http://www.propeace.net/node/1476 Comments for "fwho's crazy?" en http://www.propeace.net/node/1476#comment-1016 <p><div class="quote-msg"><div class="quote-author">Quote:</div><br /> We are going to find a voice in the peace movement. And we will<br /> bring out the question of "Who's crazy anyway?"</p> <p>Who's crazy, anyway? It's hard to believe that the neocon<br /> leaders of our society fighting this awful and foolish war in<br /> Iraq are sensible and well-balanced individuals. [!]<br /> </div></p> <p>This is a very good question, imo, and I hope you and your group success in running with it. </p> <p>You raise the question of whether there is not a kind of “insanity” that is generally not recognized as such, by society and the general public. I think you’re quite right in questioning the essential “sanity” of those who have led our country in this war in Iraq. </p> <p>The language used here is itself problematic, imo. Do we really “know,” or even “recognize,” what is insane? Do we really mean “irrational”? Is it “insane” to be irrational? Our war in Iraq is certainly irrational, as becomes clearer by the day and month. Is it insane? Quite arguably so, imo.</p> <p>If our country’s neocon leaders are fundamentally irrational, what about our President and his core of advisors who followed their lead? And what about the Republicans and Democrats who followed our President on such flimsy grounds as were advanced back in 2002? And what about the almost 50% of voters, and members of the Supreme Court, who voted to elect someone as head of the most powerful country and army in the world who had no expertise (or even measurable interest) in foreign policy or international relations. As one high-level Iraqi diplomat said back in 2002, “how does an arrogant idiot become President of the United States”? Answer? We put him there, with our votes.</p> <p>Which brings the question back home to “us”. Are we all, or at least a very large number of us, “irrational” in even very important parts of our lives? Or, put perhaps a more productive way, are we all only <em>potentially</em> rational, but not necessarily that way by our nature or even by our upbringing? And, if so, how and when, if ever, does one become <em>rational</em>? Or sane.</p> <p>I think we need to distinguish, carefully, between one’s merely socially acceptable or socially <em>admired</em>, and what is not accepted or admired. If one appears strong or successful, we tend to admire him or her. If one appears weak or not successful, we don’t admire that person. But what if one is strong and but also irrational? Do we admire that? As in Hitler? Stalin? And how about in our case of President Bush? He appears strong to many voters; he also appears increasingly irrational to many voters (not guided by facts, not in touch with the larger reality outside his own narrow circle, unable to learn from his experience, etc.) Does might make right, even if it is insane?</p> <p>Coming back to your mental health group or movement, I’m aware that, as once a mental health counselor, that people are often incorrectly labeled as mentally ill when their problem is not at all one of being “insane” but rather one of their being actually quite rational, in admitting to themselves, and to others, that they could use some help. Asking for help when you perceive you need it is a highly adaptive and rational behavior. Yet one risks being perceived as weak when asking for help. </p> <p>Many professionals in the mental health field respond to such “healthy” behaviors by immediately rushing to “diagnose” some theoretically presumed “psychopathology” or “erroneous thinking” in the person asking for help. The theory they use to guide them in doing this is, meanwhile, often itself quite irrational and based on “erroneous thinking” in its own right. Sometimes it is even downright delusional, as in the case of Freudian-based theory. </p> <p> So, who’s sane, and who isn’t? A good question. As a society, we have to come to do a better job at recognizing the difference between genuine sanity and what’s merely a destructive narcissism.</p> <p>As a beginning, we certainly need to begin more to look <em>upward</em> in our social hierarchy, where a great deal of craziness and irrationality will be found, and not just <em>downward</em>, where we conventionally look.</p> Sun, 22 Oct 2006 09:26:56 -0400 MTOLincoln comment 1016 at http://www.propeace.net http://www.propeace.net/node/1476 Hi I'm interested in the "Department of Peace" project. I'm a resident of Berkeley, CA and our Congressperson Barbara Lee voted 1-420 against the War on Terror and said she supported instead a "Department of Peace." I've been active since the 60s helping develop the political base that has made it possible politically for her to be so outspoken. My personal focus is on the marginalized politics of the http://www.propeace.net/node/1476#comments Fri, 20 Oct 2006 17:15:46 -0400 Andrew Phelps 1476 at http://www.propeace.net