January 12, 2021

Whew! So much has happened since my last post. My mind is buzzing with emotions of anxiety, grief, curiosity, confusion, and need to sort things out. I've been reading the news attempting to get facts but also interested in others opinions. I'm reminded of conversations Rebecca has had with her friend in Las Vegas. Frustrated Rebecca was discussing with her Trump's rally speech in Washington, D.C. which was associated with mobs of people breaking into the Capital. Her "friend" insisted that Trump won the presidential election but the votes were miscounted or falsified to indicate Biden so there was a steal! Fact checking, Trump's phone calls to Georgia state election officials demanding they find him over 11,000 votes or they will suffer the consequences, evidence of failed state and federal lawsuits rejected by Republican appointed officials, failed media events with Giuliani and now Republican federal senators and house representatives attempts to declare that verified count election votes and electoral college votes should be discounted are not facts to her friend. Rebecca found out that a relative of hers who she has periodic contact had traveled with her husband to the Trump rally and went to the Capital. She claims that the news media accounts and video evidence of shocking property damage, assaults and killing against guards and police, destruction of property, desecration of public property and art, threats against legislative members, confederate flags, and other assorted mayhem did not occur. 

We found out about this attempted poorly planned insurrection while hiking deep into the Olomana Mountains in windward Oahu. One of my friends a lifelong Republican who voted for Biden this round bemoaned this state of affairs and his revulsion to Trumpism. Nevertheless, when I mentioned Cruz and Haley He excused Cruz as a politician who was pandering to Trump's base so he could run for president in 2024. Wow! on the one hand he is repulsed by Trump's lies and attempts at insurrection and on the other hand he has some admiration for the political pandering of Cruz. I wrote him a message on January 8th " So Trump supporters (https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/congress-trump-score/) such as Cruz and Hawley continue to  insist they are supporting democracy through suggesting that Trump’s views of election fraud are credible so we must strongly support disenfranchising voters and support demigod mob supported leadership! Some of us may excuse this as political maneuvering to win endorsements from his base to gain leadership but to me this is not to be excused. You can’t make a silk shirt from a sow’s ear these sycophants are continuing the devil’s work of prejudice and support for a lost cause. To me such support excused as support for conservative government is no longer part of the Republican Party but support for policies including sedition, racism, and fascism. It’s time my conservative friends join a like minded group call it the New Republicans for example that believes in democracy, every vote counts, and when called they  will join the Democrats when our democracy is threatened so for example impeachment is on the table it’s merits are properly debated instead of dismissed to encourage fascist goals." 

Biden declared soon after "This is not who we are!" Well to me that's bullshit. This is who we are! (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/08/opinion/capitol-riot-america.html). The comments to the video are worth perusing. So there is the lie. If Trump has some facts that show him to be incompetent, out of favor, less powerful or influential than he is, crooked and corrupt (quid pro quo), a bully, vain, uncaring and having no regard for human suffering and life, etc. he then perpetuates the big lie that there are groups out there who want to steal his glory and good works from the view of his adoring public. A misogynist and racist he panders to groups with strong prejudices against the progress we have made towards equality under the law. Protest against policing assaults and killings against black people are viewed through his lens as opportunities to echo and give his endorsement of conspiracy theories that the facts of disparate policing practices are myths but that black people are thugs who deserved this law and order approach. He usually ignores the suffering and deaths due to our pandemic and takes ineffectual leadership to address the public health menace. He undermines his own appointees when they assert some information contrary to his lies. He pardons murders (Green Berets and Navy Seal (3) for murder of civilians in Afghanistan), pardons convicted confessed associates (Mueller investigation). He has peaceful demonstrators in Washington D.C. tear gassed and threatened by federal troops so he can have a photo op at a church. He finds common ground with extreme right wing white supremacists publically telling them what to do. He repeats conspiracy theories including Qanon garbage that stoke our paranoid side if believed. What he says is what matters so his lies are to be accepted. Truth and facts no longer matter.      

Some time ago when studying in my residency in Psychiatry I joined a groups of like minded psychiatrists attempting to publicize the dangers and horrors of having nuclear weapons. At that time I believed that in a democracy where groups of like minded people can lobby, educate, and publicize their issues, support politicians, and move our country towards our point of view through open dialogue with freedom and speech. Also, at that time heavily influenced by psychoanalysis I read Freud's book Civilization and It's Discontents. My takeaway was the veneer of civilization is very superficial and easily vanishes when people are influenced in a crowd and mob. Since then there has been more research into group behaviors and mob behaviors. Benedict Carey wrote a recent article worth reading (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/12/science/crowds-mob-psychology.html). So from The Lord of the Flies by William Golding a work of fiction concerning group behaviors that go array, to study of torture started in the Millgram experiments we now have a better understanding that the mob is not a group of people with one mind. Sycophants do follow charismatic leaders (Jonestown suicides). Psychopaths do enjoy mayhem and violence and use mobs to actualize their sadism. Politicians use groups to stoke lies so they aggrandize power in government. On the other hand, groups who are trained in nonviolent confrontation police themselves and have been successful in overcoming severe danger to themselves and highlighting injustices and mobilizing public opinion in their favor. 

Olivia Levin and Emma Jean Brown passed away a few days ago. Olivia had been in Tenet, Oregon but finally decided to escape the fires and smoke of forest fires to live with her sister in New Mexico. She missed the vaccine now becoming available and I partially blame Trump's disregard to provide leaderships to hasten the vaccine distribution on her demise. We're mourning their loss but we celebrate our memories of how remarkable they were. Our social isolation from each other since March has taken a toll on our connections with each other. Online communication may suffice but leads also to written words substituting for face to face interactions. We evolved from small communities of people with face to face interactions. Once larger groups such as cities and division of labor occurred our history of demagoguery started. Yet also the concept that our leaders serve the people so the people need a voice in deciding who are their leaders and safeguards need to be placed on leaders to prevent demagoguery. It's healthier to put this into perspective. Personal relationships that are healthy and interactive are where it's at. But I recognize that for many these ingredients are missing in their lives so a substitute of paranoia and demagoguery may be their alternative. 

Leonard