Obedience or Resistance

 

Humans have been around for about 2.5 million years and subsequently philosophers have described man’s motivations. With that being said, this essay  focuses on  three significant motivational principles within that history .These behaviors are submission, power and resistance. Within  the past 12,000 years and the onset of the agricultural revolution, these  behaviors have been more clearly identified and described.  And today, in our Republic, we are experiencing the implications of submission,power and resistance with an authoritarian ruler.

Prehistoric humans survived by forming small groups that coexisted by reproducing ,hunting and gathering .Within the group, there was a physically wise and strong patriarchal  leader and ruler . But ,there also was  a competitive striving to overtake the leader, usually by his young "offspring."  Therefore, power, submission and resistance became the norm .

.  

About 12,000 years ago we had the agricultural revolution.  And with that, resulted in the  making of tools,  domestication of plants and animals along with more "permanent" settlements . With the making of tools and containers and the working of the land,  more  production  resulted along with the  storing of the fruits of their labor.That resulted in larger concentrations of  power,control, possession, competition and "slave" labor that was accompanied by laws, rules, regulations protecting the interests of the powerful. Societal division developed into patriarchal kingdoms, empires with again the few powerful versus the obedient rest.

Roughly 5,000 years ago, the powerful Pharaoh  Ramsey dominated and exploited the Hebrew slaves.  And it took Moses with the power of God behind him that allowed the slaves to exit and flee from the power of Ramsey.  The Hebrews wandered in the desert for 40 years ,submitted to God and then resisted by making idols. That idolatry  was crushed and the Hebrews, but not Moses, were eventually able to find the promised land.  Power , submission and resistance, resulting in freedom is the theme of the Passover tale.

Turning again to the Old Testament provides us with  another example of patriarchal  power, submission and resistance.  The one and only God was most powerful as he created everything in seven "days."  Adam and Eve were obliged to succumb to God's powers as he created them.  But, what  they did do in the Garden of Eden was bite into the Apple-it was resistance.  However, in the New Testament, their take ,on the story, was that this  disobedience  was considered a sin.  And importantly ,Jesus was disobedient too. Further, in Christianity, man does not” die “ if he submits  because then his soul becomes immortal.

The prophets, in their messianic concept, supported the idea that man has a right to disobey and that it was not a sin because it allowed man to become more  free to develop his sense of being . Also,in the Greek myth Prometheus, we find another example of disobedience and  punishment for stealing the fire from the gods.  "I would rather be chained to this rock than to be an obedient servant of the gods. And,In essence, Marx called Prometheus  the patriot  saint of all philosophers in history .However,,the powerful minority  calls obedience  a virtue  and  disobedience a sin  which is necessary to control and stay in power ..

From another religious perspective,Luther and Calvin disobeyed  and at the same time upheld the power of the authority of God. But, the philosophy of the Enlightenment was  centered on faith and reason ,and to doubt everything, which is said or thought as it's based on tradition, superstition, custom and power.  The principles were "Dare to be wise" and of all, one must doubt."

From a psychological point of view,Sigmund Freud and Otto Rank described and postulated  the birth trauma dynamics .  Biologically speaking, the newborn is weak, fragile, and totally dependent on another for survival.  Thus, we have power , reliance  and submission from the start.  Freud went on to explain, employing the superego, the power ,subservient relationship between the patriarchal authoritarian  father and child during development, in which  the child incorporates ,identifies and transfers attitudes ,commands ,rules ,regulations of that powerful, omnipotent .The young learn quickly that obedience  becomes a necessary. component to receive  love and protection.

Rank also provided ,in depth , the consequences of  separation  with the pursuit of independence  associated with that dynamic . He described the resistance and disobedience between parent and child that occurs  especially during adolescence. Rank’s” Will”  exemplifies  the importance of this motivational power within  the personality . The Will is essentially an active and necessary relationship with himself and his world .It's his Will that expresses itself against the  opposing Will of  the parents which becomes the center of conflict ,submission and resistance ... 

There are numerous historical examples of power ,submission and resistance.  A few of those  Authoritarian figures come to mind include Alexander the Great ,Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, Henry VIII ,Louis XIV ,Napoleon, Romanov ,Stalin,  Hitler and the revolutions- French and  Russian, 

On the other hand, the following are just a few illustrations of figures associated with opposition  to authoritarian rule . .They include ,but not limited to Socrates, Galileo, Abelard ,Spinoza ,Marx,Lenin, Trotsky, Hobbes,Rousseau , Gandhi and Schweitzer  In fact, when Nitschke said that God is dead suggested that it is no longer necessary to follow God's commandments because now everything is permitted since all previous morality was based on belief in God, 

In our history, our loyal subjects disobeyed  King George.  In fact, this oppositionalism was deeply  felt by Benjamin Franklin as his son chose his loyalty and submission to the King thus  rupturing their  relationship . Although the rebellious Founding Fathers talked about not wanting to be ruled by a king, they created a constitution that favored the well to do and was far from being bulletproof.  Even the amendments to the Constitution are subject to interpretation and misinterpretation by those seeking power.  Did the founding fathers forget or ignore the history of authoritarians ; the fact that humans are easily duped ,follow and become faithful, obedient and submissive to a powerful leader  that has powerful friends; with an absence of moral principles and that the Constitution can not enforce tyranny ? Were some of these "fathers" either naïve or acting on their own authoritarian superego?

The Civil War was an act of disobedience that took many lives, including Lincolns. In the 1920s there were a number of attempted assassinations, political violence ,barriers to immigration ,  deportations , government crackdown on dissenting speech  and health measure dissent  pertaining to the flu epidemic .  We also had staggering levels of economic inequality as well as the press warning us of the crisis of disinformation.  The collective action  with resistance also  included  the formation of industrial unions, creation of the ACLU and NAACP  

And in 2020 we had the Trump resistance. In response to Trump since last year, we've had a number of resistances that include but are not limited to 1.  Some of the largest street protests in American history 2.  Wisconsin Supreme Court race in April.  3.  Republican dominated legislature in Indiana, refusing to withdraw state congressional maps.  4.  No Kings protests 5.  Jimmy Kimmel's return 6.  Two grand juries refusing to indict Letitia James and Sean Dunn 7.  Chicago  protests 8.  Minneapolis protests  9.  Recent election victories  in red Louisiana and Texas 10. A number of positive judicial decisions. 

A few concluding points: 1.  The poor hate the rich and the rich hate the poor 2.  Within a capitalistic system ,what's good for industry.and the economy is profit which does not trickle down 3.  Progress is often associated with the expense of others.  4.  Luxury is no less evil than poverty.  5.  Technology is becoming our new "God" but without moral principles.  6.  The religion of technology is unlimited with instant gratification.  7.  Authoritarians do not act on the behalf of love, justice, or God.  8.  Authoritarians fear loss of power and keep the masses crippled, making it hard for them to strike back as the week cannot fight effectively. 9.Authoritarians  do not succeed with justice and equality 10. Authoritarians make “slaves “ with loss of power and reason 

In summation, there's a preponderance of evil and stupidity found in man as well as trust versus mistrust ,and belief versus disbelief issues .  There is also irrational authority which is obedience to an authoritarian versus obedience to a rational authority as exemplified in student-teacher relationships with obviously different goals .  There's rebellion, which is simply acting out aggression and hate as exemplified in the January 6 attack on the capital.  Rebellion has nothing to do with patriotism but unresolved psychological issues. On the other hand,protest and resistance are acts of affirmation, reason and will . It’s about the reality of seeing what man sees and refusing to  say what he does not see . And ,once again it's about thought and not about fear that cherished beliefs should prove delusional ..Do not forget that with authoritarian minority rule, obedience is rooted in fear,innumerable avenues of escape, and uniformity .Now is the time to  have faith, resolve  and fight for democracy.

PS

Social psychologist Stanley Milgram's experiments demonstrated a conforming sickness associated with obedience.

Reference

Fromm, Erich.  On Disobedience.

Freud Part 2

 Taking into account Freud's powerfully insightful motivational concepts ,I turn to a shortened version of Trump beginning with his Apprentice, a TV series that ran from 2004 through 2017 and was created by Mark Burnett and him.A perfect fit for the narcissist.  Contestants on the show competed for a job as an apprentice to the fictitious “ billionaire “ Donald Trump.  The show was billed as "The Ultimate Job Interview".  The setting was the Trump tower in Manhattan and it was staged as a penthouse suite and at some point , candidates were shown the suite.  However, in reality, the suite , the boardroom and its elevator lobby  were all manufactured built sets within the tower and all on the same floor .Pure  illusion ,fabrication , fiction  and fraud.

The "billionaire" actor  was portrayed as a highly successful business superstar living in a luxurious  lifestyle.  He was friendly, all-knowing, wise, personable ,admired,and just like King Solomon.  He had unlimited power, superfluous and exorbitant  possessions and inordinate excessive status.  He was the personification of a superstar.  His power was projected when the show's episode ended with him eliminating one contestant from the competition with the words, "You're fired!" Trump's popularity was aided by the term Trumponomics which conveyed the notion " that impressing the boss was the only way to climb the corporate ladder."Trump  sharpened his marketing persona and became an excellent actor  selling his brand. 

The series frequently featured and promoted Trump's properties, products and himself .  His wife was also featured on the series  which included her fashion and cosmetic products.  In other words, the  super colossal marketing actor  was second to none and projected the mythology , fiction and illusion of this charismatic  man as larger than life as a Herculean of success .

Was Donald's rhetoric and behavior regarding the 2020 presidential election, suggestive  of a  number of defense mechanisms or was he conscious of his lies ?  A few of his advisors told him that he lost the election and the 60 lawsuits that were filed on his behalf  were also consonant with that  reality . According to Jack Smith’s criminal  investigation, Trump was both overtly and covertly involved to overthrow the election results and to reject the peaceful transfer of power. Therefore it's safe to say that Trump was likely conscious of  much of his lying but not his underlying dynamics .As a result, his aggressive lying behaviors  are associated with  a number of non observable crises related to  earlier threats . In other words, Trump was clearly conscious of his lying about the 2020 election but likely not fully aware of all of his repressed affects,ideas or impulses .Actually, he presents himself as an angry individual which suggests his inability to understand his motivations (repression and resistance ) and  to confront effectively his underlying anxiety and fears.

Trump's conscious mind might  believe in the slogan MAGA-; America's greatness and vitality.  Although MAGA may be defined as pertaining to a  white America.  However,Trump tells his followers that he loves them.  But, on one TV interview he told the interviewer that he grabs them by the ..and gets away with it.  Also,  he was  convicted of sexually assaulting E Jean Caroll and was good friends with Jeffrey Epstein. Trump’s” love “ for females can be characterized as domination , possession and sadomasochism .

 Trump's unconscious mind presents a picture of his  so-called “love” for others and is  an example of repression.  His policies include but are not limited to the following :1.  Imposing tariffs or taxes to be paid by most Americans.  2.  Eliminating foreign aid 3.  His big beautiful bill resulted in millions of Americans paying excessive amounts for healthcare, making it unaffordable.4.  Murdering and bombing foreigners in or around Venezuela, Iran, Yemen, Somalia,Nigeria etc. 5.  Withholding aid to Ukraine 6.  Condoning two recent murders in Minneapolis by ICE 7.  Threatening to take over Venezuela, Greenland, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, etc. 8.  Bringing lawsuits against universities,  law firms, newspapers 9.  Verbally attacking  journalists, calling them stupid, and so forth. .  10.  Threatening NATO  and our allies. 11. Placed Kennedy Jr . in charge of Health and Human Services . And , this sociopathic  hateful narcissist  wanted the Nobel Prize for peace?  

Trump's unconscious displays and correctly presents his  marketing orientation and character-a deeply prejudiced ,angry, hateful and morally bankrupt  sadistic human being.  Remember, words are just words.  And it's  actions that more accurately, describe  one's true being . He is his policies . 

 The fact that Trump’s tariffs ,a big beautiful bill that rewards the megarich but is disastrous for the welfare and healthcare of so many, along  with enabling Musk to  incorporate severe ,disastrous effects to the federal government hide or mask, in his mind only ,his sadistic hate and cruelty. He denies that these policies are negative and hateful but are  acted out of cruelty and exist in his unconscious mind.  It's as if the blood or filth on his hands can be washed away  by  his continually washing his hands which is symbolically, an attempt to free himself from his crimes.  Trump admits and claims that he has good intentions and talks about the economy being good ; he's created jobs; he's controlled inflation;these illegal aliens are criminal, despicable, and he’s the best president ever. It’s his narcissistic reality .

It was Trump the charismatic  marketing  almighty authoritarian and persuasive oligarch  that came to the rescue and people transferred their expectations, and perceived him through distorted glasses.  They denied and rationalized  his negative actions , character flaws, being a convicted felon and chose only to see, perceive  and act on the illusion that was  actually born out of their past.

 The opinions  from a recent poll are as follows regarding his unfavorability and favorability 1.  42.  Versus 56%.  How he's  managing the federal government 2.  40 versus 58% handling immigration 3.  40 versus 58% regarding the economy.  4.  37 versus 54% handling the cost of living.  5.  37 versus 54% Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  6.  34 versus 64% cost-of-living 7.  34 versus 58% Russia versus Ukraine and  8.A  22 % favorability versus 66% regarding the Epstein files.. A poll is only an opinion at the time taken. We need more than an opinion for change,, we require a conviction

In conclusion, from a psychological , moral ,humanistic and ethical perspective,  to hire and support  inept ,unskilled ,nonqualified, limited education, with  sadomasochistic  psychological issues  for ICE ,fits this authoritarian regime . The financial incentives are intended to attract these distasteful

 Individuals; with a job description of immunity ;  with bullish ,brutal, aggressive behavior toward  people irrespective of citizenship . These factors exemplify the sadistic character orientation of these hires. Authoritarian regimes ,with their power, promote control and require obedience  at all costs. Enough is enough . It's time for Trump’s base  to learn and understand their motivations and become able to distinguish between myth, illusion ,fiction and reality for things to  meaningfully  change . Our republic is headed toward the direction of the point of no return .All forms of resistance is necessary  and is the only option for our  republic  to survive  this threat 

Reference

American Psychiatric Association. A psychiatric Glossary.

Monroe, Ruth L.  Schools Of Psychoanalytic  Thought…

Freud Part 1

 

Sigmund Freud provided us with a psychodynamic  understanding of man.  The following post applies Freud’s motivational postulates of repression, resistance and transference  to explain some of  Trump’s behavior  . 

Repression is an unconscious  defensive mechanism  that banishes unacceptable ideas, affects ,impulses from consciousness and keeps them out of consciousness. And,  repressed material may emerge in a disguised form while in a state of consciousness.It’s the  anxiety  that causes repression because it's a  signal of potential danger to which  the ego tries to avoid. 

The young child developmentally , does not have  the necessary "means" (ego) to deal with complex and scary psychological issues like the oedipal complex.  As a result, those primitive defense mechanisms and methods of  dealing with emotional pain become institutionalized as unconscious  defense mechanisms . In a sense it's not surprising that ,when an adult, the individual doesn't remember those early conflictual and hazardous emotional events.  But, they are  expressed in dreams, myths, delusions   and symptoms with  modifications. 

 The mechanism of repression ,with its early frustrations,conflicts  and gratifications ,remains throughout  lifetime . .It's not unusual for  an adult to direct anger at an  individual, even though they are not angry with them.  For example, a reporter asking Trump an Epstein  question  receives an inappropriate  aggressive response like "you're stupid “ is an overreaction and likely related to  infantile conflicts.not  realized. And, were the ICE characters so emotionally angry with hate  with  Renee and   Alex  that they  just had  no other options but murder ?  Their was no shame or remorse but immunity.      

 The second concept is resistance. It’s  an individual's unconscious psychological defense against bringing repressed unconscious thoughts or impulses to consciousness. Simply  , everyone’s a psychologist as far as explaining  self or other people's motivations. With that being said, resistance is a refusal  of the individual to interpret his behavior  and motives correctly. With resistance,one's motivational  arguments are absurd and shallow in the interest of keeping one's self convinced of perhaps  the belief they are intelligent, righteous, perfect , good and   moral. However, in doing so, one actually  omits many  reality and contradictory items. I recently heard  that a Trump supporter does not like him but likes his policies.That response is an example of the individual not admitting he shares a similar character orientation with Trump, the narcissistic authoritarian, which is  to obey, submit, and exploit others(power).

 Developmentally, with origins in childhood ,the immature ego begins  establishing  primitive defense mechanisms to mask  pain , non gratification of impulses and desires that become established and then consequently employed during the  life span. As an adult, the multifaceted behavioral and motivational issues  and responses are irrational along with both  the behavior and thinking being resistant to  acknowledge reality and change . For instance,  repression and resistance  can be exhibited like when the  pursuit of power, possession, status and  domination  become significant character orientations  These emotional and behavioral expressions are the ego’s attempt to mask’repressionand the resistance to acknowledge the unconscious  feelings of inferiority,inadequacy and weaknesses . It's the ego’s battle against  the disaster of having to face the fact that  reality and repression and resistance are those protections.

Therapeutically, it was Freud's attempt for his patients  to become more fully aware of their  motives and emotional conflicts and actions so they could resolve their issues  and know themselves  . Freud  found that it was extremely  difficult for his patients to become aware of the workings in the unconscious as they had difficulty incorporating their troubling  reality .And in essence  created  and established fiction regarding their self image . It’s no surprise that Trump has to surround himself with “yes’ men to reinforce his contradictory  narcissistic beliefs and illusions in order to prop up  his fragile ego. These “yes” men are not his  friends .However, he desperately requires their loyalty to feel strong and powerful. 

A typical reaction of resistance is anger, rage , threats, and aggression when Trump hears what he  does  not want to hear.  He responds with hate and anger . Trump can't  “personally” l  or  physically act  out his anger. So  he  blows up and responds with  “They hate me”, “They're out to get me,” “They're conducting a witch hunt” and recently in response to Jack's Smith’s congressional testimony, a Trump tweet "Jack is a deranged animal.... He should not be allowed to practice the law...... the whole thing was a Democratic scam..... For what they put our country through."  There are numerous reactionary tweets that follow from what he's heard on television whether it's a comedian, TV commentator, journalists and especially from former members of his cabinet.. His nasty words are typical , common and define what’s going on within his unconscious mind. He is unable to ignore any negative about himself. And, he’s unable to coherently answer a question pertaining to Epstein without attacking the reporter.

Transference, the third concept, is when  there's a  conscious assignment  or incorporation to others' feelings and attitudes that were originally associated with important  early childhood figures . The transference  object could be related to one's parents, siblings, mythological, religious,political,  sports , entertainment figures  and so forth.  Essentially it's attributing either or both "godlike" or “devillike’  characteristics ,features, quirks, prejudices, animosities and obviously not an objective judgment at all . It’s based on emotional  aspects occurring in  those early childhood experiences.  It's a reliving of the past and rooted in the unconscious  .Further, these buried feelings become available, making the person extremely available to manipulation, blind loyalty with submission .

.  

Again, with transference, the danger, the anxiety   becomes a distortion of reality that’s difficult to understand and/or dislodge.The wild enthusiasm was evident in the 2024 election with the millions that voted for Trump.  The response of these voters was a deep longing for someone to save them in this anxiety uncertain  world, to speak the truth, make our country safe and  take care of our economic inequities.  Trump , the actor, came along and played the part again with all his promises as he was the only one to fix things -MAG, an idolization of a white dominated past.Submit to him and his power will be the savior. He’s this well-meaning leader. These voters transferred their expectations  to him and were convinced that he was their magic helper,their savior and redeemer.  He's the one that would close the boarder, deport  the illegal criminals and restrict immigration, silence the  dems , release the Epstein files and end all wars on day one ..Trump was a skillful manipulator,he told them what they wanted to hear,  pandered to them,ignored the truth and was able to turn human gullibility to his advantage .Power ,and  eagerness to submit  exemplifies  the transference to an authoritarian.

To be continued.