Teach Your Children Well
“Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways.”
― Sigmund Freud
Recently, I identified our opposition as a fist, combining individual fingers such as rigid christians, militia-types, etc. Today, I'd like to talk about the palm of their hands. Obviously, an unhealthy, repressed sense of sexuality creates conflicted, angry adults.It would be too easy to laugh and make rude and crude jokes. But is not sexuality the core of all "cultural" issues the republicans declare war on?
What horrible events cause some to be uncomfortable with sex as a means to pleasure, rather than shame? How devoid of meaning is a life focused on an obsession with other people's sex lives? And, in a tip of the hat to Sigmund, is there really much difference between the sad sap who imagines his gun is a reflection of his penis, and the incel who grabs a gun to inflict suffering on happy people?
Okay, okay ...... Freudian theory has some weak spots, things that are better understood today. Freud, like every good teacher, hoped for students to go beyond him. Being old, I may not be up to date, but I liked A. S. Neill's views, expressed in his 1960 classic , "Summerhill: A Radical Approach to Child Rearing." (The title was later changed to "Summerhill School: A New View of Childhood."
He thought that if sexuality was viewed as religious/spiritual, so should things like gardening and making a meal. Works for me.
The introduction of Neill's book is by Erich Fromm, my favorite in psychology and sociology. In his series of books, Fromm covers the distinctions between well-adjusted human beings, and a group of people we know today as "republicans." Frustrated individuals who have buried their emotions and drives, only to have them come back to the surface in the ugliest of ways. And that damages them -- sometimes even in their political careers -- as well as their families, communities, states and this nation.
We are witnessing this dynamic today, with their projecting their inner obsessions with child sex upon normal, healthy people. That is telling. Unless one is employed in law enforcement or child protective services, it is an odd topic to be thinking about for hours every day. It is the definition of projecting their inner demons outward. One cannot but connect this with their guilt-ridden religious superstitions.
One can't help but notice that they want to impose their superstitions in all social realms: in the legal system, over science, and in the public schools. They want to outlaw the teaching of an accurate history of our country. A significant portion of the relations between the good white christians and black and red people involves the unhealthy perversions of those white men. And that wasn't limited to targeting adult women -- one need only to take a look at the horros of the schools for Indian children being uncovered in North America today. You can attempt to bury the Truth, but it will rise to the surface, too.
Sex education in schools is a Good Thing. But it scares our republican siblings. There are a number of reasons why. Most often, they say sex education should be taught at home or in the church. No parent who takes a responsible approach to teaching their children about sex need worry about it being taught in school. It's biology, it's science. And not all kids have parents taking that responsibility. Not all parents want the emotional ball & chain associated with religious misinterpretations of sexuality. We favor that wall of separation between church and state ..... and between church and bedrooms.
Anxiety, guilt, and fear combine to energize the rage that the republicans channel into society. Consider how scary life has become for them. Their creation myths are challenged by yje mere thought of their children being taught the science of DNA and evolution. The idea of keeping guns out of the hands of the unhinged causes a very Freudian castration anxiety. A highly intelligent, well-educated and experienced black woman is on the Supreme Court. A brown-skinned person walked through their neighborhood. The list of thoughts and behaviors they want to legislate appears endless.
But we are going to put an end to it. These are simply the older versions of the kids we didn't like in school. Maybe from grade school, and definitely from high school on. They are emotionally damaged, ethically scarred victims of a social illness that we must contain and keep from causing more entrenched damage. Come November, we will crush them at the polls, with the promise that we'll teach their children well, so their parents' hell, can slowly ..... wait! Change of lyrics: so their parents hell will quickly fade away.
“One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.”
― Sigmund Freud
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