"A Twist of Lennon"
"I think our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think that’s what I sussed when I was sixteen and twelve, way down the line, but I expressed it differently all through my life. It’s the same thing I’m expressing all the time. But now I can put it into that sentence that I think we’re being run by maniacs for maniacal ends. If anybody can put on paper what our government and the American government etc and the Russian, Chinese, what they are actually trying to do, and what they think they’re doing, I’d be very pleased to know what they think they are doing. I think they’re all insane. But I’m liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That’s what’s insane about it."
- John Lennon, June 8 , 1968
In the above quote, John Lennon expressed the essence of a book that had been published thirteen years earlier, Erich Fromm's "The Sane Society." There can be a loneliness in being "sane" in an "insane" system, be it a family, a workplace, a community, or a country. Fromm defines the "insanity" of a system by its levels of things beyond "mental illness," including various types of violence (including all types of domestic violence, community violence, and state-sponsored violence), substance abuse and addiction, poverty, racism, sexism, serious illness and/or death, etc.
In the field of social work, it is recognized that if one family member suffers from one of these issues, that family experiences dysfunction as a system. This includes if a parent -- let's say a single parent of either sex -- loses their job, the family will experience serious pressures. This does not mean those features resulting from the pressures will always be there .....if that parent, for example, gets another job within a relatively short time, the family system will regain its balance.
In the case of a family that has one sick parental unit -- let's say a violent, unpredictable, unhinged father, just for the heck of it -- there are few options for healing so long as Old Dad remains a toxin within the household. Healing within the family requires either the old man making major changes in behaviors (possible, but not common), being removed from the home -- including being incarcerated, or, as some of the other family members may hope, dies.
Malcolm X focused his ministry on bringing healing to the victims of a sick social system, one that contained all of the factors that Fromm identified. One of his teaching methods involved symbolically placing a sparkling, clean glass of water next to a glass of filthy sludge, and trusting that a thirsty people will make the correct choice on what they want to drink.
Tonight, in the vice presidential debate, we will see our sparkling, clean glass of water named Kamala Harris, next to the filthy sludge known as Mike Pence. We know that the sickest among us will favor drinking from Pence's toxic glass. The white nationalists, the superstitious religious right, and their ilk. But the majority of Americans, desperate for healing, will see that Senator Harris is the best choice.
Enjoy the debate! I hope to participate in some fun conversations here tonight!
H2O Man
P.S.: I borrowed the title of Cynthis Lennon's 1978 book for this essay. Thank you, Cynthia!
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