Think. What happens when he takes revenge on those who prevented him from taking revenge on those who prevented him from taking revenge on those who prevented...
It's revenge turtles all the way down.
He just said "I am your retribution" at CPAC, the right wingest GOP forum shy of a KKK meeting. This is biblical rhetoric.
Groups are narcissists. You have to train them not to scapegoat. You have to train them hard. I was in group psychoanalysis for a decade. I know what I'm talking about.
The problem with polarization cannot be solved by political science. Thomas Edsall in the Times sometimes offers weirdly helpful poll-driven thoughts, but his bailiwick is nowhere near to solving what he calls (along with other political scientists) "affective polarization." They're out of ideas because they don't understand group dynamics.
You have to train groups. It's difficult but the results are in fact wonderful. Isn't it scary to think that groups are basically narcissists and aspire to being Alien? You really really want to take charge of that shit.
In much the same way that lies travel faster than the truth, so too negative emotion driven hate groups get way more attention and further reach than the intelligence of loving groups that are driven by empathy and compassion.
ReplyDeleteAs much as we need to identify narcissist driven allegiances and train them to no be a threat to humanity, we also need to help others realize who it is that is doing that training is not just a matter of opinion or left-leaning quackery, but the very foundation upon which all of humanities most important improvements are based on. As in we have to hold up the group think that brings out all the best parts of our unique selves rather than the worst parts of our narcissistic desire for conformity...
Deane that is very much how to un-narcissist a group! Remember, there's nothing wrong with it per se. One has to have narcissism: it's called eating. But the disordered narcissism, a psyche or group psyche that gets stuck there, is dangerous.
ReplyDeleteAnd I think that good emotion does travel very fast. You don't need much of it. Just think--don't listen or read--of that voice saying "I have a dream."