[FRIAM] Republicans need to renew themselves (was: self-care)

[Frank Wimberly]

You probably know this but psychiatrist Eric Berne published a book in 1964
called Games People Play.  "Ain't it awful" is one of the games, among
dozens of others, that he describes and explains.

---
Frank C. Wimberly
140 Calle Ojo Feliz,
Santa Fe, NM 87505

505 670-9918
Santa Fe, NM

On Sat, Jul 2, 2022, 4:43 PM David Eric Smith <desmith at santafe.edu> wrote:

> There is a thing my father used to do, which bothered me even as a very
> young boy, but for which I didn’t have an analysis until I was a lot older
> and doing such things.
>
> For any difficult decision, he liked to make bitter scornful faces and say
> “They’re all bad!”, a kind of game that a psychologist who visited our
> elementary school once told us has a name, and is called “Isn’t it awful.”
>  I could have gone up and hugged her for letting me know I wasn’t along in
> being stuck in a homelife where that was played and hating it.
>
> My analysis years later was that, since my father wasn’t a very smart man
> (though he was a very good, giving, and loyal man), and the problems that
> frustrated him are hard (hence we still live under them all), it was easier
> to spit on it all, turn his back, and slam the door, than sit with the mess
> and continue to try to make distinctions. But whether he liked it or not, a
> bacterium in its tiny world can’t chemotax unless some direction is
> different from some other.
>
> So, against the backdrop of a note with which I agree with quite a lot:
>
> To a person they are cynical amoralists who care nothing about acquiring
> power and winning the next election.
>
>
> How about specific people, like Katie Porter or Stacey Abrams?  Sheldon
> Whitehouse?  In the system where they work, they seem like people trying to
> solve concrete problems in good faith.
>
> And yes, I do acknowledge your statement that you know you are being
> over-the-top, and that is plenty disclaimer for me to live and let live.
>
> Still, coming out of the discussion, I think being able to make
> distinctions is valuable.
>
> Eric
>
>
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