[NYTr] Americanistic Personality Disorder

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

sent by tsimonds (activ-l)

The Smirking Chimp
http://www.smirkingchimp.com

35% of US Americans Still Support Bush: Diagnosing the Insanity

By Jason Miller

 From Thomas Paine's Corner

Cluster B Personality Disorders

1776.0 Americanistic Personality Disorder

The essential features of Americanistic Personality Disorder include 
pervasive patterns of extreme self-absorption, profound and long-term 
lapses in empathy, a deep disregard for the well-being of others, a 
powerful aversion to intellectual honesty and reality, and a grossly 
exaggerated sense of the importance of ones self and ones nation. 
These patterns emerge in infancy, manifest themselves in nearly all 
contexts, and often become pathological.

These patterns have also been characterized as sociopathic, or 
colloquially as the Ugly American Syndrome. Note that the latter 
terminology carries too benign a connotation to accurately describe an 
individual afflicted with such a dangerous perversion of character.

For this diagnosis to be given, the individual must be deeply immersed 
in the flag-waving, nationalistic, and militaristic fervor derived 
primarily from the nearly perpetual barrage of reality warping 
emanations of the mainstream media, most commonly through the medium 
of television. Typically indoctrinated from birth to believe that they 
are morally superior, exceptional human beings, these individuals
suffer from severe egocentrism, a condition further engendered by the 
prevalence of the acutely toxic dominant paradigm known as capitalism.

Individuals with Americanistic Personality Disorder are generally 
covertly racist, xenophobic, and openly speciesistic. They readily 
participate in the execution of heinous crimes against human and 
non-human animals, even if their complicity is banal and limited. As 
long as they are comfortable, safe, and enjoying the relative affluence 
and convenience afforded by their nation's economic extortion, cultural 
genocide, rape of other species and the environment, and imperial 
conquests, such individuals display an apathetic disregard for the 
well-being of other human beings, sentient creatures, and the
environment.

Individuals with Americanistic Personality Disorder tend to exhibit 
unabated greed and an insatiable desire for material goods. Fueled by a 
compulsion to shop and acquire excessive amounts of material goods, a 
condition sometimes referred to as consumerism, they have no regard for 
the misery and destruction caused by their pathological need for more 
stuff. When confronted with the finitude and fragility of the Earth, 
they frequently react with level one ego defenses by denying that their 
behavior is a part of the problem or by distorting reality by asserting 
that concerns about Climate Change, resource depletion, and
irreversible damage to the environment are over-blown. Their deeply
entrenched sense of entitlement renders excessive consumption a nearly
immutable aspect of their behavior.

Individuals with Americanistic Personality Disorder are virtually
devoid of empathy or compassion. They view life as a game played by law
of the jungle rules and co-exist with others in a chronic state of 
hyper-competitiveness, seeking only to advance their careers and keep 
up with the Joneses. Their desire to win, get ahead and protect what 
is theirs has been so deeply etched into their psyches that their 
capacity to empathize and experience true concern for the well-being of 
others is severely stunted or extinguished. The pursuit of property, 
profit, and power rules their malformed psyches, nearly eliminating 
their capacity for humane behavior.

Individuals with Americanistic Personality Disorder almost always rely 
on extortion or violence to get their needs met and to resolve
conflict. Believing in their inherent superiority, they eschew laws or
rules except when they can utilize them for personal gain or when they
fear punishment. Given a choice between a just resolution to a
situation and the opportunity to humiliate, subdue, or subjugate the
other party, they will choose the latter with a high degree of
frequency. They have an amazing capacity to justify their unethical or
criminal behavior using false pretexts such as self defense, good
intentions, ignorance of the consequences of their actions, or
asserting that they were merely carrying out orders.

Individuals with Americanistic Personality Disorder tend to manifest 
traits indicative of two of Erich Fromms personality orientations. They 
thrive on adding to their possessions, and appreciate their
acquisitions more when they attain them through coercion, theft, or
manipulation, thus showing strains of Fromms exploitative type. They
also exist at a very superficial level, offering the world the friendly
face of the marketing personality that Bernays and Madison Avenue have
taught them is the most effective way of advancing their selfish
agenda. Opportunism, careerism, and narcissism poison nearly all of
their interactions and relationships.

Specific Culture Features

Americanistic Personality Disorder appears to prevail in a very high 
percentage of those in the upper strata of the socioeconomic order in 
the United States (and to persist tenaciously because these individuals 
have little motivation to alter their pathological behavior as they are 
largely immune from the consequences of their actions). While it is 
epidemic amongst the opulent, this characterological deficiency does
not recognize socioeconomic boundaries. Various segments of the middle, 
working and impoverished classes comprise a notable percentage of those 
exhibiting this condition, including those practicing deeply 
conservative Christianity, many residents of reactionary states such as 
those in the south, Kansas, Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming, and many members 
of the Republican Party.

Prevalence

The overall prevalence of Americanistic Personality Disorder was 
recently measured at approximately 35% of the overall population in the 
United States.

Diagnostic Criteria for 1776.0 Americanistic Personality Disorder:

A pervasive pattern of greed, selfishness, and lack of empathy, 
beginning the moment he or she begins to intellectualize and presented 
in nearly all contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:

1. lacks empathy due to an excessive degree of self-absorption
2. believes that he or she is exceptional and morally superior
3. frequently engages in exploitative behaviors
4. requires frequent acquisition of goods he or she doesnt need
5. usually resorts to some form of overt or covert violence, coercion, 
or extortion to resolve conflicts
6. perceives others as obstacles to his or her success
7. disregards laws and rules except as a means to achieve his or her
agenda 
8. demonstrates deep hypocrisy by projecting a righteous,
benevolent image while committing reprehensible acts
9. refuses to accept the consequences of his or her actions

[Jason Miller is a wage slave of the American Empire who has freed 
himself intellectually and spiritually. He is Cyranos Journal Onlines 
associate editor (http://www.bestcyrano.org/ [1]) and publishes
Thomas Paines Corner within Cyranos at 
http://www.bestcyrano.org/THOMASPAINE/ [2]. You can reach him at
JMiller at bestcyrano.com ]