Any attempt by people at political solutions to social problems always results in an existing bad situation becoming a worse one. The reason for this tragic turn of events is the limitations in people’s ability to tolerate freedom. In their political struggles, people’s longing for greater freedom becomes thwarted by their own armor and this prevents them from actually being able to achieve the freedom that they desire. This inability on the part of the people always permits the forces of the organized emotional plague to enter the political arena and take advantage of the power vacuum bringing about a more totalitarian regime than that which existed before. A bad social condition turns worse.
Once again, this destructive chain of events manifested by Arab unrest is being played out, this time in countries of the Middle East and North Africa. Democracy requires more than a free election. Nothing has been learned from past experience. Nothing still is understood about people’s biophysical intolerance for freedom and the reason for their trapped existence in the first place, which is their armored condition. This brings to the surface the forces of the emotional plague that are contained in the structure of all humans. These forces can and will turn every hope of people struggling for a better life into more despair.
1 Comment
Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI
Neither Left Nor Right
The Emotional Plague
Charles Konia, M.D. 
If one compares the demonstrators of Egypt with the Iranian protesters of 2009 (via the limited news video available), there is a marked difference between the two. Whereas the Iranians were somber, serious and worried, the current Egyptian protesters have shown violence, a carnival-like atmosphere and power-hungry behavior. We can also submit that the Iranians wanted a leftist revolution (democracy from Sharia law), while today’s Arabs seem to be heading towards a rightist revolution (religious supremacy).