This is so well-written. Sometimes I want to tear my hair out, wondering why people can’t see the parallels between Hitler and Trump. The scapegoat back then was the Jews, the scapegoat now is illegal immigrants. Why can’t they see it? But I guess it’s because their faith leaders have been telling them vote Republican no matter what since birth.
I would also add that a current scapegoat is trans people (based off of all the political ads I am seeing and my own lived experience as a non-binary person)
I love love this piece! Thank you for taking the time to put it out.
I’m slowly (oh so slowly) learning it is safe and good to lean into the autistic intuition, pattern recognition, need to for everything to make sense and fit together, and capacity to ask the hard questions that challenge our collective myths. I think that is one way I’m connecting to my true self these days. Whilst the independent charismatic spaces and the YWAM bubble of my childhood and young adulthood had me feel fear and shame for tapping into these skills and definitely othered me for my natural curiosity and intellect, I no longer am obliged to feel “defective” and play small. I was headstrong and stood up to schoolyard bullies before my indoctrination. That child is now seen and heard.
One way boldness stemming from reconnecting with myself is showing up is how I’m not giving breathing space to family members’ anxiety about the survival of me and my partner’s relationship in the face of a one-year unaccompanied overseas contract. Their anxiety is predicated on white patriarchal heteronormative ideas about marriage and it no longer applies to me or to my partner. I’m relishing the liberation of casting aside gender norms.
I love this -- fear and control truly seems to be at the root of so many authoritarian and patriarchal relationships. Way to go for recognizing that is not how everyone experiences partnerships!
So good to read the ‘receipts’! As a non-American, US politics is horrifying to watch unfold. (And annoyingly dominant in our own news cycle, an imperial hang over?) But also such an important canary in the mine to see unfold and your insights spark off a lot of similarities about what’s happening at home. What I really don’t understand is the hang-up around abortion in the USA. For those who just can’t vote Harris, isn’t there many ways to be pro-life and voting trump is certainly not it? In my observation, abortion is not the political football elsewhere as it is in the states. Your writing (and Alice Millers) on connecting with the body, beyond theoretical ideas, is so useful in this.
oh my the abortion topic is one I don't have the stamina to write about, but as far as it's connection to my grand unified theory . . . for one, conservative men realized they could emotionally manipulate people with the topic of abortion and put all of their energy behind it. It's hard to explain the anti-abortion indoctrination I was bombarded with as a child and teenager (horrific images, emotional stories, intense pressure to commit to be pro-life and anti-abortion). It's been one of the harder indoctrination points for me to unpack, actually. But for people like my parents, it allows them to feel really good about themselves and like they are doing something to help children by voting for an anti-choice candidate . . . all the while they vote against everything that would actually make the lives of children in the US better. Perhaps it goes back to their own childhood trauma and wishing there was a magical way to "save" children / babies that didn't actually require anything from them. It's a whole mess!
This is fantastic—thank you for laying things out this plainly!
I’ve written elsewhere that fascism knows it could never prevail in a truly fair “marketplace of ideas,” which is why it always sets out to stifle and then eliminate opposing points of view… including, I see now, those of us who choose to cultivate our true selves rather than obey cult leaders blindly. This essay helps me put more pieces of the puzzle together in my own mind!
D.L.- I can’t express how important this work you are doing is for those of us who have survived the cult and are trying to find their true selves beneath all of the indoctrination. And to have to watch in realtime how it is supporting the MAGA cult after all that has happened since 2016 is very difficult and enraging. I know this work is difficult for you but thank you so so much.
Thank you for this. For your fierce pursuit of this, for voicing it and laying it out so clearly. It validates and expounds on things I’ve been thinking and wondering about, and is so helpful. It validates why self-trust has been my guiding light and focus for myself and my work. Thank you for being you and sharing it.
This is so well-written. Sometimes I want to tear my hair out, wondering why people can’t see the parallels between Hitler and Trump. The scapegoat back then was the Jews, the scapegoat now is illegal immigrants. Why can’t they see it? But I guess it’s because their faith leaders have been telling them vote Republican no matter what since birth.
I would also add that a current scapegoat is trans people (based off of all the political ads I am seeing and my own lived experience as a non-binary person)
I love love this piece! Thank you for taking the time to put it out.
I’m slowly (oh so slowly) learning it is safe and good to lean into the autistic intuition, pattern recognition, need to for everything to make sense and fit together, and capacity to ask the hard questions that challenge our collective myths. I think that is one way I’m connecting to my true self these days. Whilst the independent charismatic spaces and the YWAM bubble of my childhood and young adulthood had me feel fear and shame for tapping into these skills and definitely othered me for my natural curiosity and intellect, I no longer am obliged to feel “defective” and play small. I was headstrong and stood up to schoolyard bullies before my indoctrination. That child is now seen and heard.
One way boldness stemming from reconnecting with myself is showing up is how I’m not giving breathing space to family members’ anxiety about the survival of me and my partner’s relationship in the face of a one-year unaccompanied overseas contract. Their anxiety is predicated on white patriarchal heteronormative ideas about marriage and it no longer applies to me or to my partner. I’m relishing the liberation of casting aside gender norms.
I love this -- fear and control truly seems to be at the root of so many authoritarian and patriarchal relationships. Way to go for recognizing that is not how everyone experiences partnerships!
So good to read the ‘receipts’! As a non-American, US politics is horrifying to watch unfold. (And annoyingly dominant in our own news cycle, an imperial hang over?) But also such an important canary in the mine to see unfold and your insights spark off a lot of similarities about what’s happening at home. What I really don’t understand is the hang-up around abortion in the USA. For those who just can’t vote Harris, isn’t there many ways to be pro-life and voting trump is certainly not it? In my observation, abortion is not the political football elsewhere as it is in the states. Your writing (and Alice Millers) on connecting with the body, beyond theoretical ideas, is so useful in this.
oh my the abortion topic is one I don't have the stamina to write about, but as far as it's connection to my grand unified theory . . . for one, conservative men realized they could emotionally manipulate people with the topic of abortion and put all of their energy behind it. It's hard to explain the anti-abortion indoctrination I was bombarded with as a child and teenager (horrific images, emotional stories, intense pressure to commit to be pro-life and anti-abortion). It's been one of the harder indoctrination points for me to unpack, actually. But for people like my parents, it allows them to feel really good about themselves and like they are doing something to help children by voting for an anti-choice candidate . . . all the while they vote against everything that would actually make the lives of children in the US better. Perhaps it goes back to their own childhood trauma and wishing there was a magical way to "save" children / babies that didn't actually require anything from them. It's a whole mess!
This is fantastic—thank you for laying things out this plainly!
I’ve written elsewhere that fascism knows it could never prevail in a truly fair “marketplace of ideas,” which is why it always sets out to stifle and then eliminate opposing points of view… including, I see now, those of us who choose to cultivate our true selves rather than obey cult leaders blindly. This essay helps me put more pieces of the puzzle together in my own mind!
Thank you for this, D.L.
D.L.- I can’t express how important this work you are doing is for those of us who have survived the cult and are trying to find their true selves beneath all of the indoctrination. And to have to watch in realtime how it is supporting the MAGA cult after all that has happened since 2016 is very difficult and enraging. I know this work is difficult for you but thank you so so much.
Thank you for this. For your fierce pursuit of this, for voicing it and laying it out so clearly. It validates and expounds on things I’ve been thinking and wondering about, and is so helpful. It validates why self-trust has been my guiding light and focus for myself and my work. Thank you for being you and sharing it.