Why Do Good People Become Silent-or Worse-About 9/11? Part 17: The False Self and Excessive Identification with the U.S.A.
From Frances T. Shure at Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth
Some citizens cannot separate themselves from their image of their nation. Certain American citizens, for example, seem incapable of distinguishing between themselves and the image of the United States of America. To criticize the nation and its government is to criticize them. If America is bad, then they, by extension, are bad and feel shame. If America is good, then they are good and can function more effectively. These individuals exhibit no autonomy, no separation from the image of our nation.
Through the lens of psychodynamic psychology, we learn that this extreme attachment to the image of one’s country is a consequence of having never developed a healthy ego or sense of self,1 a condition that begins early in life, often as early as infancy. When parents are not able to meet an infant’s or child’s psychological needs, including the basic need of being recognized and loved for who she fundamentally is, the child becomes alienated from her true self and unable to complete the developmental task of achieving autonomy from her parents. She develops, instead, a “false self,” an identity dependent on her parents’ requirements of her. The process of individuation is arrested.
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Editor's Note: Frances Shure, M.A., L.P.C., has performed an in-depth analysis addressing a key issue of our time: "Why Do Good People Become Silent — or Worse — About 9/11?" The resulting essay, being presented here as a series, is a synthesis of both academic research and clinical observations.
© by Frances T. Shure, 2015
[Fran Shure] In addressing the question in the title of this essay, the April 2015 segment, Dissociation, explained that some individuals suffered severe developmental trauma in childhood that caused them to reflexively shut down their awareness of these traumatic events. This biological process is known as dissociation. Such repressed traumas can be activated by information conveyed by 9/11 skeptics — information that implies that forces within our government may have been involved in mass murder of its own citizens — causing these individuals to dissociate once again.
Here, in the May 2015 installment, we continue Ms. Shure's analysis with Part 17: The False Self and Excessive Identification with the U.S.A.
. . .© by Frances T. Shure, 2015
[Fran Shure] In addressing the question in the title of this essay, the April 2015 segment, Dissociation, explained that some individuals suffered severe developmental trauma in childhood that caused them to reflexively shut down their awareness of these traumatic events. This biological process is known as dissociation. Such repressed traumas can be activated by information conveyed by 9/11 skeptics — information that implies that forces within our government may have been involved in mass murder of its own citizens — causing these individuals to dissociate once again.
Here, in the May 2015 installment, we continue Ms. Shure's analysis with Part 17: The False Self and Excessive Identification with the U.S.A.
Some citizens cannot separate themselves from their image of their nation. Certain American citizens, for example, seem incapable of distinguishing between themselves and the image of the United States of America. To criticize the nation and its government is to criticize them. If America is bad, then they, by extension, are bad and feel shame. If America is good, then they are good and can function more effectively. These individuals exhibit no autonomy, no separation from the image of our nation.
Through the lens of psychodynamic psychology, we learn that this extreme attachment to the image of one’s country is a consequence of having never developed a healthy ego or sense of self,1 a condition that begins early in life, often as early as infancy. When parents are not able to meet an infant’s or child’s psychological needs, including the basic need of being recognized and loved for who she fundamentally is, the child becomes alienated from her true self and unable to complete the developmental task of achieving autonomy from her parents. She develops, instead, a “false self,” an identity dependent on her parents’ requirements of her. The process of individuation is arrested.
Read More
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