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| Home Front: Culture Wars |
| Narcissism, Power, Fear of Death, and Liberalism |
| 2010-04-16 |
| Dr. Helen (otherwise known as "Insta-Wife"), Pajamas Media I often get books on psychology sent to me by publishers, and the other day I received Jeffrey Kottler's On Being a Therapist. The book is now in its fourth edition, and this latest edition “puts the spotlight on the therapist's role and responsibility to promote issues of diversity, social justice, human rights, and systemic changes within the community and the world at large.' Whoa: I thought the therapist's role was to increase the client's well-being and treat mental illness.... ...For whatever reason, Jeffrey Kottler is not alone. I've noticed that psychology programs around the country have shifted from an emphasis on individual mental health to an emphasis on “promoting social justice.' In practice, this always means liberal politics. And maybe there's a connection there. Could it be that for liberals and certain therapists endowed with self-importance but without religion, influencing others is all they have? Forcing others to do as they wish fends off their fear of insignificance, which is why it is so urgent that others go along. It keeps their legacy alive. Notice how many times people bring up “Ted Kennedy's legacy' of health care. Is this more about keeping Kennedy's name immortal and his image alive than about real solutions to real-world problems? Could it be that many liberals, (including, perhaps, the occasional teleprompter-dependent ex-legislator in his first executive position, IYKWIMAITYD) like narcissistic therapists, are so insistent that others go along with them because they fear being obscure and crave feeling powerful more than they care about whether their solutions actually work? I realize this is a theory, but it's one I have pondered for quite some time. |
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