July 12, 2006
Torture Pays a Call
Sometimes the synchronicity message flashes neon and I know I'm supposed to write about something. I hate to tell you this, but yesterday's theme was torture.
First, a friend directed me to a series of excellent, no, superb, essays on torture its ineffectiveness, and its consequences, by Arthur Silber (who may have paid a heavy price for his excellent work). While you''re visiting, don't miss his essays on Alice Miller. She is a Swiss psychologist known best for linking German childrearing practices to the rise of Hitler.
Then, someone that I see brought in a new book entitled"Victims of Cruelty: Somatic Psychotherapy in the Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder" which I have ordered but not read.
Someone else gave me a video documentary of Stanley Milgram's famous social science experiments at Yale. in which he showed that otherwise decent people could be influenced by authority to inflict a great deal of pain on others.
Finally a friend called looking for a referral. She had been contacted by one of the spooky Federal agencies and asked to treat a victim of, guess what, torture. She uses something called EMDR (Eye Movement Desensatization) which is a most effective for post traumatic stress disorder.
I think I said yesterday that synchronicity was my favorite thing. I do prefer light synchronicity to shadow synchronicity, but I'll be more specific when I ask next time.
I heard a snippet of George Soros on Terry Gross' show. She wasted a good five minutes repeating vitriolic names he is called by the right wing, including "Satan". Actually, I thought she confronted the dignified, thoughtful Mr. S. rather stridently, and I finally got it -- Terry isn't unbiased and shy. She never confronts any of her right wing interviewees. I thought that was because she wasn't confrontational . I changed my mind. Mr. Soros believes that the more one starts a war on something, the worse the problem gets, as in drugs and terrorism. He is concerned about the neverending cycle of violence. Tortureis part of that cycle..
Photo note: a ferocious dog, the bricks and an electric wire -- as close as I could get to torture equipment imagistically. I am proud to say I haven't (and won't) stalk torture photos, so it's lean pickings in the archives.
Posted by Dakota at July 12, 2006 02:44 PM