Are Americans a Broken People? Why We've Stopped Fighting Back Against the Forces of Oppression

[marmar]

Are Americans a Broken People? Why We've Stopped Fighting Back Against the Forces of Oppression

By Bruce E. Levine, AlterNet. Posted December 11, 2009.

A psychologist asks: Have consumerism, suburbanization and a malevolent corporate-government partnership so beaten us down that we no longer have the will to save ourselves?




Can people become so broken that truths of how they are being screwed do not "set them free" but instead further demoralize them? Has such a demoralization happened in the United States?

Do some totalitarians actually want us to hear how we have been screwed because they know that humiliating passivity in the face of obvious oppression will demoralize us even further?

What forces have created a demoralized, passive, dis-couraged U.S. population?

Can anything be done to turn this around?

Can people become so broken that truths of how they are being screwed do not "set them free" but instead further demoralize them?

Yes. It is called the "abuse syndrome." How do abusive pimps, spouses, bosses, corporations, and governments stay in control? They shove lies, emotional and physical abuses, and injustices in their victims' faces, and when victims are afraid to exit from these relationships, they get weaker. So the abuser then makes their victims eat even more lies, abuses, and injustices, resulting in victims even weaker as they remain in these relationships.

Does knowing the truth of their abuse set people free when they are deep in these abuse syndromes?

No. For victims of the abuse syndrome, the truth of their passive submission to humiliating oppression is more than embarrassing; it can feel shameful -- and there is nothing more painful than shame. When one already feels beaten down and demoralized, the likely response to the pain of shame is not constructive action, but more attempts to shut down or divert oneself from this pain. It is not likely that the truth of one's humiliating oppression is going to energize one to constructive actions. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/politics/144529/are_americans_a_broken_people_why_we%27ve_stopped_fighting_back_against_the_forces_of_oppression

[Dinger]

1. For Some Of Us, Yes

Sad To say.

[natrat]

2. please, if you dont feel broken now and then by this shit you are not human

[lildreamer316]

5. +1000

Now I'm waiting for the critics of the 'lazy stupid American' to come out in force to argue against this article.

[PuraVidaDreamin]

3. Great read! I remember when I vigorously started protesting the Iraq war

Standing by myself on the side of the road with signs- other people saying I was crazy

Arguing with my spouse about what I believed and now know was true- the faulty evidence
Him telling me that sometimes we need to sacrifice for the good of the country when I told him
NO WAY are my boys ever going to join the military for this empire. The beginning of the
collapse of my marriage because of what he thought was a severe preoccupation with the
policies of GWB administration- I told him I thought the economy would collapse an he
laughed at me....

So I went to a psychiatrist for a while and He was not at all equipped to deal with the fact that
there WAS-NOTHING WRONG with me- and that I had a mind and thought for myself. The meds
he tried putting me on that made my libido nose dive and created further problems between
me and my spouse. LOL!!!

Got rid of spouse- and whacko doc, realized that I'm NOT a clone, that I have an independent mind
that can tell what is right from wrong and will use it to continue to work for peace and social justice.
So even tho' the country as a whole is in a low place, I'm actually pretty happy- planning my next
peace caper.

Let me tell you about it- Peace of the Action will be in the spring. We are recruiting people to join us
in peaceful civil resistance in DC- clogging up major busy areas- bringing things to a halt
1000 like minded individuals committed to arrest every week day while congress is in session clogging up
their jails and their courts. See the website for more info. http://peaceoftheaction.org/

Think about joining us.

[cilla4progress]

12. "LOL"

Amazed - and impressed - that you can LOL. Good for you.

PS I live too far from DC to afford travel there; esp. with my recent layoff. Goodluck!

[olegramps]

31. I sure sign that they have succeeded.

[bertman]

15. PuraVidaDreamin, your story is inspirational--REmorale-izing, as the article suggests.

Thanks for posting that. I will try to be there in D.C.

[dotymed]

24. Good for you!

I was in an abusive (I'm a male, Union carpenter, before the heart attacks) relationship and I agree with the premise of this article. Mine was mainly very emotionally and verbally abusive. We had three kids (I fathered the youngest and agreed to marry her when he was 1 years old). The stories of the abuse are too long and painful. I never "fell in love" with her, but I did care about her and loved the children. She began turning them against me, mostly behind my back, but she would verbally abuse me in front of them. I financially supported them, she would say that since I earned good money she "didn't have to work." I worked (usually) about 84 hours a week, coached the kids ball teams, was on boards and committees, cooked and cleaned while she convinced some people in the community that she was a "good Christian" and I was shit. She allowed me no privacy and even taped my phone calls. She estranged me from friends and family. I thought I was doing right by the kids by staying with her (stupid).. I had my first heart attack in 2003. I slowed my pace but kept working as a carpenter (industrial) until in 2006, in New Orleans, I had a major heart attack. (In 2003 she had taken a job as a home health care worker. She slowly eliminated her competition until she became office manager.) After they finally did two surgeries, let me recuperate and then flew me home with the news of heart failure, I became expendable and was treated even worse, and now the kids began to treat me the same way, with her blessings. After 13 years and a few near death experiences, I moved out. Even though I owned the house, she and the kids stayed there until it was repossessed, all of the utilities were in my name and went unpaid also. Yes, I was a college educated grown man, and I was a prisoner of a demented woman who, even though I knew better, kept me a virtual slave (not sexually, the last few years I was too repulsed to touch her and too afraid to cheat), if I had a few drinks after work, she would call the police when I got home and tell them I assaulted her, when they weren't looking she would be mocking me and "flipping me off." I understand the twisted rationalizations that keep us from taking to the streets, but now that I have thrown off one pair of shackles, I will gladly fight for our freedoms. Ironically, it has been 3 years and while I have gotten my share of "signals", I have been scarred so badly that I haven't dated anyone. I feel like a loser, especially now that I am unemployed (still getting Union disability) I just never want to be in that situation again..... That was cathartic.

[mudplanet]

25. Emotional abuse can be almost as bad as physical abuse.

You can be glad of one thing: that you don't live inside of that woman's head. I don't even want to imagine what that freak show looks like.

[dotymed]

39. Amen ;

[fasttense]

4. Great article.

I have one nit to pick though. I think fear also plays a big role in the abuse cycle.

Shame comes from realizing what a wimp and helpless sap you have become. But there is also the fear that more physical and more awful pain will follow if you stand up for yourself. That fear can be paralyzing by itself.

But there is one big giant emotion that, for me at least, has always pushed away the fear. And that is red hot burning ANGER. Anger for me is motivation and action. Eventually you get worn out by shame and fear, but then anger takes over and you realize there is nothing keeping you from fighting back.

We need to start fighting back and anger can motivate that action.

[lildreamer316]

6. TRUTH. So nice to read. Thank you for posting!!

Very important for everyone here to read.

[lildreamer316]

7. "An elitist assumption is that people don't change b/c they are either ignorant of their problem..."

"An elitist assumption is that people don't change because they are either ignorant of their problems or ignorant of solutions. "

AHA. Sounds like a lot of what I read here. Nail on head!!!!

[old mark]

8. Rec. nt

[azul]

9. Alas, it is about pecking order too.

Like my spouse spiels, put any people together and they will find their places, classify themselves, they feel secure or some comfort in knowing just where they stand in relation to others.

Lowering self-respect must make some people kick their dogs or de-humanize some peoples until they can find a new rung on the ladder.

How can we increase self-respect when our government, ourselves, and our businesses, our jobs, are heaping shame and disgrace on us? Yes, we are responsible, but are we in control any longer?

[billyoc]

10. Not at all. I'm one lottery ticket away from financial independence.

:rofl:

[burning rain]

17. You allude to a notable issue.

Lottery tickets provide many with the false comfort of fantasy. Another fantasy many have is that although they're low-wage non-unionized workers, they vote Republican because they have a fantasy of one day being an owner and lording it over low-wage non-unionized workers, themselves.

[Fire1]

18. Keep the dream alive, eh? n/t

[burning rain]

21. Dreams are great as long as they're realistic.

But the hopes of low-income folks who buy lottery tickets or vote Republican expecting someday to be the overdog, are sad and fanciful.

[KG]

11. TV

[snake in the grass]

13. Not broken, but bought.

We have so many shiny, little things; so many doohickeys. Hell, it can't be all that bad if I have a flat-screen tv, right? I don't know a single person who uses their garage to park their car in anymore. At some point in the last 30 years we became convinced that the freedom to consume equates actual liberty. I remember Reagan praising the U.S. because it had 33 different flavours of ice cream.

No, the people aren't broken (yet). They don't even know they are slaves and that the so-called American Dream is a slot machine. Occasionally, someone will get the jackpot, but it's the house that always wins in the end.

[Mopar151]

14. Since I gained a co-dependent sister-in-law

I've noticed that the right wing, and Jawge Dubya in particular, know how to push lots of buttons on those folks. They seem to have a direct pipeline (currently in the hands of Glenn Beck, IMHO) to the fearful, irrational, and clueless. They can lead these people around as if they had rings in their noses, with fear, xenophobia, Jeebus, and a big side order of Red, White, and Blue psuedo-patriotism and faux faith. The "War on Christmas" is a fine example, the rubes can't wait to be fleeced.

[bertman]

16. Wish I could rec this more than once. Excellent post, marmar.

I think they forgot to add COMPUTERS to the list--right beside TeeVee.

Morale as the antidote. Very perceptive. BUT, I would have thought that President Obama's victory would have been the morale boost we all needed. It didn't take long for the reality to set in after January 20th.

I'm looking for another morale booster. I guess it's different for different folks.

[stevietheman]

19. In a republic, the people are always broken.

Without direct democracy (and its own flaws), the people can never directly control their country's destiny, and therefore, we've always been mostly helpless, except for the very few mass movements that effected some real change in our history. And the funny thing about mass movements is that you can't just make them happen -- they are instead almost entirely "perfect storms".

[bertman]

26. I'll be the first to comment that "direct democracy" is not even a remote possibility in a

nation. Hell, it's hard to make it work even in small businesses. Then, of course, there were the classical Athenians who tried the democratic ideal (except for the fact that no slaves or women were allowed to participate) as their governmental system of choice for several hundred years, only to fail.

A democratic republic, with its many warts and flaws, is so far, the best representative form of government we've been able to devise. It may prove to be our unfortunate lot that we become the "failed experiment" of what many hoped would be the solution to government that represents the wishes and best interests of the people.

It seems to be the case that we humans ultimately have to depend upon the morality and good intentions of those who are our chosen leaders/representatives for our well being. Hierarchical relationships are part of our genetic makeup. It's hard to imagine in what direction our democratic republic might evolve, or whether it will be replaced by some other form yet to be envisioned, or fall back onto the old tried-and-true governmental systems such as oligarchy or despotism.

[winyanstaz]

20. Anger and the realization there is nothing left to lose....

has led many a mouse to turn on it's tormentor and roar.
Once long ago I was in an abusive marriage. (It was an arranged marriage) It took a while for me to stand up for myself because at first I kept thinking I had to stay married for life.
After a lot of abuse, both physical and mental I finally realize that I was a human being with rights and I could and would fight back. And that the ******* had to go to sleep sometime.
I did get away...and in the end I won and my life was much happier for it. Many years later I married a fine and loving man..but thats another story.
After that first abusive relationship was over..I worked with other abused people during different times and I was amazed at how many would not stand up for themselves or get mad or fight back.
America right now is a lot like an abused wife (or husband) in a very bad marriage.
America is a battered spouse that needs to get mad and fight back.
However, if this abused nation ever does get mad enough to fight back...there will indeed be hell to pay.

[Umbral]

22. It's not from lack of will, there simply isn't a method available

Voting is worthless, protests are laughed at, the civil disobedient are treated the same as the uncivil disobedient - turned into criminals or caricatures. But take heart, eventually the system will breakdown, then we can start over, those of us that are left anyway.

[midnight]

23. We're here. We're asking questions. We're getting out the vote. We're not

broken. We have been at war for eight years, because it makes our president appear strong. Now we know that, and we know it is not right. So let's stop this war because it is making us look broken, and we are not.

[sam sarrha]

27. they are brainwashed..... i see it going on on all the all the news media, all the time.

[sam sarrha]

28. they are brainwashed..... i see it going on on all the all the news media, all the time.

[Joanne98]

29. YES! We've become a bunch of WIMPS!

[Yavin4]

30. You Boost Your Morale By Overcoming Your Fear of What Life Would Be Like Without Your Abuser

I worked a lot of shitty jobs in my life. I was constantly underpaid and mis-treated. People could yell at me, and if I ever stood up for myself, I was in danger of being fired. Finally, I had hit rock bottom, and my morale was boosted by the fact that I had nothing to lose. Being unemployed was superior to taking their shit.

Kind of like the abused spouse who finally realizes that being alone or even living in a shelter was superior to taking beatings from that piece of shit. IOW, once you're passed the fear of what life would be like without your abuser, your morale takes an instant boost. High morale is nothing more than having a positive outlook on life.

Life without your abuser is not only possible, but it can be even better than you imagined it.

[olegramps]

32. You want to regain your self-respect and contol of your life?

Then I would suggest three things:

(1) Firstly Unionize. This is the only practical way to regain a fair share of the fruits of your labor. It is the only practical way for working class people to effectively make their voice firmly heard by the politicians. Why do you think that corporations spend millions to lobby against pro-labor measures? They are well aware that strong unions would prevent them from ripping off the workers with low wages and million dollar bonuses for management.

(2) Having regained a voice in government, demand term limits and put an end to professional politicians whose sole goal in life is to be reelected. These guys would sell their soul to the devil.

(3) Demand public financing of all Federal Elections that will put an end to the corporate lobbyists' control of legislation.

Following WWII organized labor represented 36% of the work force. That was significant when many were employed in small businesses and agriculture. The union workers set the standard for wages and benefits which the non-union people benefited from. The average worker enjoyed the highest standard of living and it only took one person's wages to raise a family. Today, after the workers swallowed management's propaganda that they would be well taken care of, only 6% of American workers are unionized. Wonder why your job went South, your health insurance canceled and no pension? Wonder why those politicians don't hear your pain. You don't have to look any further for both the cause and the solution.

[Blue_Tires]

35. +1

[paparush]

33. The HAVES don't want an educated, financially secure middle/working class.

And since Reagan, the HAVES in both parties have done a Heckuva Job gutting the middle / working class.

[Butch350]

34. Yep! I've become too complacent. Seriously.

There's NFL football, major league baseball, cable, at least a couple of dozen CSI's, reruns, listening to golden oldies,
wildlife and nature scene photography, work, dining out, movies, SEX - just no time to stand up for my rights.

[katty]

36. is the sun hot?

[Blue_Tires]

37. kick.... an unplesant read, but a good one...

[Blue_Tires]

38. final kick

[Skittles]

40. look at how many DUers SUPPORT the oppression

gawd it is depressing

[wolfgangmo]

41. Of course American's are broken

They have been broken since the 70's at least. ALthough one could argue that they were diseased before they broke (civil rights anyone).

The real shock here is that it took us so long to notice.

[JNelson6563]

42. Complacent and lazy, nobody cares about anything

that isn't happening to them.

Lots of I-got-mine-fuck-the-rest-of-you out there.

Sure, I think some are "beaten down" but they are largely outnumbered by those I described already.

Julie