America the Traumatized: How 13 Events of the Decade Made Us the PTSD Nation

[marmar]

America the Traumatized: How 13 Events of the Decade Made Us the PTSD Nation

By Adele M. Stan, AlterNet. Posted December 30, 2009.

The Millennial Decade screwed with our heads and destroyed our national identity. Are we in for a cataclysmic century?



It's been one helluva decade, even though we've reached the end without knowing what to call it. Some have tried "the aughts," others the "double-Os." I'm content to simply call it over. To mark its location in the great march of history, I've taken to calling it the millennial decade, after the great numerological transition it heralded. Yet for describing its character, nothing comes closer than the Decade of Trauma -- American trauma, that is.

Here in the home of the brave, we've endured a decade that shattered nearly every notion of what it meant to be an American, whether you live on the left or the right. And so we shout. Or hide. Or startle too easily.

In America today, it seems we all have a touch of post-traumatic stress disorder, as evidenced by our increasingly vitriolic political environment, where reality is denied and histrionics run riot. Anger, we're told, is the natural reaction to trauma; in people with PTSD, the anger is out of control. By that measure, the millennial decade has brought us 10 years of PTSD politics -- with no end in sight.

From the Tea Party madness, the unwillingness of Republicans in Congress to vote for any piece of legislation drafted by Democrats, the misuse of the filibuster in the Senate to all but break the institution, and the outsized rage on the left toward the Obama administration for simply behaving as politicians do, our national politics have moved beyond the bounds of extreme partisanship into the realm of mental illness. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/politics/144791/america_the_traumatized%3A_how_13_events_of_the_decade_made_us_the_ptsd_nation

[TexasObserver]

1. The traumas were associated with Bush and the GOP responses.

THEY ripped up the constitution, drove the country to the edge of economic collapse, started unwinnable wars for bad reasons, used fear to constantly manipulate the citizenry.

[evan2]

2. Some people say that bushco just might have been involved w/911

But, that would certainly not be a possibility, now would it? Bush might lie to get a war started, but that's about it. He
certainly wouldn't lie about some domestic crime hoax. WOULD he? Nah. Osama really is a mad genius and that's how he was able
to outsmart the entire U.S. national security/defense apparatus. After all, he is a highly experienced, knowledgeable U.S. military
defense expert, isn't he?