Stories About Police Brutality, "Racism" and Dehumanization

06/22/20 • 30 min

I will present an arguement that America's current attempts to deal with "racism" and police brutality are best understood as common elements of authoritarian political structures. Authoritarianism is the dominant type of politics both in our world and the historical past. Authoritarian political structures are always hierarchical and maintained by convincing their citizens that those in the higher levels are inherently superior as human beings than those in the lower strata of society. The psychological mechanisms of control involve dehumanizing some individuals and demonizing those who would seek to rebel against their fixed position in the hierarchy. The police and the military usually represent the mechanisms to enforce compliance and punish rebellion among those dehumanized and demonized. The solution to the problems created by authoritarian heirarchies are found in democratic political structures adhering to the idea that all human beings are equal in their essential worth, have equal rights, privileges and responsibilities and that all its citizens are more human than otherwise. These ideas are explored in my book "Psycho'therapy' and the Stories We Live By" to be found on Amazon.com, BN.com, and store.bookbaby.com/book/psychotherapy-and-the-stories-we-live-by

Previous Episode

The Story of ADHD and the "Diseasing" of America's Children

My Co-host is Sue Parry, retired Occupational Therapist and Mother of three grown sons who were all diagnosed "at-risk" for ADHD, Conduct Disorder and various learning disabilities when they were of school age. Her personal experiences with the mental health system left her outraged at how health care and educational professionals allowed her children and millions of others to be physically and psychologically hurt by the myths of ADHD and a host of other so-callled mental illnesses , the increasing use of powerful brain diasbling drugs and bogus therapies. Sue Parry's name appears in the acknowledgments of many books including "Talking Back To Ritalin," Naughty Boys: Anti-social Behavior, ADHD and the Role of Culture, and "A Disease Called Childhood: Why ADHD Is an Epidemic." She has testified at the National Institute of Mental Health and the FDA. We will discuss what must be done to protect our children and our democracy from this authoritarian and unscientific onslaught to the life and education of our future citizens.

Next Episode

A Discussion of Dr. Mary Trump's Book About Donald Trump

A critical discussion about Mary Trump's psychological insights about how her family's dynamics shaped the personalities of its members. Dr. Trump is a clincal psychologist and provides a well written, easy to read, and in my opinion an important volume on her theories concerning the rise of Donald Trump and the fall of her father, Freddy, Donald's older brother. I will frame my discussion to include the question as to why and how Donald Trump became the personal savior to millions of American Citizens. www.bookbaby.com/book/psychotherapy-and-the-stories-we-live-by