I got a degree in psychology back in college, looking for a science career, though I eventually went back to my first choice in computing. Still, I don’t regret the degree at all (a psych degree is actually good as a minor or a complimentary degree for most anything), as it helps me get some great insights into human behavior.
One insight that comes to mind this holiday season is that Freud would have a field day with U.S. politics.
First, there’s the bizarre sexual issues, issues that indicate a kind of regressed or immature sexuality for so many people. We’re actually to the point where rape being a bad thing is something people discuss as opposed to going “yeah, it’s bad.” People are freaked out over contraception, something you think we’d be used to by now.
Secondly, there’s the daddy issues, and the press is really bad with this. There’s the bizarre fawning over machismo which is often false machismo – and then just as soon as people show any machismo, there’s fear of angry daddy. There’s an acceptance of adolescent posturing on war, and little thought on actual repercussions – I mean seriously, if there’s a war with Iran there will be impacts we have to cope with, whether a war is, was, or will be necessary.
Third, and related, there’s really little talk of long-term planning. How do we get from A to B? What of the repercussions? What of sustainability? What do we really want to do as opposed to say we’ll do. Is this policy or that real long-term planning or a dodge?
Now I could have a Freudian field day with a lot of politics, but I suspect one of the big issues is that we don’t want to take a look at the pathological state of our own politics. We don’t want to confront the immaturity, the parental issues, the regressed adolescent sexual issues, etc. We know it’s there, but it seems we’re happier playing the games.
I’m not. A lot of people aren’t. Perhaps we need to get the media and politicians to catch on . . .
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.