The difficulty here is narcissistic contagion. The followers of Trump share Trump's grievances and perceptions of narcissistic injury. We have an epidemic of narcissistic entitlement in this nation and it is very dangerous.
Dr Lee, let's for a minute keep aside the dangerous personalities which are undoubtedly a grave threat to world civilization, and examine the dangerous SYSTEM.
In your book Violence, you have also emphasized that Structures built throughout past decades create the worst form of violence - the structural violence through which other forms of violence also metastasize. The structures (or shall i say structural flaws) are not readily recognizable to most people while massive structural violence carries on decade after decade, even centuries after centuries.
In terms of present crisis, the structure is US foreign policy on middle east, the private military industrial complex, the corrupted US political machinery etc. US political system is basically legalized bribery where billions of $$$ are spent to lobby US politicians for nudging foreign policy. AIPAC alone spends hundreds of millions to promote variety of US politicians that can advance Israeli interests. Apart from scoundrel Republicans, Democrats like Pelosi, Biden, Schumer etc etc have taken tons of Israeli funding throughout their political career.
US foreign policy is heavily influenced by military industrial complex, corporate profits of hundreds of billions of $$$ of private companies that are listed on US stock exchange. And then there's longstanding ideological US position that's more inclined towards building hegemony & creating confrontations rather than co-operation with other regional powers and superpowers.
Inertia is a strong force and while the "structures" which are causing present crisis are highly irrational, nonsensical and even dangerously suicidal, these structures have accumulated a lot of inertia. They just can't be changed, at least not easily. For example, Biden has some positive ideas on economic reforms but facing a lot of inertial resistance to implement them. On foreign policy front, at least in middle east, Biden at best is a helpless actor (at worst he's an accomplice in bad decisions).
Bottom line is, even if a rational psychologically healthy leader tries to run the system, the old structures (the structural flaws), the accumulated inertia of past system won't let a psychologically healthy person to take rational decisions. The system itself is dangerously broken (as you recognize also) which is very difficult to be made to function in rational way. I would go as far as saying that Dangerous politicians are actually a symptom of this broken system. The system propels dangerous politicians and put them into driver seat.
Dr Lee, can a real philosopher, thinker and intellectually advanced people enter today's political arena? They just can't because they are incompatible to this system. Intelligent people like you linger on the margins/sidelines of the system just trying to get their voices heard. The people who get elected into political arena are mediocre at best and highly corrupted pathocratic at worst.
Donald Trump is a nobody if he doesn't get excesses to TV and social media platforms. If he doesn't get overt & covert campaign funding & dark money from billionaires. If he doesn't get protection of corrupted judges (that are installed by billionaires) in SCOTUS and elsewhere.
Dr Lee, while the task is to stop madman like Trump, we really need a proactive reform approach to changing the old structures, the system.
I agree. If the US of America goes down, the entire free world will soon follow. Carl Jung warned us about the dangerous psychic energy of the collective unconscious. It is autonomous and compulsive. There is good reason to be afraid. Megalomania is rampant on planet Earth. It will take major healing for the humanity that survives WWIII. Jung had a dream about WWII just before it started and another dream about WWIII just before he died. There will be pockets of humans left, but the planet will be mostly burned up. Of course once it starts there will be no turning back until the missiles are all gone. Then the nuclear winter will pretty much finish the job. I have one question for the billionaires when they emerge from their bunkers and that is, "under what conditíons would you rather be dead than alive?" You guessed it: if you were the only person left on the planet. The fun will be over and your money will be meaningless.
Glad I found you here on Substack! Love your Speaking truth to power and Courage of your convictions - for years now! You are awesome Dr. Lee! I pray justice is finally coming soon to Trump the crook/Traitor/sociopath or else this experiment in Democracy is over. Subscribed and Recommended! You have high integrity that is so rare nowadays!
Israel will not let the matter be settled despite the insignificance of Iran’s drones. They will attack with vast disproportionality, and it won’t be assassinations, it will be population centers.
Israel is incomprehensibly full of itself and is led by a psychotic butcher beholden to the most awful people on earth. And Israel has 300 nuclear warheads, targeting enemies and allies alike.
This is my opinion about the world going crazy. I think that pollution is impacting the human brain and that stress is also. People are under more stress and feel an increasing sense of lack of control over their lives. I also think there is an enormous amount of unrecognized grief in the world. Our inability to recognize and know how to respond to grief is causing a lot of problems and I think may also be contributing to gun violence. I think Trump is a psychopath who has the ability to project the image of the "Strongman" figure people, especially those raised in authoritarian homes, seek when they feel scared and powerless. The fact that the country is so divided just increases the sense of powerlessness and people experiencing not being heard, which increase fear and outrage. Every day on Facebook I see one nasty mocking comment after another directed at "the other," be it a political party, a religious group, a holiday, an animal rights issue, etc. I almost never see posts that encourage people to listen to each other and try to understand the "other side," consider other explanations for behavior besides that you are right about everything all the time and anyone who doesn't agree with you must be defective, bad, or crazy.
So the question remains is what does the present administration do when forced to confront the choice of leaving office ( if loses election ) or arrest opposition not just for trying to foment a coup in 2021 but to safeguard the future democracy and de-escalation of present conflicts. I truly hope that the swing states w Democratic governors are able to keep the election from fraud and corruption but what happens if there is massive number of voters dismissed from the rolls along w intimidation of minorities and Democratic districts? Will there be violence? A civil war? You want to ask tough questions or prepare us for mass psychopathy then let’s get down to the nitty gritty of what happens on Election Day.
Hi Bandy, I appreciate these regular wake up calls, as scary as they can be, so thank you for another wonderful essay!
Einstein said that if we don't change our way of thinking we are headed towards unparalleled catastrophe. Margaret Mead said that the only thing that's ever changed the world is small groups of committed individuals. So, it seems to me that small groups of individuals committed to a new way of thinking is the way to shift the global conversation in a new direction, away from catastrophe.
A new way of thinking would be a recognition that with the kinds of weapons we have now, warfare, itself, endangers us all. A new way of thinking would be your suggestion that mental health professionals and experts in violence reduction be regularly consulted, even maintaining permanent governmental and media positions. A new way of thinking would be to ensure that at least 50% of the people making high-level decisions, such as Cabinet members, be people committed to nonviolent conflict resolution, putting the physical needs and mental health of civilians ahead of the desires of the military-industrial complex. A new way of thinking would involve prevention of conflict…teams of experts in mediation and conflict reduction, like an international Peace Corps, that spreads out around the world wherever tensions are rising, and works to reduce hostility before it escalates.
These are just a few ideas, but the more we talk about the need for new thinking, the more we make it impossible. It seems to me that this is the opportunity inside of the crisis we're in that you mentioned earlier.
When I was in highschool I went on a summer trip to Africa with a group of other young men from various highschools across the country led by a British-American gentleman who had travelled Africa extensively. While camping next to a river there was a day when this man who was our leader was away from camp for a half hour to an hour. Suddenly some of us saw that a group of monkeys had come down out of the trees to look through our stuff for food. In a kneejerk reacton we started throwing rocks at them. I got caught up in it myself ( peer pressure, group dynamics, fight or flight lizard brain takeover?) and threw some rocks. Then something clicked in my mind and I was shocked to realize what I was doing. It was like once I had gotten it out of my system my higher thinking came flooding back, in horror. I had come on this trip to see wild animals and nature because I supposedly loved them and cared about them, and now I was throwing rocks at them! So I stopped doing it, and started telling the others to stop. I think the leader of the trip didn't return until after it was over, and little or nothing was discussed about it, although there was a British man camping near us ( National Geographic?) who was horrified by it and tried to stop us and take us to task about what the heck we were doing.
I have tried to get back in touch with these people with no luck, but I didn't pursue it very far. Do they remember what we did on that trip? Are they reluctant to reunite because of it? I'm interested in talking to my former travel companions, and would love to talk to you if you're one of them.
Usually, when armies unleash a great deal of costly, potentially and actually lethal fireworks, their infantry and commandos are discreetly effecting positional advantages on the ground. As Israel is nearly encompassed and fully outnumbered by predominantly Muslim countries, any aerial attacks against Israel each time provide cover for Arab led infantry and infiltrating commandos to effect advantages on the ground. The ultimate effect could fall short of World War III, but could well culminate in a Middle East, low-key Armageddon, with Israel and its U.S. led allies ostensibly in charge and dominant, but thoroughly infiltrated and encircled by Arab commandos and infantry. BN & JB would then be credited, punctuated with claps of continuing applause, for stalemating a volatile and potentially doomsday scenario into an impossibly victorious draw. Credit, however, would also need to be directed toward Arab restraint, in progressively smothering a dangerously aggressive situation, plausibly to an endgame scenario where the considerable economic and tortuously political factors are allowed to progressively play out to a just solution, not detoured by claps of applause or vilification. Other polarized regions of Earth, bearing the burden of rushing into battle, might then utilize the scaled down Middle Eastern scenario ro measure claps of applause against physical fairplay and ethical responsibility, and also progressively play out to just solutions. G-d bless, Shalom and Salaam!
The points you bring out are very important and the great mass of the country needs to hear your urgent plea. I implore you, Dr Lee, to speak not like an expert, but like an informed fellow citizen, bringing in your credentials after people are already engaging with you.
By listening to you, Americans will understand that you are intelligent and educated -- that you have something to offer them, one citizen to another. Be gentle with your elevated intellect, lest your audience see you as a technocrat who is too big for her britches.
Your warm, articulate manner and native gentility in speaking are your most important assets; they give you a credible humanity, deepened by knowledge, for the service of others. When people see you as not patronizing them but standing with them, your message will be hard to dismiss or resist.
I think this because they see no consequences for all the people speaking up about what they will b doing.?..they figure they can do so without consequences also.. it's scary I deed.
"...it means that all the external turmoil and chaos could stop instantly with a change of consciousness..." (Dr. Lee)
Light a candle and the dark is banished without competition. We have to be rational, articulate, clear, and non-egoic. Most think of Ego as a modern, psychological concept, but the concept has been known for thousands of years. Ego is that part of us that sees only itself and justifies its actions in terms of itself. Humanity is more than Ego. While Ego helps children develop into unique individuals, it creates chaos when left untamed in an adult.
Why is modern society so bad at identifying, sidelining, seeing-through, and taming Ego? How have we allowed Ego to contaminate our scientific, religious, medical, business, governmental, and judicial institutions? How is it psychology has put up such a pitiful fight before Ego? Because any fight with Ego takes us into a Dark Night where we face the unethical in ourselves and discover nothing we can trust in the abyss.
In such a Night there is nowhere to turn but inward toward, and beyond, our own Ego because only by sidelining Ego can we see a way through. It is the job of our mental health institutions to compassionately help us wisely confront Ego so we do so without killing ourselves. Notions about a balance between Ego-Id-SuperEgo are erroneous because they allow Ego to continue overwhelming us.
Those in AA understand the need to hit bottom before feeling the need to change consciousness. Does this mean our society has to hit bottom? No. Only the best. The smartest. The most ethical. These are the ones who set societal standards. When these give up, we're lost.
Every scientific, religious, and philosophic institution possesses handbooks for taming Ego, but we first have to sideline Ego to see how and why it works.
The difficulty here is narcissistic contagion. The followers of Trump share Trump's grievances and perceptions of narcissistic injury. We have an epidemic of narcissistic entitlement in this nation and it is very dangerous.
Dr Lee, let's for a minute keep aside the dangerous personalities which are undoubtedly a grave threat to world civilization, and examine the dangerous SYSTEM.
In your book Violence, you have also emphasized that Structures built throughout past decades create the worst form of violence - the structural violence through which other forms of violence also metastasize. The structures (or shall i say structural flaws) are not readily recognizable to most people while massive structural violence carries on decade after decade, even centuries after centuries.
In terms of present crisis, the structure is US foreign policy on middle east, the private military industrial complex, the corrupted US political machinery etc. US political system is basically legalized bribery where billions of $$$ are spent to lobby US politicians for nudging foreign policy. AIPAC alone spends hundreds of millions to promote variety of US politicians that can advance Israeli interests. Apart from scoundrel Republicans, Democrats like Pelosi, Biden, Schumer etc etc have taken tons of Israeli funding throughout their political career.
https://truthout.org/articles/aipac-set-to-spend-100-million-to-unseat-lawmakers-critical-of-israeli-crimes/
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/03/aipac-israel-spending-democratic-primaries-00144552
US foreign policy is heavily influenced by military industrial complex, corporate profits of hundreds of billions of $$$ of private companies that are listed on US stock exchange. And then there's longstanding ideological US position that's more inclined towards building hegemony & creating confrontations rather than co-operation with other regional powers and superpowers.
Inertia is a strong force and while the "structures" which are causing present crisis are highly irrational, nonsensical and even dangerously suicidal, these structures have accumulated a lot of inertia. They just can't be changed, at least not easily. For example, Biden has some positive ideas on economic reforms but facing a lot of inertial resistance to implement them. On foreign policy front, at least in middle east, Biden at best is a helpless actor (at worst he's an accomplice in bad decisions).
Bottom line is, even if a rational psychologically healthy leader tries to run the system, the old structures (the structural flaws), the accumulated inertia of past system won't let a psychologically healthy person to take rational decisions. The system itself is dangerously broken (as you recognize also) which is very difficult to be made to function in rational way. I would go as far as saying that Dangerous politicians are actually a symptom of this broken system. The system propels dangerous politicians and put them into driver seat.
Dr Lee, can a real philosopher, thinker and intellectually advanced people enter today's political arena? They just can't because they are incompatible to this system. Intelligent people like you linger on the margins/sidelines of the system just trying to get their voices heard. The people who get elected into political arena are mediocre at best and highly corrupted pathocratic at worst.
Donald Trump is a nobody if he doesn't get excesses to TV and social media platforms. If he doesn't get overt & covert campaign funding & dark money from billionaires. If he doesn't get protection of corrupted judges (that are installed by billionaires) in SCOTUS and elsewhere.
Dr Lee, while the task is to stop madman like Trump, we really need a proactive reform approach to changing the old structures, the system.
I agree. If the US of America goes down, the entire free world will soon follow. Carl Jung warned us about the dangerous psychic energy of the collective unconscious. It is autonomous and compulsive. There is good reason to be afraid. Megalomania is rampant on planet Earth. It will take major healing for the humanity that survives WWIII. Jung had a dream about WWII just before it started and another dream about WWIII just before he died. There will be pockets of humans left, but the planet will be mostly burned up. Of course once it starts there will be no turning back until the missiles are all gone. Then the nuclear winter will pretty much finish the job. I have one question for the billionaires when they emerge from their bunkers and that is, "under what conditíons would you rather be dead than alive?" You guessed it: if you were the only person left on the planet. The fun will be over and your money will be meaningless.
Glad I found you here on Substack! Love your Speaking truth to power and Courage of your convictions - for years now! You are awesome Dr. Lee! I pray justice is finally coming soon to Trump the crook/Traitor/sociopath or else this experiment in Democracy is over. Subscribed and Recommended! You have high integrity that is so rare nowadays!
Israel will not let the matter be settled despite the insignificance of Iran’s drones. They will attack with vast disproportionality, and it won’t be assassinations, it will be population centers.
Israel is incomprehensibly full of itself and is led by a psychotic butcher beholden to the most awful people on earth. And Israel has 300 nuclear warheads, targeting enemies and allies alike.
Be very afraid.
This is my opinion about the world going crazy. I think that pollution is impacting the human brain and that stress is also. People are under more stress and feel an increasing sense of lack of control over their lives. I also think there is an enormous amount of unrecognized grief in the world. Our inability to recognize and know how to respond to grief is causing a lot of problems and I think may also be contributing to gun violence. I think Trump is a psychopath who has the ability to project the image of the "Strongman" figure people, especially those raised in authoritarian homes, seek when they feel scared and powerless. The fact that the country is so divided just increases the sense of powerlessness and people experiencing not being heard, which increase fear and outrage. Every day on Facebook I see one nasty mocking comment after another directed at "the other," be it a political party, a religious group, a holiday, an animal rights issue, etc. I almost never see posts that encourage people to listen to each other and try to understand the "other side," consider other explanations for behavior besides that you are right about everything all the time and anyone who doesn't agree with you must be defective, bad, or crazy.
I am spreading Dr. Lee's article - it is much needed to counter toxic masculinity manifest in Trump, Netanyahu, etc.
So the question remains is what does the present administration do when forced to confront the choice of leaving office ( if loses election ) or arrest opposition not just for trying to foment a coup in 2021 but to safeguard the future democracy and de-escalation of present conflicts. I truly hope that the swing states w Democratic governors are able to keep the election from fraud and corruption but what happens if there is massive number of voters dismissed from the rolls along w intimidation of minorities and Democratic districts? Will there be violence? A civil war? You want to ask tough questions or prepare us for mass psychopathy then let’s get down to the nitty gritty of what happens on Election Day.
Hi Bandy, I appreciate these regular wake up calls, as scary as they can be, so thank you for another wonderful essay!
Einstein said that if we don't change our way of thinking we are headed towards unparalleled catastrophe. Margaret Mead said that the only thing that's ever changed the world is small groups of committed individuals. So, it seems to me that small groups of individuals committed to a new way of thinking is the way to shift the global conversation in a new direction, away from catastrophe.
A new way of thinking would be a recognition that with the kinds of weapons we have now, warfare, itself, endangers us all. A new way of thinking would be your suggestion that mental health professionals and experts in violence reduction be regularly consulted, even maintaining permanent governmental and media positions. A new way of thinking would be to ensure that at least 50% of the people making high-level decisions, such as Cabinet members, be people committed to nonviolent conflict resolution, putting the physical needs and mental health of civilians ahead of the desires of the military-industrial complex. A new way of thinking would involve prevention of conflict…teams of experts in mediation and conflict reduction, like an international Peace Corps, that spreads out around the world wherever tensions are rising, and works to reduce hostility before it escalates.
These are just a few ideas, but the more we talk about the need for new thinking, the more we make it impossible. It seems to me that this is the opportunity inside of the crisis we're in that you mentioned earlier.
When I was in highschool I went on a summer trip to Africa with a group of other young men from various highschools across the country led by a British-American gentleman who had travelled Africa extensively. While camping next to a river there was a day when this man who was our leader was away from camp for a half hour to an hour. Suddenly some of us saw that a group of monkeys had come down out of the trees to look through our stuff for food. In a kneejerk reacton we started throwing rocks at them. I got caught up in it myself ( peer pressure, group dynamics, fight or flight lizard brain takeover?) and threw some rocks. Then something clicked in my mind and I was shocked to realize what I was doing. It was like once I had gotten it out of my system my higher thinking came flooding back, in horror. I had come on this trip to see wild animals and nature because I supposedly loved them and cared about them, and now I was throwing rocks at them! So I stopped doing it, and started telling the others to stop. I think the leader of the trip didn't return until after it was over, and little or nothing was discussed about it, although there was a British man camping near us ( National Geographic?) who was horrified by it and tried to stop us and take us to task about what the heck we were doing.
I have tried to get back in touch with these people with no luck, but I didn't pursue it very far. Do they remember what we did on that trip? Are they reluctant to reunite because of it? I'm interested in talking to my former travel companions, and would love to talk to you if you're one of them.
Usually, when armies unleash a great deal of costly, potentially and actually lethal fireworks, their infantry and commandos are discreetly effecting positional advantages on the ground. As Israel is nearly encompassed and fully outnumbered by predominantly Muslim countries, any aerial attacks against Israel each time provide cover for Arab led infantry and infiltrating commandos to effect advantages on the ground. The ultimate effect could fall short of World War III, but could well culminate in a Middle East, low-key Armageddon, with Israel and its U.S. led allies ostensibly in charge and dominant, but thoroughly infiltrated and encircled by Arab commandos and infantry. BN & JB would then be credited, punctuated with claps of continuing applause, for stalemating a volatile and potentially doomsday scenario into an impossibly victorious draw. Credit, however, would also need to be directed toward Arab restraint, in progressively smothering a dangerously aggressive situation, plausibly to an endgame scenario where the considerable economic and tortuously political factors are allowed to progressively play out to a just solution, not detoured by claps of applause or vilification. Other polarized regions of Earth, bearing the burden of rushing into battle, might then utilize the scaled down Middle Eastern scenario ro measure claps of applause against physical fairplay and ethical responsibility, and also progressively play out to just solutions. G-d bless, Shalom and Salaam!
Correction: to measure...
The points you bring out are very important and the great mass of the country needs to hear your urgent plea. I implore you, Dr Lee, to speak not like an expert, but like an informed fellow citizen, bringing in your credentials after people are already engaging with you.
By listening to you, Americans will understand that you are intelligent and educated -- that you have something to offer them, one citizen to another. Be gentle with your elevated intellect, lest your audience see you as a technocrat who is too big for her britches.
Your warm, articulate manner and native gentility in speaking are your most important assets; they give you a credible humanity, deepened by knowledge, for the service of others. When people see you as not patronizing them but standing with them, your message will be hard to dismiss or resist.
I think this because they see no consequences for all the people speaking up about what they will b doing.?..they figure they can do so without consequences also.. it's scary I deed.
Unfortunately, brandy, i believe the violence will b reciprocated from all sorts of places...they better b careful what they wish for?
"...it means that all the external turmoil and chaos could stop instantly with a change of consciousness..." (Dr. Lee)
Light a candle and the dark is banished without competition. We have to be rational, articulate, clear, and non-egoic. Most think of Ego as a modern, psychological concept, but the concept has been known for thousands of years. Ego is that part of us that sees only itself and justifies its actions in terms of itself. Humanity is more than Ego. While Ego helps children develop into unique individuals, it creates chaos when left untamed in an adult.
Why is modern society so bad at identifying, sidelining, seeing-through, and taming Ego? How have we allowed Ego to contaminate our scientific, religious, medical, business, governmental, and judicial institutions? How is it psychology has put up such a pitiful fight before Ego? Because any fight with Ego takes us into a Dark Night where we face the unethical in ourselves and discover nothing we can trust in the abyss.
In such a Night there is nowhere to turn but inward toward, and beyond, our own Ego because only by sidelining Ego can we see a way through. It is the job of our mental health institutions to compassionately help us wisely confront Ego so we do so without killing ourselves. Notions about a balance between Ego-Id-SuperEgo are erroneous because they allow Ego to continue overwhelming us.
Those in AA understand the need to hit bottom before feeling the need to change consciousness. Does this mean our society has to hit bottom? No. Only the best. The smartest. The most ethical. These are the ones who set societal standards. When these give up, we're lost.
Every scientific, religious, and philosophic institution possesses handbooks for taming Ego, but we first have to sideline Ego to see how and why it works.