Psychological Displacement And Cowardice

Great piece from Dr. Sanity.

The media enhance their own moral superiority by their distortions and manage to portray themselves as "brave rebels" who stand up against evil. But the truth is that it is far too risky to stand up against the real evil. Their courage only extends far enough to allow them to criticize people like Tony Blair and George Bush. Why, it would be far too dangerous for them personally to confront the real threat--those who are determined--no matter how much carnage it takes--to destroy the lives of millions in Iraq.

This psychological defense mechanism is referred to as "displacement", and it is the psycholgical basis of Bush Derangement Syndrome, as well as the tendency of many to conveniently blame America (and Britain) and Israel for every problem in the world.

One way you can usually tell that psychological displacement is being used is that the emotion being displaced (e.g., anger or fear) is all out of proportion to the reality of the situation. The purpose of displacement is to avoid having to cope with the actual reality. Instead, by using displacement, an individual is able to still experience his or her anger, but it is directed at a less threatening target than the real cause. In this way, the individual does not have to be responsible for the consequences of his/her anger and feels more safe--even thought that is not the case.

And, in the case of the MSM, the side effect of the displacement is that they can safely denounce "evil" and be the "brave rebels" without having to risk anything! From their perspective, their courage and daring knows no bounds! Why, at any minute, the fascist, torturing, despicable regimes of Bush, Blair etc. etc. might come for them and put them in death camps! Yeah, right.

In order for them to be brave, they must, of course, play up the evil of the forces they are "speaking truth" to. Hence all the exaggeration of mistakes that Bush and Blair have made. Exaggeration all out of proportion to reality--while almost completely ignoring the real atrocities that are committed on a daily basis by those we fight against in Iraq.

This confessional by author Pat Conroy, "Confessions of an American Coward," is worth reading too:

I looked for some conclusion, a summation of this trip to my teammate's house. I wanted to come to the single right thing, a true thing that I may not like but that I could live with. After hearing Al Kroboth's story of his walk across Vietnam and his brutal imprisonment in the North, I found myself passing harrowing, remorseless judgment on myself. I had not turned out to be the man I had once envisioned myself to be. I thought I would be the kind of man that America could point to and say, "There. That's the guy. That's the one who got it right. The whole package. The one I can depend on." It had never once occurred to me that I would find myself in the position I did on that night in Al Kroboth's house in Roselle , New Jersey... an American coward spending the night with an American hero.

The points are related. Because lefties will, of course, say, "But you're a coward! How dare you accuse anyone else!"

Well, here's the thing. The left denigrates the moral and physical courage of our military men because they are too childish in their imaginations to admit of anyone who has finer qualities than they in any respect. Thus the troops' courage becomes, in their minds, at best simply the product of misguided thinking or economic desperation and at worst abject stupidity and benightedness.

On the other hand, I have little problem admitting, straight-up, these men are far more brave than I am. There's the physical courage of actually fighting, of course. But there's also the moral courage of being willing to suffer deprivation, loneliness, and physical exhaustion on a daily basis to acheive something important.

The difference between the left and the right on this isn't that those on the right who do not serve are "cowardly chickenhawks" ahile those on the left are principled "peace warriors." The fact is that those who don't serve obviously do not have the guts and intestinal fortitude of those who do -- only those on the right are willing to admit this, while those on the left prefer to flatter themselves by denigrating the troops' courage as the product of stupidity. Anyone who chooses not to serve is, by comparison with those who do, cowardly to some extent by comparison. But it's only the left which is determined to claim their own "fight" -- the brave "war" against the Bush regime -- is in fact every bit as courageous as the fight of a Marine in the al-Anbar province, if not more so.

posted by Ace at 02:44 PM

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