Throwback and Thoughtfulness Thursday: Thoughts on Power
A few of my "greatest hits" on abusive power
I’m very concerned about the dangerous influence of Donald Trump and the GOP on our democracy. What is striking is that there are few guardrails on autocratic power. The SCOTUS granted the POTUS a pretty broad immunity, indicating the C-in-C is pretty much above the law, dependent only upon character and personal restraint, apparently. Yikes.
Sentencing has been delayed in the “hush money” case.
Journalists have waffled on whether to cover the campaign as a horse race (their default) or a very dangerous turn of events which imperils democracy.
At this point, all we have is collective insight via the ballot box, and I’d like to do my part to inform the public.
Other psychiatrists, including Dr. Bandy Lee (who has her own Substack, please follow) have spoken up, but she was basically persecuted by later-disgraced leaders in the APA and by Yale University, her employer. Personally, I fear that a DJT presidency would fall hard on many who have spoken out, including me. Stephen Miller has promised to re-open the naturalization files of immigrants (such as myself) and I have no doubt that if they could find a way, they would persecute and even deport me and people like me. The APA’s Goldwater Rule could be used by state licensing boards and institutions to punish and persecute those who have been outspoken against DJT.
We are in perilous waters, and the American Psychiatric Association is far behind the times.
This is from a soon-to-be-published piece of writing about the so-called “Goldwater Rule”:
Reason, compassion, and shared humanity are in great peril when ego and turf dominate. The APA thus far has displayed these all-too-human latter traits, which also make it a demoralizing, moribund and complicit actor in upholding an oppressive status quo. The status quo is an intellectualized, self-justifying, avoidant, do-and-say-nothing autocracy. Through its version of abstinence, the APA amplifies enactment over insight, setting up even responsible actors for persecution and pathologization by the “power player layer” of self-appointed priests and gatekeepers of the profession.
I say this knowing that the status quo is simply people who’ve made a living (or maybe a killing) by doing what they do. Part of that must be service but it’s also competition. The competition for ideas gets really narrowed by people who see new ideas as a threat to their status and standing, or even safety.
Power and the status quo prefers enactment to insight.
And power likes to make bad objects as opposed to being accountable. “Every power structure needs a bad object.” And what does a power structure do with its bad objects? Just look at what comes down on Black and Brown bodies, the mentally ill, trans and other LGBTQ, the disabled, women, and so forth. We have to look out for each other - because looking out for each other is looking out for ourselves.
And what can insight do in the face of abusive power? I’m not sure, but I know we have to arm ourselves with insight, knowledge and wisdom, and be mindful warriors as the enactments are in progress. There’s really no avoiding enactments, especially for minoritized people and communities. Power has us in its grip, and speaking out against or about power triggers some kind of blowback, psychic, interpersonal, and cultural.
From scapegoating to shunning and all manners of psychological incarceration. It takes a great deal of presence and remembrance of deep connection to stay in the game and know how to collect oneself after being nailed with a negative transference by a power structure or a powerful person.
I wrote about the range of power here:
Which of Six Power Types Will You Embody and Support? | Psychology Today (September 15, 2022) How does power challenge empathy and relatedness?
More throwbacks:
These two images are from my lectures on Narcissism and Executive Power in 2019-2020.
SF Love Dojo Narcissism and Executive Power in the American Psyche, part 1
SF Love Dojo: Narcissism and Relatedness in the American Psyche, part 2
Ok, that’s it for now. Please share. More to come soon.
Warmly,
Ravi