In response to my meme above, a correspondent named Dr. Sarcasm replied with this meme:
Alan: In turn, I replied with the following comment:
I am not against personal responsibility. I encourage it.
However, the belief that everyone is capable of exercising personal autonomy and personal responsibility is often an attempt to justify one's own irresponsibility - specifically, an attempt by conservatives to insure they need not be generous, kind or forgiving since "the invisible hand of the marketplace" "takes care of everything," with no need for human intervention.
Furthermore, conservatives claim to believe the fairy tale that "the invisible hand of the marketplace" (and the consequent obligation NOT to intervene in any way) even though the Federal Reserve (and other Trump administration agencies) are currently intervening in markets in totally unprecedented ways and with unprecedentedly extensive and unprecedently forceful manipulation of markets in an attempt to prevent the next Depression.
It is a fact -- plain as potatoes -- that adverse circumstances degrade people to such an extent that they do crazy things or commit crimes for which they are not fully responsible.
If you are unfamiliar with Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables" (recently made into the hit musical "Les Mis") here is the pertinent part of the plot line - "the life and times of Jean Valjean"... and his nemesis, Paris police chief, Inspector Javert. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Valjean
It is a fact of life that psycho-social damage arising from personal and social abuse is widespread.
Notably, Trump's father, Frederick Trump, damaged Donald in just this way.
Mary Trump's Quotes Victor Hugo's "Les Misérables" In Her Memoir, "Too Much And Never Enough: How My Family Created The World's Most Dangerous Man"
As a result of Fred Trump's adverse impact on Donald's stunted development -- Trump has unconsciously abandoned his moral compass in order to seek -- above ALL -- personal approval, personal adulation, and - to the extent possible - personal adoration.
In this regard, Trump is a damaged individual with a broken psyche who is not fully responsible for his actions.
I am posting several links below in order to explain how these degratory influences work, even if you deny their operation.
After all, the mainenance of your "white privilege" depends on ongoing ignorance and denial that people are routinely degraded to such depths that they no longer "know what is right and wrong," just as Trump and his cultists no longer understand (and are probably incapable of understanding) that family separation is abusive behavior that causes chronic injury.
Many kinds of sustained degradation condition people -- with Pavlovian certainty -- to live "reflexively reactive lives" based on crippling fear -- and not infrequently -- on paranoid delusions.
These delusions may not manifest with clinical intensity but, even so, they warp people's judgment and behavior just as anyone can warp the growth of a tree by forcing it to grow askew.
If you care to respond to my comment, I'm interested to know whether you think Boko Haram boys and girls are personally responsible.
These delusions may not manifest with clinical intensity but, even so, they warp people's judgment and behavior just as anyone can warp the growth of a tree by forcing it to grow askew.
If you care to respond to my comment, I'm interested to know whether you think Boko Haram boys and girls are personally responsible.
Terror Group Turns Boys and Girls Into Bombers, Spies, Executioners
Incredible story of the 19th Century French socialite who vanished for 25 years... only to be discovered locked in her mother's unlit, excrementally encrusted attic because of her scandalous sex life
And finally, there is no shortage of psychotic and schizophrenic people who "act out" deranged biochemical compulsions; people who commit crimes with little -- and sometimes no -- understanding of what they've done.
I understand you will be tempted to deny this (because, above all, you must keep your belief system intact... or risk "losing your religion") but -- by God -- "crazy people" are "out there."
Insights On Why People "Snap" And Kill
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