The development of extremist violence since the beginning of the year, which has deeper roots, represents an increasingly conscious awareness within the American public that they have been betrayed by their leaders and institutions. We are in a period of American assertion, when people begin to demonstrate their power. It is crucial that we direct this energy in positive reform, instead of ignoring it and let it slip into the hands of devious men who handle dead issues like abortion and gay-marriage, comparable to the way that wolves handle dead carcasses. These men who target government buildings, police stations, holocaust museums, lack good footing in reality. Their ground has been stripped from underneath them, and they feel they are being unrecognized. Some of these charges of reverse racism is a representation of their anxiety and helplessness. It is counter-productive to berate them, which only results in further isolation and deeper resentment. The extreme behavior of killing a human being because of his race or background is not a strange phenomena, and not unique to individuals only. The American nation has always classified its enemies as the other, and serves as the prime example that racism kills. America is a very unique country, though, because of its history, and the grave evils it has committed in the world recently, so it is not surprising that it is in America that people resort to violence to solve their problems.
Most of the analysis of extremist violence on the media is focused on the 'lone wolves' angle, a term that doesn't put anything into context. It does explain, however, that Americans are at base lone wolves because they so greatly believe in the idea of personal responsibility, of taking things in their own hands. A gun comes in handy in those situations, but it is not a real source of power. Also, I don't understand the fear that America will turn socialist, I fear the exact opposite, that it will turn into a land of 300 millions of lone wolves, and become an isolated nation. Also, pointing the blame only at the individual who committed the evil will not solve anything. After all, if Denmark itself is rotten then how much blame can you place at the foot of the barbarians?
Existential psychologist Rollo May wrote in his book, Power and Innocence, about how the nation's history affects the individual's psyche in that nation.
Most Americans are oppressed by the sense of individual responsibility, not only for general humanitarian reasons, but for reasons specific to our own nation. An American receives very little aide from his culture in carrying this responsibility. Americans have no sacraments like penance, no rituals like confession (except in psychoanalysis for the few) to help free them from the burden of the past. The whole weight rests on the shoulders of the individual, and we have already seen that he feels powerless.Americans are witnessing first hand the truism that what goes around comes around. Commit evil unto others, and evil will be done onto you. No country can go to war and simply wash its hands off, that is an innocent illusion. Germany saw pain and suffering after losing in WWI, and Britain's cities were permanently at war in WWII. France witnessed Nazi tanks on their streets. Two of Japan's cities were ruined overnight. Iraq and Iran both suffered tremendous losses in their war in the 1980s, which would have been impossible to fight if not for American money and weapons. America is the only nation whose homefront has remained untouched and relatively peaceful during wartime, and 9/11 doesn't count because it was a domestic enemy that orchestrated that event. There has been very little turbulence in America since the 1960's when race riots broke out and the Vietnam protests were intensifying. It does not matter if the Iraq war ends tomorrow, the bill is already well overdue, and it will have to be paid in the entire next decade. Social programs are going to be cut, universal health care is a dream, rebuilding cities with new green technology is still a signpost, and not possible yet. Until the wars overseas ends, America's domestic problems will grow larger. Change is necessary, but for it to happen for the good, people will have to start feeling powerful again.
Because feeling powerless in a democracy is a dangerous thing, especially if the people have been deprived of it for so long. If a group of people, whether they are Christian fundamentalists or any other, suddenly feel overtly powerful then they will transform the country into their own image. And they will use fascist means to achieve their dream state. The trick is to spread democratic power around, decentralize it and not just keep it in the top one percent, or in the top levels of government in Washington.
The reason why people are so depressed is because they know they don't control the direction of the country, and for non-Americans, the world. But things are slowly starting to change because of the crisis. "Epochs of crisis," Gasset said, "are a time for 'resolution,' for will power." Voting doesn't express power, it is nothing but a forsaken ritual. Power is not something that can be expressed in the ballot box, at least, not under the current system. To acquire power for your nation, tribe, family, etc., requires you to put your life on the line, or if you have wealth, to put money up for investment. Power is not given like love, because it is always in limited supply. "It must in some sense be assumed, taken, asserted," as May says. And "unless it can be held against opposition, it is not power and will never be experienced as real power on the part of the recipient."
May said that there are five ways power can be expressed, the first is exploitative which identifies power with force or the threat of force. The second is manipulative which is power over another person and exemplified by the con man, such as Madoff or Hitler who manipulated Germans' experience of economic devastation, inflation, and their overall humiliation from losing the war. Another form of power is competitive, which is used against someone, which helps brings out the best in others and can be very stimulating. Being engaged in the type of competitive power is important to understanding if it serves any constructive ends. One example that May gave was the competition between nations in the space race. Sadly, war is still the most primitive kind of competition between nations. The fourth variation of power was what May called nutrient, which is power for the other. Statemanship is a good example of nutrient power, because society gives the statesman the responsibility to responsibility overlook the general welfare of the nation. Mothering is probably the most well-known example, as well as doctors and teachers. Today, Dr. Ron Paul is the best carrier of nutrient power because of his work in exposing the corruption of the Fed, and all the other evils in Washington.
The last and most effective kind of power is called integrative, and this is power with the other. Obama has asked for this type of power to be used by Americans, because he asked Americans to criticize him. May highlighted Hegel's dialectic process of antithesis/thesis/synthesis that can be used in this type of power. For example, Obama serves as the antithesis, against the American people's thesis, and will be forced to reform and develop and a new synthesis. Martin Luther King Jr and Ghandi used this power to the utmost degree. Nonviolence is a great spiritual force because it depends on human memory and is based in innocence. "When it is authentic," says May, "nonviolence has a religious dimension, since by its very nature it transcends the human forms of power."
I believe we are in a new phase of American Assertion. The trouble is when we act independently, without co-ordination. I don't mean as individuals, which is the first goal, to become individuals and express power that way. Jung said that in any collectivity man is rootless and then the demons get him, which was one reason why the Nazis never wanted to form individuals but collective masses. In Ron Paul's rallies there were individuals, but Obama's ascendancy was due to the campaign's manipulation of its mass following. They identified themselves with Obama, projected all their hopes for change onto him and as a result they are now without power. They are limbless.
Why is being an individual related to power? Because only individuals can act out their power, masses are unable to. And power must be expressed in the political arena, or life is not worth living. Psychologist Rollo May said that violence occurs when we are restricted from expressing power in normal ways. Self-aggression, if it is asserted positively, is healthy for any human being. And that rule extends to peoples of nations as well. If we are to fight back against extremism and violence of all sorts, we must keep in mind that love is the greatest expression of power. It will be our salvation. But we must take a stand, otherwise, the enemies of the people will continue on their unrighteous path.
