Brief Politico-Therapy: A Tour Around The Psych Bloggers

Guten morgen Damen und Herren! OK, so much for our German lesson for today, lets take a tour of the Psych-Bloggers. You know who I'm talking about, those intrepid bloggers with a yen for the thinking behind the politics, folks trained in severe emotional problems and thus well qualified to diagnose the left. This weeks usual suspects include: Dr. Helen, Dr. Sanity, Shrinkwrapped, neo-neocon, Assistant Village Idiot, One Cosmos (Gagdad Bob), Sigmund, Carl and Alfred and our newest member, Iron Shrink.

Lets start out with Iron Shrink. As a newbe, he's been last on the list, so we're giving him a promotion to the head of the class. In a thought provoking treatise, Iron Shrink has thoughts about "Curing Conservatism: Psychology's Passive Endorsement Of Abuse:

In 1994, The Bell Curve examined intelligence in American society and asserted that whites outperform other races on IQ tests. The American Psychological Association was quick to respond, launching a task force to meticulously scrutinize the methodology behind the book. Throughout dozens of publications, a veritable contest took place: who could most eloquently and irrevocably discredit The Bell Curve? The book was called polarizing, biased, and specious.

Why such a passionate response? Because my colleagues won’t tolerate the use of corrupt science against a group of unsuspecting targets.

Damn straight, they won’t! …Unless…

Unless those targets happen to be conservative.

Up next is our very own Dr. Sanity. This week's pick is "The Dictatorship of the Do-Gooders and Soul Murder." Folks this is a terrific read, one of her best as she takes on those who denegrate the free market:

The moral case for capitalism is not taught in our schools, nor is it argued much in our culture. In fact it has been more or less universally accepted by the intellectual elites that systems such as communism and socialism are "morally superior" to capitalism (hence more "socially just")--even though in practice such systems have led to the death and enslavement of millions, and to those unlucky enough not to die from them, they have led to the most horrible shrinking and wasting of the human soul.

The truth is that neither socialism nor communism nor any kind of religious fundamentalism is compatible with morality at all."

This weeks choice from neo-neocon is also equally choice, in fact, it can be termed required reading. This is a two parter on children. Part I is here and Part II is here. If you don't read both you are not any where as bright as you think you are.

Children are the future of any society. This makes them a double-edged sword: since most cultures are devoted to the protection and nurturance of their own children, most societies are uniquely vulnerable when those children are threatened; and therefore children can become effective weapons, tools, and hostages."

Meanwhile, out in the "cloud-hidden Bobservatory, just beyond the interior horizon" location of Gagdad Bob, we find a treat for all of our inner children "The Invisible Church of the Perpetual Raccoon" wherein Bob takes a take on the collective consciousness:

It was certainly a not-okay day for me. For whatever reason, I woke up with low blood sugar and had some difficulty getting it up into the normal range all day -- as if there were some kind of "metabolic fire" burning in me. I've certainly felt the fire in recent weeks, but this was too much. I was uncharacteristically under -- or was I in? -- the weather all day. Weird.

But this mutual perception of a "weird day" does bring up the issue of our "collectivity" and just where it resides, for although "interconnectedness" surely exists as a consequence of the principle of Wholeness that flows through every artery of the cosmos, there is no particular "place" where it can be located. You can't point at wholeness from the outside, only experience it from the inside (which is the secret of consciousness, which is a reflection of the Creator's unifying interior wholeness-amdist-diversity).

Dr. Helen has a brief, but oh-so-heavy-duty take on therapsists expanding the nanny state. You won't believe this one:

If you have ever questioned the need to continue breast feeding a child to three or four years of age or older, then you will be "thrilled" to know that one primary school in the UK has decided that behaviorally challenged kids now need to be bottle fed up to the age of 11 (Hat Tip: Mecurior):

Meanwhile, back on the ranch Couch Sigmund, Carl and Alfred Note OTHER Flip-Flops:

So you think Mitt Romney flip flops?

Well there are flip flops and then there are flip flops. Try these on for size.

In 1971, Senator Edward Kennedy wrote the following to a constituent:

Shrinkwrapped has a thoughtful piece on the dangers of using psychiatry to diagnose one's political opposites; Diagnosing President Bush

A charitable approach to Minot’s article would suggest that he seems to confuse the concept of Psychic determinism with Psychiatric reductionism; as a result he never addresses any reality-based possibilities. Perhaps Bush is so concerned about the potential effects of failing in Iraq that he is willing to go the extra mile, trying to forestall a future disaster even at the risk of his current standing and legacy.

Assistant Village Idiot (he's not, I assure you) has an interesting post up on the Ancient Hymnody. If you have ever wondered if the old church songs were catchy, here's your chance to find out. The early church did not make the sharp division between songs, prayers, and readings that we, especially in the Protestant churches, do today. Those used to a liturgical service know the distinction.

And there you have it... another tour of the Psych-bloggers... tune in next Saturday for another round. Or, go there yourselves... it's a fascinating romp through the psych-bloggers.