Fair Use Notice

FAIR USE NOTICE

A BEAR MARKET ECONOMICS BLOG

OCCUPY MADNESS AND DYSFUNCTION

This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in an effort to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. we believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml

If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

FAIR USE NOTICE FAIR USE NOTICE: This page may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This website distributes this material without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for scientific, research and educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107.

Read more at: http://www.etupdates.com/fair-use-notice/#.UpzWQRL3l5M | ET. Updates
FAIR USE NOTICE FAIR USE NOTICE: This page may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This website distributes this material without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for scientific, research and educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107.

Read more at: http://www.etupdates.com/fair-use-notice/#.UpzWQRL3l5M | ET. Updates

All Blogs licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

Friday, April 3, 2015

Conservatism as a Mental Illness


Psychology Today



This post is in response to Creationism as a mental illness by Robert Rowland Smith
 
 
In Creationism as a Mental Illness, Robert Rowland Smith argues that creationists exhibit several signs of mental illness including denial, psychosis, and inability to grasp irony.


The specter of mental illness does indeed loom large over creationists, but they are not alone. Signs of psychopathology can also be seen among their political bedfellows, conservative politicians, especially when you consider a wide range of illness indicators. In his award-winning 2005 book, Dr. James Whitney Hicks discusses 50 signs of mental illness (link is external) including denial, delusion, hallucination, disordered thinking, anger, anti-social behavior, sexual preoccupation, grandiosity, general oddness, and paranoia. Now I'm no clinician, but in my (admittedly biased brown) eyes it seems that prominent Republicans have evidenced each of these ten telltale signs of mental illness over the past year:

1) Denial: humans did not evolve (link is external);  Obama is not a native-born American Christian (link is external)

2) Delusion: climate is not changing (link is external)

3) Hallucination: God ordained me to be President (link is external)

4) Disordered Thinking: being for small government that's huge in the bedroom (link is external);  being anti-contraception and anti-abortion (link is external)

5) Anger: Newt Gingrich’s perpetual scowl (link is external)

6) Anti-social Behaviortoward women (link is external), gays (link is external), minorities, anyone without an umbilical cord or trust fund

7) Sexual Preoccupation: a fervent compulsion to control when we can mate, with whom we can mate, and precisely how we are allowed to mate (which I lampoon in Why Do Politicians Want to Police Dick and Jane's Private Parts?)

8) Grandiosity: even Rick Santorum recognizes (link is external) Gingrich’s “over the moon” grandiosity (link is external)

9) General Oddness: Ron Paul (link is external)

10) Paranoiapretty much all of them, all of the time (link is external)
Even (the not necessarily dumb (link is external)) Pope Francis appears to recognize (link is external) that “it is a serious illness, this of ideological [conservative] Christians. It is an illness, but it is not new, eh?”

Regrettably, the Republican who least exhibits anti-science stances is the only one who (tongue-in-cheek) acknowledges his mental illness:


Until Jon Huntsman becomes the sane voice of his insane party, maybe "Republican Syndrome" should be added to the DSM-V (link is external) so that crazy conservative pols can receive the mental health treatment they need. I bet "Obamacare" would even cover it.
Follow me on Facebook  (link is external)and Twitter (link is external).  
Copyright © 2012 Barry X. Kuhle (link is external). All rights reserved.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this blog do not necessarily reflect the views of Psychology Today and the University of Scranton, or me, or my friends, family, probation officer, gut bacteria, darkest thoughts, and personal mohel (link is external).

No comments:

Post a Comment