Psychology/Psychiatry

Life is a crap shoot whether walking down the street, driving on the highway and across the bridge, flying overhead, depending on other organizations (besides those that build cars, trucks, bridges and planes), or just plain living. We take our chances no matter how selective and careful we may be.
But the chances get riskier when dealing with any of the more risky organizations or any of the card-carrying corporate members of the Devil’s marriage, the unequal partnership between corporations and subservient government.

Summary: I show that the de facto police practice of constant random harassment by carding and other means, combined with less frequent unprovoked executions and prosecutions using false charges, in containing groups targeted for containment is exactly the most effective and efficient strategy for hierarchical containment developed by evolution and described by primate anthropologists. As such, the said practice should be understood to be an intrinsic feature of the societal dominance hierarchy.

In the aftermath of the Paris massacre I found myself pondering the surreal state of the world and the myriad humanitarian disasters and violations of international law infiltrating the globe. War crimes in Iraq, Gaza, Syria and Libya accompanied by air strikes, bombing raids and regime changes have become routine. The genocide in Yemen, albeit a humanitarian catastrophe, receives little media attention.  U.S. led propaganda and harsh sanctions have economically destabilized Venezuela, conceivably as a prelude to invasion.

Snapshot: What They Have Done

 it is through mimesis, (identification with the mirror image) that one gains a sense of unity, self-containment and mastery over the body. If that was all that there was to it, humanity would be condemned to dwell forever entombed in the hell of mirrors. However, the identification with an Other in the mirror opens out the possibility for symbolic thought.

Now, then, in order to understand white supremacy we must dismiss the fallacious notion that white people can give anybody their freedom.
– Stokely Carmichael, “Black Power“, Voices of Democracy, 1966

In recent years, the conception of the psychopath has gained a new upsurge of interest. Popular culture’s sensational image of Hannibal Lecter in the movie Silence of the Lambs and notorious killers like Ted Bundy have long cultivated public fascination. Now, awareness is spreading beyond these portrayals of outlandish criminals. More people are beginning to recognize the existence of socialized psychopaths who are not so outwardly violent.

This essay comes from my attempt to understand the stress I sometimes feel when I am with family. How does the individual come to know himself and what he truly wants?
My idea is that each individual, in his early, formative years, develops a deep, central set of desires for his life. This “core of needs” is the foundation on which the individual builds his self-image (inward projection of self) and personality (outward projection of self), and is the source of his motivation, explaining his behaviour.

Entering Columbia University is a dream come true and the first step in what I hope will be a fulfilling career. My time at Columbia undoubtedly represents one of the most eye-opening and stimulating periods of my life. Most of my peers were as ecstatic as I was when going through the gates of our Morningside Heights home for the first time. And yet, as fall finals loom just days away, some of our fellow students have suffered from tragic depression, going as far as attempting to take their own lives.

John was wondering why he was where he was. After all, he’d purchased the weapon weeks ago.
“And when was it, exactly, that you decided you needed an automatic rifle?” Filling out a form, Marsha, an intake worker, concentrates on her computer screen, making no eye contact with the new admission.
“I don’t know. I saw the ad online. You know. Don’t we all have the right to protect ourselves?”
“Yes. Of course. And how were you planning to use this automatic weapon?” John couldn’t see Marsha’s fingers on the keyboard but he could hear faint clicks as she typed away.