Authoritarianism in Training: Donald Trump and the Childhood Roots of Anger

 "The Editors: Can you explain the relationship between physical discipline in childhood and support for punitive political initiatives in adulthood?

The Authors: In our research, we have found that the higher the frequency of spanking a person received in childhood, sometimes referred to as “sub-clinical trauma,” the greater the authoritarianism in adulthood, and the greater their support for punitive public policies like the death penalty and the use of military force. We call this “affect displacement theory,” whereby emotion from one source, in this case, childhood, can be carried into adulthood and displaced onto adult political attitudes.

It is important to note that experiencing childhood abuse is not solely ‘yes’ or ‘no’: There are gradations of abuse. Was physical punishment used a lot or a little? It is also important to note that voting is a blunt instrument, reflecting a decision-making process that integrates multiple factors. And there are, of course, multiple influences on public opinion, including a person’s education and gender and economic position, their parents’ attitudes, their friends’ attitudes, and the mass media. Many who voted for Trump did so, we believe, because they anticipated financial benefits and were willing to ignore his racism and sexism. Racism and sexism are often core elements of a person’s authoritarianism, as it puts other people below them.

On a related note, several studies have found authoritarianism to be associated with beliefs in rape myths and hostile attitudes toward women. It’s not surprising that Trump has tremendously negative attitudes toward women — the “pussy-grabbing” that he bragged about in the Access Hollywood tape is one good example of the link between authoritarianism and sexual aggression." Read more HERE

humans are destroying the planet

Because the more sharp people's intellect is the more they use it to escape from facing and feeling the painful truths in their  lives. We need people with courage to open their eyes to see and feel. 

It’s sad to witness everyday people using their sharp intellect to run from looking at the facts and see fundamental psychological mechanisms. 

It takes courage to see fundamental psychological mechanisms, intelligence alone is not enough -- it rather helps create elaborated  rationalizations, seductive lies and illusions.

Social Violence

 "That all social violence--whether by war, revolution or economic exploitation--is ultimately a consequence of child abuse should not surprise us. The propensity to reinflict childhood trauma upon others as an adult in socially-approved violence is actually far more able to explain and predict the actual outbreak of wars than the usual economic motivations, and we are likely to continue to undergo our periodic sacrificial rituals of war if the infliction of childhood trauma continues. The human race is now quite able technologically to satisfy its needs if we can live together without violence toward each other. But unless we employ our social resources toward consciously assisting the evolution of child-rearing, we will be doomed to the periodic destruction of our resources, both material and human. To Selma Freiberg's dicta that "Trauma demands repetition" I would only add "repetition through social action." We cannot be content to only continue to do endless repair work on damaged adults, with our therapies and jails and political movements. Our task now must, in addition, be to create an entirely new profession of "child helpers" whose can reach out to every new child born on earth and help its parents give it love and independence." -- Lloyd deMause www.psychohistory.com

above excerpt from The History of Child Abuse

by Lloyd deMause www.primal-page.com/ph-abuse.htm

Psychohistory Articles Menu www.primal-page.com/psyhis.htm#menu

The Primal Psychotherapy Page www.primal-page.com

“Banished Knowledge: Facing Childhood Injuries” by Alice Miller, she says: “As a rule, children who were once injured will later injure their own children,  maintaining that their behavior does no harm because their own loving parents did the same.

Historians and psychologists will long continue to ponder the reasons for this outlandish behavior because in their deliberations they overlook the only correct explanation. But in the long run, this explanation cannot be avoided, and it becomes obvious the moment the question is asked: What eventually happens to the person who was mutilated as a child? When a small child is tortured by ignorant adults, won't he have to take his revenge later in life? He is bound to avenge himself unless his subsequent life allows the old wounds to heal in love, which is seldom the case. As a rule, children who were once injured will later injure their own children, maintaining that their behavior does no harm because their own loving parents did the same. Besides, in the case of circumcision it is a religious demand, and to many people, it is still unthinkable that religion could demand cruelty. But what if the unthinkable is true? Are the children and children's children to be sacrificed because of the ignorance of the priests? It took three thousand years for the church to accept Galileo's proofs and admit its error. Today it is not a matter of theoretical astronomical proofs but of the practical consequences deriving from an insight that could save humanity from self-destruction, because it has already been proven that all destructive behavior has its roots in the repressed traumas of childhood. As soon as legislators become serious about the rights of the child to protection and respect as proclaimed by UNESCO, the fact will have to be acknowledged that ritual circumcisions

1.offer no advantage and are a mutilation;

2.prevent the relaxation experience and lead to over-stimulation with potentially destructive and self-destructive effects;

3.inflict a trauma on the child leading to an injury of his whole being, with the consequences of these injuries affecting not only the individual and his descendants but other human beings as well.”

Also in her book “Breaking Down the Wall of Silence: The Liberating Experience of Facing Painful Truth” Alice Miller speaks of the custom in some countries of female circumcision that also shows the same mechanisms perpetuating male circumcision: “Their consciousness, however, has not registered the realities of their situation. By repressing not only the pain but also their anger and desire for revenge, they have managed to banish consciousness, even idealizing the custom. Today, as a result of their repression, they can justify the procedure as harmless and necessary. They cannot recall their repressed anger and have never grieved about what happened to them. Consequently, they inflict the same ordeal on their children without wishing to acknowledge what they're doing to them.”

Also words below from an interview Alice Miller gave in November 1992 are very poignant. 

"I was told that there are cultures in which children are not mistreated and in which, significantly, "no wars are fought. "

"But I don't know them well. If you hear of such a society, I would be indebted to you for more detailed information about it."

"Philip Greven has shown how widespread sadistic and destructive methods of child-rearing still are, particularly those concealed under the mantle of religiosity. This is not only true of Christian child-rearing. 100 million Islamic women living today have had their genitals mutilated as children. Millions of Jewish or Arab children are, for the sake of dogma, subjected to circumcision, as infants or at an advanced age. Such cruelty is only possible with the total denial of the child's sensibility."

" In fact, I know of no religion that forbids and condemns the mistreatment of children as a matter of practice. Respect, understanding, and love are universally preached to parents, no matter how they behave. Children, on the other hand, according to Luther, for instance, should only be loved in so far as they are obedient and god-fearing : that is, as long as they deny themselves. Parents have a right to the unconditional love and respect of their children."

https://sylvieshene.blogspot.com/2012/08/question-about-circumcision.html

How a Person's Character is Developed

 "We do not arrive in this world as a clean slate. Every new baby comes with a history of its own, the history of the nine months between conception and birth. In addition, children have the genetic blueprint they inherit from their parents. These factors may help determine what kind of a temperament a child will have, what inclinations, gifts, and predispositions.

But character depends crucially upon whether a person is given love, protection, tenderness, and understanding or exposed to rejection, coldness, indifference, and cruelty in the early formative years. The stimulus indispensable for developing the capacity for empathy, say, is the experience of loving care. In the absence of such care, when a child is forced to grow up neglected, emotionally starved, and subjected to physical abuse, he or she will forfeit this innate capacity. While I ascribe immense significance to the experiences of infants in the first days, weeks, and months of their lives to explain their later behavior, I do not wish to assert that later influences are completely ineffectual. Rather, if a traumatized or neglected child can later come to know what I call an "enlightened" or "knowing witness," he or she can deal positively with the effects of that childhood trauma.

We know today that the brain we are born with is not the finished product it was once thought to be. The structuring of the brain depends very much on the experiences of the first hours, days, and weeks of a person's life. In the last few years, scientific studies led by neurologist and child psychiatrist Dr. Bruce D. Perry (www.childtrauma.org/) have further established that traumatized and neglected children display severe lesions affecting up to 30 percent of those areas of the brain that control our emotions. Severe traumas inflicted on infants lead to an increase in the release of stress hormones that destroy the existing, newly formed neurons and their interconnections." -- Alice Miller