Jennifer Armstrong1 second ago
Generally the cultural left will attribute bad behavior to psychological injuries in those who act in such a manner, whereas the cultural right will attribute it to innate evil on the part of the actors. I don't think an absolutist approach on either side is correct. Wilfulness is always a factor in human behavior but this wilful behavior takes place within a historical and social context. Choice for actions and reactions may have a limited or extended range depending on what is socially prescribed or proscribed. My father, for instance, coming from an exceedingly macho culture, could not act on or express his emotions on his own behalf. He needed a female entity to express his feelings for him. Thus I had to be made into that entity. Notably, had it not been acceptable in contemporary society to abuse a female child and attribute excessive emotionalism to her, he would have not have been able to resort to this solution and would have had to deal with his emotions as his own. But contemporary society allowed him this outlet (projecting what was bad or insecure about himself onto me), and thus I had to bear the full force of his disability for him.
Note also how useless it is to have a response that comes from the contemporary left or the contemporary right wing of politics. The left would say, "Well we are all injured and broken and suffering, so we will not intervene on your behalf. These things are so far out of our control to even think about." The right would say, "Well, why aren't you stronger so that you could have resisted your father's abuse?" In the first instance we have an overemphasis on social determinants and in the second instance an overemphasis on individual determinants, but in each case nobody steps in and does something.
The ideological standoff between right wing attributions of evil agency and left wing attributions of impersonal forces can be broken when people learn the skills of stepping in and intervening, instead of doing nothing.
Note also how useless it is to have a response that comes from the contemporary left or the contemporary right wing of politics. The left would say, "Well we are all injured and broken and suffering, so we will not intervene on your behalf. These things are so far out of our control to even think about." The right would say, "Well, why aren't you stronger so that you could have resisted your father's abuse?" In the first instance we have an overemphasis on social determinants and in the second instance an overemphasis on individual determinants, but in each case nobody steps in and does something.
The ideological standoff between right wing attributions of evil agency and left wing attributions of impersonal forces can be broken when people learn the skills of stepping in and intervening, instead of doing nothing.
