Back at the RNC, when we thought things couldn't get worse, McCain showed a video tribute to 9/11. Odd, isn't it? a "tribute" celebrating a national tragedy? I wrote my first diary then with my husband Robert Stolorow(psychoanalyst/philosopher) who is an Obama supporter as well. He has taken his work on trauma and begun to apply it to the collective trauma of 9/11 and the way that the Bush administration and the neocons have used and abused this trauma to enhance their power in order to hold the nation hostage. I am also a psychoanalyst and even though my comments on this site are often sarcastic, in the current climate I see this as deadly serious.
I have used the metaphor of the "portkey" in my work with people who have experienced trauma. For fans of Harry Potter this will be a familiar term. A portkey is an everyday object that has magical powers to transport people from one place to another. In my psychotherapy work, I use it to mean that you can be transported emotionally, psychologically- and not in a good way; for instance, after 9/11, when planes flew overhead many people experienced strong anxiety, dread, etc. Many people who saw that 9/11 "tribute" were re-traumatized by it, meaning they re-experienced physical and psychological symptoms. Someone who has flashbacks will know what I am referring to. And many more people these days are suffering in a variety of ways- the economy, war, climate change, race and faith tensions, joblessness, etc. It is pretty clear that the McCain/Palin strategy is to prey on people's fear and trauma, just as Bush has. They are like prison guards blasting music, or leaving the the lights on all night, keeping people in a traumatized state. It is also clear that they, especially Palin, are intent upon inciting paranoia and rage, which has the clear potential to lead people to act violently, especially in the current climate of job loss, and feeling pushed into a corner. Sarah Palin, in particular, is feeding this frenzy, and she seems to have an appetite for it in a way that John McCain does not.
Although I am primarily clinically oriented in my work, my husband has written extensively and recently(with my pushing and prodding!) has taken the plunge into the political blogosphere. I want to add some links here so if you are interested you can read and hear more-- he did an interview after the last debate.
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