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Twentieth-century European fascism boasted of a strong State run by a right-wing Fuher or demagogue, i.e., dictator. Both in Italy and Nazi Germany, the nuclear family was central to the enthusiasm for patriotic nationalism and militarism. The fascist parties ran on anti-democratic and anti-capitalist platforms; this was their con. The parties were pro-corporatism or in other words demanded a “corporative state.” A racialized social Darwinism was present, which led to the embrace of expansionary militarism and imperialism.

Fascism has been a global phenomenon for the last 4,000 to 6,000 years. It is in the massed. It materialized during an economic crisis (Great Depression). There is a history of terror and violence inflicted on the Other, e.g., Jews, Communists, socialists, homosexuals, Indians, Negroes, immigrants, which maintains the status quo. With twentieth-century fascism there was a total unification with the State. The unity was based on an enforced symbiosis, whereby the “mobilized passions” were utilized to destroy unions and any forms of opposition to the State. Spectacle, commemorations, and state-run youth organizations dominated space and time, so private self was eliminated. One of a body of the State. The self was merged with the public self, e.g., being Catholic and being Italian, based on this collectivization of all spheres of life.

Twenty-first century fascism in the U.S. requires Reich’s application of “functional thinking.” Twentieth and twenty-first century fascism are simultaneously identical and antithetical (in opposition). For example, body and mind are not two not one: a functional unity whereby psyche and soma are two sides of the same coin. The function of fascism is to physically and ideologically enclose citizens in the pursuit of maintaining the status quo by any means necessary, e.g., war, propaganda, etc.

This naïve application allows us to consider how twentieth-century fascism is a continuously functional process of maintaining the status quo. Therefore, twenty-first century American fascism relies on the projection of a weak state and ineffectual leader, e.g., Bush II, Biden. The centrality of the nuclear family (sex-negating, compulsive monogamy) remains with room for cultural differences: same-sex, bi-racial, etc.

For fifty years, the slogan “government is the problem” prevails. The “corporative state” of twentieth-century fascism is actualized in the complete corporate takeover of the State in the U.S. Instead of antiparliamentarianism, the emphasis of both parties is to “save democracy” and “save the Republic.” This saving is about maintaining class divisions for the global power elite to reap benefits from. In short, to return to a restorative period (status quo) or Make America Great Again. Social Darwinism is still the norm, but instead of a racist ideology, a purely self-interested model is all-pervasive: neoliberal ideology, i.e., run everything like a business, including oneself.

Militarism and imperialism remain in U.S. but based on invisible enemies abroad. The U.S. empire has shifted into a predominantly Connection role (armaments), so other nations can fight. The racism of slavery and Jim Crow remains in areas of the country and certainly on the Indigenous “reservations” (enclosures). However, fascism is more personalized: each individual participates in the hateful Othering online, e.g., LGBTQ+, immigrants, Republicans, Democrats, in unity with the Nation.

Twentieth-century fascism required the mobilization of emotion and passion, which is in contrast with twenty-first century fascism. Jean Baudrillard recognized that the new system is one of universalized deterrence. Deterrence is a strange form of activity: “it is what causes something not to take place.” Politics and the media have erected a social (digital) system to pacify the citizenry. The compulsion to communicate and cancel manifests as a digital panopticon whereby the State, the intelligentsia, and Big Tech are in a symbiotic relationship to enclose everyone. Privacy is eliminated not via enforced merging of the State, but by an internal compulsion to be transparent about oneself. The latter is a self-merging process with corporations. The result is the same as twentieth-century fascism: the private and public self merge together. Therefore, in the U.S. there is a voluntary Gestapoization of everyone who shares themselves and manages or cancels everyone else based on “misinformation” or “hate speech.” Parents monitor and out their children compared to the youth of the twentieth-century who outed their parents. There is an overall absence of collective energy in the U.S. The emphasis is on egocentric individualism: “I must get what I want.” Finally, the enemy is still Communism, because it threatens monopolization of the economic system.

Recorded 4/05/2024

See Andrew’s “Zen Therapy” presentation, recorded on April 25, 2024, referenced in the podcast:

https://vimeo.com/showcase/10904193/video/939238444

References

Baudrillard, J. (1994), translation by Chris Turner. The illusion of the end. California: Stanford University Press.

Baudrillard, J., & Glaser, S. F. (1994). Simulacra and simulation. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Berne, E. (1964). Games people play: The psychology of human relationships. New York, NY: Grove Press, Inc.

Han, B.C. (2015). The burnout society. Stanford Briefs: Stanford, CA.

Han, B.C. (2017). Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and new technologies of power. Verso: New York.

Loy, D. (1996). Lack and transcendence: The problem of death and life in psychotherapy, existentialism, and Buddhism. Humanity Books: New York.

Niccol, A. & Weir, P. (1999). The Truman show. Hollywood, CA: Paramount Pictures.

Pine, R.  (2022). Zen roots: The first thousand years. Counterpoint: California.

Varoufakis, Y. (2023). Technofeudalism: What killed capitalism. London: The Bodley Head.

Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

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On the surface, the War game version of Kick Me is two-handed. During World War II, 120,000 Japanese were in American detention camps after the Pearl Harbor attack. The U.S. dropped two atomic bombs on Japan as retaliation for the attack despite World War II being effectively over. This was an act of “asserting America’s military supremacy.” Therefore, arrogance and supremacy drive these fanatical War games, e.g., Israel’s game with the Palestinian people, that are meant to get rid of Others. A “final solution”.

The two-sided perception in the conflict finds one in the Persecutor role (e.g., Hamas), which is a concealed motivation for White (e.g., Israel) as they play the Victim role. For example, in February of 2022, Western media proclaimed that Russia (bad) was Persecuting Ukraine (good) for the illegal invasion, i.e., Ukraine is in the Victim role. This dichotomy was presented repeatedly instead of questioning when the conflict actually started (U.S.-backed coup in 2014) or who was benefitting from the war, i.e., the various military-industrial complexes, e.g., Russia, U.S. The push for green energy was interrupted because the war became “a profit center for the hydrocarbon and arms industries.” Coal plants and the modernization of old weapons systems were prioritized over the food supply, education, health care, etc.

This Media game narrative, Good vs. Evil, is what manufactures consent for the U.S.-led NATO proxy war against Russia (“Bye bye Nordstream 2 pipeline!”). The Media deception and ulterior motive is understood based on what is left out: the chapter on the 2014 U.S. coup of Ukraine and the NATO encroachment of Russia. From the perspective of Russia (in the Victim role), the Special Military Operation was a means and ends to denazification and a push-back to U.S.-led NATO encroachment (Persecutor role).

Left out is that the Russia-Ukraine war is at least a three-handed game: the U.S. is a proxy operating in the Connection role, i.e., the source of supply, with the military-industrial-complex. In Berne’s “Alcoholic” game, the Connection supplies the liquor or elicit substance to the Alcoholic or Addict role. The Connection does this without chastisement of the “Alcoholic.” As the Connection role in a three-handed game, the U.S. militarily arms White or Black with bombs and propaganda to ensure White and Black battle. In the original “Alcoholic” game, the Connection—as liquor store clerk or bartender—knows when to stop serving White:  “The difference between the Connection and the other players is the difference between professionals and amateurs in any game: the professional knows when to stop. At a certain point a good bartender refuses to serve the Alcoholic, who is then left without any supplies unless he can locate a more indulgent Connection.”

In contrast, the U.S. military is unprofessional in its role of indulgence for warmaking. They do not know when to stop serving White (Israel) or Black (Ukraine). Provocation and accusation are the moves in the War game that allow for indulgence in the sweet nectar of violence and profits.

At the nation-state level, this “justified” retaliation is used to authorize permanent wars, overturning democratically elected governments, and the promotion of regime change (War games). For example, the Israeli government and security forces provoke attacks by Hamas. Recall, Hamas is the political group Israel funded to split the vote with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Israel needs Hamas to Kick them back to justify the NIGYSOB! response. Israel wears a T-shirt that reads, “Please Do Kick Me.” The Kick from Black appears to be an act of “terrorism” if one does not understand that White maintains the initiative by occupying Black. This authorizes Israel to play NIGYSOB! in the name of “self-defense” based on a security or “intelligence failure.” The Media game is to rhetorically ask about subjectivity; “What is a ‘proportional’ response?”

Additionally, the Israeli government has played the Victim role despite stealing and occupying the Palestinian land, which places them in an offensive position, not defensive. If two men are in a fight and one pulls a knife it seems “unjustified”. However, if one knows that the knife-wielder had his wife taken and violated by the fighter then the retaliation is understood if not defended. In this context, the U.S. handed the violator a gun and decried the actions of the knife-wielder: “If it weren’t for them…” Additionally, the Media aided in false claims of Hamas beheading babies as well as mass rape and torture of women. The fact that the Israeli Defense Force (IDF)—operating the Hannibal Directive—killed a significant number of the 1,200 casualties originally attributed to Hamas allows Israel to switch from the Victim to the Persecutor role and rage “war” against an occupied, sovereign-less, and relatively defenseless people. The Hamas attack was closer in line with a prison riot than an act of “terrorism.”

The Media equates the state of Israel and Zionism with Judaism, so anything critical of Israel or the Israeli regime is framed as “anti-Israel” (aka supportive of Palestinians). This is blanketly deemed “antisemitism.” Classic Kick Me game: The state of Israel, which is the occupying force, i.e., enforced symbiosis (Persecutor) says they are the “victim” despite being in a superior position to Hamas. The Media conflates “Hamas” (defined as terrorist organization) with Palestine and Palestinians as if they have a place. The Media Rescues Israel and says, “How could they not?” and psychologically, “Hamas are all savages anyway” justifying their actions (free bombing without guilt). Now I’ve Got You, You SOB!

Recorded 11/08/2023

References

Berne, E. (1964). Games people play: The psychology of human relationships. New York, NY: Grove Press, Inc.

Guerin, D. (1939/1973). Fascism and big business. Pathfinder Press: New York.

Han, B.C. (2011/2018). Topology of violence. Translated by Amanda Demarco. The MIT Press: Massachusetts.

Han, B.C. (2017). Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and new technologies of power. Verso: New York.

Napoleoni, L. (2024). Technocapitalism: The rise of the new robber barons and the fight for the common good. Seven Stories Press: New York.

Parenti, M. (1997). Blackshirts and reds: Rational fascism and the overthrow of communism. City Lights Books: San Francisco.

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The set up to Mass Shooter is “I will destroy the world and then kill myself.”  In simple terms, the War game version of Now I’ve Got You, You SOB! is the climax of Mass Shooter. Both games involve the Othering of a certain person, group, or ethnicity, which creates an obstruction between oneself and the Other. The same can be said for competing nation-states. This Othering justifies violent retaliation.

Mass Shooter involves White (“it”) surveilling Black (weakness for the game) in order to find injustices to enact revenge. The relatively minor infraction is weaponized by White to unleash their fury. Black then retaliates against the fury. When Black’s inevitable retaliation occurs, it authorizes a claim of “self-defense” even though White was in an offensive position. White was looking for provocations to license a game of Now I’ve Got You, You Son of a Bitch! (NIGYSOB!)

For example, the U.S. militarily occupies the Middle East, which provokes the 9/11 attacks. Two decades later, under the guise of the illusory “war on terror,” (see Hide & Seek) the U.S. enacts revenge on one of the “masterminds” who allegedly planned the attack. Israel occupies the Palestinians to provoke attacks by Hamas in order to seek revenge and domination: NIGYSOB!

The Mass Shooter combines NIGYSOB! with the supremacist version of Kick Me. Mass Shooter is driven by White’s need to be perceived by Others (Black), i.e., social recognition. White’s perception is that Black will regret how they treated White, e.g., for the bullying, criticism, lack of sexual interest. White makes themselves agitated (bound up sexual energy), which leads to violence. The exhibitionism of the murders, which is often livestreamed, is the destructive version of the Influencer game. Consider Columbine. One of the masterminds was Eric Harris who imagined the massacre would one day be made into a Hollywood movie:

“For Eric, Columbine was a performance. Homicidal art. He actually referred to his audience in his journal: “the majority of the audience wont even understand my motives,” he complained. He scripted Columbine as made-for-TV murder, and his chief concern was that we would be too stupid to see the point. Fear was Eric’s ultimate weapon. He wanted to maximize the terror. He didn’t want kids to fear isolated events like a sporting event or a dance; he wanted them to fear their daily lives. It worked. Parents across the country were afraid to send their kids to school.” (p. 277)

His existential life position was I’m OK, You’re not-OK (arrogant and paranoid). Therefore, Harris felt a sense of superiority over Others and plotted revenge. In the book, “Columbine”, it is noted that “Eric equated “unique” with “superior.” For example, Harris obtains injustices and gets revenge: he would attack his peers’ houses “to retaliate for perceived slights, but most often for the offense of inferiority.” (NIGYSOB!). The armaments give White situational power to inflict the most damage: I’ll Show Them. White is more interested in the effects the shooting has on their enemies or friends (carnage) than they do in the rewards itself.

Contrary to popular understanding, the Columbine massacre was not a nod to 4/20 or Hitler’s birthday, but a replication of Timothy McVeigh’s work four years (to the day) prior. McVeigh’s devastating Oklahoma City bombing of 168 innocent people was revenge, i.e., NIGYSOB!, for the federal government’s actions against the Branch Davidian compound in the 1993 Waco siege. According to Michael Parenti in his book The Terrorism Trap, McVeigh was associated with the “Christian Identity” group. So, in addition to attacking the federal government, he was also fascistically attacking “the Jews, liberals, and other secularists who have dislodged white Christian America from its spiritual moorings.”

McVeigh is therefore one of the Original Mass-shooter Gangsters (see OMG, e.g., Unabomber). The initial commencement date for the Columbine attack was April 19^th, which was to be in solidarity with McVeigh’s actions in Oklahoma City. The delay in the acquisition of supplies (from the Connection role) was why the massacre was carried out on April 20^th.

Recorded 9/27/2023

References

Cullen, D. (2009). Columbine. Twelve: New York.

Parenti, M. (2002). The terrorism trap: September 11 and beyond. City Lights Books: San Franscico.

Peterson, J. & Densley J. (2021). The violence project: How to stop a mass shooting epidemic. Abrams Press: New York.

Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

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This episode includes a discussion of the history of the swastika as well as a discussion of War (e.g., assassination of al-Zawari) and Media games (Ain’t It Awful). The U.S. war machine influences the mainstream media to manufacture consent for war. In the book, “The Gulf War Did Not Take Place,” Jean Baudrillard describes how totalizing media coverage of an event, e.g., war, is an invitation into a game (con). The aim is to create consensus and illusions in the mind of the citizen:  “Information has a profound function of deception. It matters little what it “informs” us about, its “coverage” of events matters little since it is precisely no more than a cover: its purpose is to produce consensus by flat encephalogram.”

The sexual life of children and adolescents (e.g., Columbine killers) as well as the dominant socialization process are described in this episode. This is in the context of constructing a manuscript titled “Games Fascists Play: The Psychology of Supremacy” and solutions to games. Additionally, the 2020 U.S. presidential election is discussed; not from the perspective of “stop the steal,” and instead, Google’s role in the manipulation of potential voters.

In 2020, ultra-monopoly Google, encouraged Democrats or Democrat-leaning voters to show up to vote. Voting badges were placed at the top of their social media newsfeeds, but these were specifically and intentionally absent from news feeds for Republicans. The way Google’s search engine functions also has a liberal bias. Additionally, Google’s ability to use “ephemeral impressions” to make lasting impressions on undecided voters swayed millions of votes away from Trump. This manipulation and behavioral modification led to a Biden White House (let’s all just forget about Hunter’s laptop). Despite Trump’s decry of “election interference” and that the election was “stolen,” a state-corporate symbiosis by one of the most powerful corporations (Google) on the planet heavily influenced the vote totals.

Recorded on 9/20/2023

References

p. 68, Baudrillard, J., & Patton, P. (1995). The gulf war did not take place. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.

Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

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The psychotherapy patient is trained to walk into the therapy room to sit or lie down on the couch. Immediately they begin to describe their life by speaking in longform. This is a pastime: a semi-ritualistic and socially programmed activity of updating the therapist with their status as a self. When the patient sits down, they launch their Status Update: the patient assists the therapist in helping them “catch up” on what has been “going on lately”. It concludes when they say, “that’s what has been going on” or “that’s what is new with me.” This is a stereotyped and repetitive form of being that is structured by fill-in-the-blank answers. A pastime is composed of descriptions and discussion without emotional affect.

Therefore, the Monologue is the driver for the pastime Status Update, i.e., the generation of content by and about oneself. In digital form, Status Update is a reflection on current news events including news about oneself, e.g., a tweet or Facebook post. A measurement of one’s worth and social standing are calculated based on this computer-network connection: the number of Likes, views, shares, subscriptions, etc.

Like in psychotherapy, Status Update is a socially programmed pastime by Big Tech. In both cases, the repetitive nature of the activity—and the lack of intimacy—makes Status Update grow boring. The platform controls the framing for the update, e.g., Instagram Story or SnapChat Snaps, and the programming, e.g., selection of emojis, like button, etc. The pastime of Status Update often turns into a game on social media. For example, Trump supporters play a digital Kick Me game to “own the libs” by sharing a meme that says, “Fuck Your Feelings.”

In the Mass Shooter game, there is online “leakage” of future crimes in nearly half of the incidents. If the mass shooter leaks, they are much more likely to engage in a performative (costume or live stream) massacre. The digital trails (posts, texts) and leaks reference the desire to exterminate people. For example, Columbine killer Dylan Harris made his private, internal experience public. He had a website that among other things included bomb making ingredients and a “Shit List” of despicable people.

In psychotherapy, the transparency of the self creates emotional resonance and intimacy. The transparency of the self via Capitalism’s Status Update ensures a form of self-promotion, self-branding, and self-incorporation (bye bye privacy and hello telehealth!). With the virtual world, the subject (user) is now able to give a Status Update across multiple tech platforms. This information is recombined and shared across channels, profiles, podcasts, etc. Once upon a time (and still to some extent) a person went to a financial officer and updated them on their financial status, credit score, assets, etc. Now, wearables and smartphones—with the ubiquity of online access—symbiotically tie the private self to public markets. The status of the user is seamlessly updated in real time. Instead of twentieth century informants and listening devices for a secret police force, Big Tech is Happy To Help! the user manage themselves for free!

The Status Update is often a reflection of how Awful life is. The Black Mirror episode titled “Joan Is Awful” reveals the Media game version of Ain’t It Awful (AIA). The CEO of the fictional streaming monopoly “Streamberry”—itself a parody of Netflix—is asked about the creation of personalized content: “Why awful? Why is it all so negative?” The CEO replies that the corporation attempted more positive content, but the test subjects didn’t buy it:

It didn’t chime with their neurotic view of themselves. What we found instead was when we focused on their more weak or selfish or craven moments, it confirmed their innermost fears and it put them in a state of mesmerized horror. Which really drives engagement. They literally can’t look away.

Recorded on 8/02/2023

References

p. 79, Peterson, J. & Densley J. (2021). The violence project: How to stop a mass shooting epidemic. Abrams Press: New York.

p. 18, Cullen, D. (2009). Columbine. Twelve: New York.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Is_Awful

Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

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In the book, “The Recovery of the True Self,” psychiatrist Robert Phillips states that “all of the animals other than the human animal have an uncomplicated family-life. “Child-rearing” among those animals looks rather simple and straightforward. The offspring are born, they are faithfully fed and fiercely protected for a while, then they are sent out into the world, apparently without sentiment or strings attached.”

We are all in a stage of development and it is important for us to take responsibility for our own power and actions, because we are constantly moving toward or away from healthy behaviors in every moment. Phillips adds that we attempt to naturally be who we are, and we are often conflicted about this: “The answer is to feel and deal.” For example, many of us received contradictory messages such as Don’t Be a Child and Don’t Grow Up at the same time. The appropriate message, which a bird conveys to a baby bird, is, “move out of the nest when you are ready.”

Children are now being increasingly scripted by the virtual world. Susan Linn’s book, “Who’s Raising the Kids?”, outlines the problems of being fed animated information: “More direction from outside means less access to the inner life of imagination and emotion.” Linn (2022) continues: “…a culture that immerses children in consumerism is doing a lousy job of teaching them to value what matters most: meaningful human relationships, love and kindness, awe and wonder, creativity, a connection with nature, and a deep appreciation for that which can’t be packaged, bought, or sold.”

Wilhelm Reich, MD emphasized the mystical and mechanistic aspects of authoritarian society that are transposed from the culture to the parent figures who inculcate the children with: “Human needs are formed, altered, and, in particular, suppressed by society; this process establishes the psychic structure of man.” We are not born with a character structure; it is imposed, and we make adaptive decisions and strategies based on that imposition. We are not born a “human being,” we become one, which in effect destroys our naturalness: “…small children who do not have any sense of shame or disgrace in connection with excretory functions also have no basis in later life on which to develop such genital disturbances.” (Reich, 1934; p. 257)

The infant is not “armored”, which means they do not have an ego or character structure. This formation obstructs and reduces the flow of emotional life energy (blocked). For Reich ,“Man is born free, yet he goes through life as slave.” He adds, “The Kingdom of God [grace, goodness, inner freedom, unitedness] is within you. It was born with you.” Therefore, emotion is the basic energy of life for the human animal (i.e., qi). We must relationally meet fear with reassurance (soothing) and meet sadness with human comfort (holding): “When a child (or adult) is fearful about something in the future (five minutes from now, or Judgment Day, or the possibility of a hurricane) he needs reassurance from accurate statistical information and instructions about safety and recovery.” (Phillips, 1995; p. 157)

Instead of reassurance and embodied experience, corporate culture sells appearance and consumption (buying) as means and ends: “Platforms popular with teens and preteens, like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, teach kids to sell themselves—if not for money, then for virtual approval in the form of “likes,” “shares,” “friends,” and “followers.” (Linn, 2022; p. 72) Materialism, individualism, and competition are instantiated in the culture. This is what Linn calls the “hyper-commercialization” of children. The mythical idea that possessions equal happiness. Additionally, Big Tech is hooking both children and their parents via “ed-tech.” However, “excessive screen time is harmful to children’s health and development.” (e.g., diminished language development).

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends 0 minutes of screen time for babies up to 18 months and toddlers (18 months to 2 years old) should have a minimal amount and only with an adult present. Preschoolers should have no more than 1 hour per day and school age children no more than 2 hours per day (Linn, 2022 p. 43, 209). Hyper-commercialization pacifies children, and it also comes at the cost of creativity: “For every hour preschoolers spend watching a screen, they spend 45 minutes less in creative play. Babies and toddlers lose even more time in creative play than their older brothers and sisters lose—52 minutes for every hour of TV.” In short, a commercialized culture has values of envy, selfishness, unthinking, impulsivity, lack of empathy, and disregard for the common good (Linn, 2022; p. 42, 225-226). Linn goes on that the more a toy/device can do, the less a child needs to do.

Parents need to read to their infants and into childhood because it provides a time to cuddle together. When we restrict the virtual world from them, we need to talk about the choices and values regarding Tech. Linn adds that we must be skeptical of “educational” apps and “free” (freemiums) apps. She advises choosing commercial-free apps and to postpone smartphones until at least 8^th grade: Our basic human need is human contact, so we need to reduce our own screentime as well. (Screenfree.org).

Recorded on 8/16/2023

References

Linn, S. (2022). Who’s raising the kids?: Big Tech, Big Business, and the lives of children. The New Press: New York.

Phillips, R.D. (1995). The recovery of the true self: The human animal in and out of therapy. Medicine Wheel Publications: Chapel Hill, N.C.

Reich, W. (1983). Children of the future: On the prevention of sexual pathology. Translations by Dereke and Inge Jordan and Beverly Placzek. Edited by Mary Higgins and Chester M. Raphael, MD. Farrar, Straus, Giroux: New York. (originally published in 1950 by Orgone Institute Press).

Reich, W. (1949). The sexual revolution: Toward a self-regulating character structure. Translated by Therese Pol (4th edition). Farrar, Straus, Giroux: New York. (orig. pub. in 1934)

Reich, W. (1953). The murder of Christ: The emotional plague of mankind. The Noonday Press a division of Farrar, Straus, Giroux: New York. (orig. written  in 1951)

Twenge, J. M. (2017). iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy – and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood. New York: Atria Books.

Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

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In his book, The Sexual Revolution, Wilhelm Reich, MD writes that the transition from matriarchy (sex-affirming) to patriarchy (sex-suppressing) changed the individual from a free clan member to a subjugated member of the family (p. 165). Reich argues that a cultural and economic revolution requires a “sexual revolution.” Reich writes, “The goal of a cultural revolution is to create human character structures capable of self-regulation.” (p. 25). His work-democracy and sex-economy understood the internalization of the patriarchal family structure—centered on compulsive monogamy or sex-negation—creates a rigid character structure. Necessary to this development is the suppression of sexual drives (pleasure principle). This is what Reich referred to as “armoring” and it is central to neuroses (i.e., the blocking of sexual/emotional life energy). Bringing it to a practical level, women for example (and increasingly parents in general) do not have financial independence because they are forced to raise children without the support of the community/state (i.e., collectivization). One is on their own. Women and children are still materially dependent on the economics of the family unit (e.g., property rights, marriage, health insurance, etc.).

In Western culture, children go through puberty and reach sexual maturity at age 14 or 15. Yet, their only source for private sexual experiences with others is virtual and disconnected. The long road of hope for intimate satisfaction must wait until college and/or via the institution of marriage. The imposition of abstinence is unhealthy as it sets the stage for neurosis. In fact, humans are more “animalistic” than animals because of increased sexual intensity. Humans are in a state of “constant readiness for sexual intercourse.” According to Reich, the suppression of love life in children and adolescents creates obedient economic slaves in the capitalist system: “…the child must suppress his instinctual drives so that he can become capable of adapting to culture; on the other hand, this suppression of instinctual gratification usually leads to a neurosis, which in turn restricts his capacity for cultural adaptation, sooner or later makes it completely impossible, and again turns him into an asocial person.” (p. 11-12)

Therefore, it is the moralistic demands of authoritarian society and not natural self-regulation (gratification/pleasure) that creates asocial behavior. Compulsive monogamy whereby marriage is primarily about making babies and keeping the family together produces sex-negation and neurotic behaviors. Simply put, sex is perceived as bad and chastity is good: “…small children who do not have any sense of shame or disgrace in connection with excretory functions also have no basis in later life on which to develop such genital disturbances.” (p. 257)

Looking at these newest generations of children allows us to pull forward Reich’s thesis. Jean Twenge’s book iGen details the consequences of the continued armoring of children. Those born after 1995—post-Internet commercialization—are more self-focused with an intense race for economic success. Twenge (2017) found that sex and relationships are “distractions” (p. 208) for this generation (while mental illness and suicide are skyrocketing). “We now live in a culture where teens watch more porn than ever and start asking each other for nude pictures at 11—yet they wait longer to have sex. This combination of considerable fantasy experience and little real-world experience may be problematic.” (Twenge, 2017; p. 303). Young people have fewer sexual partners and wait until they are older to have sex compared to previous generations. Additionally, they have less physical contact with one another as they predominantly reside in the virtual world.

Recorded on 7/06/2023

References

Reich, W. (1949). The sexual revolution: Toward a self-regulating character structure. Translated by Therese Pol (4^th edition). Farrar, Straus, Giroux: New York. (orig. pub. in 1934)

Twenge, J. M. (2017). iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy – and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood. New York: Atria Books.

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The psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich, MD understood that a specific form of human socialization has created the fascist character via “armoring.” In his book The Mass Psychology of Fascism, Reich writes that the “mechanistic-mystical character of modern man” has produced “fascist parties, and not vice versa.” The character structure of modern human beings is the universal cause of fascism:

“… “fascism” is only the organized political expression of the structure of the average man’s character, a structure that is confined neither to certain races or nations nor to certain parties, but is general and international. Viewed with respect to man’s character, “fascism” is the basic emotional attitude of the suppressed man of our authoritarian machine civilization and its mechanistic-mystical conception of life.” (xiii)

Therefore, when we see a fascist “puffing himself up and has his chops full of slogans, let him be asked quietly and simply in public”:

“What are you doing in a practical way to feed the nation, without murdering other nations? What are you doing as a physician to combat chronic diseases, what as an educator to intensify the child’s joy of living, what as an economist to erase poverty, what as a social worker to alleviate the weariness of mothers having too many children, what as an architect to promote hygienic conditions in living quarters? Let’s have no more of your chatter. Give us a straightforward, concrete answer or shut up!” (xvi)

Recorded on 6/29/2023.

References

Paxton, R. (2005). The anatomy of fascism. Vintage Books: New York.

Reich, W. (1980). The mass psychology of fascism. Ed. Mary Higgins and Chester M. Raphael (3^rd edition). New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux. (orig. pub. in 1933)

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In the book, The Anatomy of Fascism, Robert Paxton argues that “Fascists need a demonized enemy against which to mobilize followers, but of course the enemy does not have to be Jewish. Each culture specifies the national enemy.” (p. 37) The system is moving more and more to the Right with rage directed at liberalism and individualism. The Gender Identity game places transgender individuals as the new Other as the national enemy. However, this is a Media game and the Media games are meant to pacify us. The system is designed for in-fighting and pacification as opposed to the mobilizing passions of Fascism.

The solution is Zen. Zen aims to convey the indescribable. Zen does not rely on words or scriptures or beliefs. In fact, this discriminating thinking (this/that) keeps us farther away from Zen. Intuitive knowledge (prajñā) and thought-less-ness (dhyāna) are not two not one. This description of “emptiness” implies everything at once (no obstruction) or direct experience. You have met this type of person: they are friendly and peaceful.

Like a young child we must rely on intuitive knowledge to “be” the world rather than be a separate somebody: “me” and “the world.” In the social sphere, the “emptiness” of intuitive knowledge manifests as relational friendliness. With friendliness we add mercy to create relational peace. We are not two not one. The still point above opposites. This is in contrast with the symbiotic process of Fascism: the citizen is part of an enforced symbiosis with the state and they are void of a private self. Fascism was mass mobilization + violent provocations and manipulation for the cause of imperial war. Zen in practice is intimacy through peace-making. It requires “emptiness” (friendliness) + mercy. 

Recorded on 6/22/2023

References

Hedges, C. (2010). Death of the liberal class. New York: Nation Books.

Kaczynski, T. J. (2020). Anti-tech revolution: Why and how. Fitch & Madison: Arizona.

Paxton, R. (2005). The anatomy of fascism. Vintage Books: New York. 

Ward, L. (2020). America’s racial karma: An invitation to heal. Parallax Press: Berkely, California.

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The Media game version of Gender Identity presents itself as a dialogic process. The interview–which is actually a debate–starts with the question, “What is a woman?” or “How many genders are there?” This game has similar dynamics as Climate Change because both are derivatives of the Ain’t It Awful (AIA) game: “Ain’t It Awful the oceans are acidifying?” or “Ain’t It Awful puberty blockers for children?” However, the series of transactions is also a derivative of the Kick Me game. The gameplayer (e.g., interviewer) has an ulterior motive: to humiliate the other player (i.e., interviewee) by Kicking them and feeling morally self-righteous. If the interviewee is hooked into the game they feel Kicked, often negating their own provocational behavior. 

Additionally, the Gender Identity game is made possible based on the cultural instantiation of ego or self as “reality.” This allows for other “real” identities such as gender to be embraced as constant or solid across time. Therefore, “gender” as a concept reinforces and maintains social hierarchies, e.g., patriarchy, which is why we should be talking more about sex than gender. The solution to these types of games is Adult ego state functioning (reality testing), which is what Buddhists refer to as “emptiness” or zen mind. Relationally speaking, the result of manifesting emptiness is friendliness. Instead of “me” and “you”, we are not two not one. Pairing relational friendliness with mercy promotes peace and intimacy as opposed to “Kicking” people based on their political beliefs and self-presentations. 

Recorded on 6/15/2023

Audio clips from YouTube videos:

• “Christine Hamilton questions eco-protester Kai Bartlett over his group’s methods” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89w8y5aSCqk
• “Your line of questioning is transphobic” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fed5RzXyU20

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The Psychiatry game is introduced on the individual or psychotherapy level as well as how Psychiatry is promoted for the maintenance of the status quo. The Psychiatry game reinforces social hierarchies as reality (e.g., “mentally ill” versus not). Far ahead of his time, Eric Berne, MD understood the concept of “mental health” as a game or pastime. In his words, it is “based on the thesis that if only the right procedure can be found, everything will be alright.” 

As the patient sits on the couch, inside their heads the question is, “What am I supposed to do here?” Patients, especially novices to psychotherapy, will inevitably comply with their therapist who uses the DSM to define them in order to elaborate their self-presentations and self-understanding. The patient will talk subjectively about what it is like to be them as a solid self. This can be played using Transactional Analysis (“My Critical Parent ego state…), psychoanalysis (“Gee my Id just has a hold of my Superego,” or the clinical version, “Nice use of transference!”), cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT (“Those damn negative thought loops!”), etc. 

The emphasis is on subjectivity, but this comes at the expense of affect and relational intimacy with the therapist. Colloquially, the patient talks about what is going on inside their head. In the US, as individuals continue to view themselves as brands (Me, Inc) and are enclosed by Big Tech’s ability to commodify them and sell them things at the same time, Psychiatry becomes the engine for negating “the world.” Identity as reality is instantiated in the culture. Me me me. Self-optimization to become supreme and “win.” This is in contrast with the Zen notion of no-self or no-mind (i.e., emptiness).

Recorded on 6/08/2023

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The supremacist aim of the Protest game is to moralistically denigrate the motives and tactics of the specific social movement, e.g., Just Stop Oil in the UK or Black Lives Matter in the U.S. Adult ego state functioning is rarely utilized if not avoided in the game, e.g., global temperatures in the 21st century, solutions such as nuclear energy and birth control for women, or discussions of over-population. The ulterior motive is the maintenance of the status quo. Specifically, the Climate Change game is a derivative of Kick Me with built-in illusions: a permanent ending of history, imperial domination of Nature, acquisition as reality, etc. Ain’t It Awful is the root game for Climate Change: “We’re all gonna die!” Capitalism games are introduced (e.g., Happy To Help!) while using the story of and teaching of the Buddha as well as the promotion of his methods. Finally, the conversation weaves into the socialization of children, a potential new economic system that transcends the dichotomy of capitalism and communism duality as well as the psychological root of Fascism (“I’m the center of the world.”) that is inherent to human nature.

Recorded on 6/01/2023

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Don and Andrew discuss the concept of symbiosis (not two not one), Eric Berne’s book Games People Play, including the concept of psychological “hunger.” This means we are hungry for stimulation, social recognition, and structured time. Games are played in an attempt to get those psychological hungers met despite the negative payoffs. The game If It Weren’t For You is introduced as a bridge to discussing Fascism as a game process. Examples are given in terms of the Ukraine war as well as other Drama Triangle roles and switches.

Recorded on 5/25/2023

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Don and Andrew describe the Drama Triangle and game theory as it is applied in psychotherapy. The conversation weaves into specific games as well as topics such as Ego consciousness, zen mind, culture, The Little Fascist, Social Darwinism, hyper-individualism.

Recorded on 5/18/2023

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This episode was recorded on April 27th, 2023 just following the conclusion to Series 3. Series 4 is the evolution of the concept “games fascists play.” Andrew and Don’s dialogues were recorded over the course of one year. Through this relational brainstorm, Andrew began to write a manuscript titled Games Fascists Play: The Psychology of Supremacy. The book is meant as a tribute and sequel to Eric Berne’s best seller Games People Play: The Psychology of Human Relationships. The result is Series 4, Games Fascists Play, which illustrates the evolution of the concept, examination of game analysis and specific psychological games, as well as articulations of fascism and the solution to gameplay: zen.

Recorded 4/27/2023.

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This is a wrap-up to Series 3: reflections on, analysis of, and summary on the origin and progression of the StayAtHomeDay movement. To build a social movement requires courage. One must first insert themselves into an institution. After forming a relational position within an organization or institution, the requirement is to subvert (undermine) authority. This is accomplished by speaking one’s Truth. Within this process the task is to create a social network (other relational bodies) with a single and clear target or objective (e.g., ending mass shootings in schools). Relational joy occurs when one moves in the direction of, and through, their own fear. Series 4 will focus on the Games Fascists Play.

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Big Tech steals our attention with the con of convenience, personalization, and persuasive tech design. F*#k that. Big Tech wants us to incorporate, brand, and market the self. The user is compelled to continuously offer status updates of themselves. The imperative of the virtual world is to exhibit and broadcast ourselves for monetization. This creates a paradigm of voluntary self-exploitation that leads to burnout. One wears oneself out via hyperactivity and self-optimization.

In the book The Burnout Society, Byung-Chul Han describes burnout as a form of voluntary self-exploitation. One wears themselves out by being hyper-active and transparent: Liking and Sharing all aspects of one’s life. We are a brand with constant endorsements of others.

Therefore, Western culture is characterized as joylessness: all work and no play. The culture produces burnout for the individual and then sells them back a remedy for the burnout. The remedy is to consume and acquire for yourself (acquisition)as you broadcast yourself: Click and Buy Now. The Westerner is reduced to their head. They are split from the body or Center. They are joyless as they scroll endlessly desiring more of what “I” want.

The answer to our dis-embodied way of being is to return to the body or the Center. Intuitive knowledge is the means for connection. Instead of hitting the cocaine dropper inside our social media cages, we must build Johann Hari’s rat parks to address the loss of connection. As Phillips (1995) notes, “It is a truism that “what we eat we become.” That observation can be extended to other forms of consummation: “what we stare at, listen closely to, inhale, and consort with sensually, we become.” We can choose not to look or listen. The solution is companionship, spontaneity, and full-bodied joy.

References

Han, B.C. (2015). The burnout society. Stanford Briefs: Stanford, CA.

Phillips, R.D. (1995). The recovery of the true self: The human animal in and out of therapy. Medicine Wheel Publications: Chapel Hill, N.C.

Steiner, C. (1974). Scripts people live: Transactional analysis of life scripts. New York: Grove Press. 

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One definition of “education” is the process of systematic instruction such as at a school. Another definition for education is “an enlightening experience”. Here, enlightening means to have or show a rational, modern, and well-informed outlook. Zen has a unique position on enlightening experience. The unique position of Zen is declared in four statements. The first is that there is something apart from the historical records and beyond words or letters. Current “education” is sequential, progressive and digital (Closed System). Learning is facilitated via computers and Artificial Intelligence: children are relating more words from machines than from their own mothers. Students mindlessly compute and comprehend with virtual assistants as “teachers”.

The second Zen statement is the direct transmission of the One Mind or heart-mind. There is intuitive knowledge (true Void) transmitted from Mind to Mind that is not graspable. This escapes conceptualization. The “knowledge” is prior to dualistic thinking, e.g., Delusion and Enlightenment or Good and Evil. Dualism is not-Zen. Enlightenment is interpersonal affair rather than something “achieved.” A teacher and a student or transmission of Mind to Mind.

The third Zen statement implies a seal or stamp that is imprinted on Mind. This transmission evades description: a wordless inscription. Tying this to education, when I was a 20-year-old undergraduate at University of Wisconsin-Madison, my literature Teaching Assistant (TA) told the students how the TA’s were walking out and going on strike due to the lack of wage parity between them and University of Minnesota. The University of Wisconsin-Madison caved to the TA’s demands. The TA’s act of subversion (passive withdrawal from the system) shattered my world views: at the time it was unknowable to me. Collective organization was not foreign, it was an unknown unknown; something I didn’t know I didn’t know. I was forever changed by the sudden perception that was not based on conceptual thinking. This actionistic form of education is intangible and lacks attribution. There are no tracks, yet a path is clearly laid.     

Zen acknowledges Enlightenment as akin to an indelible mark that forever changes the person. A metaphysical tattoo for consciousness. You have it or you don’t, but Mind is still the same (ordinary). Thus, Enlightenment cannot be described with letters and words, and it stands outside of the scriptures. A teacher enlightens students by waking them up to what was previously unknowable.

The nature of “reality” is one’s own conscious awareness, which is no-thing. Self-nature is an Open System: trust, friendliness to Other, compassion, trial and error, steady-state of energy. The Zen Master Huang Po said, “I have NO THING to offer. I have never had anything to offer others. It is because you allow certain people to lead you astray that you are forever SEEKING intuition and SEARCHING for understanding. Isn’t this a case of disciples and teachers all falling into the same insoluble muddle?” We must think for ourselves as an Open System (detached from Ego).

In comparison, the boundaries of one’s Ego is a Closed System: our cultural conditioning, parental scripting, and childhood commitments. What I have been experiencing with the Mankato school district and the School Board members as well as administrators is a Closed System characterized by secrets, mistrust, surveillance, suppression, conformity, and authoritarianism. For example, my kindergartener handed out StayAtHomeDay magnets for April 20th and he (and I) were told, “this can’t happen,” i.e., a policy that bars distribution of materials that are a “disruption”. We pivoted to tear sheets (like those you would see on a community message board) with the website (www.StayAtHomeDay) listed in small print. We were told these could not be handed out in the school as well. This outside energy was not allowed “inside” the Closed System.

The media tells us mass shootings are a 2nd amendment issue: gun rights. But, we need to focus on the 1st amendment and 4th amendment. The responses to school violence are infringing upon freedom of self-expression and collective organization (1st amendment) as well as surveillance and rights around seizure of digital information (4th amendment).

Our children do not need more guns or safe rooms to “protect them”. The militarization of the schools transforms an Open System of enlightening relational processes to a Closed System of efficient functioning and conformity. As the physical structure and the restriction of information (in and out) become prison-like, the school manifests as totalizing supervision (Closed System).

Totalitarianism aims to restrict personal autonomy and discourage critical thinking (i.e., a form of self-hypnosis). We do not want our children to be monitored by Fusion Centers while being educated inside military bunkers. Fusion Centers utilize Intelligence Lead Policing (ILP). This predictive policing reminds me of the film “Minority Report” starring Tom Cruise. The Precrime unit arrests criminals prior to the crime taking place. Fusion-style policing will soon be AI bots scouring the data of our school children with algorithms that perceive everyone as a threat.

We cannot rid society of war making, e.g., mass shootings, imperialism. We must transform the destructive energy into love. How? Parents need to promote assertive forms of peace-making, de-escalating meditation practice, and social groups as well as group therapy to channel emotional energy into healing and compassion. Zen the f*#k out.

You can view and listen to a video of me and my wife speaking at a School Board meeting in the link below.

Link to School Board Meeting video (I begin at about 14 minutes into the meeting):

http://mankatoaps.swagit.com/play/04182023-637/#0

www.StayAtHomeDay.com

REFERENCE

Blofeld, J. (1958). The Zen teaching of Huang Po: On the transmission of Mind. Grove Press: New York.

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There was a New York Times article from April 2nd, 2023, titled “It’s Not ‘Deaths of Despair.’ It’s Deaths of Children.” In the richest country in the world—the U.S.—1 out of every 25 Kindergarteners will die before they reach 40 (four times higher than other wealthy nations). The rate increase is largely due to suicide and gun-related-deaths (Covid was minimal). The tough medicine to swallow is that all of us are culpable in the failure to raise and protect the next generation from destruction. Tyler and I do not want our children to get shot.

You can view and listen to the video of me and Tyler Flowers speaking in the link below.

Link to School Board Meeting video (I begin at about 11 minutes into the meeting):

http://mankatoaps.swagit.com/play/04042023-536/#0

Link to KEYC-TV News Now story in this episode titled “The Men Behind the Magnets” by Maddie Paul, published April 12TH 2023:  https://www.keyc.com/2023/04/12/men-behind-magnets/

www.StayAtHomeDay.com

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I free associate about StayAtHomeDay, the school’s resistance to it, social movements, raising consciousness, nihilistic nihilism, becoming burnt out with podcasting, and I refer to a recent lecture in Minneapolis (S3, Part 7, Becoming a Real Person) as well as Series 4 ideas (i.e., Games Fascists Play). The climate activist and co-founder of Extinction Rebellion, Roger Hallam, is mentioned as well. Specifically, this speech:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=0Zo2DWW_fhc&t=12s

www.StayAtHomeDay.com

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Prior to this recording, I had never been to a school board meeting. I walked in and sat down for a few minutes and listed some bullet points on a notecard in the few minutes prior to speaking. I had thought very little in terms of what I would say. The feeling in my body was shakiness and fear, which was driven by a moralistic and antiquated sense that I was “doing something wrong.” Speaking truth in the face of fear is an aspect of courage. Moving toward pain and suffering builds courage.

The gentleman who spoke prior to me at the school board meeting seemed angry and agitated (I was sitting directly behind him, so I didn’t have a good vista). So, I told the board I wanted to talk about what he was expressing: despair and agitation. Combing these two things leads to violence, which is the relinquishment of responsibility for dealing with a problem (e.g., what mass shooters do). The U.S. school system is not dealing with the problem of school shootings. Society is utilizing a passivity strategy called Overadapting. For example, bullet proof glass, armed security, mass shooter drills, mental health treatment, and threat assessments appear “active-looking.” However, the goal of the mass shooter is terror, so the behavior is an adaptation to the mass shooter’s goal. Thinking rationally with others (community) and confronting this issue with courage is dealing with the problem.

You can view and listen to the video of me speaking in the link below.

Link to School Board Meeting video (I begin at about 11 minutes into the meeting):  http://mankatoaps.swagit.com/play/03212023-613/#0

www.StayAtHomeDay.com

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The online user is in a symbiotic relationship with the virtual world, which is optimal for dependency and cultural scripting. Big Tech is our Momma who bounces us on her knee and tells us how to live. The user is Mindless (passive) and Joyless (split from the body): a state of simple consciousness (i.e., Infant). This dependency contract (Mother-Infant) and the technological form holds us in place (e.g., in front of a desk or clutching a device). We brand and curate our online persona to make an Empire of the Self. The script is to become the Top Gun in order to “win” in the entrepreneurial game. To make oneself into a perfected trophy that goes “viral”. YouTube’s slogan is “Broadcast Yourself,” which means track, record, upload, share, and incorporate the self for monetization. The mass shooter is the grandiose reflection of this scripting. Their act is neo-fascistic and imperialistic (i.e., a forced symbiosis for domination). For many of the killers, the Columbine massacre is the model that is remodeled: a performance of exhibitionistic revenge (violence/suicide) intended for online virality. The solution is to meet passivity (violence) with consciously passive behavior (withdrawal, contemplation, meditation). A stay-at-home-day where we connect and love one another.

From the MSSA conference material (description and learning objectives):

In the U.S., 51 people die from mass shootings each year. However, over 100 people are killed by guns each day. What do we know about American culture, violence, and mass shooters in the U.S.? How does online self-promotion for Likes and Friends relate to these phenomena? This lecture will present data on mass shootings, analyses of Big Tech, and illustrations of American culture to comprehend the truth of the present situation.

Learning Objective 1: Learn the statistics on mass shooters and their personality structure.

Learning Objective 2: Explore the U.S. cultural scripting related to competition and violence, i.e., passive means to solve problems.

Learning Objective 3: Examine the connective links between Big Tech, fame-seeking, and mass shootings.

www.StayAtHomeDay.com

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For my psychotherapy patients, the structural analysis begins with an abstract example to get them thinking differently about themselves. The Politician is I’m OK, You’re Not OK. I explain this construct to the patient by using President Donald Trump as an example. The former President does not appear to have any relationships that are not based on his own egocentric self-promotion. The media’s pictorial of Trump is that he is a narcissist who borders on sociopathy and psychopathy: a histrionic egomaniac. He projects himself as The Boss. At the extreme, this personality structure acts out sadistically. Therefore, the Politician will prey on sexual objects (bodies) to “get off” or “score” (Bill Clinton?). The ultimate “win” is to dominate the Other sexually, i.e., be a “pussy grabber”. The cure is intimate bodily love, Other-care (as opposed to solely self-care), and a healthy orgasm, e.g., detach from ego rather than reinforce ego, i.e., via objectification of Other. This is what Erich Fromm referred to as the authoritarian character.

For Fromm (1941), the authoritarian character, was one who self-centeredly gravitates toward self-gratification, domination, exploitation, or, overall, to competitively “win” for oneself. The greed of the Politician comes in many forms: wealth, sex, physical attractiveness, status, and power. The form of want is never “enough,” i.e., a sense of lack, which perpetuates craving. As can be seen with people such as Bill Gates or Donald Trump, there is a danger in always getting what one wants. This personality structure of the Politician forces others to be dependent on them in order for them to use and manipulate the other for the sake of, “absolute and unrestricted power over them.” (Fromm, 1941) For the Politician, strength is rooted in the mastery of relationship, so the Other can be ruled. In general, the Politician can only love through domination because love can only be manifested through superiority and control. Love is for those who the Politician feels they have superior power over. (Fromm, 1941)

This social character is the embodiment of competition. The Politician will make counter points to Other’s expressions by saying things such as, “The reality is…,” meaning, “the way I see things is real, and the way you (or they) see things is not real.” This personality structure is trapped in egotistical ways of being, what the sociologist Émile Durkheim (1897) called the disease of the infinite or egotism. For the Politician, the Adult is contaminated by the Child who wants to acquire for oneself (Adapted Child). There is no conscience which is represented by an excluded Parent.

Americans understand that all Politicians lie and are only in the business of politics for the benefit of themselves. Exclusion is introduced here as the inability to cathect Parent ego state—having a conscience—which would involve nurturing, sentimentality, and empathy for Other (more on exclusion and contamination in the next chapter on meditation practice). For example, despite the illusions of a Barak Obama or Bill Clinton, a conscience is not a characteristic to be found, as they have facilitated the dropping of iron fragmentation bombs on innocent children and facilitated mass incarceration whereby men and women, mostly of color, are caged in worse ways than many animals. American prisons have “restrictive housing” measures, i.e., solitary confinement, unlike anywhere in the world.

Politicians in the U.S. are after the almighty dollar, which is the part of them that craves or wants, i.e., part of the Child ego state. For them, this part is “reality” as opposed to a rare possibility. Therefore, the Adult ego state, which is in accordance with the present reality, is contaminated by the desires of the Child, e.g., to have for oneself. The goal of the Politician is to commandingly protect and dominate within the system perceived as, “reality”. Personal possession, status, and power are the means and end for how to live, meaning there is no other focus outside of their own craving.

The Politician has adapted by analyzing and criticizing others, but not oneself. Michael Jordan in the Netflix documentary series, The Last Dance, represents the quintessential Politician personality structure. From the perspective of ideal marketing, Air Jordan was the apolitical, ahistorical self of Michael Jordan (persona) who constantly presented himself for monetary gain, e.g., Nike and McDonald’s advertisements.

Both professionally and personally, Michael Jordan perpetually needed to “win” at all costs. His methodology was constant, competitive analysis of the Other to dominate them. The brand of Michael Jordan avoided political activity and (arguably) did more in the 1990s to globalize the National Basketball Association (NBA) than anyone or any other entity. However, was Michael Jordan a nice person? Jordan was a decent human being in the McDonald’s or Nike commercials, but not with his teammates. Competition to “win” becomes “reality.”

www.StayAtHomeDay.com

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References

Fromm, E. (1941). Escape from freedom. Henry Holt and Company, LLC. New York, New York.

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YouTube’s slogan is, “Broadcast Yourself,” and that is what we do online. We produce and express ourselves as a brand to be procured and optimized for online achievement: Me Inc. We sell this brand to Big Tech (Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft) like a contestant on the television show Shark Tank. The show promotes the neoliberal myth of self-determination: only hard workers who push themselves become winners (superiors) and survive (fittest). The recurring storyline is that the Sharks are winners by their own free will (self-made): grit, hustle, determination, triumph over adversity, discipline, etc. Be Perfect and Try Harder. We are scripted to build an Empire of the Self: Be Your “self”, Be Transparent, Never Settle (i.e., never lose your “self”), and Compete (Win)!

Big Tech are the billionaire Sharks, and our online activity is incorporated. But in this digital Shark Tank, we own 0% equity in our digital selves. George Orwell understood that an efficient totalitarian regime drowns the consciousness of the citizens. In the book Nineteen Eighty-Four he notes this as “an act of self-hypnosis.” We are hypnotized by the hype of so-called “artificial intelligence” because the claims are that it is traveling in a direction that will succeed human intelligence, e.g., ChatGPT. As Erik Larson (2021) notes, “The path exists only in our imaginations.” The AI system lacks common sense (intuition) and as these systems are trained for general knowledge (rather than just Jeopardy!), they become more erroneous in their responses. Intelligence includes an inwardness and also goosebumps. 

As has been noted, the relationship with the virtual world is symbiotic (psychologically). Now, it is becoming a physical symbiosis. Ferris Jabr quotes Elon Musk in The New York Times Magazine on his ultimate goal for Neuralink. Musk stated that an achievement of “a sort of symbiosis with artificial intelligence” is necessary so that humanity is not obliterated, subjugated or “left behind” by superintelligent machines. “If you can’t beat em, join em,” he once said on Twitter, calling it a “Neuralink mission statement.”  Big Tech is after the capture of desire at the neuroplastic level. How do they do this?

Big Tech and the new semiocapitalism in general, play the Game called Happy To Help! Digital platforms, applications, and enthusiastic bots (“How can I help you?”) are always Happy To Help! Apps dutifully remember our tasks, memories, documentation, bank records, calendars, social lives, transactions etc., all while having an ulterior motive. If Big Tech is the user’s parent, it is saying to us, “Don’t think what you think, think what I think.” These monopolies exploit the user’s behavioral surplus data to sell it to third party entities for ad revenue. Yeah surveillance!

The smartphone, smart home, smart vacuum, and smart bed are all collecting data for what Byung Chul-Han (2022) calls the “information regime.” Han notes that this is how “Surveillance creeps into daily life by way of convenience.” Therefore, the real “value” of Big Tech is its ability to surveil the populace as it is in a symbiotic relationship with governments, intelligence agencies, and militaries. 

The solution is subversion. Undermine the authority of internal and external cultural conditioning, i.e., artificial system (ego/ideology). Don’t be your “self”, be authentic (Martian). This implies having the naïvest possible frame of mind (talk about FOMO) for observing earthly phenomena, thus “leaving the intellect free for inquiry without the distraction of preconceptions.” (Berne, 1966) We must be clueless, an idiot, in order to “set aside preconceived notions and allow oneself to not know what the hell is going on.” (Lennox, C. Ed., 1997; p. 62). As Martian (Zen) we access intuitive knowledge for an appropriate response. 

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References

Berne, E. (1966). Principles of Group Treatment. Oxford University Press: New York.

Han, B.C. (2022). Infocracy: Digitalization and the crisis of democracy. Polity Press: Massachusetts.

Jabr, F. (2022, May 15). “The Man Who Controls Computers With His Mind.” The New York Times Magazine. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/12/magazine/brain-computer-interface.html on 5/22/22.

Lennox, C. Ed. (1997). Redecision therapy: A brief, action-oriented approach. New Jersey: Aronson Inc.

Orwell, G. (2013). Nineteen eighty-four. Penguin Classics.

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Martian is direct experience (simple consciousness), while humans have been trained to identify themselves as separate. This sense of separation provides the capacity for reflection, i.e., ego-consciousness. For example, “I am me.” In a nutshell, humans are conditioned through socialization to believe they are separate entities, i.e., the sense of a permanent, autonomous, and constant “I”. The faith is that each one’s fundamental purpose in their bodies over a lifetime is get what they want regardless of how their cravings and acquisitions impact “the world” around them. The delusion of a solid separate self is best cared for through the establishment of an “all about me, and others like me” culture.

The notion of a chronological and separate “you” across time is a convincing fabrication. Humans have the psychic capacity for identification (Parent ego state function): we create an “I” that is independent in order to ground and express ourselves. Analytical psychotherapy and meditation are the means to undermine or overthrow the power and authority of our cultural conditioning (the artificial system or Ego). To be Martian. Subversion is the prerequisite. One must unearth core psychic material that is an echo of parental figures and the adaptations we made within the roles we played and identities we constructed. As one disobeys the identification process (e.g., Parent ego states) through analysis and contemplation one can begin to dismantle internal and external conditioning.

For example, the morals of American culture center on self-determination by any means necessary, i.e., compete for acquisition to “win.” Selfishness is an ideological value and prescription to be happy or mentally “healthy,” so the story goes. Optimize and get more for my “self” to be content. Delusion. If one abandons this pursuit of happiness in favor of non-attachment to desire, then you are letting go of the delusion of separation. This means to alter or detach our perspective from the dominant cultural messages. To be Martian or no-thing. One looks at what they want and the delusions about what it would mean if they received “everything” they wanted. What is the practical approach to this form of renunciation? Simple: meditation practice.

Therefore, everyone as teacher-student, but a conscious, relational symbiosis dissolves the concepts of teacher and student just as zazen is nonduality. The Parent ego state is a hindrance to zazen and as Berne (1972) notes, we need a friendly divorce from the Parent. Suzuki (2003) described direct experience or emptiness as actualized with zazen. This is when there is no conceptual, gaining or knowing idea for the self. All characteristics of the dualistic Parent are emptied, and you are one with activity. Emptiness is the suspension, via zazen, of the dualistically conditioned Parent. This is a personal form of subversion: undermining the existing power and authority that was borrowed from parental figures.

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The mass shooter is imperialistic in their demand for the dominance of space-time. They research other mass shootings and targets to create a simulation, e.g., using the Columbine school shooting as a model. The virtual world is the “real” audience for their final [suicidal] act. YouTube says, “Broadcast Yourself” and that is what the mass shooter does: a performance of exhibitionistic violence/suicide intended for online virality.

In the movie Top Gun, Pete Mitchell (played by Tom Cruise) decided he would Never Settle for second place. He would be the Best of the Best. Maverick would always be himself. Meaning his persona, Maverick, who was competitive, arrogant, and manipulative. In the U.S. celebrity culture, self-centeredness and selfishness are virtues. The aerial dogfighting of Top Gun is the perfect metaphor for Social Darwinism: the strong achieve through violence and the weak perish.

The mass shooter is the ultimate Maverick, but they do not follow “kill or be killed”, because in the mass shooter’s case it is killed and be killed. The mass shooter is the loser of neoliberalism. Their bound energy (agitation) is a mobilizing passion to be a winner (for the moment). The mass shooter gains situational power from a gun (Top Gun) to enforce a relationship with Others. Therefore, the mass shooter uses violence to inflict a fascist relationship (forced unity) to relieve their despair. The agitation ends in violence (murder, incapacitation/suicide). The act is imperial in its magnificence (as a spectacle), but now the media is numb to the event.

There are approximately 2 mass shootings (4 or more people shot) per day in the U.S. (despair). We escape into the virtual world where we are exploited by Big Tech (craving by design). We are Mindless (passive) and Joyless (split from the body): a state of simple consciousness where we are increasingly dependent. We track the self and make it into an Empire of the Self. In this recording, Andrew is lecturing in Mankato, Minnesota on February 8th, 2023, for an annual alternative education conference. Andrew’s lecture was titled, “Mass Shootings & Simulation.”

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The 1999 Columbine massacre was televised live for the country to see in real time. Students inside the high school watched their own tragedy on CNN as they searched for answers to what was happening. To watch oneself, by oneself is the hopelessness of American despair. The fuel for this American despair is the reigning ideology of hyper-individualism: constructing an Empire of the Self. This requires the forever updating and remodeling of the self: Me Inc. Both Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold had absences of hope: neither had found love and both wrestled with ideas about god and death. Eric’s sense of God-like superiority was paired with sadistic nihilism (absence of god), while Dylan’s sense of inferiority and depression was one of hopelessness. They could not see themselves or the world as ever changing. They took an absolutist reading of social Darwinian logic to legitimize their actions and it was meant to be televised for the whole world to see. Their despair manifested as powerlessness and agitation. They relinquished any responsibility for their actions and transformed themselves into violence (murder) and incapacitation (suicide) for self-aggrandizement. They were building a sadistic brand and media empire in order to fulfill the Top Gun script (to be the Best of the Best). The scripting was promoted through Games they played: Kick Me, Cops N Robbers, Now I’ve Got You, You SOB!, I Can’t Stand It, etc. In the moment, Columbine was a personalized form of colonialism, Fascism, and imperialism. Harris and Klebold forced a symbiotic relationship with the people of the U.S. in order to dominate space-time (on the airwaves) through an act of revenge. This was performative crime exhibited on TV for the masses in order to instill fear and impotence. 

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Americans are dualistically siloed from one another (urban versus rural; liberal versus conservative; Republican versus Democrat) in echo-chambers of self-noise. Now, rather than “social media,” the social **is** digital media, which is used for the vindication of the self as the optimizable project for achievement. The 20^th century breakdown of social bonds (“anomie”) has transformed into compulsory social bonds (intoxicating communication with digital Others). We make a project of the self to avoid despair. Meanwhile, neoliberalism equates social relations with economic imperatives, which means humans invest in self-referentiality (Me, Inc.) to the negation of Other. Instead of transforming despair into joy via relational dialogues, despair is informationalized by way of creating an Empire of the Self. Everyone is a media mogul (YouTube channels and Podcasts). This requires the forever updating and remodeling of the self via digitalization. This Top Gun ideology means everyone is encouraged to “be yourself,” “don’t lose yourself”, “find your true self”. This is perpetuated by the mythical doctrine of “survival of the fittest,” i.e., kill or be killed, winner-take-all mentality. The strongest are naturally selected via evolution. Social Darwinism is the prerequisite for the mass shooter who morphs this notion into kill and be killed. Ironically, humans are all mass shooters in the sense that they are building an Empire of the Self (hyperactivity and agitation for space-time online) that leads to incapacitation, e.g., burnout, panic attacks, depression, suicide. What Han (2015) calls the burnout society is due to an excess of positivity, e.g., time of the self. Forever trying to be the Top Gun, i.e., be the Best of the Best. In this recording, Andrew is lecturing at Minnesota State University, Mankato on October 25^th, 2022, for an annual mental health conference. The title of the conference was “Role of Social Determinants in Prevention, Trauma, Crisis, and Recovery.” Andrew’s lecture was titled, “American Despair: Cultural Forms of Passivity & Violence.”

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Andrew is interviewed for a local television news station on “Mental Health Awareness Day.” The full interview is juxtaposed with the brief news clip, so the listener can experience how the “news” gets made.

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A lecture by Andrew Archer lecturing at the 58th annual Nobel Conference in St. Peter, Minnesota (at Gustavus Adolphus College) September 28th-29th, 2022. The title of the conference was “Mental Health (In)Equity and Young People.” Andrew’s breakout session was titled, “Craving: What the Virtual World is Doing to Us & What We Can Do About It.” This episode is a recording of the second of two 50 minute lectures Andrew did. He stayed for an additional 30 minutes to do Q&A (at the end of this recording). 

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To live in the U.S. is to live in simulations of real war. American mass shootings are, in many ways, “imperial.” The act is both magnificent conquering and expansion of place with utter disregard for human life. The random Walmart or grocery store, a center of worship, an inconspicuous employer, or, an otherwise irrelevant “place,” becomes the disgusting spectacle of highest notice. The mass shooter is a domineering emperor who meticulously researches and plans an attack, while desiring online notoriety (content, engagement) that comes in the form of going viral. A mass shooting itself is a simulacra of the U.S. genocide of Indigenous people: this land is my land, this land is [not] your land. The American empire is a manifestation of these acts over hundreds of years, e.g., land grabbing. In toddler language it is the imperial “Mine!” The current form of individualistic imperialism is best represented by the movie Top Gun: Maverick, which itself is a simulation of the original film, Top Gun: one must be the Best of the Best in order to possessively “win”. Relationally, this imperialism is the competitive exaltation of self as superior power over the Other. Survival of the fittest: kill or be killed. For the mass shooter it is kill and be killed. Using data from The Violence Project, Andrew analyzes 21st century mass shootings through the lens of Franco Berardi’s work and the late French sociologist Jean Baudrillard’s books, Simulacra & Simulation, and The Gulf War Did Not Take Place. 

References:

Baudrillard, J., & Glaser, S. F. (1994). Simulacra and simulation. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Baudrillard, J., & Patton, P. (1995). The gulf war did not take place. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.

Berardi, F. (2015). Heroes: Mass murder and suicide. New York: Verso. 

Berardi, F. (2021). The third unconscious: The psycho-sphere in the viral age. New York: Verso.

Berne, E. (1972). What do you say after you say hello?: The psychology of human destiny. New York: Grove Press, Inc.

Durkheim, E. (2006/1897). On suicide. Penguin Classics: New York.

Han, B.C. (2015). The burnout society. Stanford Briefs: Stanford, CA. 

Han, B.C. (2022). Non-things: Upheaval in the lifeworld. Polity Press: Medford, MA.

Peterson, J. & Densley J. (2021): The violence project: How to stop a mass shooting epidemic. Abrams Press: New York. 

Schiff, A.W. & Schiff, J. L. (1971). Passivity. Transactional Analysis Journal. 1(1), 71-78.

Solomon, C. (2003). Transactional Analysis Theory: The Basics. Transactional Analysis Journal, 33(1), 15–22

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On this episode you’ll hear a recording of an online lecture by Andrew Archer. The topic is “mindfulness”: as a state of mind, as a principle, and as a social movement. The commodification of an individualized form of mindfulness promises to relieve stress, lower blood pressure, reduce chronic pain, improve sleep, alleviate GI difficulties, improve mental health and self-control with enhanced flexibility, equanimity, and improved concentration as well as emotional intelligence. The self-focused list of individualized benefits goes on and on. However, Ron Purser’s book, McMindfulness, sheds light on what happens when a contemplative practice is stripped of its ethical origins, i.e., the Buddhist Eightfold Path. Divorced from its historic and cultural roots, secular mindfulness has become a capitalist spirituality for social control, i.e., maintenance of the political-economic status quo, via self-tracking and ultimately self-pacification. Just breathe and don’t judge as the world burns.

References:

Purser, R.E. (2019). McMindfulness: How mindfulness became the new capitalist spirituality. Repeater Books: United Kingdom.

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The British science fiction anthology, Black Mirror, depicts a world where the distinction between “real” and “virtual” is no longer relevant: people live as a totalizing symbiosis with digital technology. In the episode titled, “White Bear,” participants at the White Bear Justice Park are given three instructions: no talking, keep your distance, and enjoy yourself. These are the attributions and injunctions of the virtual world. Talking now means writing and texting, while relational bodies are separated, and everything online is for our own, selfish entertainment: 1. No talking 2. Keep your distance 3. Enjoy yourself. Across the series we find a thread line: consciousness, e.g., memory, is dis-embodied: the ego or self is solidly constructed and able to be downloaded and uploaded without a body. This is where the first-glance subversive appearance of Black Mirror collapses into conformity with the dominant ideology of hyper-individualism: a metaphysical “me” that acquires, possesses, and dominates “the world.” Zen offers a not-two perspective of body-mind: consciousness and physicality are not one, not two. The ego as an object with subjectivity cannot actualize its own inherent lack (manifests as craving) as the subjective agent of itself (as an object). Forever grasping for the reification of itself and the denial of its own life-and-death, the ego wills itself to exit the body. A will to virtuality. 

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We enter the virtual world because we are bored and want to escape the body (dissociate). The virtual world gives us what we want, but it does not eliminate the feeling of boredom that is inside the body: the feeling is suspended in a digital space of non-time. When we exit the virtual world, we realize that the feeling (boredom) hasn’t gone away, so we cyclically return to the machine. The Japanese writer, Izumi Suzuki, wrote Terminal Boredom, just before she killed herself in 1986. The subversive and dystopian short story is set in the future where feeling good and pleasure are the pathos of the culture described. The main character is a misanthropic young female who is unemployed and living with her mother (who is divorced from her father). The tale begins as she meets her ex-boyfriend at the subway. Neither she or the ex-boyfriend have a sense of smell or taste, which is why the narrator believes that kids these days do not care to eat and why their “everyday lives feel like a scene from a TV show.” Franco Berardi (2015) writes about the extended exposure to virtual flows of information in the context of mass murderers and suicide. The virtual world stimulation “produces the effect of desensitization to the bodily experience of suffering and of pleasure” (47) Therefore, like the individuals in Terminal Boredom, the “virtualization of lived experience” or the virtual world both assuages the pain “resulting from rejection, isolation and mockery” and also, exaggerates “the inability to relate to others, and to distinguish between fantasy and reality in the social sphere.”

References:

Berardi, F. (2015). Heroes: Mass murder and suicide. London: Verso.

Suzuki, I. (2021). Terminal boredom: Stories. Verso: London.

Han, B.C. (2018). The expulsion of the other. Polity Press: Medford, MA.

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is neither “artificial” nor “intelligent.” AI, and the tools as well as production of the virtual world, are made of real-world, three-dimensional resources: the raw material of Earth. Kate Crawford (2021) makes it clear that AI is “an extractive industry,” based on “highly energy-intensive infrastructures,” from the production and labor to the surveillance measures of corporate and governmental actors, aimed at total social control: “our sense of the cloud being out of sight and abstracted away, when in fact it is material, affecting the environment and climate in ways that are far from being fully recognized and accounted for.” In our minds, the digital space is immaterial. However, for example, Crawford notes that “Data centers are among the world’s largest consumers of electricity.” She continues, “Thousands of people are needed to support the illusion of automation: tagging, correcting, evaluating, and editing AI systems to make them appear seamless.” Illusions regarding automation and AI provoke fantasies of a progressively liberal, democratic, and safe future based on the will to virtualization. Public relations campaigns have manufactured this utopian vision. What has been disguised is the maltreatment of labor within the supply chains of high-tech production. A case in point is the relationship between Foxconn and Apple. The Chinese manufacturer Foxconn, assembles iPhones, iPads, Macs, etc. for the largest and most profitable corporation in the world: Apple. Foxconn has one million workers. The labor practices and management systems of these factories for technological supply chains reads draconian. Specifically, in 2010, a dozen factory workers committed suicide based on the horrendous work conditions. The political suicides were largely completed by the individuals throwing themselves off upper levels of dormitory buildings they resided in. The working conditions of Foxconn and the stories of individual laborers is documented in the book, Dying for an iPhone: Apple, Foxconn, and The Lives of China’s Workers. What has been learned is that “our beloved high-tech gadgets are not produced in a Silicon Valley paradise. Indeed, while designed in Silicon Valley, they are not produced there at all.”

References:

1. 45 and 219, Crawford, K. (2021). Atlas of AI: Power, politics, and the planetary costs of artificial intelligence. New Haven: Yale University Press.
2. 195, Chan, J., Selden, M. and Ngai, P. (2020). Dying for an iPhone: Apple, Foxconn, and the lives of China’s workers. Chicago, Illinois: Haymarket Books.

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The aim of Transactional Analysis is social control, whereby one retains control of themselves despite others who may be consciously or unconsciously attempting to trigger emotions or moralistic beliefs. (Berne, 1961; p. 91) Transactional Analysis deals with what actually happens (interpersonally) rather than just what is going on in the minds of the individuals concerned, i.e., bird’s eye view (Berne, 1963; p. 143). Transactional Analysis “provides a system for awareness of and control of the unconscious and automatic in a person’s behavior.” (Childs-Gowell, 1979; p. 204)

References:

Berne, E. (1961). Transactional analysis in psychotherapy: A systematic individual and social psychiatry. New York, NY: Grove Press.

Berne, E. (1963). The structure and dynamics of organizations and groups. J.B. Lippincott Company: Philadelphia.

Berne, E. (1964). Games people play: The psychology of human relationships. New York, NY: Grove Press, Inc.

Berne, E. (1971). Sex in human loving. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Berne, E. (1972). What do you say after you say hello?: The psychology of human destiny. New York: Grove Press, Inc.

Berne, E. (1976). Beyond games and scripts. Grove Press, Inc.: New York.

Berne, E. (1977). Intuition and ego states: The origins of Transactional Analysis. Edited by Paul McCormick. Harper & Row: San Francisco.

Childs-Gowell, E. (1979). Reparenting schizophrenics: The cathexis experience. North Quincy, MA: Christopher Publishing House.

Schiff, A.W. & Schiff, J. L. (1971). Passivity. Transactional Analysis Journal. 1(1), 71-78. 

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This episode is a recording of a free public lecture that Andrew Archer gave in Mankato, MN (3/24/2022). The advertised description is this: We love our smartphone. It is part of our body. We sleep with it and fear we will lose it. We touch it 3,000 times per day by pushing, swiping, and tapping with our fingers. It thinks for us and gives us what we want, but to no end. We become passive. We can’t live without it. Americans average 12 hours of digital electronic media per day. We are dissociated from our body as computer algorithms reflexively predict what we will want in an endless cycle of craving. This presentation will utilize Transactional Analysis to teach you (1) how to better understand yourself and (2) the virtual world as well as (3) what we can do about it.

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Intuition is a form of knowing whereby the person does not have the factual or empirical knowledge for how they know something. Intuition is a common sense guess or conjecture. To put this in terms of the Transactional Analysis personality structure, intuitive functioning is based on the Adult ego state within the Child. This state is referred to as the “Little Professor.” When this ego state is free from Parental programming, it operates creatively and intuitively based on bodily senses versus analytical and prejudicial “knowledge.” For example, the way a 3-year-old can read a group of people in a room without “knowing” what everyone is talking about. The user of the virtual world is fundamentally dissociated from the body and operates from a place of wanting or craving. The analytical and algorithmic-based frames of reference have rendered the process of intuition obsolete. We begin to think like machines. But, computers do not have awareness of a body as a referential object, and therefore, do not have this faculty of common sense. Erik Larsen (2021) proclaims that computers cannot think the way we do and never will. Byung-Chul Han states that computers are able to count and calculate, but they cannot recount a narrative. The virtual world is constructed and runs on a binary language of 0’s and 1’s, i.e., data and code, which does not require bodily contact. Digital communication is sending and receiving “information” and not the “noise” that is intuited between relational bodies.  

References:

Berne, E. (1977). Intuition and ego states: The origins of Transactional Analysis. Edited by Paul McCormick. Harper & Row: San Francisco.

Berne, E. (1976). Beyond games and scripts. Grove Press, Inc.: New York.

Han, B.C. (2020). The disappearance of rituals. Polity Press: Medford, MA.

Han, B.C. (2015). The transparency society. Stanford Briefs: Stanford, CA.

Larson, E.J. (2021). The myth of artificial intelligence: Why computers can’t think the way we do. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

Han, B.C. (2017). Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and new technologies of power. Verso: New York.

Han, B.C. (2021). Capitalism and the death drive. Polity Press: Medford, MA.

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The theory of the 18th century panopticon prison was meant to impose physical discipline on its prisoners by the perception of an omnipresent gaze from a central tower. The Digital Panopticon feels free of coercion because it lacks a centralized perspective. The camera is for selfies and not surveillance. In the virtual world, we are voluntarily constructing a digital prison whereby we illuminate ourselves and the Other. Our behavioral data is rendered transparent with all of our personal, interpersonal, financial, and therefore social political processes (transactions, relationships, etc.) available to advertisers and governments. We have become warden and inmate of ourselves. The Digital Panopticon is the tool of “psychopolitics”, according to Byung-Chul Han. Freedom and coercion meet as we voluntarily exploit ourselves through the compulsion to self-express and self-present. The power of the virtual world is that it has mediated our internal experience rather than an external agent imposing rules; the compulsion to say an emphatic Yes! to self-exploitation, which feels freely chosen by the user. The inner need to put oneself on display feeds the Digital Panopticon.   

References: 

Han, B.C. (2017). In the swarm: Digital prospects. The MIT Press: Cambridge, MA.

Han, B.C. (2015). The transparency society. Stanford Briefs: Stanford, CA.

Han, B.C. (2018). The expulsion of the other. Polity Press: Medford, MA.

Han, B.C. (2017). Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and new technologies of power. Verso: New York.

Seymour, R. (2019). The twittering machine. London: The Indigo Press.

Han, B.C. (2021). Capitalism and the death drive. Polity Press: Medford, MA.

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On this episode you’ll hear a recording of a lecture by Andrew Archer. The event was part of an annual social services conference in Minneapolis, MN (3/16/22). The title was, Craving: What the Virtual World is Doing to Us & What We Can Do About It. The audio begins with the title slide that has three separate writings continuously scrolling across the screen (i.e., an algorithm): “Americans average 12 hours of digital electronic media per day,” “Human-Machine Symbiosis,” and “Algorithms reflexively predict what we will want to hook us into an endless cycle of craving.”

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In this episode we return to an overview of the personality structure and the idea of relational symbiosis as it relates to the user and the virtual world. For example, the power and possibility of the virtual world controls the choices for the users. This amounts to the analogy of a parent following around a young child and telling them, “Don’t think!” and “Don’t remember!” Some of the trivial consequences are that the Parent in our head tells us to wear wearables and carry a mobile phone on our person at all times. Additionally, we do not use the Adult to remember, e.g., birthdays or phone numbers, or to think, e.g., the ability to use a map for destinations. But, who made these decisions and what are the consequences of a Mindlessness Script?

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Our phones and wearable devices are now part of the body. Did “I” make that decision? We don’t remember birthdays, places, or phone numbers. Who made this decision? The injunctions of the virtual world are Don’t Think! and Don’t Remember! According to Byung-Chul Han, “power” is based on a level of internal mediation. We say “Yes!” to the virtual world and feel free and autonomous in doing so. With intense forms of mediation, power is most efficient when it is invisible: we believe it is our own determination guiding our decisions. We do what the holders of power, i.e., Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google, etc., want based on their selection of choices for us. Meanwhile, we believe we are free and self-determined with the possibility of choices.

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In this final episode of Series 1, Andrew responds to a question from a listener. Brian asked about meditation practice: “I’m reminded of my brother who told me years ago when I asked him if he meditated, “I tried but I can’t sit still like that and not think”.” The answer: Zen meditation practice (both as teacher and as student) with real world people in order to decontaminate the Adult ego state.

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Part 2 of “Teacher-Student Relationships” is a teacher-student example provided from Andrew’s experience teaching meditation to preschool children.

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An understanding of our sense of self and the relationship we are in with the virtual world, i.e., two non-existing things that feel like reality, produces despair. This existential emotion requires relational attention. The final section of the podcast is the Zen concept of teacher-student relations. An example is given from Andrew’s experience teaching meditation in the Wisconsin prison system.

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In part 6, Our Mindlessness Script illustrates how we adapt to cultural conditioning by not thinking. The 1998 film, The Truman Show, starring Jim Carrey as Truman Burbank, is an exaggerated cinematic example of a pre-conscious life plan based on a decision made in early childhood. Using the film, we can understand how the part of us that craves (Psycho) operates based on the directives of the script. The parallel with the virtual world is, like Truman Burbank, we are following a Mindlessness script with a “Don’t Think!” injunction: algorithms control the possibility of choice and frames of reference based on the potency of user data.

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Who are we becoming in the real world? This episode comprehends the dominant social character of the moment. The ideology of hyper-individualism is outlined as a means to depict how the non-rational and self-centered behavior of the virtual world is inverted in the real world: we operate in a sober, rational, analytical manner to preemptively avoid emotions in order to always stay-in-control. We are a Manager of ourself. The dystopian Japanese novel, The Memory Police, is a metaphor for this individualistic way of being and its passive, conformist consequences. Zen understands the attachment to what we want is misunderstood lack. The attachment to lack (craving) is an adaptation to our conditioning. It is from this part that we play Games and produce karmic activity in the form of greed, hatred/ill-will, and delusion.

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In this episode we discuss a fictional story as metaphor for a livelihood based on adaptive behavior or craving. The 2013 novel, The Circle, by Dave Eggers paints a picture of a symbiotic relationship with the virtual world. The main character’s Psycho part competitively manages herself online with the TruYou application, which consolidates all your user profiles into one: your true self or TruYou. The character in the novel finds herself completely dependent upon the virtual social network, which brings out the worst in her. In The Circle, to disconnect is tantamount to non-existence.

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The symbiosis of infant and mother is analogous to the user and virtual world. As a relationship, the user is hyper-connected as a means to get what is wanted, while the virtual world provides the power and possibility to function as control and choice for the user. Here we can describe with more detail the part of the personality that craves or wants: the Psycho or psychological part that adapted to our cultural conditioning. This part that is promoted and appealed to in the virtual world is based on competition and greed. The Little Donald Trump in our heads.

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Here we discuss the development of each aspect of the personality structure:  Parent, Adult, and Child. The corresponding characteristics of Parent, Adult and Child are the three P’s: power (critical/nurturing), possibility (rational/objective), and potency (psychological/natural). The functions of the three states of mind are reduced to three C’s: control, choice, and connection. We can understand and describe an example of a consciously symbiotic relational process: the mother and newborn infant. The function of the mother is the power to condition (control) the infant based on the provided frames of reference and in this case the literal environment. The mother makes rational determinations for the possibility (choice) of what the infant objectively needs and wants. The infant is suspended in the moment as she develops a psychological process through her connection with mother (potency).

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Americans average 12 hours per day on electronics in the virtual world, or, less than half their life in the real world. Tech platforms are using artificial intelligence (i.e., computer algorithms) to extract our behavioral data in order to reflexively predict what we will want based on what we wanted in the past. The more accurate the prediction, the better we become at wanting, i.e., craving. The introduction charts the path of the podcast series: what can Transactional Analysis and Zen Buddhism tell us about our sense of self and our relationship as a user with the virtual world?

Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.