he needs to be fully awake and willing to take responsibility to open the eyes of those who are in danger of perishing because they are half asleep. It’s important to be disobedient to the clichés, propaganda and to irrational public opinion.

Within this context, I fondly remember being part of a group of peaceful, protesters walking down Woodward Ave. in Detroit against the amoral Vietnam War. Another memory, as an assistant professor at Oakland Community College, was waiting Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden’s arrival pertaining to the Vietnam War.

The following is a brief description of research pertaining to the 1960’s student activists. There are those that believed that these activists were salvaging a sick society. Further, these activists were intelligent, mature, psychologically resistant and socially effective. Studies suggested that the activists were brighter, more successful academically, more flexible, more individualistic and more autonomous. They were also more imaginative, more tolerant of ambiguity, more reflective in their ability for abstract thinking and less conventional in terms of religious values. They came largely from upper status professional families with the relatively high income and high levels of parental education. These activists didn’t experience social rejection or exploitation.

These activists, according to parenting research, had more permissive and milder parents. The parents were more lenient and less strict with their child rearing practices. These activists shared their father’s liberal values but carried them further. Other studies found that these activists were autonomous, more assertive and valued leadership. They were more sociable and less in need of support and nurturance.

The Chicago 7 were arrested and found guilty, facilitated by Nixon’s Attorney General John Mitchell for antiwar activities, in Chicago, during the 1968 Democratic Presidential Convention. They appealed and they won. In their later years, Tom Hayden became a California State Sen. and married  Jane Fonda; Abbie Hoffman studied with Abraham Maslow, was on the tennis team at Brandeis University; and then completed coursework toward a Master’s degree in psychology at UC Berkeley , Jerry Rubin worked on Wall Street, David Dellinger continued his work as a peace activist,  Rennie Davis became a public speaker on  motivation and self-awareness, John Froines taught at University California, Los Angeles and Lee Weiner remained an activist and  primarily worked on Jewish  causes. The eighth defendant Bobby Seale became a writer, lecturer and continued to work against racism.

Additionally, the country was told that the Vietnam War was about the “Domino Theory.” We had to be there to stop all these neighboring countries from becoming communistic. That was no theory but simply a rationalization regarding our economic interests. As if, murdering them and being killed ourselves, was a recipe to confront the “evils” of communism. Before us, the French were there also. Were they there to stop communism from spreading? Of course not. The war was simply amoral and exploitive. Guess what? Vietnam is our ally today.

Let’s now turn toward those arrested criminals in the amoral riot on the capital of January 6, 2021. Obedience is compliance with an order, request or law and submission to another’s authority. Obedience can be thought of being emotionally in the Stone Age with archaic ideas about politics, the state and society. These individuals obey the underlying passions of fear, hate and greed and submit to the clichés of state sovereignty and national honor etc.. Obedience is directed to person, institution or power along with their inability to reason, with conviction and affirmation. We know that the allegiance to an authoritarian leader is related to the identification and development within conscience. These individuals are eager to please and are simply fearful of displeasing and losing the “love “from that reward producing figure.

Of those arrested, one individual reported that his audio taped comments were simply “locker room talk.” He might’ve borrowed that lie from Trump’s current wife when she rationalized her husband’s negative and inappropriate comments towards women much earlier. Another rioter said that he breached the capital to see “historical art,” another said “he was merely following the directions of then-President Trump,” another that he was “egged on,” and another that “he was duped.”  Clearly, these rioters were not revolutionaries, nor were they patriots. They were not listening to their conscience nor employing rational thought within an amoral conscience. They were amoral criminals and acting out their hate.

Let’s now take a glimpse at early psychological development since we know that it forms a basis or foundation for future behavior. We all start off helpless and insecure dominated by an authoritarian figure or figures. That authoritarian figure might be warm, loving and consistent or might be cold, aloof, punitive and inconsistent. These variables have been thoroughly researched.

Everyone has anxiety, frustration and conflict during the life process. Let’s raise a few questions, regarding the moral, ethical, values of authoritarian parenting:  1. What were their moral, ethical and socioeconomic values? 2. What were their social, economic, religious, educational and geographic backgrounds? 3. What about ideas of right, wrong, good and bad? 4. Do they say “do what I say not do what I do?” 5. What about use of physical punishment? 6. What about verbal punishment? 6. is their character more authoritarian-controlling, dominating and physical or humanistic-warm, nurturing, with positive reinforcement?

Now for a few research findings regarding parenting styles and child development: 1. Authoritarian parents tend to be high in punitiveness, restrictiveness and overprotection 2. Parental use of physical punishment may actually enhance rather than inhibit aggression as they become models of aggression 3. Controlling and dominating the child negatively affects autonomy, confidence, curiosity, mastery and self-reliance 4. Inconsistent discipline and withdrawal of love produces dependency.

More of the effects on children and adolescents regarding authoritarian parenting styles are as follows: 1. Aggressive behavior is related to their social experiences; the reinforcement rewards; observation and imitation of aggressive models; degree of anxiety and guilt; and frustration 2. Children that are highly dependent on the mothers generally exhibit more dependency on others 3. They have a high tendency to conform socially 4. Less clear cut standards of right wrong with their aggressive and a social behaviors 6. More egoism and less concern for others 7. They conform to peer groups with the tendency to be dependent, anxious, loss of ego strength, with repression of impulses and low self-esteem.

Moreover, these children grow up to be adults and have the following impairments cognitively and morally. Limited cognitively, they are unable to successfully develop per Kohlberg and Piaget the Formal Stage of cognitive operations. They are impaired in their ability to reason and to objectively analyze abstract and understand the principle of ”for the benefit of society” and “the Golden rule.” Moreover, they are ethically impaired and limited by their conformity, less curiosity and egoism of their acquired prejudices from their models and identifications. They make statements about democracy and patriotism but have little insight nor understanding of true meaning and underlying negative feelings.  Their words are hollow. It’s not what they say but what they do that’s the determining factor. They have selfish attitudes and hate others as indicated by Make America Great Again which really means that racism is okay for the pandemic to kill the elderly, black and Brown people. They are also rigid and are unable to take an alternative approach in attacking the police and capital. They don’t believe or respect the law, the Blue or democracy. They are racist, prejudiced and hateful.

All in all, the following is related to an irrational obedience stance: 1. The 2020 presidential election was fair and not stolen. Joe Biden won, in a landslide, by over 7 million votes 2. There is systemic racism at all levels and the GOP’s efforts to suppress black and Brown voters is oppression and not democratic at all 3. Conspiracy beliefs are notional and not a theory. They are only irrational, bigoted and racist propaganda ideas 4. The historic 2.9 trillion stimulus is good for most people 5. The Covid-19 pandemic and its variations is a worldwide concern. It’s not a hoax and according to Dr. Fauci the whole world needs to come together to fight this virus 6. Nationalism, egoism, fascism and authoritarianism is associated with exploitation 7. The capital riot was not patriotic but acting out rebelliousness 8. Politicizing getting the vaccine, not wearing a mask, and not social distancing is associated with an attitude toward death. 9. The police murdered George Floyd and other blacks. The police need to be held accountable. 10. Black Lives Matter. 11. Atomic and hydrogen weapons and climate change are risks in the here and now 12. Dr. Fauci having to tell Trump” tell your followers to get vaccinated.”

Disobedience has resulted in furthering a positive humanistic development of world history while obedience can and does exploit economic, social, educational, political and religious discrimination. Systemic racism must be eliminated for this country to prosper and not be dominated by the white power elite of all our systems. We’ve had many world examples and examples in this country of disobedience: 1. The Declaration of Independence 2 Martin Luther King’s March on Selma 3. Burning of draft cards in the 1960s. History is thankful for the gifts of ideas provided by Jesus, Socrates, Descartes, Ptolemy, Galileo, Marx, Newton, Rousseau, Leibniz, Goethe, Spinoza, Freud, Gandhi, Russell, Chomsky etc. Human development is dependent on man’s evolution for wisdom, truth, rationality, love and the Golden Rule and not on lies, hate, prejudice and man exploiting man with authoritarian principles.

It’s clear that we have created a culture of amoral obedience. Our economic system is based on useless consumption, monopolization of capital and profits, nonsensical advertising propaganda and the  alienation of the worker slave; politically we have a monopoly and control of wealth and power by the minority, exploitation of the poor working-class and a very restricted and limited democracy; educationally , a surplus for the privileged wealthy, paucity and ineptness of developing critical powers of rationality, wisdom and abstract thinking; and religiously worshiping idols, myths and being bamboozled by the con individuals that don’t practice with they preach. With week intellectual functioning, increased egoism, being at the mercy of irrational primitive and hateful emotions with amorality along with the irrational purchase of weapons, we can expect continued submission and acting out amoral rebelliousness among citizens. Therefore, is it realistic that man can free himself from the chains that bind him to an authoritarian presence?  If so, it is the peaceful and productive disobedience that is required to combat the sickness from this threat which is strangling the populace. Alternatives are required, but beyond the scope of this disquisition.

Thank you Paul for sending former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara’s admitting that the Vietnam War was wrong.

Reference

Mussen, Conger and Kagan, Child Development and Personality, Harper & Row

Russell, Bertrand, Man’s Peril from the Hydrogen Bomb, National Peace Literature Program

Aristotle's Wisdom

 

 

 Aristotle believed that being a slave was in man’s nature. That idea got me thinking more about man’s nature. Of course, Aristotle is also credited with ideas pertaining to virtue, happiness and reason which are unique only to man. He believed in the importance of pursuing happiness and that could be reached through wisdom. As a result, he suggested  that philosophers more than likely were the happiest people. Let’s return to our discussion of man’s nature with the definition of a slave “person held in servitude as the chattel of another; one that is completely subservient to a dominating influence.” This disquisition addresses slavery in man’s nature.

It is clear that slavery “submission to a dominating influence” has been exhibited throughout sapiens history. As recently as 6,000 years ago, the Hebrew, as the story goes, were slaves under King Ramses 11 and built the pyramids. Finally, Moses emancipated the Hebrews with the Exodus from Egypt. Unfortunately for Moses, he didn’t reach the Promised Land. Both the Pharaoh and Moses were leaders and had followers. With slavery, is a person or persons in charge and in control? Aggression and domination are one side of the equation and passivity and submission on the other side.

We have had Kings like David and Solomon. They were male, they ruled, and they inherited their position by right of birth. We have had rulers or monarchs like Alexander, Caesar and Cicero that exhibited supreme power over a nation, country, populace etc. We have had other characters like Napoleon, Hitler etc.; we’ve had Popes like Pope Stephen VI who had his predecessor’s  fingers removed, briefly reburied and thrown in the Tiber and John XII  who give land to his  mistress, murdered several people and was killed by the husband  who caught him in bed with his wife. Furthermore, God was established as the most dominant father figure and his followers were told that he could bring happiness in the afterlife. Moreover, an authoritarian had his white followers, as recently as on January 6, engaging in war, fighting and killing protectors of another power group while even dying and being charged for crimes committed.

Sapiens, at birth, are dependent and powerless and require a dominating, controlling or loving caretaker for survival. The dominating or master of survival determines when the infant sapient is held, fed, rocked and kept warm. One can argue that being dependent and submissive is in man’s nature. Psychological research suggests that dependency continues to be developed very early in the child’s life. Dependency arises of course because adults especially the mother perform various nurturing tasks toward the child like feeding, warming, drying and snuggling. The child learns to secure the help of his mother when experiencing pain, hunger and other stressful factors.  Research has shown that ineffective feeding practices, by the caretaker, produce anxiety and dependency behaviors in preschool children. Thus, anxiety and ineffective feeding is likely related for a strong tendency toward dependent and submission conditions. It’s obvious that the poor are likely to exhibit severe anxiety driven feeding conditions for their young.

According to research, aggression can be classified as follows: 1. its being is of instinctive origin 2. It’s reactive to frustration 3. It’s an acquired drive that is attached to previously neutral cues and then the cues initiate the anger response 4. It is learned because it is reinforced.

 As man develops, he creates different need structures. Henry A. Murray identified certain needs related to behaviors of dominance, aggression, passivity and submission. The related dominance and aggression needs: 1. Achievement is the need to master, manipulate or organize human beings or ideas. 2. Dominance is a need to control one’s human environment; to influence or direct the behavior of others by suggestion, seduction, persuasion or command. Murray also identified passive and submissive needs: 1. Succorance is a need to be nursed, protected, advised, guided, and to remain close to a devoted protector. 2. Affiliation is a need to cooperate, to adhere, to please and win affection of a cathected object. 3. Abasement is the need to submit passively to external force and to seek and enjoy pain, punishment and misfortune.

Clinically, sapient interactions that are destructive and unhealthy, are referred to as sadomasochism. Sadism is the domination, exploitation, hurtful, cruel and aggressive actions toward another while masochism relates to being manipulated, wrongfully treated, taking verbal and physical punishment while being dependent. Sadomasochism can have a sexual as well as a nonsexual motivation dynamic. Specifically, sadomasochism is a good example of any slave-master or one that is under the cruel domination of another.

Football Coach Bo Schembechler illustrated dominance, aggression along with a passive and -submission relationship with his players. Coach Schembechler became the football coach at the University of Michigan in 1968. He was authoritarian and dominant in his initial interaction with his young football players. It was his Way or the Highway and do not allow the door to hit you on the ass when you’re leaving were two of his pertinent expressions. His first winter conditioning practices was sadistic. He had his players running, fighting each other and on one occasion he jumped into the ring and challenged one of his players to a fight. Many of the players quit and Bo had to put up a sign praising the University of Michigan players. However, one player secretly added to the sign something to the effect that those that quit become doctors, lawyers and captains of industry. Bo was sadomasochistic and was the principal ruler and the players were his subjects. Yes, he was dependent on his players to perform, or be fired.

We know that the founders of our nation turned to the wisdom of the Greek and Roman empires, in large part, for their ideas of government. The Greeks and Romans were “white nationalist” male slave owners. For them, democracy was for the white male ruling class. They didn’t trust the masses because they thought the masses would take away their power, wealth and land. Not surprisingly, Adams, Madison, Hamilton and Jefferson were well read in the classics slave owners. So, our Republic exemplified just that fact. They didn’t want to subject themselves to a King so they created three forms of a ruling government in its place. However, being a slave owner was common not only for our early history but for the times.

Being a slave owner and a “slave” exists in many forms. Being a homeowner, I  at one time  had fire insurance by a company that was authorized by the state; the state authorized the fire insurance company  then withdrew its coverage; I then received fire insurance from a non-authorized state insurance company; they also withdrew coverage and now I have a state plan that covers fire insurance only. I’ve had no control or input regarding the process let alone the premium fee. My choices are to submit or to go without fire insurance.

There is a national political party; state political party with many local selection choices on the ballot. The agenda or national platform was determined. I can submit, or I can choose another political party. I received a notice from the county tax collector regarding my taxes; when I go to the checkout counter to pay for groceries, I am charged. In other words, our economic and political system are decided by anonymous sources that affect us daily. Once again dominance and submission rules with our attachments.

Politically, we hear about the $15 minimum wage controversy. Supposedly working a full week for $15 an hour places one above the poverty level. If working for $15 an hour is not slavery, what is? Paying someone less than $15 an hour benefits others, but not the employee. The Republican congressional party of millionaires, said paying $15 will result in loss of jobs. The same lying political party said tax cuts for the wealthy would trickle down. Economically, both points are erroneous and simply propaganda. Can you name the top 4 creating jobs presidential administrations with the largest GDP economic growth since 1933? If you named FDR, Kennedy, Johnson and Clinton you are correct. Incidentally, the president that comes in last place on all measures is the authoritarian.

Our Christian country in addition to promoting poverty also makes sure that the poor have difficulty voting, receiving Covid-19 vaccine and easily die. Moreover according to an article titled “What the Pandemic Has Cost Women” in the New York Times, February 2, 2021, a few statistics: 1. 700% was the increase in calls to the crisis hotline for working parents at the center for Worklife Law 2. 77% of parents of children ages 8 to 12 say the uncertainty around the 2020-2021 school year is causing them stress 3. 4,637,000 is a total payroll jobs lost by women in the United States since March 2020 compared with 3,829,000 total payroll jobs lost for men 4. 48% of black mothers say the pandemic has had a major negative impact on their ability to pay for basic necessities like housing, utilities and food 5. 1 in 4 are children who experienced food insecurity in 2020 has increased almost 5% since 2018.

Having a pet is an example of master that determines and controls the well-being of the animal. Linda’s new dog is fed a certain dog food according to the directions on the package; is put in a dog crate  at night; is taken for walks; and cared for as determined by her. She also asks our dog whisperer Paul for certain information. Teddy is lucky he has such a caring authoritarian master.

Aristotle makes a solid point when he indicated that slavery being part of human nature. It can be argued that there’s a psychological tendency to dominate and be aggressive as well as to be submissive and passive that starts at birth and continues while developing ones character. Every football team has a coach. Every baseball team has a manager. They run the team but are subjected to the owner or owners. The owners are subjected to the league of compatriots and the league of compatriots are subjected to TV revenue. The TV stations are subjected to the advertisers and the advertisers are subjected to the anonymous demand. Everyone it seems, has elements of being in control as well as being controlled at one time or another. The American Dream is acquiring a pet, having children, getting an advanced degree, working up the corporate ladder, being a boss, acquiring money and power in order to have more exploitive control. Too many are slaves to the “American Dream” of attachments. As my father said “Be your own boss; get an education as they can’t take that away from you.” I listened to my father.

It can be argued that institutions of religion, capitalism and politics are controlled, dominated by the wealthy few and therefore slave like. Some have power and can exploit others. However, Sapiens can be slaves and engage in self-defeating behaviors of their own. Sapiens are often driven by emotionally driven needs at the expense of limited cognitive and rational choice with the extensive use of rationalization to justify attachment decision-making. Sapiens also attach themselves to authoritarian ideas or policies, groups or individuals for safety in an attempt to find security and comfort. Sapiens also engage in self-defeating behaviors that negatively affect their mental physical health that results in being dependent and attached to drugs, alcohol, food etc. Sapiens also engage in self-defeating behaviors that result in incarceration which once again places them in dependent, restrictive environments without much control or autonomy.

On the other hand, I will now provide an example of non-slavery followed by slavery. A prophet from India provided these words “Utter no falsehood, invent no lies, and cause no hurt to anyone.” These humanistic words provide and suggest respect between people if followed. Certainly, the prophet’s words are beneficial and if followed would provide betterment and less suffering in the world. On the same page however, from the New York Times, February 21, 2021 where the words “There is no God but Allah. Mohammed is the messenger of Allah.”

With the second quote, suggests one has to choose between idols of God. Religion is better off, in my opinion, when we don’t argue about Cod or the symbols of God, but when we follow the teachings of the prophets. When you’re attached to a symbol or an institution, the probability of exploitation and conflict between people are created. Devotion to slogans, or symbols have a negative effect on religious development. Let’s not conform to idols or images of God but create a religious and moral tolerance between individuals with an emphasis on faith, love, brotherhood, truth and respect.

A few years ago, at a professional football game, a player during the ritual and it’s only a ritual, kneeled to protest police brutality during the playing of the national anthem. The authoritarian criticized and wrongly suggested that kneeling was simply a disrespect for the flag another symbol of our country. His followers Incorporated what he said and, with herd mentality, disrespected the player and boycotted the NFL.  That’s an example of subservience, an attachment, to a dominating influence missing the actual point of the protest. Our attachments do not set us free, but to the contrary, they enslave us.

Our Christian society’s institutions with attachments have been created by the nobby and powerful Authoritarian minded. Can man rise above and confront his own dynamics of conformity, attachments and adjustment to group or idol worship? Can man significantly change and separate from the discriminatory institutions of religion, capitalism and Government? Can you free yourself from your submissions?

America's Threat

 

 

Our Democratic Republic is under assault. Approximately 90 years ago, the Weimar Republic in Germany was terminated by a sadomasochistic authoritarian. Yes, the world was in a global depression then and currently we have a global pandemic with severe economic consequences as well. This disquisition proposes that deficiencies in moral and ethical behavior, limited cognitive functioning with herd affiliation are a few of the psychological aspects of the followers of authoritarian leaders. Authoritarian is defined as “favoring or enforcing strict obedience to authority, especially that of government, favoring a concentration of power in a leader at the expense of personal freedom.”

Although the Weimar Republic had other difficulties that go beyond this essay, there are similar psychological conditions that are common to what took place in Germany. Let’s back track for a moment. Early on, we had religious prophets like Moses, Jesus, Buddha, Confucius and Lao-tse whose teachings were based on moral and ethical principles that, if followed, would have resulted in a humanistic world order. Where are those ideals today? Applying Christianity as an illustration, it only took a few hundred years when Christianity ceased to be the religion of the poor, the humble, peasants, artisans, slaves when it became the religion of the white, wealthy ruling power of the Roman Empire with an institution that promoted supernatural ideologies, illusions, mythology or fables as in the Virgin Mary; Life after death; the Holy Ghost etc.. As a result, those initial honorable principles became suppressed for power, possessions, exploitation and control. Ethics and values were ignored and replaced. Decades later, Sigmund Freud agreed with the humanistic ideas of the prophets. He wrote that man’s mental health was dependent on seeking truth, knowledge; brotherly love; reducing suffering; independence and taking responsibility.

Man is born dependent and powerlessness and it’s this disharmony that generates his need to transcend this state. Man constructs mental images of the world which serves as a frame of reference regarding his disharmony as he has to confront the main experiences of living, as well as forming and reconstituting that  out of balance equilibrium. Because of man’s vulnerability and aloneness, man strives for unity and oneness while attempting to satisfy his orientation, dealing with feelings, and his intellectual quandary along with satisfying his psychological needs. This is no easy task so he devotes himself to an aim, or an idea or a power transcending man such as a God or other. This is merely an expression of man’s need for completeness in the process of living.

Man, in part of his human existence, may strongly devote and align himself to a god; a religion; a political party; a group; the idea of democracy; the flag; to capitalism; to socialism; to white supremacy and entitlement; to America; to Tina Turner; to the Rolling Stones; to the Beatles; to the University of Michigan; to the Oakland Athletics; to Ride and Tie; to psychoanalytic theory; to owning a Corvette; being a psychologist etc. It’s very important to faithfully follow and be loyal to your team etc. You can’t be affiliated with the team only when they win. You have to support and demonstrate your loyalty in your thinking, dreaming, imagination, soul and behavior. Furthermore, it’s clear, that we are emotionally attached to our ideals or devotions. In other words, they are important and significant to us and they can become rituals. What are your devotions and/or rituals?

On the other hand, one could also be devoted and driven and have a loyalty for power, fame, possessions, money, success, destruction, prejudice or hate. We are either talking about following a productive, ethical and moral healthy life or following a non-fulfilling unhealthy amoral and non-ethical existence. We are referring to one’s character structure. Remember, consensus, opinion or group size can be related to good – bad, love-hate, truth- lies etc.

.What happens, if you’re white, and privileged and then, there’s a local and global pandemic? What if you’re limited educationally as well? What happens if you lose your job and have little economic opportunity? What happens if you are racist and don’t believe in democracy for all? What happens if your primary focus is on being reelected as a politician? What happens if you’re afraid of losing your power? How can you purchase and fulfill all those costly “American dreams” propagated by advertising in support of the capitalistic machine?  How do you compensate for feeling powerlessness and dependent? To whom do you devote yourself? What happens if you’re trained to kill and then return to civilian life with little skill other than to kill?  What should these individuals do with their anxiety, insecurity, hate, paranoid thinking, fear of being alone and left behind, sadomasochistic tendencies and frustration? The answer is to emotionally devote, worship, and faithfully follow a sick and destructive authoritarian in an attempt to regain emotional balance from a conscious or unconscious sense of being powerlessness and dependence.

Let’s now return to religion.  Briefly, there was the establishment of moral and ethical principles to guide man’s behavior for the benefit of all. Then, religion became institutionalized with the Pope’s and their pursuit of power, control and rule. Pope Stephen V1, John X11, and the House of Borgias are a few examples. We also had battles between Kings, religious wars, crusades and the converting of the weak and powerless with cruel torture techniques. “Thank you” Queen Isabella for your Proclamation in 1492!   I recently saw on television a religious choir being close together and singing. I didn’t see many masks coverings with the choir or for the parishioners. We have a Southern Baptist Convention, while hundreds of its leaders are being accused of sexual crimes. Further, the former pastor of a mega-church was recently fired for lying and extramarital conduct. My friend’s neighbors have a Covid-19 diagnosis that they contracted at church services.  If Jesus was alive, he would think and say what?

Statistics on nationwide Catholic churches along with their parishioners have declined. Further, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has lost 200,000 members and closed 150 churches. The religiously unaffiliated now count for 23% of the adult population, up from 16% in 2007. Do not forget that Nietzsche over a couple hundred years ago talked about the collapse of religion and that God is dead. In our country, it’s sad to say, but not surprising that during slavery, black skinned individuals had to go to “praise houses” in order to worship god.

Evangelicals have an antiabortion belief yet are extremely prejudiced as evidenced by attitude toward living black and Brown people. They even rationalize in order to support a lying, criminal despot individual that was responsible for the capital riot in January. At one time, the religious prophets were moral and ethical in their behavior and their words. Moral and ethical behavior has declined and might be correlated with declining worship. What about a $15 minimum wage to allow people to overcome poverty?  Oh yeah, it might interfere with the profits for white business owners? I ’m sure Jesus Christ would have an opinion about the paucity of moral and ethical standards in our so-called Christian institutions.

Along with declining worship, moral and ethical behavior, there’s an increase in crazy and irrational conspiracy beliefs with increased violent prejudice. The pursuit of illusion and nonsensical ideas is both hateful and prejudicial. Essentially, there’s minimal intelligent thinking and rationalizing that interferes with pursuing wisdom and reason objectively.  What is more important is truth and fact compared to judgment, opinion and belief. With illusion, there is increased mistrust between people, suspiciousness, rationalizations and paranoia, that results in irrational self-destructive thinking and behavior.

My friend Paul has had discussions with a few of these cognitively limited individuals. It’s clear, they exhibit a lack of historical and current knowledge as well as an inability to think coherently. These individuals are clearly cognitively impaired. I hypothesize that white hate groups, individuals with conspiracy ideas, and hateful Evangelicals would have significantly lower scores on intelligence sub tests such as Information, Comprehension, Similarities and Vocabulary that measure cerebral functioning in the left hemisphere. These tests measure and assess remote memory, ability to comprehend, capacity for associative thinking, social and moral behavior, the ability to use practical judgment, rational thinking with emotional balance and stability, degree of abstract thinking, and the ability to analyze, synthesize and reproduce employing logic and reason. I would like to believe that most right wing politicians might know right from craziness but are primarily driven to hold onto their present and future employment.

Clearly, we see many individuals in our country completely emotionally devoted and dependent on a crazy and sadistic authoritarian. This is a devotion to a man, whose only interest is in himself, for whom the flag is a somewhat symbol of his group, and is like a totem of spiritual significance and worship. These individuals have sacrificed their integrity and reason and joined and aligned themselves with the principle of” my white supremacy country.” With a considerable number of people in line, the adopting of the most irrational lies {the election was stolen] is popular because of group consensus. This allows the individual a feeling of oneness with others, certain amount of security and emotional stability which the person lacks. The irrational lie and sophisticated rationalizations gains power by social media, TV and radio repetition. It doesn’t matter that 62 court rulings found no evidence .With that, repetition , consensus and group affiliation , the individual feels less ostracized and isolated. Inconsistency in thinking is expected and rationalized away. It’s not surprising that these lies violate the spirit of moral and ethical ideals which was in play at the Capital. They would say on one hand that they believe in democracy and yet on the other, acknowledge that it was their patriotism to attack the one and only democratic institution that facilitates the peaceful transition of power. Rationalization at best. Remember, it’s imperative to follow, to please, to employ violence and hate that’s commanded by the authoritarian.

This worship, results in obedience and reverence. It has nothing to do with the moral qualities of the authoritarian but the fact that he is in control and he has that power over man. It’s very important that the main virtue of being loyal to an authoritarian is obedience and the cardinal sin is disobedience. One can only gain security and love from the authoritarian by complete surrender. Yes, to submit to this powerful authority actually allows individuals to escape from feelings of aloneness and limitations. In the active surrender, man loses his independence and integrity as an individual. He gains the feeling of being protected by the power of which he is now part. The authoritarian works on the principle that the ends justify the means along with his ability to control the lives of his loyal followers.

With a tremendous amount of disequilibrium in one’s psyche, with a herd mentality, a sadomasochistic character tendency, one has to find meaning and security in an unforgiving and scary world. If one has too many emotional deficiencies because of early improper or hateful parenting experiences, one can be in a troubled and severely impaired emotional state and vulnerable. Add,  economic insecurity, inability and lack of fully functioning cognitive  ability to seek wisdom, knowledge and truth with rationalization they can become part of the herd; a deterioration of ethics and moral judgment behavior experiences; fearful of losing power; tremendous frustration and mistrust in others; seeking security and dependence; need for group membership in a hateful and sadistic community; need for simplistic solutions and structure, one then identifies ,follows ,becomes dependent and submits to a ruthless, criminal authoritarian which results in a  threat to democracy and humanistic ideals.

PS

Per Abbe Pire “What matters is not the difference between believers and unbelievers, but between those who care and those who do not care.” For a more detailed analysis consult, Fromm, Erich, Escape from Freedom, Avon Books.