Your article about Bush's mental illness is fascinating, cosmicforce. But I am afraid it is so long that not everyone will read it. So I want to post a few paragraphs here that I found particularly significant. But really, folks, if you missed the article when cosmicforce posted it, you really should go back and read the whole thing if you have some time:
It is not that the threat of terrorism is not real, but that Bush's policies in dealing with terrorism are actually fueling the fire. A recent poll showed that the majority of Americans have finally recognized that the war in Iraq has actually increased the threat of terrorism. Talking about Bush's policies on terrorism and his pre-emptive invasion of Iraq, Al Gore says, "Instead of making it better, he has made it infinitely worse. We are less safe because of his policies…….the unpleasant truth is that President Bush's utter incompetence has made the world a far more dangerous place and dramatically increased the threat of terrorism against the United States." Bush totally fell into Bin Laden's trap. Bin Laden couldn't have imagined a better recruiting tool for terrorists than for Bush to invade Iraq. The way Bush is fighting terrorism is actually the very act which is invoking and creating more of it in the first place.
And . . .
Just like Hitler struck a chord deep in the German unconscious, Bush is touching something very deep in the American psyche. Bush is acting out on the world stage an under-developed psychological process that deals simplistically with issues such as good and evil. It’s as if he hasn't grown out of and fully differentiated from the realm of mythic, archetypal fantasy that is typical of early adolescence. This immature aspect of Bush's process speaks to and resonates with those voters who support him, as it is a reflection of their own under-developed inner process.
Whereas Hitler’s evil was more overt in its cruelty and sadism, Bush’s dark side is much more hidden and disguised, which makes it particularly dangerous. People who vote for Bush are somehow blind to what is very obvious to others. It’s as if they’ve become hypnotized and fallen under the spell that Bush is casting. Why would people vote for someone stricken with malignant egophrenia? People who support Bush are suggestible and susceptible to the same malady that Bush is embodying, as if they have a predisposition for it (based on their own trauma, dissociated psyche and tendency to project the shadow). Supporting Bush is a sign that a person not only doesn't see the deadly illness that is incarnating itself through Bush, but is an expression that this disease has taken up residence in their being and is using them to do its bidding.
And . . .
MALIGNANT NARCISSISM
Psychologically speaking, one facet of Bush's condition is what is called "malignant narcissism." This is a narcissist who reacts to others who don't support and enable their narcissism not just with aggression but with sadism. I’ve never seen so many books come out by members of a presidential administration that hold up a mirror and reflect our president's shadow. Instead of self-reflecting and taking in the critical feedback, the Bush administration reacts like a mean-spirited malignant narcissist behaves- by denying the accusation and then by trying to destroy the messenger.
Malignant narcissists also tend towards paranoia and are very adept at charming and manipulating others. They can seem confident and self-assured, but are, in reality, covering deep insecurities and fears through an inflated self-image. Malignant narcissists are unable to genuinely mourn or feel empathy for others and have an overwhelming lack of genuine compassion. They relate to others (including the environment) as objects to satisfy and support their own inflated, narcissistic self-image (so much for "compassionate conservatism"). Malignant narcissists have contempt for anyone who disagrees with them (as it threatens their narcissism). For example, the Bush Administration labels those who disagree with them as being "un-American," "unpatriotic," and as we have seen in more extreme cases "terrorists."
Malignant narcissists also have contempt for and flagrantly violate the rule of law, which they believe themselves to be above. Thai intellectual and social critic Sulak Sivaraksa likens Bush to two other malignant narcissists, Hitler and Stalin, arguing that Bush's declaration of an "axis of Evil," Hitler's "Final Solution," and Stalin's "pogrom of peasants" were actually analogous attempts "to perfect the world by destroying the [perceived] impurities." Another modern day malignant narcissist is none other than Saddam Hussein. |
