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How are we to understand the
psychology of the gun violence that afflicts American society?
Peter Michaelson goes to great
lengths to describe the aberrant psychology of an individual who would
slaughter innocent strangers, in an article recently published by Buzzflash on
the "The Psychology Behind Mass Shootings" [click here
What mainstream psychology
ignores about mass murderers:
While such an analysis can provide
important insights and is a necessary contribution to reducing such violence,
it is at the same time extremely one-sided and unfortunately displays a
bias that is typical of mainstream psychology. This is particularly evident
when Michaelson writes, "our suffering is produced through inner conflict --we have nowhere to turn for relief but inward."
Imagine telling a child who is being sexually abused
by his caregiver that his suffering is simply a result of inner conflict. Or
explaining to victims of superstorm Sandy who are being denied aid by
squabbling Republicans that they will just have to seek inner relief. Then try
to convince African-Americans that the bigotry they have experienced the last
200 years is strictly a result of and must be addressed on the level of their
individual psychology.
While it is true that, as Michaelson wrote, "We
have to learn that our negative impressions, impulses, and emotions are not caused exclusively by external
factors, even when life is difficult and seems unfair" so that we
will learn to "stop projecting on to others," it also is true that
external factors have a profound influence on our inner psychology. Michelson's
bias leads him to pathologize rampage shooters at length, but apart from a few
remarks about gun control he says next to nothing about our society that
glorifies, propagates and turns a blind eye to violence.
In an interview, psychologist James Hillman remarked:
I am attacking the
theories of psychotherapy. . . . It makes every problem a subjective, inner
problem. And that's not where the problems come from. They come from the
environment, the cities, the economy, the racism. They come from architecture,
school systems, capitalism, exploitation. They come from many places that
psychotherapy does not address. Psychotherapy theory turns it all on you: you are the one who is wrong. What I'm trying
to say is that, if a kid is having trouble or is discouraged, the problem is
not just inside the kid; it's also in the system, the society.
Newtown shows us - ourselves:
The murdered children at Newtown hold up a mirror to
our collective psyche. In that mirror we see President Obama killing innocent
children with drone strikes, the mainstream media remaining virtually silent
about this policy, and Obama's counterterrorism advisor Bruce Reidel likening
such killings to mowing the lawn: "You've got to mow the lawn all the time. The
minute you stop mowing, the grass is going to grow back."
All of this is but a part of our
demented policy of perpetual war, aided and abetted by both political
parties as the latest amplification of the military-industrial complex's
iron grip on our society. Violence and murder is our business, and
the tone-deaf National Rifle Association wants to make sure that anyone
within our borders who has the urge to murder has the means to do so as
effectively as possible.
These are but a few of the countless examples of
the violence rampant in our society. Michaelson's analysis does us a
disservice by overemphasizing the individual psychology of mass killers
and virtually ignoring the society that models such behavior and arms its
citizens. As a collective ,
with our $525 billion yearly military budget, we clearly are displaying
the "murderous instincts," "profound inner weakness" and
"lack of self-regulation" that Michaelson pins solely on individual
shooters.
When an individual kills innocent civilians, we call
it murder and insanity, and anyone foolhardy enough to defend such behavior
would be rightly vilified. In contrast, when our government routinely kills
innocent civilians, we either deny it is happening or liken it to "mowing the
grass," and anyone who defends such behavior calls themselves a patriot.
Certainly it is important to recognize that the
Newtown killer was mentally disturbed. The deeper healing will come, however,
when we admit that in many ways he is a reflection of our own profoundly
dysfunctional society -- and then decide to do something about it.
Alan
James Strachan, Ph.D. is a
psychotherapist, teacher and author of the book-in-progress, America on
the Couch: Dreams and Nightmares of Democracy , http://www.americaonthecouch.net .
