| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
Benjamin
USA
4 Posts |
 Posted - 08/16/2007 : 02:00:28
|
Overhearing a conversation the other day I got to wondering if the epidemic of chronic pain in the western world might, in small part, be related to or aggravated by the ever-increasing amounts of political correctness we find ourselves having to deal with on a daily basis. Anyone else ever wonder about that?
Think about it. Because of political correctness people are mocked and even criminalized (smoking, for instance) for their lifestyles; lifestyles that had been ‘normal’ for a lifetime, or even centuries. Within a matter of a couple of decades, many cultural mores and manners are suddenly deemed unacceptable by certain so-called experts or advocacy groups, and overnight millions are expected to conform to these new, politically-correct standards.
Smoking, drinking, eating, political, social, and religious views, motherhood and fatherhood, on and on it goes. Is it possible that all this social experimentation is creating frothing seas of unconscious rage? Whether one agrees or disagrees with political correctness, does it come pounding on the door without the unconscious taking notice?
Day in and day out, week after week, we are made exceedingly self-conscious about everything from what we eat to what we say, or even think. In light of TMS theory, such things certainly must create feelings of guilt and shame, and those in turn creating resentment and anger. We may smile or joke about it at times, but inwardly are we getting sick and tired of it? One must wonder if the narcissistic self in the unconscious finds all this political correctness infuriating.
Nowadays one of the biggest taboos is that you might offend someone, anyone, by what you do or say. Even the smallest comment or gesture could be seen as politically incorrect. Did I say ‘girl’ instead of woman? Is ‘black’ okay these days, or am I supposed to say ‘African-American’? Is smoking okay here? What shade of ‘green’ am I, and did I just put that in the wrong recycle bin? Better not say this or that, because he or she is going to be offended...
It seems reasonable to posit that political correctness would be particularly hard on the ‘goodist’ personality; the person who wants to be liked by everyone. The goodist seeks to get along with everyone, yet as it becomes harder and harder to do that on account of the ever-expanding realm of political correctness, it must be enraging to the unconscious mind.
With political correctness comes this obsession with health. And the obsession creates dozens and dozens of nocebos. Be careful, that causes cancer! This causes heart disease! That causes diabetes! This causes high cholesterol! And, every week comes yet another new study by some mysterious, nameless ‘expert’, often contradicting the one a few months back from another expert. So, is coffee good for us or bad for us? How much water should one drink in a day? Is wine good or bad? High carbs or low carbs? High protein or low? Drink milk? Whole, skim, or low-fat? Is the incredible, edible egg a wonder food or a heart attack waiting to happen? I’ve been reading these health magazines and journals all my life, and the ‘consensus’ keeps changing every few years. It may be confusing, even comical at times to my conscious mind, but to the unconscious mind, could it be downright enraging? |
|
|
weatherman
USA
184 Posts |
Posted - 08/16/2007 : 21:30:59
|
It's too bad TT flew the coop, he would have been all over this thread. In my own case I'm not sure our many varieties of political correctness are a source of unconcscious rage - but they are certainly a source of conscious rage at times. As a society we have become way too easily offended, and there are examples of PC across the entire political spectrum. And for the most part it's given us lots of mealy-mouthed politicians who tell us what they think we want to hear, rather than what they really think.
Weatherman
"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement." |
 |
|
|
stanfr
USA
268 Posts |
Posted - 08/16/2007 : 22:01:24
|
I think there's no question all that politcal correctness aggravates the 'epidemic', although i think it's just one symtom of the much larger overiding phenomena, which is the advance of technology (and population!) at an exponential rate, forcing our un-adapted bodies into a world that is changing too fast for our psyche to manage. We live in a world that is now completely inter-connected, where we can be in near instantaneous communication with anybody else on the planet, and this ability is expanding exponentially each year. Cell-phones, computers, etc are forcing us into a global community whereas before we had our own space, so 'political correctness' was not so much of an issue. Our brains are being overloaded by the false sense of reality that electronic communication provides us.
As an aside, i went to a state the other day that still hasn't banned smoking in public places (bars/restaurants); i could smell the smoke pervade throughout the whole establishment, even the 'non-smoking' section. Made me really appreciate what my state and many others have done! |
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
|
|
TMS and political correctness anyone?
