United States of Trauma
Sometimes people who need the most love and understanding express that need in the most repulsive ways.
Narcissism tends to emerge as a psychological defence in response to excessive levels of parental criticism, abuse or neglect in early life. Black and white thinking is another symptom of repressed childhood trauma.
I don’t wish to offend anyone by saying this but I try to keep reminding myself about this when I think of people like Trump. We know about his childhood, his sociopathic father and the fact that his mother was sick and unavailable to him at a very formative age.
It also makes me think of the type of people who are attracted to him and what childhood trauma they're processing through him, or not.
Many if not most of us are dealing with childhood trauma at different degrees. As Americans, subjected to the "If it bleeds, it leads" business model of Corporate Media, we are kept in a constant state of trauma because that makes us easier to control and makes our behavior more malleable as consumers.
The midterm elections didn't produce the Red Wave MAGA Republicans were counting on. Most of the 2020 Election Deniers will claim this election was rigged too unless they won. So a different kind of Red Wave or rather, a Red Ebb could undertow our Democracy out to sea if we're not hypervigilant.
Hyper-Vigilance, by the way is another symptom of childhood trauma so I think it's important to remember that we're all in a state of trauma, repressed or by the press and knowing that could help us get through this together.
If you're frustrated about MAGA or the DEMS, ask yourself if you're not just projecting your unprocessed trauma onto your fellow Americans first. Then remind yourself that these people you consider enemies have children they love, have fears for their safety and lie awake many nights frightened about everything that can go wrong until they die.
Let's remember that we all need love and understanding but to the other side we're expressing that need in the most repulsive ways.
