‘James’ has something in common (psychologically) with Sohrab Ahmari. Andrew Sullivan’s Ahmari interview dives deep into Sohrab’s hatred for his father. Sohrab is another lost/angry boy. He’s found meaning in strident Catholicism and Marxism
I have long believed that psychology is extremely relevant to understanding why so many Americans support Trump. While I am not a therapist, I have some understanding of the consequences of unresolved trauma on people's lives through my work with survivors of domestic violence. I believe that this unresolved trauma (loosing jobs, loosing homes, family dysfunction, etc.) is MUCH more common among all of us than previously thought. And this contributes significantly to how Trump supports think and act. There needs to be closer attention paid to this and I am very pleased to see Damon bringing it up.
Wow this is like the old Marxist Communist theory. Everything is wrong because of capitalism. The means of production should be controlled by the people in the form of a benevolent dictator. Then everyone would have jobs and wages and life would be controlled by a benevolent leader who would take money from the robber barons and distribute it to the workers. No wonder they hate Biden because he won't control prices. And they love Chairman Trump who will destroy the capitalist bourgeois owners. I understand them now.
Damon, you bail out at the end. You aren't in favor of putting James, Robert, and Mary on the couch or prescribing them SSRIs. You merely suggest greater self awareness. But how is greater self awareness going to solve anything without an actual policy?
Some years ago we had an "emotions turn" in the social sciences--with scholars in a number of social science fields exploring the role of emotions in "what happens"--and in that connection, among other things, the phenomenon of "ressentiment" (especially as considered by Nietzsche) was raised as a driver for some people. In a previous comment I made to "Eyes on the Right", I referred to an article contrasting "resentment" with "ressentiment"- ("Resentment/Ressentiment" by Michael Ure in Constellations, vol 22(4), 2015 -- and see also "Resentment and Ressentiment" by Meltzer and Musolf in Sociological Inquiry, vol 72(2), 2002). Ressentiment can be summed up in a few words about it written on google, following Nietzsche:
"Ressentiment is a reassignment of the pain that accompanies a sense of one's own inferiority/failure on to an external scapegoat. The ego creates the illusion of an enemy, a cause that can be "blamed" for one's own inferiority/failure." -- To this I might add, as I noted in that previous comment, that unlike the sentiment of resentment, ressentiment does not allow for any redress. There is nothing anyone can do to heal the wounds they presumably caused others who experience ressentiment--because ressentiment isn't really about wounds. It is about jealousy stemming from a sense of inferiority--and the only way for someone experiencing ressentiment to deal with an opponent is with vengeance: to try and destroy them completely, or humiliate them totally--not to reach some compromise. (Consider, for example, Trump's attitude towards Obama).
If there were some effort made to address income inequality (which in recent decades has become more extreme), perhaps there would be more hope for those in James' situation. Since Reagan suggested that any use of government to solve society's problems was a mistake, Americans have turned away from visions of the Common Good. It's every man for himself, and forget the evils of "income redistribution." No wonder we're dealing with the resulting "ressentiment."
Exhibit A: the lost boys who follow Jordan Peterson
‘James’ has something in common (psychologically) with Sohrab Ahmari. Andrew Sullivan’s Ahmari interview dives deep into Sohrab’s hatred for his father. Sohrab is another lost/angry boy. He’s found meaning in strident Catholicism and Marxism
I have long believed that psychology is extremely relevant to understanding why so many Americans support Trump. While I am not a therapist, I have some understanding of the consequences of unresolved trauma on people's lives through my work with survivors of domestic violence. I believe that this unresolved trauma (loosing jobs, loosing homes, family dysfunction, etc.) is MUCH more common among all of us than previously thought. And this contributes significantly to how Trump supports think and act. There needs to be closer attention paid to this and I am very pleased to see Damon bringing it up.
Wow this is like the old Marxist Communist theory. Everything is wrong because of capitalism. The means of production should be controlled by the people in the form of a benevolent dictator. Then everyone would have jobs and wages and life would be controlled by a benevolent leader who would take money from the robber barons and distribute it to the workers. No wonder they hate Biden because he won't control prices. And they love Chairman Trump who will destroy the capitalist bourgeois owners. I understand them now.
Damon, you bail out at the end. You aren't in favor of putting James, Robert, and Mary on the couch or prescribing them SSRIs. You merely suggest greater self awareness. But how is greater self awareness going to solve anything without an actual policy?
Some years ago we had an "emotions turn" in the social sciences--with scholars in a number of social science fields exploring the role of emotions in "what happens"--and in that connection, among other things, the phenomenon of "ressentiment" (especially as considered by Nietzsche) was raised as a driver for some people. In a previous comment I made to "Eyes on the Right", I referred to an article contrasting "resentment" with "ressentiment"- ("Resentment/Ressentiment" by Michael Ure in Constellations, vol 22(4), 2015 -- and see also "Resentment and Ressentiment" by Meltzer and Musolf in Sociological Inquiry, vol 72(2), 2002). Ressentiment can be summed up in a few words about it written on google, following Nietzsche:
"Ressentiment is a reassignment of the pain that accompanies a sense of one's own inferiority/failure on to an external scapegoat. The ego creates the illusion of an enemy, a cause that can be "blamed" for one's own inferiority/failure." -- To this I might add, as I noted in that previous comment, that unlike the sentiment of resentment, ressentiment does not allow for any redress. There is nothing anyone can do to heal the wounds they presumably caused others who experience ressentiment--because ressentiment isn't really about wounds. It is about jealousy stemming from a sense of inferiority--and the only way for someone experiencing ressentiment to deal with an opponent is with vengeance: to try and destroy them completely, or humiliate them totally--not to reach some compromise. (Consider, for example, Trump's attitude towards Obama).
I have also seen the notion applied to the emotive/psychological stance of whole societies involved in foreign affairs (as for example, the Islamic world which, some claim, is infused with ressentiment against the West--as discussed by Abdelwahhab Meddab in the journal "October 99", Winter 2002 in an interview entitled: "Islam and Its Discontents" - appearing online here: https://watermark.silverchair.com/016228702317274611.pdf?token=AQECAHi208BE49Ooan9kkhW_Ercy7Dm3ZL_9Cf3qfKAc485ysgAAAwAwggL8BgkqhkiG9w0BBwagggLtMIIC6QIBADCCAuIGCSqGSIb3DQEHATAeBglghkgBZQMEAS4wEQQMLN5QdtpuOkyCP56sAgEQgIICswSkkFn78HJ7iVvvYx-DmeenPdx68gmUDQH56trhnuFCA-bUuUiBfptebu-KeEmurw4yjSQ-tVXOM0zTB-LA5O8jvJv665OzCNDU1H5BGAQYybKjtQqB47zyFWO5hJtgSN8PskghfFb8u7EA8-Mv9lrwBLFbVrKXZHwqo073rN-essO9TYW8DSgS9wSgi9zPcXJlkG2TmDNwBt_ye_R7ZSCKrZJxvAPHxoRjVsHaHi34du0A4CQbETTMHA89baNbjfyeLm-qJhlOn1AI7NAL0KNe4hv1c9TXuHArmEvDEHvAM1Vd5gV6sCeOZ_R3I3QUVSGX9wW-B4VtO96aoE7NTcw1lPqZnqkHKbuJkLOvgbqPiCrs1gk66NZvKbxqC9ZjdQabyAfaXXkG0Ofq9vX7ZglBUTJ-LIKekKfSV2QvLNX3YZTohpb7O3L8rg9DjaMcfxKgfL4Wrvgaovza7tBnINSSRZYq2gtbKqh_Uq7IbK4RI25HwUp-99BiOlnLDqxSNo85fh9f5626DUJXjzsbzmBoZh5ZyXz1IrHaGljPtUC1_bGNYMLwjQ4LiiuJ0JvhBcEId05kxTauRep6SUE7-Ge3RT9y7R3FKN877o-BCgICjVl5CRPOL1d7cvC-ud6dc0XniQ-P3rVqYAocnd8PvK4V-zUkxFLptg7bVPy64UOCv1ugqfwAG4DSUA9kF7sfheSV6b-ZptDYzxz8NEcxXb2bDLD7j1Kr80vBZHun3OuUneX2InyPmfXhsaVVwfseofUgxNnJpJYTV9lBo4_Uzymqwm2d6qMLI3aPL-RqEGCt7IuSeARgGIEGPRCTquJiydlYbD5ex7Y2oP9jf7uP0ja9soPBEaDAhteSEloJP0p3O-lFcQfoPqa6S3zXymobP6EDikVDo93OYQwUQyzM1RZWzeQ )
What I do not know is why some people react to a sense of personal inferiority with ressentiment, while others who feel personally inferior do not.
If there were some effort made to address income inequality (which in recent decades has become more extreme), perhaps there would be more hope for those in James' situation. Since Reagan suggested that any use of government to solve society's problems was a mistake, Americans have turned away from visions of the Common Good. It's every man for himself, and forget the evils of "income redistribution." No wonder we're dealing with the resulting "ressentiment."