The 2016 Presidential Campaign

No matter how deafening the background noise is about the 2016 presidential campaign, the undercurrent that must be heard loud and clear through all the distractive clamor are the emotionally charged issues of morality. There is a deeper and more powerful political motive force behind all the political clap trap that is currently being presented on the social surface by the politicians, the pundits and the media.
Whether they know it or not, the presumptive candidates, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, are already lined up according to whether they believe in the old absolute morality of the past authoritarian world or in the new politically correct, relative morality of the current anti-authoritarian era.
These two moralities are entirely different ways of viewing and dealing with the world. They generate the ideological divide that unconsciously pits the political left and right against each other. Casting America into two irreconcilable, opposing groups, this social force from the human depths is the ultimate governor of people’s ideas and behavior. It must be consciously recognized, understood and resolved before social conditions can improve.

May 14, 2016
Categories: accurate diagnosis, character structure, emotional plague, Social Sciences, socio-political character . Tags: , , , , , . Author: Charles Konia, M.D. . Comments: 2 Comments

What is the Origin of Political Correctness?

The morality of political correctness appeared spontaneously following the transformation of society from authoritarian to anti-authoritarian beginning around 1960. This was the time when the breakthrough of human destructiveness on all levels of social life first intensified. With the weakening of the authoritarian family and of individual authority on a local level, absolute morality of right and wrong was replaced by the relative morality of political correctness and the collective authority of “Big Brother.” The authority of parents and of individuals was taken over by the authority of peer groups and of big government.

The appearance of the morality of political correctness “out of nowhere” is evidence that people need social armor in one form or another (absolute or relative morality) to contain the destructive forces within them for their personal and social survival.
However, there are qualitative and quantitative differences between the two moralities. Political correctness is more pernicious than the absolute morality of the past authoritarian era because it is restricted to the superficial and destructive layers of human life and therefore is clueless about the existence of good and of evil.

November 30, 2015
Categories: accurate diagnosis, emotional plague, Politics, Social Sciences, socio-political character . Tags: , , , , . Author: Charles Konia, M.D. . Comments: Leave a comment

The New Morality

The old morality of the past authoritarian era was based on the absolute distinction between right and wrong. What was right and wrong applied equally for everyone. Today, this morality is dead.
In our anti-authoritarian society, what is right and wrong for one person is not necessarily true for another. This is the new, relative morality and is particularly true in the political arena. Because of the resultant ever encroaching shift of the political mainstream to the left of center, the public is led by the media to believe that what is right and wrong for someone on the political left is not true for someone on the political right. Accordingly, political figures on the left such as Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are presented as the “good, anti-authoritarian guys.” They can do nothing wrong. Conversely, those on the right are pictured as the “bad, authoritarian guys.” They can do nothing right.
A case in point is the public’s favorable reaction to Clinton’s evasiveness and lying when questioned by congress about her Emails as Secretary of State following the Benghazi attack on the American Consulate. Four Americans including the Ambassador to Libya are murdered by Arab terrorists and her ratings go up.

October 24, 2015
Categories: emotional plague, Politics, Social Sciences, socio-political character . Tags: , , , . Author: Charles Konia, M.D. . Comments: Leave a comment