And I think Republicans are probably either confused or outraged to be called hypocrites for the contrast between their private behavior and their public pronouncements. They have thoroughly internalized their own bullshit rationalization that "everybody's doing it." They actually believe that's true. So when Trump bloviates at a rally about "the corrupt Biden crime family"--a slur that doesn't fit the Bidens but exactly describes The Donald and his own clan--one of the things he's doing is acting like a highly dysfunctional "parent" publicly modeling for his "children", "Hey kids, watch how Daddy deals with his massive sucking insecurity wound and his inadmissable knowledge that he is a lying, grifting, heartless cheater and a loser! Watch Daddy take all his ugly feelings, dump them all on the nearest scapegoat, and emerge feeling powerful and blameless! Watch me and do like I do."
What would psychiatrists call it when a malignant narcissist feeds his own insecurity by recruiting a huge group of admiring and similarly emotionally damaged followers, and proselytizing his own twisted methods for turning sucking insecurity into triumph so effectively that the insanity of one man becomes a mass psychosis? I think we have to recognize that in his deeply twisted way, Donald Trump is a hugely effective teacher. He teaches his followers his personal methods for pushing all feelings of their own loser-hood onto demonized scapegoats. He makes them feel like awesome, morally righteous winners, justified in vanquishing his/their opponents, who are "vermin" only because they have been made to carry the projected sins and shortcomings Trump and his supporters cannot bear to acknowledge in themselves. He has turned them all into addicts of the drug of projection. His supporters stay on the drug because without a steady supply, the self-awareness of withdrawal is too painfully ugly. This is how a maniacal totalitarian leader is capable of taking over a country--unless a critical mass of people see through his Svengali bullshit and organize nationwide to call him to account for his crimes, and to disconnect the totalitarian from political power by legitimately electing his opponent and making it stick. We succeeded in doing that in 2020. We have to do it again in 2024.
the closest thing to what you're talking about is no longer officially used by psychiatrists, but from psychoanalytic theory, especially of the Kleinian School (Melanie Klein was the dominant presence in British psychoanalysis). the term is "projective identification."
now it MIGHT be the case that projective identification specifically occurs in the context of a dyadic relationship, but I'm not sure why that would have to be the case.
fuck it, let's call it "projective identification" so we can feel a little smarter for five minutes.
...it gets even better (in terms of explaining the phenomena you're describing): in Projective Identification, the person (or group) getting projected upon experience the projecting person's complicated mixture of rage, love, need, fear, rejection et al and actually INTERNALIZE the projections. so, on some level, they actually become--to a degree--what the projecting person needs them to be.
I can imagine that works in couples, families, and small groups. I resist the idea that I, as a Democrat, have internalized any of the steaming load of crap that Dumpster has tried to project onto Democrats.
but if I decided to launch the famous ad hominem bullshit trope favored by psychoanalysts forever, I might argue that it's an Unconscious Process so of course etc. etc.. trouble is, the "unconscious" thing is all they got, and it gets tired.
no, I really don't think so either. what I DO feel much too much is BELEAGURED. and that's HERE.
Yes to all.
And I think Republicans are probably either confused or outraged to be called hypocrites for the contrast between their private behavior and their public pronouncements. They have thoroughly internalized their own bullshit rationalization that "everybody's doing it." They actually believe that's true. So when Trump bloviates at a rally about "the corrupt Biden crime family"--a slur that doesn't fit the Bidens but exactly describes The Donald and his own clan--one of the things he's doing is acting like a highly dysfunctional "parent" publicly modeling for his "children", "Hey kids, watch how Daddy deals with his massive sucking insecurity wound and his inadmissable knowledge that he is a lying, grifting, heartless cheater and a loser! Watch Daddy take all his ugly feelings, dump them all on the nearest scapegoat, and emerge feeling powerful and blameless! Watch me and do like I do."
What would psychiatrists call it when a malignant narcissist feeds his own insecurity by recruiting a huge group of admiring and similarly emotionally damaged followers, and proselytizing his own twisted methods for turning sucking insecurity into triumph so effectively that the insanity of one man becomes a mass psychosis? I think we have to recognize that in his deeply twisted way, Donald Trump is a hugely effective teacher. He teaches his followers his personal methods for pushing all feelings of their own loser-hood onto demonized scapegoats. He makes them feel like awesome, morally righteous winners, justified in vanquishing his/their opponents, who are "vermin" only because they have been made to carry the projected sins and shortcomings Trump and his supporters cannot bear to acknowledge in themselves. He has turned them all into addicts of the drug of projection. His supporters stay on the drug because without a steady supply, the self-awareness of withdrawal is too painfully ugly. This is how a maniacal totalitarian leader is capable of taking over a country--unless a critical mass of people see through his Svengali bullshit and organize nationwide to call him to account for his crimes, and to disconnect the totalitarian from political power by legitimately electing his opponent and making it stick. We succeeded in doing that in 2020. We have to do it again in 2024.
the closest thing to what you're talking about is no longer officially used by psychiatrists, but from psychoanalytic theory, especially of the Kleinian School (Melanie Klein was the dominant presence in British psychoanalysis). the term is "projective identification."
now it MIGHT be the case that projective identification specifically occurs in the context of a dyadic relationship, but I'm not sure why that would have to be the case.
fuck it, let's call it "projective identification" so we can feel a little smarter for five minutes.
we deserve it!
:D
...it gets even better (in terms of explaining the phenomena you're describing): in Projective Identification, the person (or group) getting projected upon experience the projecting person's complicated mixture of rage, love, need, fear, rejection et al and actually INTERNALIZE the projections. so, on some level, they actually become--to a degree--what the projecting person needs them to be.
ain't it cool?
I can imagine that works in couples, families, and small groups. I resist the idea that I, as a Democrat, have internalized any of the steaming load of crap that Dumpster has tried to project onto Democrats.
oh god...so do I.
but if I decided to launch the famous ad hominem bullshit trope favored by psychoanalysts forever, I might argue that it's an Unconscious Process so of course etc. etc.. trouble is, the "unconscious" thing is all they got, and it gets tired.
no, I really don't think so either. what I DO feel much too much is BELEAGURED. and that's HERE.