Interpreting the Defense

What will the voices of appeasement do after this? Will they continue to believe that peace is possible with those who kill indiscriminantly in the name of Allah?

Will the terrorist attacks in London awaken them from their self-induced sleep and will they now recognize the real enemy that has no regard for human life or human freedom?

Or,

Will they continue down the path of deliberate suicide by urging appeasement and accommodation of an enemy that wants to destroy all that the West stands for; and blame Bush and Blair for the actions of the "Religion of Peace"?

Unfortunately, the latter response has already begun--just read the words of the disgusting George Galloway.

A frequent reader of this blog, gumshoe, asks:

what's the HEALTHY(psychological) response to this human frailty??
(aside from common sense and the rational decision to defend
oneself). How do people's concerns about "projection"(which we can recognize as
a human weakness that can escalate into a human evil) avoid degenerating into "navel gazing" resulting in culturally suicidal ideas like "the US deserved it" ...or hysterics like "BUSH LIES and SOLDIERS DIE"??

In psychiatry, particularly in psychoanalysis, the psychological defenses --such as projection and denial--often stand in the way of a person being able to understand the source of their dysfunction and to deal with reality. When these unconscious mechanisms act to protect the individual from reality by distorting that reality, the appropriate thing to do (as I try to do repeatedly) is to interpret the defense.

That is why I sound like a broken record and talk about PROJECTION and DENIAL and PARANOIA (see here and here for example)over and over again. Each time I observe such defenses, I work to get those who are using them to be conscious of what they are doing. Only then can they change their behavior.

Ultimately, an individual must CHOOSE to deal with reality. Noone can make anyone face a terrible truth they wish to avoid. One of the purposes of this blog is to "shine a psychological spotlight" on the maladaptive responses to the realities of our world.

I will keep trying to do this in the hope that--by interpreting the psychological defense--the users will decide to abandon their primitive coping strategies and join the rest of us in the real world. We could use their help in defeating the enemies of our way of life.

UPDATE: ShrinkWrapped looks at the responses over at Daily Kos. Meanwhile, a DU commenter (complete with upside down American Flag as her logo) writes this:

pointed out that this is nothing new. vietcong targeted cafes and so has every resistance movement. they are just fighting a superior force any way they can. We give them the ammunition and excuse by invading and killing their people so it looks like only payback to them, not an atrocity.
The speaker I heard pointed out that imperialism never works and invading Iraq is imperialism whether we want to admit it or not.
He also pointed out that we deal with non-democratic regimes in the area while demanding democracy in the regimes we wish to topple. The hypocrisy of it all.

Ah yes. Moral relativism. The hypocrisy of it all. As the lawyers say, I rest my case.