(Or: “KEEPING PEOPLE IN LINE” vs. “CATERING TO THEIR NEEDS”)

“Newsletter” No. 21, written in 2020

Part 1 of  2

I’ve been writing on and off about Martin Luther, the mental and spiritual spark plug behind the European Reformation of 500 years ago.  His influence lives on in various versions of social belief and outlook, among American Evangelicals of all stripes, and in the Alt Right, and among Neo-Conservative groups.  Not to mention in newly re-emerging conservative, racist, and nationalist groups all over Europe.

Luther’s most earnestly argued contribution to society appears to have been his championing of the rights and privileges of the Authoritarian Personality.  Luther stood for the position that everyone should be subject to the governing authorities.  Well . . . one would need to understand the historical context within which this idea first lifted its head, in order to more fully understand that dictum better than this single bald sentence can explain anything.  However, I can give you the short version.  

Luther himself left a record that shows him to have been an explosively belligerent, intransigent, and uncompromising defender (propagandist? shill?) for his view of things.  His message was that Faith alone would save one, and that otherwise the proper function of government was to Impose Order.  The proper function of government was NOT to be Helpful, Sympathetic, or Supportive of its citizens’ various human needs.  

In other words, “Governing Authority” was there to keep those in line who had insufficient Faith and/or trust . . . in . . . uh . . . God, and also the government authority.  That’s rather circuitous, but I think Luther’s message really did boil down to this.  And it certainly is more fun for whoever is in power and authority.  Well, Authoritarianism certainly was the European model for civic behavior, as well as for child rearing, all the way through my parents’ generation — particularly in the Germanic countries.  I believe that it still is so in the Germanic countries . . . and no doubt other ones as well.  

My own family is European and my father treated all of us as his personal property.  Well, that’s exactly how and what he’d been taught.  His job was to “impose order” by getting the rest of us to obey him.  It was NOT his job to advise, act as a model, to support us personally or emotionally or sympathetically or morally, nor to philosophize or problem-solve.  He didn’t have much of a clue about any of that that.  But of course, he wouldn’t have: he was brought up in exactly the same way — but with much more physical punishment than he imposed on me.  So kudos for him for acting better in that way.  He merely frightened the shit out of me.

For my father and people who have been brought up as he was, everything is a struggle for power and control . . .  and even survival . . . precisely as even the smallest thing appears to be for Donald Trump.  He has NO sense of scale, perspective, boundaries, or proportion.  He has to be Respected and Obeyed.  For him, being criticized by a nine-year old seems to hold the same charge as being dissed by the leader of another nation.  Never mind that the nine year old is not likely to have nuclear weapons.  

NARCISSISTIC INJURIES

There is the concept of the “narcissistic injury” in contemporary psychology.  This is code for “a psychological injury that is so massive that it makes one feel that one has ceased to exist”.  This probably sounds fanciful, and a mere sentence like what I just wrote doesn’t at all do justice to the reality of the experience.  But I’ve seen such things happen and can vouch for the fact that they really do exist.  

I think it’s likely that most people have seen a bit of this kind of thing but have had no category of experience or knowledge to put it into.  If you’ve ever seen anyone in a mindless rage that they are powerless to stop, or seen someone completely collapse into a helpless puddle, then you’ve seen a narcissistic collapse too . . . perhaps without understanding what you were seeing.

Some people have so little sense of self, and have a personality that is so fragile, that it takes rather little to make them feel that they have ceased to exist.  As I said before, such sentences really don’t convey what that’s like. But, really: one’s sense of self and one’s sense of existing in the world disappears completely.  That is what the psychological literature is actually describing.  One minute one might be cooking dinner and the next thing one finds one’s self in an internal black vacuum of nothingness . . . in some dimension for which there are no words . . . just as infants have no words.  

Or, imagine that you’re in a department store surrounded by hundreds of objects, merchandise, things, colors, sounds, etc.  Then, POW!  It’s all gone and you’re in a large, empty, silent, and dark room . . . or in a room that’s chaotic with too-bright, colors, changing shapes, and loud sounds.  Either way, you have the primitive mental powers of a freaked out five-month old.

The adult person who is caught up in a narcissistic injury may in fact talk or rant, but that’s not the feeling state.  I repeat: the feeling state is that any coherent sense of one’s self will have completely vanished.  It’s just that one can have tantrums in which he can now throw loud words about, and also flail around uncontrollably, and even harm people.  Also, as I said before: this is impossible for someone who is a stranger to such mental states to imagine; but believe me, it happens.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – <> – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

HERE’S A RIDDLE FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT.  IF YOU’RE LESS THAN 12 YEARS OLD YOU’LL   BE ABLE TO FIGURE IT OUT EASILY.  IF YOU’RE 30 OR OLDER, IT MAY WELL STUMP  YOU:

A COWBOY RIDES INTO TOWN AT NOON ON FRIDAY.

TWO DAYS LATER, HE RIDES OUT OF TOWN, AT EXACTLY NOON, ON FRIDAY.

HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?

     – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – <> – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

More later, along with the answer to the riddle.