Countering Despair in America: Social Progress by Instructive “Presidential Caricatures” of “What’s Wrong”…
Opportunities to transform Social Suffering into Social Beauty
Exemplary of the despair and fear is an email message I recently received from a patient who lives in Eastern Europe:
“I hope that your president (whether Clinton or Trump) will do not much harm to our planet and its people.”
She is scared, worried, and depressed by the American
presidential campaign and what is happening in the world as a whole. She
feels anger and frustration—particularly when considering how difficult
it is to make sense out of what is happening, and how little control
she feels over what seems so out of control and so difficult to remedy.
As with this patient, the current U.S. presidential
campaign, and the associated chaos and wars going on in so many
countries of the world, have left most Americans and most aware global
citizens similarly frightened, worried, depressed, angry, frustrated,
confused, and despondent—and I am talking about people other than those
in the Middle East, north Africa, and elsewhere who have directly
suffered (killed, maimed, or displaced) from the chaos and war. The
indecency (past and present) of both Trump1 and Clinton2, the lies both
have told, the fears and hatred each has stirred, the beguiling
confusion each has created, the depth and breadth of their
mis-education, and their failure to present adequate solutions, have
left people feeling frightened, hopeless and helpless, and have caused
people to even question their own decency and their own ability to make
sense out of life.
People feel belittled, betrayed, and bewildered.
Furthering the frustration and depression, has been the absence of a
clear vision of how Social Suffering could be transformed into Social
Beauty. Most seem to have accepted the depressing (but untrue) notion
that such transformation is impossible.
This essay is intended to remind readers that just
because Trump and Clinton have exhibited so much sleaze and indecency
does not mean that we, too, are indecent and sleazy. Their
hateful behavior need not make us hate ourselves, or others, and need
not undermine confidence in our own goodness and our own ability to
bring remedy to social Suffering. Just because they have exhibited the
worst aspects of Human Nature, does not mean that Human Nature is bad.
Human Nature is comprised of capacity for both good and
bad—and we can create opportunities that give practice to Human capacity
for goodness, allowing it to prevail. Just because Trump and Clinton
seem likely to exacerbate, rather than resolve current national and
global crises, does not mean that we cannot find just and kind solution.
In fact, the theme of this essay is that both Trump and
Clinton, precisely because they represent such horrible Caricatures of
What’s Wrong, are providing us with a tremendous opportunity to
transform Social Suffering into Social Beauty. We can seize that opportunity
But, before going further, please consider the following
historical analogy, regarding how “Instructive Caricatures of What’s
Wrong” have accelerated Social Progress in the past:
One could argue that the three people who did the most to accelerate Civil Rights advances during the 1960s were Martin Luther King
(of course), George Wallace, and Lester Maddox (the racist governors of
Alabama and Georgia, respectively, who insisted on blocking little
black girls from attending “whites only” schools)—Dr. King, because of
his exemplary social conscience, social philosophy, and leadership;
Wallace and Maddox because they represented highly Instructive
Caricatures of What’s Wrong.
Wallace and Maddox were gross caricatures of horrible
racism. Their racism was so blatant and so obvious, that segregation,
which had been continually and successfully defended and accepted by
politicians for decades, very quickly became obviously indefensible and
“socially unacceptable,” once the behaviors of Wallace and Maddox were
witnessed on television. Lynching, which had occurred frequently for
decades, also suddenly stopped (or at least became rare, at least in the
literal sense), because Wallace and Maddox had so effectively exposed
how awful and obviously unacceptable it was. The racist attitudes and
actions caricatured by Wallace and Maddox were very instructive. Thanks
to them, attitudes and actions that had been socially defended and
tolerated for decades, suddenly became “socially unacceptable.” Little
progress in Civil Rights had been made, for decades, until Wallace and
Maddox became Instructive Caricatures of What’s Wrong. Their behavior
helped Dr. King to drive home his message
Fast forwarding to Trump, Clinton, and the current global crises:
The good news is that because both Trump and Clinton, in their own different ways, represent such gross Caricatures of What is Wrong with American thinking and behavior1,2,
3, their caricatures will be more instructive (to all of the world’s
people) than would more bland and masked representatives of American
exceptionalism , mis-education, and mis-behavior (e.g. Obama).
Grotesque caricatures (if we can survive them, and we will!) raise
social consciousness and social understanding faster and more accurately
than do bland, gentler, masked representatives of the status quo. So,
the good news is that either one (Trump or Clinton) will make it more
obvious than ever before “what’s wrong” and what we can do to fix it.
There is a medical analogy here: How have physicians learned about normal human physiology and how beautifully it works?
Much of that learning has occurred (or at least been reinforced or confirmed) by studying diseases.
Diseases, particularly extreme versions of diseases, are
“instructive caricatures” of things gone wrong. By studying those
diseases, we can figure out how human physiology works normally and
optimally (and most beautifully). Often, the most severe versions of
disease (the greatest caricatures of what’s wrong) teach us more quickly
and definitively than do subtle versions of disease (some of which even
go unrecognized, undiagnosed, and unaddressed). Similarly, Trumps and
Clintons provide better learning opportunities than do “kinder, gentler”
(but just as harmful) versions of mis-education and misbehavior (like
Obama)—and, thereby, advance knowledge, understanding, and Social
Progress more quickly.
Physicians are physicians because they deeply care about
learning from and treating diseases. They don’t ignore, deny, or run
away from disease; they run towards disease and eagerly embrace the
challenges of diagnosing, finding cause, and creating remedy. They view
presence of disease as opportunities to make things better, not as
depressing experiences to avoid.
Likewise, it would be good if all people cared deeply to
understand and treat caricatures like Trump, Clinton, and current US
foreign policy—to figure out what is wrong and determine how societies
could work and think optimally and most beautifully, individually and
together; i.e. determine how to transform Social Suffering and
diseased thinking into Social Beauty. Trump1 and Clinton2, and the USA
itself3, all caricatures of diseased thinking and diseased social
behavior, have been giving us that opportunity. Unwittingly, Trump,
Clinton, and the USA, because they are caricatures of American
mis-education and misbehavior, have, in fact, presented an unprecedented
opportunity for us to advance Social Progress and create Social Beauty.
If we take advantage of this opportunity, the world can become a much
better place, even rapidly so. If we ignore this opportunity, if we run
away from this chance to diagnose social illness, seek its causes, and
create remedy—then, disease will worsen and the world’s people and the
earth itself will succumb—either quickly (via nuclear disaster), or more
slowly (via neglect).
The most positive and helpful response, therefore, to
Trump, Clinton, and current USA foreign policy, is not to allow
ourselves to become depressed and despondent, not to run from these
problems; but, rather, for all of us to become enthusiastic Social
Clinicians—committed to bringing the nation’s and the world’s problems
before the Social Clinic, where Social Suffering can be rigorously
examined, diagnosed, understood, and treated; where work can be done to
create Social Beauty. The positive response to Trump, Clinton, and the
USA is to view them for what they are—Instructive Caricatures of What’s
Wrong—that teach us, give us new clarity, and give us new opportunity to
make things better, to create Social Beauty and Social Justice, to
reverse the Social Suffering of so many of the world’s people. In that
sense, this is an exciting time, not a time for fear, despondency,
self-doubt, resignation, and acceptance of the status quo.
It is difficult to know who will be granted the Presidency.
We will be able to survive either one—but, only if we recognize these
caricatures for what they are and use their caricatured mis-education
and misbehavior as “teaching moments” to facilitate and expedite true
social learning and Social Progress, and only if we rigorously evaluate
and challenge their policies and actions every step of the way, always
holding them accountable. In that sense, they both represent a better
“teaching opportunity” than has Obama and those before him.
So, don’t let Trump and Clinton demoralize you,
undermine your sense of self-worth, and snuff out your hopes for
Humanity and Mother Earth. Recognize them as Instructive
Caricatures of What’s Wrong—caricatures who can serve to accelerate
Social Progress. Yes, both are dangerous, in their own different ways,
as well as in similar ways. But, don’t be overly frightened. All
diseases are dangerous and strike some fear. But, don’t run away from
disease. Those who are suffering the most need you to run towards it.
With knowledge, discipline, focus, practice, hard work, deep empathy,
high spirit, resolve, and appropriately bold risk-taking—diseases can be
conquered. Physicians have demonstrated that. Similarly, all of us
can become Social Clinicians, participate in the Social Clinic, and
contribute to the transformation of Social Suffering into Social Beauty.
That Transformation will likely require creation of collaborative,
independent, national Public Economies, starting with thorough public
discussion of this notion—but, further specific discussion of how to
work towards creation of Social Beauty is a subject for a subsequent
essay.
1,2,,3 – Both Trump and Clinton represent
horribly flawed candidates—each in different ways, neither being fit for
public office.
1) Trump appears to be an arrogant, egotistical, narcissistic, undisciplined, impulsive, crude,
predatory merchant who also appears to be a sexual predator, a racist, a
pathological liar, and prone to fascist behaviors. He is either
ignorant or ignorant (or both) of national and world
history—particularly of our nation’s long and continued history of
exploiting and abusing people all over the world.3 His views on human
rights, civil rights, women’s rights, health care, guns, economics,
immigration, and climate change reflect gross mis-education, at best.
He threatens to reverse social progress and dangerously increase social
unrest, hatred, and incivility within the USA. He is a clear and
present danger to American society, particularly to minorities.
His views and actions are full of contradictions. The only
good things about Trump (if we can trust any of the following) are that
he is not afraid to speak truth to power, he is not afraid to shake
things up, he is willing to expose much of what is wrong with the
current Establishment, he has awakened an apathetic American public, he
dares to state that getting along with Russia could be a good thing, he
questions why the USA is supporting ISIS and other terrorist groups in
Syria, he has been critical of the wars in Iraq, Libya, and Syria, and
he questions the money we spend on NATO. There is also a possibility
(though this cannot be trusted) that he actually has a big heart, truly
cares about suffering people, and that most of his misbehavior and
mis-guided thinking is due to mis-education and mis-culture, rather than
absence of compassion or intelligence. Trump has presented himself as
the populist, anti-establishment candidate who threatens to up-end the
status quo. But, because he is so untrustworthy, it is difficult to
know whether his anti-establishment rhetoric is a true reflection of
what he believes and plans; or whether his rhetoric is all a ploy, with
plans (once in power) to execute the Establishment’s plans exactly as
the Establishment tells and rewards him to execute them, and with
greater force than we have seen them executed to date.
2) Clinton is particularly disturbing because of her foreign policy decisions and actions: She
orchestrated the brutal murder of Gaddafi and the total destruction of
Libya, both of which were unwarranted, unnecessary, unwise, and grossly
illegal. Predictably, Libya became a failed state, over-run by ruthless
terrorists—and she laughed about this accomplishment afterwards, in
public (“We came, we saw, he died—ha, ha, ha”). She similarly
orchestrated a brutal regime change in Ukraine, deliberately placing
fascist thugs in power, who then carried out a reign of terror on the
Russian population of Ukraine and Crimea—then, she falsely blamed all of
the carnage on “Russian invasion of Ukraine and Crimea.” Despite
knowing full well that Saudia Arabia and Qatar were financing and arming
ISIS, she and Obama continued to ship huge amounts of arms and money to
these countries, knowing that it was ending up in the hands of ISIS and
similar terrorist groups.
She also orchestrated regime change in Honduras, ousting
the democratically elected President Zelaya, replacing him with a brutal
regime whose death squads murdered Berta Caceres,
(right) a principled indigenous environmental activist who was on a
hitlist distributed to US-trained “special forces units.” Berta was
trying to protect the Aguan River from the ravages of US-supported (and
Clinton-supported) corporate mining and hydroelectric projects. And,
during her husband’s Presidency, she, Bill, and her friend, Madeleine
Albright, imposed economic sanctions on Iraq that resulted in the deaths
of 500,000 people, many of them innocent women and children—a sacrifice
that Ms. Albright concluded “was worth it.” (To whom was it worth it,
Mrs. Albright, and who were you to decide?) The Clintons’ “humanitarian
efforts” in Rwanda and Yugoslavia, which they and Samantha Power
justified by their “Responsibility to Protect” doctrine, were anything
but humanitarian. There is more, but we will stop here.
Like Trump, Clinton is either ignorant or ignorant
(probably more the latter) of national and global history. Despite her
shameless claims to the contrary, she is willingly beholden to Wall
Street/Big Finance. She appears to be committed to ruthlessly doing
whatever is necessary to achieve the neo-conservative/neo-liberal goal
of a uni-polar world totally dominated by Transnational Corporations
(even killing thousands of innocent women and children, if necessary, as
Mrs. Albright’s policies did in Iraq and Obama’s policies are now doing
in Syria and Yemen). Guided by her gross mis-education and quest for
power and wealth, she has dangerously and erroneously demonized Putin
and Russia—e.g. irresponsibly calling Putin “a Hitler.”
If she becomes President, there is high risk that she will take the world to the brink of World War III, if not over the brink.
She is a carefully disciplined fraud, a pathological liar, a
disingenuous empathizer, and a heartless war criminal. She is a clear
and present danger to world peace. The only good thing about Clinton is
that, compared to Trump, she would do more for the human rights, women’s
rights, minority rights, and health care rights of Americans (not
globally)—not because she has genuine compassion, but because she
realizes that it is “good politics” to do so. She would be more
effective (than Trump) at saving American Capitalism, thereby delaying
its collapse and temporarily propping up the American economy (but this
is a negative, in my opinion). Clinton is the pro-Establishment
candidate, who will seek to maintain the status quo and will do so with
greater force and zeal than has Obama, whose main contribution has been a
pathetic modicum of self-serving restraint.
3) Sadly, Trump and Clinton are not alone in their
mis-education and mis-behavior. All of the American Presidents, since
at least 1900, have caused great harm to the world’s people and great
damage to the earth itself. The most racist, arrogant, fascist,
ignorant, ignorant, and dangerous notion of all is the American belief
that the USA is “the exceptional and indispensable nation;” and that the
USA’s wealth has primarily been due to unique American industriousness,
ingenuity, competence, and the goodness of our foreign policy. Nothing
could be farther from the truth!!
America’s exceptional wealth and power has primarily been
due to more than a century of exceptionally brutal global exploitation
of the world’s people and resources—to the great harm of both. Yes,
there have been some “trickle down” benefits to many, in terms of an
increase in material “standard of living.” But, even those
improvements in material well-being (including all of the scientific and
technological advances generated by the USA) could have been achieved
and distributed (even faster and better) by other countries, other
peoples, and other economic and social models, if only they had been
given a chance.
Not only have other countries and peoples not been given a
proper chance to create their own existences, they have been
deliberately sabotaged by American orchestrated chaos and war (e.g.
Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, Ukraine, Syria, Yemen, north African countries,
most of central America, and most of South America to name just a few
recent examples). The chaos and wars have been deliberately designed to
prevent other peoples, countries, and social systems from successfully
competing with American supremacy (which pretty much amounts to White
Supremacy). The USA has not just built itself up; it has deliberately
torn other people down and kept them from rising, so that no one else
has a chance to threaten the USA’s insistence on its supremacy and its
economic model. Such a strategy is not only shameful and racist, it is
enormously cowardly.
Even Obama believes in “American exceptionalism” and,
astonishingly, believes Hillary Clinton is the “best prepared and most
competent presidential candidate during our life-time.” These comments
reflect profound mis-education, at best.
The fact is that the USA (its corporate and government
leadership) is very far from exceptional, very far from indispensable,
and has not been a force for good. Clinton claims that “America is
great because it is good.” I will agree that most American people, like
the vast majority of the world’s people, are good. But, history clearly
reveals that the USA is powerful and wealthy, not because of altruism
and goodness, but because of its rulers’ ruthless greed and heartless
exploitation of the billions of “unpeople” living in the rest of the
world. The world will be a better place, if the USA is put in its
proper place and is held accountable (for once). If any country
deserves to have economic sanctions placed on it, it is the USA.
If any leaders deserve to be brought before a world court
for crimes against Humanity, it is the leaders of the USA. If any
country should have its armed forces stripped to a minimum (for defense
only), it is the USA. If any country should be disallowed from having
military bases outside of their own country, it is the USA. A Trump or
Clinton Presidency, because they are such caricatures of wrong-thinking,
mis-education, and mis-behavior, will make this much more obvious than
has the Obama presidency. Frankly, a Trump presidency would be more
instructive/educational than a Clinton presidency (because she is more
disciplined in hiding her true nature and the true nature of American
thinking and plans for Supremacy). Yes, Trump would be risky, but
Clinton is just as risky—they are just risky in different ways. Trump
clearly poses a greater risk domestically (within the U.S.), but Clinton
probably poses a greater risk globally.
Clinton will probably “win” the election. But, a surprise
Trump victory is possible—not because more than a third of the
electorate supports his attitudes and policies, but because many caring
and wise people are absolutely fed up with the hypocrisy and lies
associated with Clinton and the dangerous foreign policies of American
Exceptionalism that she shamelessly promotes. I might not vote—because I
think an embarrassingly low turn-out of eligible voters would make the
most effective statement, and because I refuse to give my consent to a
Trump or Clinton presidency. I refuse to be an accomplice to their
crimes, policies, and sleaze. Furthermore, as awful as both are, I
believe that we have the capacity to control either one. If we care
enough, we will be able to prevent either from creating the disasters
they threaten to create. However, if it looks as though an
embarrassingly low turn-out is not going to happen (because the American
public has been successfully tricked and frightened into flocking to
vote for the “lesser of two evils”), I will vote for Jill Stein, whose
policies and attitudes seem the most wise and the most kind—by far.
We will be able to survive either candidate (Trump
or Clinton)—but, only if we know our history and use their caricatured
mis-education as “teaching moments” to facilitate and expedite true
social learning and Social Progress; only if we rigorously
evaluate and challenge their policies and actions and insist on holding
them accountable; and only if we believe in our capacity to develop and
discuss alternative plans for creation of Social Beauty. Mass
re-education will be necessary. The focus of mass public discussion
will need to be ideas such as creation of collaborative, independent,
national Public Economies. Creation of Social Beauty will depend on
such discussions.
Robert Rennebohm,
MD has practiced pediatric rheumatology since 1979, when he started his
pediatric rheumatology fellowship training at the Special Treatment
Center for Juvenile Arthritis at Children’s Hospital Medical Center in
Cincinnati.
For 17 years he was Chief of the Division of Pediatric
Rheumatology at Ohio State University College of Medicine and Nationwide
Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Prior to coming to the Cleveland
Clinic (in July, 2012), he was Professor of Pediatrics in the Division
of Pediatric Rheumatology at the University of Calgary and Alberta
Children’s Hospital in Calgary, Alberta, Canada (2008-2012).
The original source of this article is Global Research
Copyright © Dr. Robert Rennebohm, Global Research, 2016
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