1. It should be obvious to anyone and everyone that Sarah Palin is interested in two things and two things only: make you fear that America is going down the tubes, and blame Democrats for it. Unfortunately, not everyone has understood her clear mission. The question is why?
Palin continues to suck at the teat of certain American people, seeking any and all ways to make herself a tidy sum from the sweat of those who really don't understand what she's up to. They see her message as one which echos their fundamental discontent. The money she gets from her "speaking engagements" and "books" are all skimmed from folks who feel helpless and unempowered and broken financially. How ironic. Secondarily, she loves the artificial limelight she has created for herself. She is and always will be a "beauty queen." It's easy to be critical and angry, I know from personal experience, but it takes a special person to show up with a game plan to fix problems.
She has never, not once mind you, offered a single idea to help us as a country to make things better. She has consistently shown she is not a team player: she quit her governorship (of a state with around 500,000 people) two years in so she could make money. She has alienated many of her own staff with her ranting and railing, and she has shown time and time again that she is not politically or historically knowledgeable or savvy. And that's putting it mildly.
In the end, Palin is just another in a long line of narcissists who inhabit both the core and perimeter of Washington. The more she basks in the limelight and is protected by the shade created by ever-taller stacks of cash, the less she gives a damn about anyone but herself. The rich really are different than the rest of us, the research tells us, because they have an impaired ability to understand what those without must do to survive, and they don't understand that altruistic action, based on empathy, is the true measure of caring.
You watch: she will shrink, even disappear whenever anything concrete is required of her in terms of real leading (she will never run for office again), but she will always sound off to fuel the coals that feed her cash engine. Until the public unravels the mirage, that is.
2. I've been thinking a lot about the etiology of paraphilias. I teach the Psychology of Human Sexuality along with some other courses that touch on this and this is a topic that has piqued my interest for years. I am presenting at a conference this Fall on this very topic, and I've clinically treated exhibitionists, voyeurs, fetishists, S&M couples, and a host of other paraphilias.
Behaviorists and Freudians, Social Learning folks, and the rest have lots of ideas about where these things come from and how these are maintained. I want to propose an idea that I think has some merit.
I have noticed through clinical observation that men with paraphilias (the vast majority are men, and that's another story) almost always display a social/emotional maturation level consistent with their degree of paraphilia: the more severe the paraphilia, the less socially adept and connected they are (the poorer their social skills, the more they are having trouble interpersonally, etc.)
Here's what I think is happening: since paraphilias represent an objectification of sex and bodies (a dehumanizing process), paraphilia development is actually a safety clutch for those who fear true emotional intimacy (well beyond what we all are fearful of; to most men with severe paraphilias intimacy is outright painful!) As a paraphilia becomes more severe in an individual, he is actually rewarded for increasing its intensity because it distances him from the pain of connecting with others; it gives him a measure of emotional safety. The further they get into their paraphilia(s), the less practice and reward they get from mature social/emotional interaction; their skills get worse. Never mind the Dopamine that surges when they act out.
3. OK, so another year starts for me in a week. Five classes to teach, around 150 students in total. I want to be the best I've ever been. I want to speak with precision, impact, and relevancy. I want to change lives. I want to inspire, to promote well-being and success. Nothing like easy to reach goals.
No comments:
Post a Comment