Featured Comments: Jungian Views of the Loughner Case

One of the problems in living in this media-dominated culture is that the “mainstream media” (and this includes the “liberal” and “conservative” media) is so collective and so at odds with a psychological and Jungian viewpoint.
The Internet can help one feel less isolated because one’s viewpoint is different than “normal”. I think that the Internet, at its best, is accelerating cultural change and consciousness.
It is heartwarming and validating to read some of the comments to this blog. Here are some of the recent comments:






There are many reasons why I think this event struck at the heart of America, including the fact that this particular congresswoman had spoken out about the heated rhetoric before she was shot. She was at a place people consider “safe” – the local grocery store – and her crowd was composed of people of all ages, what we would think of as a typically American crowd for this type of gathering. The congresswoman was a Blue Dog Democrat – someone who did not support party lines but voted for what she and her constituents felt was important, which means as a Democrat in a typically Republican constituency, she was reaching both sides. She is the mother of two young children, and the wife of an astronaut – so we have the image of the mother here as well as the celebrity status of an astronaut. This event looked like the very essence of Americana on the surface, which meant that the shooter shattered the image of what many on both sides of the political arena consider America to be, a land of opportunity, a safe place, a place where you can be whatever you want to be if you work hard enough, a place where your voice is heard insofar as political representation. As for some of the other victims of the shooting – the idealistic child, the man who was killed protecting his wife, etc. – again, these are iconic figures in our society. Those in attendance – and involved in this situation – were from various races, religious views, and sexual orientation – a microcosm of what America is supposed to be. And if you look at the president’s speech – and those he spoke of – you can hear him speak of more of the images we consider typically American.
Susan




I agree that the American shadow erupts on a fairly regular basis. And the saddest thing of all is that so few can own that these violent outbursts are the result of our insistence that we are All-American, as pure as the driven snow.
We all live with the results of mass delusion. Those who speak of the dark underside of the collective American psyche are called unpatriotic liars, ostracized and dismissed/marginalized.
Until we create room for discussion of our collective responsibility (in contrast to calling the various shooters singular and crazy and/or delusional) we will continue to have these tragic incidents.
Terre




On another level– I’m taken by the fact that Jared chose to express his anger towards a woman politician. Jared appears to be obsessed with GG. He’d attempted to make contact with her and felt thwarted. Not that she didn’t respond but that she didn’t respond as he expected.
Terry




You cut through the superficial attempts to find a “causality” link – just another way of trying to avoid looking at interiority as if it is either nonsense or as if it can just be simply displaced into the material realm of clues and evidence. Your statement that this is repeated millions of times can be read on so many levels too. It’s not just that the “sane” should listen to the “insane” to ferret out “crazy” ideation, but that all of us are ignoring the calls our interior selves send us.
What we avoid to acknowledge inside will manifest itself outside, to badly paraphrase Carl Jung!
Antonio




Labelling something or someone as ‘delusional’ is really a subjective judgement. Politicians make socially, politically, religiously and/or economically determined strategies based on their own psychology. As ‘common’ people we live every day with the paranoid, self-interested (power driven) and often quite irrational decisions made by our ‘leaders’. These are mostly based on ridiculously unsustainable economic beliefs (growth and greed) and are often short on empathy. Sounds a bit psychopathic to me. Most have never bothered to sort themselves out before they take on these roles – that’s how you end up with Hitlers.
Michelle




One Comment

  1. I agree SP, the internet certainly has helped me feel less isolated because as you say, mainstream culture and media form an almost impenetrable collective wall of ignorance. Finding your original blog was like finding gold. I was gobsmacked that my journey shared such profound similarities with yours, someone who lived so far away in such a different life and country from my own.

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