Perspectives, personalities & polarizations

C-PTSD Protection

I’m an empiricist - someone committed to following the data and making self-corrections when warranted. I am also registered as an independent and consider myself a liberal progressive, despite being totally out-of-step with the Democrats and other “progressives” who embrace the dominant vaccination, fluoridation, green-economy, and climate narratives.

In keeping with my empiricist principles, I generally watch all the primaries including the GOP primary earlier this week. It was an illuminating experience. Despite being disappointed with Chris Christie for his support of Trump prior to and during the Trump presidency, I was very impressed by both Christie’s delivery and content that night. CNN got it right when they reported that Christie was the only adult in the room (or at least among the candidates).

Christie was the only one with the strength of character to say that Trump is unfit for office - that Trump is dishonest and vindictive, and is totally self-centered and with no regard for the truth. Christie, a former litigator, also vividly demonstrated how the other three candidates on the stage are similarly motivated by their self-interests rather than by the truth. Those three refused to say anything that might result in Trump striking them from the short-list for vice-presidency. In other words, none of them has good character or leadership skills, either. At least not on the level necessary to be a world leader.

Christie was booed by the audience for his truth-telling, and he was calmly unapologetic. That’s leadership.

It was disappointing that the crowd wanted to cancel Christie, but it was what happened next in my personal life next that was most interesting.

I posted a Facebook comment that I thought Christie handed in the best performance, that I judged him to have objectively “won” the primary debate.

Several conservative friends who belong to a group with which I have associated told me on social media that they don’t waste their time watching the primary. They are Trump forever. They also asked me why I am against Trump for president. I gave a half dozen verifiable answers which they emotionally and vigorously denied. This group, which incidentally emphasizes Christian values of honesty and often gets emotional about child and sexual abuse, aggressively jumped on two of my rationales: that Trump and family had been found guilty of financial fraud and, consistent with his public statements and hot mic incident on Access Hollywood, he was a sexual predator even a child rapist who used his power, influence and money to get away with his criminal acts.

You would have thought I torched a church on Christmas morning. I could have continued an association with them over issues of medical mandates and left politics alone. I even agree with the group about legislation against hormonal or surgical treatments of a transgendered child.

This is the problem with religious fervor. Those in its grip refuse to look at the facts or listen to any candidate or neighbor who might shake their fervent belief. As a consequence, they become antagonistic.

Then the other side of the coin.

I texted my best girlfriend, a very smart woman, that Christie was good. She hadn’t watched the primary either, but said she heard discussion of it on the morning news show. I replied that I was still voting for Bobby Kennedy, and she replied she wasn’t.

She and I have had this discussion before. She’d very liberal, but believes the main stream media (MSM) reporting on Kennedy. She’s vaxxed and multiply boosted. She also developed atrial fibrillation after her shots and just nursed another girlfriend in her 60s through a turbo cancer- the woman had beat breast cancer 12 years earlier and suddenly it had re-emerged everywhere.

My best girlfriend doesn’t want to read anything anti-vax. She did ask for information once, and I sent it - including the data on SV40 contamination, studies of increased heart issues, and FOIA documents showing government collusion and censorship. No response.

I don’t want to wreck our relationship so I have to back off, i.e. not become antagonistic. She thinks I’m risking my life by not vaccinating and I believe she’s not only at high risk, but already vax-injured. Her belief is based on her faith in her doctor plus government statements and reports.

• I never used Cliff Notes in school, and I’ll not use them now. Neither did I hesitate to question my teachers. I dig into the weeds of PubMed, look at both sides of debates, and modify my beliefs based on verifiable evidence because I am an empiricist.

I find it difficult to understand how can anyone can claim to have an informed opinion when they won’t pay attention to candidate records and statements or to actual data and scientific studies. But that is the case in our highly polarized world today.

The people with whom I engaged this week are not narcissists, at least I don’t think so. Some of them might be flying monkeys suckered in by actual narcissists like Trump and Biden who each have their own cult of personality. However, I think that many people just can’t cope with all the drama and trauma and so have latched onto a narrative that gives them a sense of control over themselves or a sense of purpose in the world. They are traumatized and are suffering effects from that psychic injury.

MALADAPTVE C-PTSD COPING MECHANISMS:

Avoidance behavior is a common maladaptive survival technique for those suffering from Complex Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (C-PTSD). Not watching the debates or reading documentation is the adult version of a little kid putting their fingers in their ears and shouting “I won’t listen to you.”

Cognitive Error, aka Cognitive Distortion is the misinterpretation of a situation as threatening when it is not. Over-reacting to innocuous statements is an everyday instance. Feeling at risk of shark attack whenever you are deeper than ankle deep in the ocean is another example of having your behavior influenced by a false reality. Extreme bias towards or against someone or some group is a very adult manifestation of an emotionally driven cognitive error linked to PTSD/C-PTSD.

Confabulation is the making up of false narratives which the teller believes. The confabulation may have some kernel of truth (or not) and can be manipulated by other players who use cognitive framing to gaslight with disinformation, propaganda and inverted narratives. Both the Trump and Biden machines, along with the CDC, are adept at this. Confabulation is known as “honest lying” and includes false memories. No amount of proof is sufficient to change the minds of these people. They are the opposite of empiricists, although they believe otherwise and will point to their own flawed and fabricated evidence.

Consider this wise advice:

• “When studying any matter, ask yourself two things: what are the facts and what is the truth that the facts bear out. Never let yourself be diverted by what you wish to believe, or what you think would have beneficent social effects if it were believed. Look only and solely at what are the facts.” -  Bertrand Arthur William Russell, logician and Nobel laureate on evidence and data analysis (1959)

God knows, no one has found the easy answer to dealing with all this. Life is messy and relationships are complicated. It would be easier if people in positions of power were truthful, but they are not. That’s why Chris Christie was such a welcome breath of fresh air at the GOP debate. That’s why I’m voting for Bobby Kennedy. They are speaking the truth based on verifiable facts.

I’m not interested in hugging a security blanket, sucking my thumb and listening to fairy tales about magic potions or elderly heroes leading us to the promised land on their white stallions. I’m interested in honest politicians, principled government, accountable Pharma, and Medical Freedom. That is our only protection from the worst effects of C-PTSD.

Maggie Russo is the author of “Dance with the Devil: Love in the Age of Covid”