Thank you again, Dr. Lee. I especially appreciate your mentioning the (recently) late Dr. Altemeyer's work (theauthoritarians.org), in apt summary of it. Also, I was informed about how your excellent court case could be "lost," which had mystified me. I've already written that Dr. Lee herself sadly, ironically (but not surprisingly, in hindsight) became the target of the very ruthlessness about which she was warning everybody!
Thantos, death wish, mass hysteria, mass hypnosis, denial. We now sit face to face with a prescription for disaster. I can ruminate about the roots of the problem, but that won't change anything. We appear to me to be face-to-face with the apocalypse. Will it be fast or slow? Will it be painful or will I be able to to withstand it without caring. Self preservation appears an important consideration at this point. Many died for us to have the nation and aspirations that most appear willing to vote to extinguish. Bert Gold, PhD, Falmouth, Massachusetts, June 22, 2024
Dr. Gold, these sentiments are sad to numbingly traumatizing. But I'd just like to add that vicious authoritarians, so imbued with grandiosity and entitlement, always act like their domination is inevitable. I believe that's part of the reason that they often succeed, because we humans get "infected" with their belief in their own authority and we yield, parting like the Red Sea. We fail to assert our conviction that our collective needs matter much more than their individual needs, and we allow power to be taken from us.
I may be delusional myself, but I cast my lot with those who, like Dr. Lee, believe not only in the righteousness of democratic values but in the possibility of collectively retaining them.
Madeline, as usual, well said. I find your words cathartic as we face a myriad of existential crises during these dystopian times—a ‘death spiral,’ to borrow from Dr Lee, another eloquent sage—in this human (man) caused Anthropocene Era. Your skills as a psychotherapist are evident in your writings. Thank you for taking the time for sharing your knowledge and wisdom.
Allow me to suggest that “…they [fascists] often succeed because…” they are more proactive than we are. In martial arts students learn that a good defense is a strong offense. We seem to ascribe to Michelle Obama’s motto: “when they go low we go high;” a
contraindicated prescription that was followed by disaster perhaps because she was promoting the interests of her elite class rather than the common good. The elite has a penchant to act as if they are the only ones that matter when we need to recognize that we all, including and most importantly the Earth, matter.
My comment ought not be taken as a criticism, but one made in the spirit of solidarity. Positivity, while comforting can be and often is a double edge sword. MLK warned us about moderates, to no avail; I suspect he was right.
Hi Robert, thank you for your kind words. I completely agree that fascists often succeed because "they are more proactive than we are." They are also more driven by an existential need to dominate, to rescue their fragile sense of self-worth from the searing shame of their childhood impotence and prove to themselves that they are powerful beyond limit. Men like HItler, Stalin, Mao, Trump, and their enablers have deep, unconscious scores to settle, fights to fight, and triumphant victory fantasies to enact. That's why no matter how benign they try to make themselves out to be, many of us "get" what's driving them, and it's raw power over all of us, with no limit.
So we have to mount "a strong offense," as you say. I have a sense that, although it's taken many years for us to realize what we're up against, I think enough of us get it now that we are gathering our strength to present a strong offense. It may happen differently in a society than on the martial arts mat but my sense is that an infusion of determination to save democracy is coming from various sectors; journalists, lawyers, judges, writers like Bandy, Ruth Ben Ghiat, precinct workers, et.al. I know that the fascist side is on the march also...but I sense that the tide is turning as we join together with the strength of our convictions.
Hi Madeline: While I agree with most if not all you so eloquently expressed, I’m compelled to express concerns about the silence of our favorite writers with respect to the Palestinian genocide. Silence is complicity. It anankés the 1st Holocaust and is enabling the 2nd one in occupied Palestine.
It is easy to praise, but more difficult to point to our weaknesses; especially those of our friends. Progressive pundits’s reluctance to address the slaughter of mostly innocent women and children, with our weapons purchased with our tax dollars is proving increasingly fatal to Zionist Biden and helpful to fascist Trump.
The latter nurtures his base, the former repeatedly embraces fascist thugs and alienates his supporters. We’re cowed, unable or unwilling to hold accountable our unfit president while he empower anti democratic murderers abroad, eg Netanyahu and the Saudi Prince. Is the Democratic motto “democracy for the U.S., but tyranny and fascism abroad; if or when profitable?
I confess to ambivalence towards some of our favorite progressive brothers and sisters. Focusing on Trump and ignoring some of his key key allies like BIBI and the Saudi Prince snd and the suffering they inflict with impunity is intolerable and unacceptable—a double standard of justice. At home, while we almost completely focus on Trump, we ignore how Netanyahu has and the Saudi prince has undermined Biden’s brand. The president is now increasingly seen as a bigot, complicit in the crime of genocide; to merely fatten the pockets of our military industrial complex with the money unconditionally given to Israel to annihilate Palestinians to maintain an illegal apartheid and support the theft of the land of indigenous people by colonial settlers.
White supremacy, l likely explains why we overlook Israel’s crimes and continue to enable the attacks on Hated Others (darker people,) Palestinians. We supported apartheid in So Africa and finance it now in Israel; it’s not polite to discuss it, or protest against it. Students are brutally prevented from demonstrating against it. Let’s not pretend to be outraged by the Holocaust of long ago while silent about the one we finance today, avoid discussing and do everything humanly possible to deflect people attention from it. Deflection implies today's Holocaust is unimportant because white supremacists demand that the lives of white Jewish people be found more worthy than those of colored Palestinians. As they say: Justice denied anywhere is justice denied everywhere. We’re morally obligated to call out injustice wherever we see it. Eventually, ignoring it by supporting a double standard of justice creates blowback or unforeseen consequences. Apartheid Israel’s gratuitous and disproportionate carnage on Palestinian civilians is traumatizing a generation and creating the seeds for terrorist who will seek revenge upon perceived perpetrators and their descendants. This will justify yet another fascist ‘war’ on the terrorism we helped create. Another blowback Biden acquiesced to is ecocide, the exacerbation of the climate crisis caused by ‘war’ (an Orwellian euphemism for massacre and genocide) also with impunity, profitable for some, at the expense of everyone, including Mother Earth. Oligarchs are out of control, fueling the ‘death spiral’ Dr Lee presciently addresses. That death spiral will be aggravated by Trump and is being accelerated by his ally, Netanyahu, who our progressive pundits all but ignore to the detriment of our democracy and anticipated and imminent ecological collapse in this human-caused Anthropocene Era. We must call out flaws in our enemies as well as our friends; while recognizing our own.
I agree, Robert, with much of your sentiments here. Friends in Tel Aviv have been working to get BB to step down for years and are still working to do so. It's an f- ing nightmare that grips my heart and causes anxiety and anger.
Marc Pocan, progressive Dem. is working to have BB arrested for war crimes if he comes to speak to Congress. I don't like all that Biden has done and don't defend specific actions at all. Everything is horrible including Sinwar and the Iranian mullahs who have hatred for Israel and the European colonial arrogance that stretches back 150 years. We need new, progressive leadership in all those countries. In the meantime. horrible things are happening and we feel relatively powerless to affect any of the perpetrators. 😢
Madeline: Allow me to remind you not to entertain nor repeat: “…feel relatively powerless …” You have a voice and it needs to be heard, often; widespread, by many. As you know, our brain tends to believe whatever we say. Say to yourself the truth, you’re powerful. Encourage others to do the same.
As to the Palestinian genocide, I recommend reading asap, “The Case for Palestine: Why it Matters and Why You Should Care,” by Dan Kovalik (2024).
The Middle East crisis threatens our democracy, purposefully. Biden stepped into a trap that someone with his experience an access to expert advice should have anticipated.
Academics are losing their jobs ( reminds me of how Dr Lee was treated by Yale) for speaking out; as everyone should feel to do. I hope to send you, separately, a link from DemocracyNow! of a recent dismissal; an expert on the issue. This is why likely why so many progressive pundits fear addressing the unfolding genocide. This, or
any kind bullying, must not be tolerated; it ought to be challenged.
I agree completely, Robert. I am very vocal in all the circles to which I belong regarding the nightmare in Palestine and the U.S. participation however conflicted.
Thank you for the book recommendation, I will look into it. I'm presently reading, We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I, by the son of Aziz Shehadeh, a great Palestinian lawyer. Tragedy begets tragedy wherever violence is used and we know how violence spreads. I've been with Bernie from the beginning of BB's retaliatory vendetta.
What actions do you take in this regard? Where do you send there are levers of influence?
Thank you, Dr. Lee, for your addendum to chapter 9, complete with a startling but genuine quotation from the works of William Shakespeare. Also instructive in regard to what humans (schoolboys in this case) are capable of in the absence of established, functional law and order is the first novel of Nobel Prize for Literature awardee, Sir William Golding, "Lord of the Flies" (1954), which was assigned to my classmates and me for study in High School in Zimbabwe.
John, I have long felt that what used to be called the Republican party has devolved into a "Lord of the Flies" phenomenon. We don't have the capacity to re-civilize them overnight, but there is gradual, therapeutic value in continuing to behave in our own civil but proactive and not naive fashion.
Thank you for your insightful comment, Madeline. It is helpful to human society that persons like you see value in counteracting incivility with civility. Ultimately, forces of chaos and destructiveness will be overcome by forces of order and constructiveness.
Definitely, the Lord of the Lies... I wonder when more people are going to realize the fantasy-world he lives in and tries to make the rest of us live out for him...the fantasy that he's loved and important, powerful, and not the ignored child he always felt like when he was a baby and a small boy.
In actuality, I saw the flic in high school; it scared me witless, I read the book as an adult. The premise of the book may correspond with the thinking of those who argue that the break-down of adequate civics education in public schools has left two generations of kids unprepared for citizenship in a participatory republic.
Bandy, this is such an important work of remembering and describing, in fine detail, the chronology of what has happened to us for the last 8 years. You're like the tribal shaman/psychiatrist who remembers the origin story of our traumatic states, integrating past into present experience and "holding" it all so we can sense what it means, how we feel, and why. Thanks for this wonderfully extended, psychotherapeutic therapy session!
I appreciate your telling us explicitly the kinds of attacks you endured and while I was one of the thousands who wrote letters to the president of Yale, I had no idea what you were going through in the years following. Now I do and it makes me angry. You've obviously recovered well and are more outspoken than ever. You inspire us with your daily comments on social media and you're a guiding light exactly when we need one.
I also value the discussion regarding how incorrectly labeled "strongmen" must discredit other sources of truth and authority because they need to protect the reality that deep down, they feel inadequate, that all they have is their grandiosity and bluster, their show-offy, "I alone can fix it" persona. It's a sham, a cover-up for deep doubts about their own self-worth so they destroy any other point of view but their own, in journalism, libraries, political opponents, etc. They're so emotionally fragile that they can't abide the existence of anyone who might steal attention away from them, or anyone who could see through them and blow their cover.
This helps us see book banning, the tearing down of the press, the attacks on women, immigrants, trans-kids, and the discrediting of academics like yourself, from the point of view of the fragile men
who need to constantly remind themselves that they have power. They unconsciously hope that by reminding us that they are now the powerful ones, and we are the impotent children they used to be, that will solidify the needed feeling that they finally matter. Only, it never does, and there's no end to their need to display the power they don't really feel. That's why they have to be stopped by outside forces like the force of public opinion and the law. This book is a treasure, a source of sustenance when we've been gaslighted so much we begin to doubt our own reality.
The country is suffering from what in my tradition John of the Cross refers to as Night of the Senses where trusted arbiters of truth, including beloved organizations and people can no longer be trusted, and we no longer know what to trust, including ourselves. Without a trusted arbiter, we start to question our own sanity.
The situation is reminiscent of when my brilliant brother succumbed to schizophrenia as a student at UC Berkeley and had to confront the question, "If I cannot trust my brain, what can I trust?"
The country is sharing psychosis as our courts, churches, and academic institutions are starting to fail before the onslaught. How do we face an existentially dangerous situations of which we have no experience or knowledge and our arbiters of truth are becoming untrustworthy? We search out truth, knowing that keeping our spirituality, heart, and brain working amidst what can't be trusted is the task so solutions have a chance to reveal themselves. It's not an easy road, but there is a way through it.
Dr. Lee's analyses and portrayals of her personal experience are invaluable.
A terrible ordeal. You did not deserve that treatment; that must have hurt. I am sorry; prayer on the way via FedEx. The lack of avenues for accountability troubles me greatly. The truth can not be suppressed forever.
This interesting article came my way via Sunday school today in which we discussed a quote from M. Scott Peck, author of 'The Road Less Travelled'. While I respected the content of the book, I found that Dr Peck's manner and bearing (inferred from his writing) tended to be judgemental. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/200211/m-scott-peck-wrestling-god
Thank you Dr. Lee for continuing to share your professional expertise as a guiding light to the public, despite the personal cost to you. When the Trump era finally ends, you will be seen as a beacon of sanity that valiantly led us through the storm.
I would add the context that we have learned from former Apprentice producer Noel Casler (who saw everything that went on behind the scenes and who broke his NDA to courageously speak out) is that what connects Trump and many of his shared-psychosis sycophants is a decades-long participation in a seedy underworld that has only begun to be exposed to the public. We had only a small glimpse of this in Trump's business interests in his teen modelling agency and beauty pageants. Noel also discusses how Trump was able to manipulate the judiciary through his sister the former judge, years before Trumpism came to politics. Noel has posted recently about these topics on Threads https://www.threads.net/@noelcasler
It's hard to say how exactly that underworld intersected with what Dr. Lee experienced, but maybe that will be revealed in future investigative reporting. We have seen similar tactics deployed against Fani Willis by operatives in Trump's orbit who make it a profession to manipulate institutions to their nefarious ends.
We must see through these tactics and ensure that this career criminal meets the accountability he deserves. He and his hangers-on have ideas about destroying democracies all over the globe, and we must ensure that this madness is stopped, here and now.
Yale is T-Rumpville. T-Rump is the biggest predator since T-Rex. In fact, T-Rump is a direct descendent of T-Rex. You can tell by their tiny hands and hu-uge mouths.
T-Rump is owned by the con billionaires and all his cultist minions are either racist assos or religious fanatics. They are all sociopaths who believe in their innate superiority by virtue of their bigoted beliefs, esp. over people of color.
Liars are losers. Haters are hellish. Synchophants are psychos. Blamers are Blind.
Thank you again, Dr. Lee. I especially appreciate your mentioning the (recently) late Dr. Altemeyer's work (theauthoritarians.org), in apt summary of it. Also, I was informed about how your excellent court case could be "lost," which had mystified me. I've already written that Dr. Lee herself sadly, ironically (but not surprisingly, in hindsight) became the target of the very ruthlessness about which she was warning everybody!
Thantos, death wish, mass hysteria, mass hypnosis, denial. We now sit face to face with a prescription for disaster. I can ruminate about the roots of the problem, but that won't change anything. We appear to me to be face-to-face with the apocalypse. Will it be fast or slow? Will it be painful or will I be able to to withstand it without caring. Self preservation appears an important consideration at this point. Many died for us to have the nation and aspirations that most appear willing to vote to extinguish. Bert Gold, PhD, Falmouth, Massachusetts, June 22, 2024
Dr. Gold, these sentiments are sad to numbingly traumatizing. But I'd just like to add that vicious authoritarians, so imbued with grandiosity and entitlement, always act like their domination is inevitable. I believe that's part of the reason that they often succeed, because we humans get "infected" with their belief in their own authority and we yield, parting like the Red Sea. We fail to assert our conviction that our collective needs matter much more than their individual needs, and we allow power to be taken from us.
I may be delusional myself, but I cast my lot with those who, like Dr. Lee, believe not only in the righteousness of democratic values but in the possibility of collectively retaining them.
Madeline, as usual, well said. I find your words cathartic as we face a myriad of existential crises during these dystopian times—a ‘death spiral,’ to borrow from Dr Lee, another eloquent sage—in this human (man) caused Anthropocene Era. Your skills as a psychotherapist are evident in your writings. Thank you for taking the time for sharing your knowledge and wisdom.
Allow me to suggest that “…they [fascists] often succeed because…” they are more proactive than we are. In martial arts students learn that a good defense is a strong offense. We seem to ascribe to Michelle Obama’s motto: “when they go low we go high;” a
contraindicated prescription that was followed by disaster perhaps because she was promoting the interests of her elite class rather than the common good. The elite has a penchant to act as if they are the only ones that matter when we need to recognize that we all, including and most importantly the Earth, matter.
My comment ought not be taken as a criticism, but one made in the spirit of solidarity. Positivity, while comforting can be and often is a double edge sword. MLK warned us about moderates, to no avail; I suspect he was right.
Hi Robert, thank you for your kind words. I completely agree that fascists often succeed because "they are more proactive than we are." They are also more driven by an existential need to dominate, to rescue their fragile sense of self-worth from the searing shame of their childhood impotence and prove to themselves that they are powerful beyond limit. Men like HItler, Stalin, Mao, Trump, and their enablers have deep, unconscious scores to settle, fights to fight, and triumphant victory fantasies to enact. That's why no matter how benign they try to make themselves out to be, many of us "get" what's driving them, and it's raw power over all of us, with no limit.
So we have to mount "a strong offense," as you say. I have a sense that, although it's taken many years for us to realize what we're up against, I think enough of us get it now that we are gathering our strength to present a strong offense. It may happen differently in a society than on the martial arts mat but my sense is that an infusion of determination to save democracy is coming from various sectors; journalists, lawyers, judges, writers like Bandy, Ruth Ben Ghiat, precinct workers, et.al. I know that the fascist side is on the march also...but I sense that the tide is turning as we join together with the strength of our convictions.
Hi Madeline: While I agree with most if not all you so eloquently expressed, I’m compelled to express concerns about the silence of our favorite writers with respect to the Palestinian genocide. Silence is complicity. It anankés the 1st Holocaust and is enabling the 2nd one in occupied Palestine.
It is easy to praise, but more difficult to point to our weaknesses; especially those of our friends. Progressive pundits’s reluctance to address the slaughter of mostly innocent women and children, with our weapons purchased with our tax dollars is proving increasingly fatal to Zionist Biden and helpful to fascist Trump.
The latter nurtures his base, the former repeatedly embraces fascist thugs and alienates his supporters. We’re cowed, unable or unwilling to hold accountable our unfit president while he empower anti democratic murderers abroad, eg Netanyahu and the Saudi Prince. Is the Democratic motto “democracy for the U.S., but tyranny and fascism abroad; if or when profitable?
I confess to ambivalence towards some of our favorite progressive brothers and sisters. Focusing on Trump and ignoring some of his key key allies like BIBI and the Saudi Prince snd and the suffering they inflict with impunity is intolerable and unacceptable—a double standard of justice. At home, while we almost completely focus on Trump, we ignore how Netanyahu has and the Saudi prince has undermined Biden’s brand. The president is now increasingly seen as a bigot, complicit in the crime of genocide; to merely fatten the pockets of our military industrial complex with the money unconditionally given to Israel to annihilate Palestinians to maintain an illegal apartheid and support the theft of the land of indigenous people by colonial settlers.
White supremacy, l likely explains why we overlook Israel’s crimes and continue to enable the attacks on Hated Others (darker people,) Palestinians. We supported apartheid in So Africa and finance it now in Israel; it’s not polite to discuss it, or protest against it. Students are brutally prevented from demonstrating against it. Let’s not pretend to be outraged by the Holocaust of long ago while silent about the one we finance today, avoid discussing and do everything humanly possible to deflect people attention from it. Deflection implies today's Holocaust is unimportant because white supremacists demand that the lives of white Jewish people be found more worthy than those of colored Palestinians. As they say: Justice denied anywhere is justice denied everywhere. We’re morally obligated to call out injustice wherever we see it. Eventually, ignoring it by supporting a double standard of justice creates blowback or unforeseen consequences. Apartheid Israel’s gratuitous and disproportionate carnage on Palestinian civilians is traumatizing a generation and creating the seeds for terrorist who will seek revenge upon perceived perpetrators and their descendants. This will justify yet another fascist ‘war’ on the terrorism we helped create. Another blowback Biden acquiesced to is ecocide, the exacerbation of the climate crisis caused by ‘war’ (an Orwellian euphemism for massacre and genocide) also with impunity, profitable for some, at the expense of everyone, including Mother Earth. Oligarchs are out of control, fueling the ‘death spiral’ Dr Lee presciently addresses. That death spiral will be aggravated by Trump and is being accelerated by his ally, Netanyahu, who our progressive pundits all but ignore to the detriment of our democracy and anticipated and imminent ecological collapse in this human-caused Anthropocene Era. We must call out flaws in our enemies as well as our friends; while recognizing our own.
I agree, Robert, with much of your sentiments here. Friends in Tel Aviv have been working to get BB to step down for years and are still working to do so. It's an f- ing nightmare that grips my heart and causes anxiety and anger.
Marc Pocan, progressive Dem. is working to have BB arrested for war crimes if he comes to speak to Congress. I don't like all that Biden has done and don't defend specific actions at all. Everything is horrible including Sinwar and the Iranian mullahs who have hatred for Israel and the European colonial arrogance that stretches back 150 years. We need new, progressive leadership in all those countries. In the meantime. horrible things are happening and we feel relatively powerless to affect any of the perpetrators. 😢
Madeline: Allow me to remind you not to entertain nor repeat: “…feel relatively powerless …” You have a voice and it needs to be heard, often; widespread, by many. As you know, our brain tends to believe whatever we say. Say to yourself the truth, you’re powerful. Encourage others to do the same.
As to the Palestinian genocide, I recommend reading asap, “The Case for Palestine: Why it Matters and Why You Should Care,” by Dan Kovalik (2024).
The Middle East crisis threatens our democracy, purposefully. Biden stepped into a trap that someone with his experience an access to expert advice should have anticipated.
Academics are losing their jobs ( reminds me of how Dr Lee was treated by Yale) for speaking out; as everyone should feel to do. I hope to send you, separately, a link from DemocracyNow! of a recent dismissal; an expert on the issue. This is why likely why so many progressive pundits fear addressing the unfolding genocide. This, or
any kind bullying, must not be tolerated; it ought to be challenged.
Thank you for your support.
I agree completely, Robert. I am very vocal in all the circles to which I belong regarding the nightmare in Palestine and the U.S. participation however conflicted.
Thank you for the book recommendation, I will look into it. I'm presently reading, We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I, by the son of Aziz Shehadeh, a great Palestinian lawyer. Tragedy begets tragedy wherever violence is used and we know how violence spreads. I've been with Bernie from the beginning of BB's retaliatory vendetta.
What actions do you take in this regard? Where do you send there are levers of influence?
...sense...
Madeline: “Holocaust Scholar Raz Segal Loses Univ. of Minnesota Job Offer for Saying Israel Is Committing Genocide,” Story, Democracy Now!, 6/18/2024
"... collectively retaining them" ... democratic values'. 🎯
Thanks, Bryan. :)
If I wasn’t an agnostic, I’d thank god for your existence. Since I am, please accept my deepest gratitude for you. Ed Silverman
Nicely stated, Ed.
Thank you, Dr. Lee, for your addendum to chapter 9, complete with a startling but genuine quotation from the works of William Shakespeare. Also instructive in regard to what humans (schoolboys in this case) are capable of in the absence of established, functional law and order is the first novel of Nobel Prize for Literature awardee, Sir William Golding, "Lord of the Flies" (1954), which was assigned to my classmates and me for study in High School in Zimbabwe.
John, I have long felt that what used to be called the Republican party has devolved into a "Lord of the Flies" phenomenon. We don't have the capacity to re-civilize them overnight, but there is gradual, therapeutic value in continuing to behave in our own civil but proactive and not naive fashion.
Thank you for your insightful comment, Madeline. It is helpful to human society that persons like you see value in counteracting incivility with civility. Ultimately, forces of chaos and destructiveness will be overcome by forces of order and constructiveness.
I often refer to Trump as the 'Lord of the Lies'; unfortunately, it seems that not many people remember the book.
Definitely, the Lord of the Lies... I wonder when more people are going to realize the fantasy-world he lives in and tries to make the rest of us live out for him...the fantasy that he's loved and important, powerful, and not the ignored child he always felt like when he was a baby and a small boy.
I think most people understand, or at least have an inkling of, what you say . . . except for the M.A.G.A.'s, of course.
Ned, I think it was made into a film awhile back but someone should remake it now!
In actuality, I saw the flic in high school; it scared me witless, I read the book as an adult. The premise of the book may correspond with the thinking of those who argue that the break-down of adequate civics education in public schools has left two generations of kids unprepared for citizenship in a participatory republic.
Madeline, a minor editorial suggestion: “…our own civil [but proactive and not naive] fashion.”
Good editing, Robert!
Carl Jung's enantiodromia in action as the republicons have become what they previously despised, racist religious fanatics.
I remind all, Liars are losers. Haters are hellish.
Sycophants are psychos. Blamers are blind to themselves.
T-Rump is the biggest predatory asso since T-Rex. In fact,
T-Rump is a direct descendent of T-Rex, you can tell by their tiny hands
and hu-uge mouths. Laughing at him is one of our strongest defenses and offenses.
Bandy, this is such an important work of remembering and describing, in fine detail, the chronology of what has happened to us for the last 8 years. You're like the tribal shaman/psychiatrist who remembers the origin story of our traumatic states, integrating past into present experience and "holding" it all so we can sense what it means, how we feel, and why. Thanks for this wonderfully extended, psychotherapeutic therapy session!
I appreciate your telling us explicitly the kinds of attacks you endured and while I was one of the thousands who wrote letters to the president of Yale, I had no idea what you were going through in the years following. Now I do and it makes me angry. You've obviously recovered well and are more outspoken than ever. You inspire us with your daily comments on social media and you're a guiding light exactly when we need one.
I also value the discussion regarding how incorrectly labeled "strongmen" must discredit other sources of truth and authority because they need to protect the reality that deep down, they feel inadequate, that all they have is their grandiosity and bluster, their show-offy, "I alone can fix it" persona. It's a sham, a cover-up for deep doubts about their own self-worth so they destroy any other point of view but their own, in journalism, libraries, political opponents, etc. They're so emotionally fragile that they can't abide the existence of anyone who might steal attention away from them, or anyone who could see through them and blow their cover.
This helps us see book banning, the tearing down of the press, the attacks on women, immigrants, trans-kids, and the discrediting of academics like yourself, from the point of view of the fragile men
who need to constantly remind themselves that they have power. They unconsciously hope that by reminding us that they are now the powerful ones, and we are the impotent children they used to be, that will solidify the needed feeling that they finally matter. Only, it never does, and there's no end to their need to display the power they don't really feel. That's why they have to be stopped by outside forces like the force of public opinion and the law. This book is a treasure, a source of sustenance when we've been gaslighted so much we begin to doubt our own reality.
The country is suffering from what in my tradition John of the Cross refers to as Night of the Senses where trusted arbiters of truth, including beloved organizations and people can no longer be trusted, and we no longer know what to trust, including ourselves. Without a trusted arbiter, we start to question our own sanity.
The situation is reminiscent of when my brilliant brother succumbed to schizophrenia as a student at UC Berkeley and had to confront the question, "If I cannot trust my brain, what can I trust?"
The country is sharing psychosis as our courts, churches, and academic institutions are starting to fail before the onslaught. How do we face an existentially dangerous situations of which we have no experience or knowledge and our arbiters of truth are becoming untrustworthy? We search out truth, knowing that keeping our spirituality, heart, and brain working amidst what can't be trusted is the task so solutions have a chance to reveal themselves. It's not an easy road, but there is a way through it.
Dr. Lee's analyses and portrayals of her personal experience are invaluable.
I completely agree, Ric!
A terrible ordeal. You did not deserve that treatment; that must have hurt. I am sorry; prayer on the way via FedEx. The lack of avenues for accountability troubles me greatly. The truth can not be suppressed forever.
This interesting article came my way via Sunday school today in which we discussed a quote from M. Scott Peck, author of 'The Road Less Travelled'. While I respected the content of the book, I found that Dr Peck's manner and bearing (inferred from his writing) tended to be judgemental. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/200211/m-scott-peck-wrestling-god
Thank you Dr. Lee for continuing to share your professional expertise as a guiding light to the public, despite the personal cost to you. When the Trump era finally ends, you will be seen as a beacon of sanity that valiantly led us through the storm.
I would add the context that we have learned from former Apprentice producer Noel Casler (who saw everything that went on behind the scenes and who broke his NDA to courageously speak out) is that what connects Trump and many of his shared-psychosis sycophants is a decades-long participation in a seedy underworld that has only begun to be exposed to the public. We had only a small glimpse of this in Trump's business interests in his teen modelling agency and beauty pageants. Noel also discusses how Trump was able to manipulate the judiciary through his sister the former judge, years before Trumpism came to politics. Noel has posted recently about these topics on Threads https://www.threads.net/@noelcasler
It's hard to say how exactly that underworld intersected with what Dr. Lee experienced, but maybe that will be revealed in future investigative reporting. We have seen similar tactics deployed against Fani Willis by operatives in Trump's orbit who make it a profession to manipulate institutions to their nefarious ends.
We must see through these tactics and ensure that this career criminal meets the accountability he deserves. He and his hangers-on have ideas about destroying democracies all over the globe, and we must ensure that this madness is stopped, here and now.
Madeline:
https://www.democracynow.org/2024/6/18/raz_segal_university_of_minnesota
Madeline: Holocaust Scholar Raz Segal Loses Univ. of Minnesota Job Offer for Saying Israel Is Committing Genocide
Story in DemocracyNow!, 6/18/24
Yale is T-Rumpville. T-Rump is the biggest predator since T-Rex. In fact, T-Rump is a direct descendent of T-Rex. You can tell by their tiny hands and hu-uge mouths.
T-Rump is owned by the con billionaires and all his cultist minions are either racist assos or religious fanatics. They are all sociopaths who believe in their innate superiority by virtue of their bigoted beliefs, esp. over people of color.
Liars are losers. Haters are hellish. Synchophants are psychos. Blamers are Blind.