quod erat faciendum

January 16, 2013

The President wants studies done? Well, I started one.

Today, the President of the United States gave his response to the “gun violence” problem in America. If I read it correctly, he is tasking/asking the CDC to research gun violence. Mr. President, I have started the research for you! Maybe save the taxpayers (debtors) a few bucks.

In 2010 I wrote and submitted a casual research paper for my graduate work in psychology. The topic wasn’t gun violence but a rather a paper that addresses the causes of these tragedies, like the most recent in Connecticut. I left out the literature review and some other, quite boring, details from the research paper as they would make this post VERY LONG. Here is the synopsis:

Abstract

The term psychopathy has long been noted as an evil outlier of human behavior that is thought to be attributable to only a small percentage of the entire population of the United States. The purpose of this paper and study is to create awareness of and support a hypothesis that the choices and actions at a societal level are creating and psychopaths. Further society is making psychopathy the new normal behavior in the United States, by the changing cultural values and societal boundaries which mold each new generation. A brief literature review has been conducted and included in this paper that will describe in greater detail individual characteristics that will support the overarching hypothesis proposed. Also in an effort to support this hypothesis a phenomenological study has been designed that will research previously written information on the subject and provide a study that collects new data on the subject.

Causal Factors for the Increasing Prevalence of Sociopaths in American Society

Can psychopathic behavior be taught? It is the purpose of this literature review and paper to discuss and explore the hypothesis that not only can be taught, but is an every growing normative cultural phenomenon.  The hypothesis is that the literature review will support this theory and that the trends, choices and actions of the predominant culture in the United States of America are creating and nurturing sociopath. Further, the theory is that the nurturing of psychopathological behaviors will have a result of those behaviors that are currently classified as negativistic and maladaptive will become the norm for the collective US culture.

The outcome of the condition of society’s members is due to the choices, actions and guidelines set forth and judged by that society. The hypothesis is that society’s trend for values, choices and expectation has changed and the result is a negative effect on the recent generations of young people in a way that creates and promotes psychopathy. Commonly witnessed negative behaviors such as selfishness, manipulation, attention seeking and leaching can no longer be ignored by being viewed as singular groups. Collectively, these negative behaviors should be viewed as an increasing and significant trend of developing and nurturing psychopathy in our young people.

Based on the information received through the brief literature review, It is concluded that the hypothesis is worthy of pursuit of further study. American society has morphed into a culture of “me” and materialism and “anything goes” beliefs. Systems such as the church and authority institutions have been eliminated or neutered through the constant onslaught of excuses, justifications and moral erosion of wrong-doing citizens.

The Problems

Any behavior can be taught if it is physically possible to enact. Stepping away form an encapsulated concept of “should” and “ought”, a rational and logical observer can conceptual the following: A baby born and raised in family that does not promote social interaction and teaches that the child must “look out” for herself first, at all costs has a high probability of acting out in behaviors that promote her early learning. Conversely, a child who is raised in a home that promotes learning, morals, values, caring for other, altruism and a respect for others will more than likely have a higher probability of acting out with respect to her early learning.

In the United States, some cultural and societal factors that promote psychopathic tendencies are: lack of remorse modeling, encouragement of leaching, reduction of consequences, erosion of moral and other authority, technological advances resulting in social and interpersonal connectedness, self-centered modeling, and superficial behaviors modeling.

Definitions

Psychopathy is a learned behavior and not a genetic malfunction. Harenski et al describe psychopathy as “the willingness to intentionally commit moral transgressions against others without guilt or remorse.” The DSM IV-TR does not specifically address psychopathy as a disorder, but rather uses Antisocial Personality Disorder. Another kindred term for similar behaviors and choices is “sociopath”. It is collectively though that the differences between a psychopath and psychopathy are the degrees of danger each pose to society. It is believed that sociopaths are equally disconnected from others, but far less dangerous in the behaviors.

Collective perceptions of the characteristics of a psychopathic personality are: glibness/superficial charm, grandiose sense of self-worth (invisible audience), lack of empathy, me-centered behaviors, and a lack of meaningful interpersonal relationships.

Summary

The result of the inattentive and improper actions of multiple generations has had a terrible effect on the subsequent generations. Morals and values are not taught, family cohesiveness is ever increasingly absent and the appropriate and healthy modeling of traditional America is in sharp decline. Children learn much from their caregivers, institutions and through observation learning from watching tertiary acts in their environment.

Inconsistent application of rules and even more inconsistent delivery of consequences teach more about how to be irresponsible and disconnect than helps the youth by showing care through leniency. Since the advent of the concept of precedent type of law in the late 1800’s, each allowance of less-than ideal behavior becomes a reason for being allowed to engage in future negativistic behaviors by others, thus eventually becoming the normative behavior in the culture. This study will demonstrate many of the points outlined in the literature review.

— R. A. Grier

January 14, 2013

Click your heels together three times…

I am past the point of thinking that people care about what happens to our future in this country. Really, I am. I am now trying to figure out the best way to capitalize on the stupidity so that my family is safe and secure in their future. I spend a significant amount of time and resources ensuring those goals.

For those out there who are scratching their rational heads, wondering how people don’t care; I have the answer! It is simple operant conditioning! Operant conditioning the behavior resulting from a series of consequences. Don’t get hung up on consequences being ONLY BAD. Consequences are just the results of actions and can be good or bad.

Previously in history, people’s behaviors often were shaped by the results of those behaviors and the projected outcomes of similar behaviors in the future. An example would be not paying a loan on time or at all. In the past, the note would be called and the borrower would be without the item as well and having incurred significant penalties as well as having a negative mark in their credit history that stayed for a very long time. The good consequences for paying your bills on time would be that you got to purchase and keep stuff as well as increase you future potential purchasing power as far as credit goes. The bad consequences for not paying your bills on time would be penalties, repossession, poor credit and limited future potential buying power on credit.

I am not speaking about money solely, but using it as just one example. In the past, if you broke the law, you went to jail. If you cussed a teacher, you got severely corrected. If you talked back to your parents, you got severely corrected and so on and so forth. There was an unpleasant result for poor choices whether that unpleasant result was contrived or not. Receiving an unpleasant consequence TAUGHT A LESSON ABOUT  choosing wisely and thinking ahead. However, that was the past.

What happens when you get what you want regardless of what you do? What happens when consequences are only good? Well, look around in America today. We are experiencing the consequences of more than a few generations being raised that way. It doesn’t matter what you do as long as you get what you want! Test scores are leveled for the sake of fairness. Everybody gets a trophy. Everything is a “right” now and must be provided for every inhabitant by the FEDGOV. People stay in their homes regardless of never being able to afford the home when they “purchased” it. The system of justice is fragmented and hit-miss as far as consequences AND our laws are about WIN-LOSE rather than right or wrong. “Somebody else will take care of it, because I don’t have to, BECAUSE it doesn’t directly affect ME.”

So, how does this translate into government? Who chooses our elected officials? That’s right! The masses of “me, me, me” select the people who will reinforce their comfort. The people who are chosen to “lead” will serve at the will of the electorate and ensure the comforts keep going because THEY WANT THEIR COMFORTS AND POWER to boot!!! They are doing their jobs which is to follow the wishes and goals of their electorate.

It all is very simple, really. Effort to “do” in order to “get” IS TAUGHT!!! There is no real compunction anymore for people to make efforts. They are going to get what they want anyway. Pragmatism dictates that it is the best practice to get the most for the least. It makes sense! My questions now center on the global rather than being socioocentric and focusing only on the US.  If the rest of the world plays the same tune, then there will be VERY LITTLE motivation to change anything.

If I don’t pay my mortgage and the bank is forced to forgive it by the government, what happens when the government doesn’t pay its debt to the global community? Will it be forgiven just the same? If so, then forget about raging against the machine. You will actually be wrong in the new world order and more than likely receive bad consequences for your poor choices. It’s the old “switcharoo”. However, if the rest of the world decides to provide bad consequences for our nation’s actions, then HOLD ON TO YOUR HAT! It will be a bumpy ride.

Things may go back to the way they used to be. Until then just do whatever you want to feel good. However, if the lack of common sense and rational actions gets really uncomfortable for you just close your eyes and click your heels together three times…

— R. A. Grier

The people have spoken. The conjecture around seems to be Obama won and Romney lost. I wish it were that simple! I wish we were talking about a football game or a tussle on the playground. We are not. We are not we anymore. E Pluribus Unum is now just a phrase on some money. The precious Union has been bartered for comfort and convenience and promises written in smoke by power hungry hucksters claiming to be the new messiah of the people. The religious fervor that is progressivism or liberalism has spread far and wide. That movement falsely promises to give us utopia. That movement won last night and it won big. Americans have given themselves a gift of short term insanity wrapped in a pretty utopian package of hope and change. It is done and it is well with my soul.

Knowing where you belong is important. I clearly do not belong in this movement. Knowing what you believe in is important. I clearly do not believe in this movement. The resulting combination of the two leaves me without a seat at the new, big table in this Country. America no longer believes in me. America has put its future and faith in the hands of those who believe that results are far more important than how you get those results. The short term pleasure of the results promised by the election last night will result in long term consequences when reality meets fantasy.

“Forward” was the message of the democrat group this time. They were right. It is time to move forward. However, you have a choice to make. Are you going to choose to be an inhabitant or do you choose to be an American? I will not waste time rehashing the reasons for the need to choose. If you do not know, then you did not want to know. If you don’t see a problem with the direction of the Country, then you have chosen. If you support the liberal/socialist/progressive ways then you too have chosen. Either of these dictates that you have chosen something other than a Constitutional America and therefore are part of the problem. From now forward you are a barrier in my life and efforts to return to a Constitutional America.

The enemy will seek to dismantle threats. The tools of its arsenal will seem innocuous and come in familiar and desirable packages that you will want to accept, such as the law. The enemy will use the tool of law to ensure it has custody and control over those who oppose them. Next, the enemy will use a very familiar and unpleasant tool of taxation. The dual benefit of the weapon of taxation is that the enemy garners resources to fuel their engines while all along they get that fuel from the hearts and minds and bodies of Americans, believing they are doing their duty. Do not feed the beast. Further, the enemy will use its lackey, the media, to spread its disease to the minds of the impressionable.

The enemy will use your good against you. It is not polite to speak up when authority is talking. It is not socially acceptable to castigate or draw attention to those who are unlike us. It is not respectful to disagree. You don’t disobey your master! My dear American, get ready to be uncomfortable! Get ready to be persecuted! Get ready to be prosecuted! My dear American, get ready to again secure the promise that was laid out so many years ago by other Americans. It is time. Use this time to be wise, fruitful and purposeful in your efforts.

It is time to prepare. Clearly America is in the hands of those who rape her for their pleasure with absolutely no regard for her honor and precious heart. It is done and we cannot fight the reality of history. Don’t waste a moment of the present on things you cannot change in the past. I call each of you instead to take the present and use that time to prepare for the day that will come. It is time to gather. It is time to teach. It is time to decide because it is time to prepare for the coming war.

— R. A. Grier

The sea is full of Red Herring and the spin cycle is on supersonic. The problem with “truth” is that too many people look to man rather than God for truth. We have the ability to lie, justify, rationalize, and minimize anything. I am very comfortable in talking in terms of psychology and counseling and believe that I am qualified in that arena. Here is the first example. If two parents give their child completely different interpretations of right and wrong on a subject, what happens with the child?  What if the parents are consistent in their polar-opposite mixed messages? The child often become confused, distraught and will eventually adopt independence prior to adequate development in socialization and learning. That’s a whole bunch of psychobabble for the kid getting confused, hurt and mad and globalizing anger and distrust to all authority due to the ineptness of their parents.

Now, I am flesh. I want to hurt people who hurt me. I want the consequences of my choices to be lessened or avoided altogether. I often won’t change bad habits because there aren’t serious enough or immediate enough penalties for my habits. I want things to be fun and easy. I like for things to be my way. I enjoy being mischievous and sometimes smile when I am irresponsible. I am flesh.

The yang to my yin is that I am a child of God. The choices I make and the habits I take directly reflect my respect for the Father. Therefore, I work harder than I have to.  I forgo choices of easy conveniences that have long-term consequences. I also care how my choices affect others. I do this because the destination is not an accounting of accomplishments or wealth on Earth or six feet under. The destination is the acceptance into heaven by my loving Father.

Abortion is wrong. So is death row. Wars aren’t for profit or convenience, but rather an often necessary last resort for a greater opportunity for peace. Economics ought not to be for control of another, but for an opportunity for us all to advance toward “better”. A line that I use to illustrate choices in counseling with my clients is, “There are at least a thousand ways to get to Detroit from here.” The analogy is clear, I hope, in the case of this election and our Country’s future – as long as we all agree that we are going to ‘Detroit’.

Saying that there is separation of church and state is about the same as saying where God can and cannot go because you know what is best for him. I do not. Neither Obama nor Romney tells me what to think or believe. Neither the law of man nor the trappings of pop-sociology are my guide for my choices, goals or behaviors. Obama and Romney are just turning in their respective applications and going through the interview process for a job. Both are saying that they want to work for me. Each candidate has to make the same pleas and present their best reasons for being hired in front of each of their prospective “bosses”, otherwise known as voters.

Who am I kidding? What I see is that American voters educate themselves for a few hours at best about the choices they will make in the booth. Further, their education on the choices comes from TV and other advertisements. Still further, some just pick randomly in the booth. ALL of these are but a small percentage of the entire citizenry of the Country. AND we WONDER why things are confusing and often contentious??? I see people blaming companies and the wealthy for their plight while all along they make very poor choices. I see the fickle bounce along from situation to situation looking for others to guide them and wondering why they feel out of control. I see neighborhoods and cultures multigenerationally deep into heritage indigence and depravity trying to blame their way out of those conditions. I see a Country, too ignorant or truly caring to stop enabling these things.

E Pluribus Unum translates into “out of many, one”.  We are certainly many, not only in numbers but in ever-growing ideologies. What makes a country different from a hotel room that you rent for the night or a car you borrow? Who are the “we” in “We the people…?” What is the glue that binds us into “Americans”? I don’t know. It seems that we are more and more a loose federation of regions and/or States. The trend in ideological difference paired with a lack of “we” glue will end in a dissolution of the United State of America marked by another civil war.

As we all know, we can get away with bad habits for a while. Each has broken a “minor law” like speeding or jaywalking and knew that it was wrong when we did it. We don’t care because we get away with these sorts of things more often than we get “caught” for them. Our society has made a habit and now a culture of creating avoidance opportunities for all sorts of consequences. It won’t be very long before the smoke clears and the mirror clearly shows us who we are. If anyone believes that one election or man in that election is going to save America, then they are not only delusional, but dangerously ignorant. America is crawling down a path of evil and destruction. Some people are willingly helping the rest of us move faster down that path. Some others are just followers along for the ride because there are no real consequences, yet.

While we face an important decision here in a few weeks about the next figure head of our Country, I ask you to take more than a few moments to consider more important choices. I ask that you look at the everyday choices you make to determine if those decisions are helping or hurting. Do they contribute to the greater good? Are those choices done in secret or hiding because you know that they are wrong? If you REALLY want to change the course of our Country, I ask that you change the course of your lives (all of us certainly can) and then help change the course of our neighborhoods and schools and communities.

So, the decision isn’t about a President. Neither man will change our lives. The decision is about personal choices and directions for our lives. Our government just works for us. I have made foreboding predictions about our future. There will come a point in time where the “haves” and “doers” are outnumbered and out consumed by the “have-nots” and “takers”. When we get closer to that point, the process of demise will speed up like when one or two people fall off the losing side of the tug-of-war rope. Those making it happen will quit and turn to take care of themselves and their families. When that day comes, you will have many generations “trained” to be helpless and angry because the food isn’t in the trough fast enough or to their liking. On that day, those without guidance from God because they chose the comfortable path of populist secularism will have no law or government to look after them. Those people will turn violent and seek to steal and take what is no longer given. Others who are “undecided” will join in the chaos out of fear or freeze due to the same and become easy prey.

I doubt many will have read this article this far. It is too difficult for the already learned-helpless to consider and besides there is some quality TV on that will help them with ignoring their problems and everything else. Still others will dismiss it because I said “God” and they have had no relationship with him and few they know, including their parents, do either. Still others were turned off because I talk about politics. “It’s all lies and BS” and “why bother with that?”  I believe it was Adolf Hitler that said, “How fortunate for leaders that men do not think.”

Romney and Obama have each said it; we are faced with the responsibility of choosing different paths. Believe if you want that not choosing or rather ignoring the unpleasant or not doing the difficult things will make everything better. Choose wisely.

– R. A. Grier