We’re all psychologists. Humans could not work together, form societies or even families, if we could not “size up” one another and make relatively accurate judgments as to the attitudes and outlooks of those we need to live with. Like every other human skill, psychological survival and progress has attracted experts, often the death knell of progress in the field of interest. Beyond studying and learning about human psychology, psychologists have moved on to defining and even inventing forms of it. Today it is almost as though the professional in the psychology field had DISCOVERED psychology in humans and that they, psychologists, must be consulted about any and every aspect of it, lest mere humans hurt themselves and others by trying to comprehend it.
Life is animalistic without psychological abilities. Animal brains only barely exhibit any sense of meaning to the actions they take. Humans strive to avoid it. Part of the magic of human psychology is the ability to worship, and to perceive a spiritual existence that is the greatest sense of meaning possible. What does – or what will – what I’m doing, mean?
Generally, the actions of today are taken because of their meaning something in the future. We save today for security tomorrow; we court and marry today to produce a family of children tomorrow; we live honorably, creating friends and earning respect from others, so that we’ll have friends and friendship in our old age; we try to avoid poisoning our bodies and avoid danger and injuries because it means we can live longer. We even attempt to extend our meaning to others beyond the date of our death with inheritances and bequests and instructions. Unfortunately, we are descending into a process of talking ourselves out of our own humanity. Psychologists of various stripes have convinced many to deny who they are, and have convinced many others with influence over them, to help them in the process of denial. What for?
A large element of civilization has been and remains theater. It could be as simple as street actors and their ad-hoc creation of scenes, characters and stories, to the elaborate production of operas that remain popular over decades and centuries. Greek and Roman theater still teach us to look at life and meaning in “better” ways; Shakespeare, Marlow, Bacon and thousands of others from every culture, employed costume, staging, music, masks and pretense to teach cultural truths and lessons for living. Modern electronics make it possible for every individual – including children – to become a preferred pretense character, almost always on a Snap-Chat stage. It seems, unfortunately, that the “psychology community” talked itself into treating human theater, down to the individual level, as more valuable – more essential – than reality.
As one old Greek noted, “Virtue lies in Reason and Vice in rejection of Reason.” However, as psychologists are only too aware, or promoters of, Reason cannot be satisfactorily defined, especially from generation to generation. There seem to be thousands of permutations of reason, and as communications have advanced, so to speak, certain biases have become widely shared, affecting modern concepts of reason, which is not to say, Truth. Since the 1960’s and ‘70’s, feminism has become the overriding permutation of reason in the United States, and it has led to a society-bending twist of sexual roles and mores. Psychologists haven’t tried to stem this tide. Where “psychology” might add to understanding of various truths, instead it seems to adapt to and rationalize social trends.
Prudence can expect to be roundly chastised for the previous paragraph, and, probably, the next one.
Feminism has done more damage to American society than any other belief system besides slavery. Bit by bit – now chunk by chunk – it has feminized men and destroyed the majesty of motherhood. Simultaneous with the explosion in homosexuality, feminism has also led to hyper-sexualization of school-age children down to disturbing ages. As it has torn down the old morality it has failed to replace it with a new one. Where women used to “civilize” men, they now compete in an arena of irresponsible sexuality where everything is planned or avoidable based on the whims of women.
Women are now the drivers of the new para-psychology called transgenderism. And, rather than eliminating confusion about maleness or femaleness, it encompasses a host of “sexualities” that mainly women teachers and gay or other “non-binary” “teachers” feel compelled to dictate to, if not guide and groom, children at very young ages. Where are “the psychologists” on this strange twist of “education?” Sadly, they seem able to rationalize or even justify the trans-gender fad. If it didn’t do so much damage to the kids whose theatrical fantasies everyone is rushing to “confirm,” the psychologists might be forgiven.
MOST of transgenderism is theater. Children, some genuinely confused about sexuality, a very small fraction, and the rest who want to play at being the opposite sex, are pounced upon by agenda-driven teachers, psychologists, doctors and even hospitals(!), who are all in a hurry to “confirm” trans-gender fantasies. Confirmation, unfortunately, consists of largely irreversible hormone injections and blockers, and even surgeries to remove perfectly healthy organs. The children are permanently changed and their developments confused chemically. The greatest effect? Sterilization. Not many teenagers and damned few adults can conceive of what full medical transfiguration means as time goes by. Most come to realize that they have attempted something that is impossible in the majority of cases, and that leaves them neither male or female. There is more at stake than pronouns.
Yet, some dysphoria is real – the people who transition to another way of living are still real people who deserve as much respect as anyone else. Heterosexual people are largely unable to accept trans-gender people at “face” value. Reactions vary over a short spectrum, from disbelief to disgust. Normal people have a duty to learn respect for those who have found the only way to deal with their relatively rare dysphoria is transition. Let the rest of us count our blessings.
This doesn’t excuse the agenda-driven recruitment of children to a belief in gender-fluidity. Parents know that childhood whims and fantasies usually fade away or are outgrown by maturity in nearly all cases. To pounce on these susceptible kids, especially for teachers, is criminal. For administrators and political / civic leaders to make it ILLEGAL to prevent gender-predation shall remain a stain on the conscience of the nation. Shame on us and kudos to those leaders wise enough to resist this weird aberration in human purpose.
Those who are committed to the “trans” state of being and living also need to recognize that their own, understandably very deep biases toward “non-binary” sexuality, bends their views to find trans potential atop almost every pair of legs. Bigots on both sides need to stifle their angers and misunderstandings. Professional, expert psychologists and psychiatrists ought to be guiding the confused toward a path that is constructive for society and civilization. Unfortunately, they have agreed among their professional, expert-laden Societies, to avoid moral judgement and even counsel patients to dissociate themselves from religious codes. Indeed, such counseling tends to affirm those ideas that comfort the patient, rather than disturb him or her.
In other words, psychology can affirm one’s deepest beliefs, which is not to say truth. Unfortunately, sometimes beliefs are just wrong and counter-productive or damaging to society. They can interfere with forming positive bonds with others, with family members, or with others who would be good for the individual. Psychology has drifted too close to chemical solutions for too many conditions/reactions; they also tend to counsel for far too long, with patients dependent upon their therapists to maintain a new normalcy.
As Americans ponder the decline of trust in the institutions that ought to defend successful traditions and uphold the greatest strength of U. S. culture, one of those has been medicine, including mental health medicine. The professionals in that society have always been people of sense, ready willing and able to advise patients toward the healthiest, most sensible habits and actions. This used to include psychologists and psychiatrists, but this has all changed. Why? How did industries – professions – of HONOR, become so sullied?
Politics and money, not synonymous, but often congruent. If politics were corrupted by only money we could survive and even thrive as the running battle against corruption played its parallel games. But politics has been corrupted by ideology, hatred and mendacity. The Covid pandemic exposed the degree of twist that has occurred. One political party routinely condemns half the voters in the country, not as those who see a different way to improve and strengthen America, but as a group that can’t be permitted to hold or even share power… a group that threatens the republic, that is racist, homophobic, transphobic and every other epithet that can be used on TV to denigrate another person. Then that same party does everything that their opponents are accused of doing, BY THEM. It is no longer politics, but managed hatred, and it has coopted the institutions of government, justice, education and medicine, among others. None of the professions that once held the nation together have been spared.
The various forms of artifice are all masks, covering the faces of evil. Millions of true patriots resist and believe in the majesty of the American way – most are Christians. They – we – are the conscience of America. A new professionalism and a new citizenship are all that can restore us… and a new / old spiritual understanding of why humanity is male and female, and how it can survive and grow stronger. Honestly.