Jurassic White House: The Reptilian Brain of George W. Bush

[Radio_Lady]

August 26-27, 2006

Jurassic White House: The Reptilian Brain of George W. Bush



By STEPHEN FLEISCHMAN

No, this is not about "Snakes on a Plane".

According to neurologist Dr. Paul MacLean, researcher at the National Institutes of Health, you have three brains, not just one (the primitive, the limbic and the neocortex or rational). The brain stem, the primitive, is the oldest. It evolved hundreds of millions of years ago and is more like the entire brain of present-day reptiles. It controls automatic brain functions and such things as fight or flight mechanisms. When stimulated, rational thinking stops; action becomes instinctive and ritualistic. This may account for a lot of what's going on today.

President George W. Bush may well be a victim of his reptilian brain. With his polls hitting historic lows, he is caught in the ambivalence of fight or flight. After three and a half years, his war in Iraq has gotten nowhere. All he can say is "we must stay the course until the job is done". He hasn't said what the job is that has to be done, and no one in the mainstream media has really pushed him for an answer. (Maybe they, too, are suffering from reptilian brain stimulus.)

Bush has despoiled a very special region of the world - Mesopotamia, universally revered as the cradle of civilization. The effect of the war on the Sunni and Shia population of Iraq has been so traumatic it has driven them back into a distant and primitive period of their history-back to the year 632 AD and the death of the Prophet Muhammad. Muhammad's son-in-law, Ali, was the central figure in the Shia/Sunni split and a dispute raged over whom was the "rightly guided Caliph". So in the year 2006, the Sunnis and the Shiites are killing each other, again, in a burgeoning civil war while an occupation by a foreign power and an insurgency are going on at the same time. Family feuds and wars, civil and otherwise, are usually caused by over-stimulation of reptilian brains.

We have learned one thing out of all this. If you're running for office go for the reptile in the voter. Generate fear. That's the most effective way to win. The war on terror. The war on drugs. Global warming. The coming of another Katrina. The nuclear threat. Iran. North Korea. Even Abortion and Gay Marriage. If you look at the range of issues, one stands above the others - National Security. George Bush was able to steal two elections on the fear generated by that one.

There's an even bigger threat out there brought on by the overwrought brain stems of Wall Street manipulators. The financial market is always on the ragged edge of economic collapse. Its nature is to boom and bust. We all know that. We just gamble on when it's going to happen. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know when the time is ripe for it to fall like an over-ripe plum. My reptilian brain tells me the day is not far off. Major American industries are in trouble. Ford and General Motors are in the dumps. Adelphia and Comcast vans go into a car wash and come out labeled Time-Warner. Pension plans are going bye-bye. The labor movement has been defanged. No longer are unions effective in winning decent wages for decent jobs. Collective bargaining is a happy memory, fading in the foggy past. Purchasing power is down. Prices are up. Oil is scarce. New wars are brewing. Syria? Iran? Maybe Venezuela? Whose reptilian brain is cooking all that up? The neo-cons'?

***MORE AT LINK BELOW***

Jurassic White House: The Reptilian Brain of George W. Bush

Stephen Fleischman , television writer-director-producer, spent thirty years in Network News at CBS and ABC, starting in 1953. In 1959, he participated in the formation of the renowned Murrow-Friendly "CBS Reports" series. In 1983, Fleischman won the prestigious Columbia University-Dupont Television Journalism Award. In 2004, he wrote his personal memoir. Steve's website is here.

[OneBlueSky]

1. "If you're running for office go for the reptile in the voter" . . .

just a quick quote for those who haven't read the article . . .

"We have learned one thing out of all this. If you're running for office go for the reptile in the voter. Generate fear. That's the most effective way to win. The war on terror. The war on drugs. Global warming. The coming of another Katrina. The nuclear threat. Iran. North Korea. Even Abortion and Gay Marriage. If you look at the range of issues, one stands above the others-National Security. George Bush was able to steal two elections on the fear generated by that one."

that pretty much sums up our situation in 2006 America . . .

[Radio_Lady]

2. Thanks, OneBlueSky. Appreciate your comment and I'll pass it along

to the author.

Warm regards,

Radio_Lady in Oregon

[ochazuke]

3. Global Warming

I don't think that issue has any appeal to the R-brain. Zero.

[Radio_Lady]

5. I agree. Thanks for posting this comment, Ochazuke.

[Lisa]

8. instead of fearmongering, scientists are going around ...

... explaining all the positive steps that could be taken, pointing out other issues which could also be addressed if we deal with this, like poor air quality and our overreliance on cars. Trying to appeal to people's rationality and idealism, etc.

Silly us! We should be out there like Dubya, flogging a color-coded "Global Warming Hazard Index", and screaming "if you aren't with Kyoto, you're with the hurricanes!".

[cliss]

4. A great article,

and a very good summary of what is happening today. It's so amazing....I look around, and I feel like our entire structure is falling apart. It's like watching a train wreck in slow motion. And there are still lots of people who don't see it!!!!

They just wander around, thinking everything is still OK....

It's the Reptile, baby. They are also the longest-known survivors on earth. Maybe there's a reason for that.

[Radio_Lady]

6. Appreciate your comment, Cliss.

I thought roaches or ants were the longest survivors.

But it's been a long time since I studied biology!

[cliss]

7. Ah...you are probably right.

However, I would rather have a reptilian brain than a roach or ant brain... a little more evolved!!!

Here's hoping even the reptilian part of our brain realizes we are sitting on the brink........