Me too lynnventura, unshakable dread and worry all week. And YES, I'm deeply concerned that Trump, his crime family and his dirty goons will somehow beat the system, which is already in a weakened state. The R's are all singing their fake unity song and making strong protectionist moves around Trump. As previously noted by others in this discussion, when push comes to shove even the sane ones get in line with him. Also, Trump, the self-proclaimed p-grabber and neo-confederate, seems to thrive no matter what. His fans don't care, and that's the scariest thing of all.
I'm sorry to hear about it KB. As Jeanne has so wisely written, let's try to focus on things we can do to take care of ourselves, like meditating and holding good thoughts, and caring about each other. I'm grateful we have this forum where we can reach out, commiserate and support each other.
A while back I set up a class for December 18th on how to stay even keel, even thrive, in the midst of the chaos.
Proceeds go to defray expenses of the website.
Thanks Jeanne! I just registered.
Yay!
lynnventura - I was despondent for a long time after the election. Since then, I've been doing all I can to volunteer with resistance efforts. I was feeling a bit better over the summer, but since January have recurring nightmares... those have not changed. What has changed is that over the last few weeks I have gone from feeling worry and anger, to a sadder state of existing. I'm sure it's depression, BUT it's a kind of background sadness, like I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop all the time. It's also a kind of accepting sadness, like it's too late to change anything in my own personal journey to escape what lies ahead. I won't bore everyone here with my same old same old, suffice to say that I tend to see the glass as entirely empty, not even half empty. I do hope I am wrong, really, but I can't shake the sense that it's going to be the worst of all possible timelines that ends up being the one we're in.
I'd like to speak to the dread, despondency, and fear we currently struggle with. Bear with me--I have to share some groundwork to nail my point.
An article in Vox describes the means by which the GOP can ignore and override the results of Mueller's inquiry--even if collusion with Russia is directly, and indisputably proven. We're already sensing this potential timeline, and it is truly sick-making.
This is the mechanism that makes overriding the truth possible, from Vox:
"The US is undergoing an epistemic breach
"Epistemology is the branch of philosophy having to do with how we know things and what it means for something to be true or false, accurate or inaccurate. (Episteme, or ἐπιστήμη, is ancient Greek for knowledge/science/understanding.)
"The US is experiencing a deep epistemic breach, a split not just in what we value or want, but in who we trust, how we come to know things, and what we believe we know — what we believe exists, is true, has happened and is happening.
"The primary source of this breach, to make a long story short, is the US conservative movement’s rejection of the mainstream institutions devoted to gathering and disseminating knowledge (journalism, science, the academy) — the ones society has appointed as referees in matters of factual dispute." (emphasis mine)
The far right rejects the very idea of objective truth and institutions that serve it; "there is only Us and Them, only a zero-sum contest for resources."
Simply put, the GOP destroys the truth for gain. Our US epistemic split between truth and lies didn't happen by accident. It was created to serve the powerful.
Mercer, Murdoch & the Kochs use the media to spread lies and distort the truth as cover for their blatant money and power grabs. They rile up the 'base' to put pressure on GOP politicians (who are terrified of their base). Then the bought and paid for GOP gives the Murdochs, Kochs and Mercers what they want.
Fox news commentators are aware that they spread untruths in service to this political tribalism.
This epistemic split--lying for tribal gain--is a political form of gaslighting.
From Psychology Today: "Gaslighting is a tactic in which a person or entity, in order to gain more power, makes a victim question their reality. It works much better than you may think. Anyone is susceptible to gaslighting, and it is a common technique of abusers, dictators, narcissists, and cult leaders."
From Wikipedia: "Gaslighting is a form of manipulation that seeks to sow seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or in members of a targeted group, hoping to make them question their own memory, perception, and sanity. Using persistent denial, misdirection, contradiction, and lying, it attempts to destabilize the target and delegitimize the target's belief."
If you've ever dealt with a bully, narcissist or abuser in denial about their abuse, you've been gaslighted. It's my belief many of us have lived through gaslighting, and developed psychic ability in order to stabilize ourselves by accessing hidden truths.
At last, to the point!
Our US epistemic rupture is a *HUGE* case of gaslighting by authoritarian would-be dictators, aimed against the populace, with the intent to get them to believe untruths to the benefit of the powerful.
We feel sick, likely because we've all been here before, gaslighted by some narcissist, bully, or other abuser. I know I have. I got through it by anchoring to the larger reality, using objective truth to guide me.
This time, however, the abusers tamper with reality on a national scale. We're surrounded by their lies. It's hard to find where objective reality has traction. And we're sensing a timeline where Mueller's presentation of the reality of Russian Collusion will be gaslighted away by media and politicians serving the power-hungry.
Who wouldn't feel heartsick sensing that level of abuse? But our feeling pain and disorientation **is what the abuser wants.**
What helps me most is understanding GOP denial of the facts as intentional abuse for gain.
Step back from it, uncover the rules of play, and objectivize the situation. Emotionally detach from this national level abuse--and look for ways to resist.
-R1-
Runestone you have spoken truth. All of it.
Nothing in the outcome the Muller investigation will surprise me. I do not expect any honest or ethical reaction from the GOP Congress. The GOP Congress is not a real Congress. They are a charade. Their election to office was a charade. They are bankrolled and take their orders from psychopaths. Psychopathy runs through the leaders - Trump and Putin too. These are people who lie passionately and straight faced without blinking their eyes.
What are we to do? R1 said it perfectly. What helps me most is understanding GOP denial of the facts as intentional abuse for gain. Step back from it, uncover the rules of play, and objectivize the situation. Emotionally detach from this national level abuse--and look for ways to resist.
I want to add: Keep the faith. If you despair, call in help to bring you back to your wise centered Self. You can post your feelings here, although try to let us know you are asking for help to bring you back to center.
Never stop saying your truth. Truth is light for the soul. A time will come when you will look back on this abuse and be glad that you stood up and called it for what it was.
I am grateful to those who have devoted their lives to speaking the truth. Everyday when I check out news stories, I read the Washington Post's motto: "Democracy dies in darkness." I am grateful to those journalists for refusing to see this as normal. I am grateful to the Mayor of San Juan, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Rachel Maddow, and all of those with the courage to stand up to the mobsters and bullies who run this country now.
I hope we can keep the real news organizations in business. You may notice that I never ever link to Fox when they do a story that shows that one of our predictions came true. I will search for the story elsewhere. I'm also, sadly, wary of PBS, now that David Koch is a big contributor.
Runestone, your use of the concept of objectification hit home for me. Paulo Freire, a Brazillian, wrote that the ability to objectify reality is fundamental to educating poor and disenfranchised people. Central to his work is the idea that impoverished people survive by not questioning reality, and if you don't question reality, you can not meaningfully engage with printed texts, which answer questions. When you think about the rhyme about Jack and Jill running up the hill to fetch a pail of water, Jack fell down and broke his crown, and Jill came tumbling after, you can't make sense of any of it if you don't ask who, what, when, where, and how. Oppressed people don't question their reality or attempt to make sense of it in an objective way, because oppressors hurt them when they do. Freire based his thinking on concepts from revolutionary theology. Only by creating safe learning environments for inquiry do people move toward literacy and to question the nature of their oppression.
Before the Tea Party and the anti-climate change drumbeat, the Moral Majority, fundamentalist religious movements, and Newt Gingrich and friends, among many others, worked hard to create the foundation for communities and educational systems that do not actively engage people in inquiry. It's no wonder authoritarian institutions are opposed to science; it's inquiry based; it involves making hypotheses and testing them and so on. Rural areas and the urban core do not support inquiry based education. I totally agree that the answer to the depressive state of affairs in our country is objectification and teaching others to do so, too. This site delights me in going outside the box to predict and then test the validity of the predictions based on what really happens. It offers a dialectic between the holy and the profane through the gift of abstract imaging. I'm not a psychic, but that's what I imagine it to be about. It's a fundamentally literate endeavor.
Thank you, RunestoneOne, for your excellent *objective* perspective on things. For the last year I have done my best to focus on local resistance efforts, including visiting immigration detainees and lobbying in my state capitol (especially proud that I was able to encourage passage of the California Values Act). I've even been able to liaison between 2 orgs to help transgendered detainees' human rights to be protected. It's hard but satisfying. Yet and still, I can't shake the background sadness, and it's getting stronger to where it's starting to interfere with my desire to do the important resistance work, and I'm feeling ground down and also less grounded. That being said, today I had an interesting day, and I will head over to the positive posts thread and post about it there (no spoilers!).