Dr. Leonardo Tondo gave a lecture titled, “They’re after me!: Paranoia in History, Literature, Clinical Theory, and Practice.” This lecture was given on December 6, 2017, as a part of the Heinz Bluhm Memorial Lecture Series. Dr. Tondo began with the idea that paranoia is everywhere among us. He raised the question, “Would you open the door to a stranger?” Most people would answer this question, “no”, with little hesitation. He attributes this to the distrust that has been transmitted from generation to generation. Dr. Tondo then posed the question, “Would you trust most of the people?” 19% of Millenials, 31% of Gen X, 37% of the Silent Gen., and 40% of Baby Boomers answered “no.”This proves that distrust grows with age and there is traditionally less trust associated with low socio-economic groups.
Dr. Tondo then touched on the identity that people have and defend from cellular levels.
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This strong sense of identity leads people to help others only if they are certain that they won’t become enemies in the future; he referred to this as the “better wrong than sorry” idea.
He went on to describe skin color, religion, and language as evolutionary defense mechanisms that lead to distrust. These mechanisms hinder relationships and lead to prejudice which then can lead to a fear from lack of info. Even on a biological level, the cerebral cortex helps select based on good education, ethnicity, appearance, etc. This is dangerous because it is easily cheated and leads people to wrongly keeping others at a
distance. The irrationality of fear and rationality of culture is what Dr. Tondo brought up next. The human conscience creates issues in this sector that animals don’t have. For example, certainty, defined as ignorance by Dr. Tondo, leads to slander which leads to discrimination. On the other hand, doubt, defined as culture by Dr. Tondo, leads to a search which leads to investigation and research. This brought Dr. Tondo to his argument on conspiracy beliefs. For instance, there is a theory, with no medical support, that vaccines are the cause of autism. He listed some of the features of conspiracies as: Dangerous for the individual and the group Involving a persecutory charge The less likely explanation (often ignoring simplicity) A personality trait (believing many) Fed by followers Two types of paranoia are accepted by medical professionals today. Depressive paranoia encompasses jealousy, persecution, and hypochondria. This stems from an inner wish to be punished, inner weakness, or an inferiority complex. Expansive paranoia incorporates elation and excitatory mood; this could be a compensatory mechanism. 0.2% of the population is affected by paranoia, as opposed to 1.2% of the population that are schizophrenic. However, the prevalence of paranoia is much higher than reported but individuals do not think they have a problem. It is also important to note that paranoid individuals have an intact intellect. Charisma, Dr. Tondo touched on, is a possible danger if it moves large crowds. The leader and the crowd need each other equally. Also, he discussed the relationship between homosexuality and paranoia. Homosexuality is considered by many to be indicative of a state of weakness that is probably determined by inflexible gender roles and specific cultural constraints imposed by society. This alleged weakness may be associated with feminine attributes. Case in point, the Orlando nightclub shooting may have been motivated by the shooter’s projection to exorcise his own homosexual feelings. In conclusion, Dr. Tondo emphasized the importance of a “reality test.” This is a test to check if paranoid behavior is warranted or not (ie. If you are paranoid about someone, talk to them).
With the news, stereotypes, and racism I can see how once he moved to a new area he would be more sensitive to whites fearing him. He may not have thought about it before in the comfortability in his home town. It is instinct to be more aware of things we as humans don’t usually think about in a new environment. Things are not always as they seem to be. He perceived false judgment at times, but at other times he had experienced true prejudice against his skin color and quite possibly
We are trained to think and perceive things the way they are presented to us as we grow up. Naturally, the ideologies we are taught at a young age generally stay with us until we are adults. As proof, C.P Ellis was taught at a young age that African Americans and Jewish people were to blame for his problem, or the problems of the poor whites in America. Psychologist Daryl Bem theory of self-perception delivered the attitude and emotional connections Ellis had to his behavior when being a Klans’ man. Also, Connors approach to acceptance, when moving past negative events in our lives.
Racism, a plague in our society that has infected our society, and still does today, has been rooted by the premise of Darwinian evolution. Racism existed long before Charles Darwin made his mark in history; however, in the book One Race One Blood, the authors explain how there is a very close relationship between the theory of evolution and what we know today as racism. The authors intent of this book is to realize the effects of a specific ideas that has shaped racism. Mr. Ken Ham describes ideas as being seeds, “…they might seem small; they might seem insignificant; they might even go unnoticed by all expect those who hold them in the moment…” (7). Charles Darwin’s idea (or seeds) of his evolutionary has taken root and made its way into public schools, the government, and even our churches. Although, racism did not originate with Darwin, Ken Ham claims that, “he did more than any other person to popularize it” (22). His evolutionary ideas have fueled racism and this is what racists use to justify their hatred toward those who are different from them (8).
In this paper I will be arguing that racist beliefs are cognitive problems according to Appiah’s account of racisms. In order to defend this position, I will first explain Appiah’s account of how racism is heritable through genes, focusing specifically on what he thinks the connection between extrinsic racists and intrinsic racists are. Then, I will define what Appiah takes a extrinsic and intrinsic racists to be, and show how his definition of what an “insincere” extrinsic is distinctive by contrasting it with other ways one could interpret or define as an “insincere” racist. I will then present an objection that explains why I think that racialism is not heritable through genes and that an “insincere” extrinsic racist should not change their minds.
What would be the criteria used to distinguish between clinically significant fear and anxiety, and everyday fear and anxiety?
John Philippe Rushton was a Psychology professor at the University of Western Ontario who became generally known for his research on apparent forms of racial variation. Rushton’s book, Race, Evolution, and Behavior (1995), describes his r/k selection theory on how Mongoloids, Negroids, and Caucasoids obtain their evolutionary characteristics. Many critiques and reviews targeted Rushton for his controversial work; including articles from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences (1989). During his early career, Rushton began researching hereditary aspects of altruism; thereby, developing the Genetic Similarity Theory. “Altruism defined as behavior carried out to benefit others, in extreme form altruism involves self-sacrifice. In humans altruistic behavior ranges from everyday kindnesses, through sharing scarce resources, to giving up one's life to save others (Rushton 1989).” This theory was a direct extension of William Donald Hamilton’s Kin Selection Theory. Throughout Rushton’s literature there is a constant pattern of faulty conclusions, citations from his own work, sources that have been outdated, undeterminable measurements, and broad, vague assumptions. The consistency of these complications affected his reputation severely. Rushton appeared to void out any socio-economic factors that could influence his generalizations. Analyzing his Genetic Similarity Theory and evaluating all credible sources, one will find many errors and misconceptions.
Neil Bissoondath differs in his definition of racism. He writes that the cause of racism derives fr...
Nature is defined as the natural earth and the things on it or the essence of a person or thing. Nature is believed to be the major reason for the existence of everything. Racism is the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish one race as inferior or superior to another race or races. Nature has a major role in the promotion of racism over time. “Uncle Tom’s Children,” written by Richard Wright, implicitly explains some of the roles of nature in promoting racism especially in the Jim Crow Era. Whites tried to use nature against blacks in order to aggravate their suffering. They enacted various laws that did not allow blacks to live freely. In most cases,
...from which black Americans are descended from. And the black children who were born American can be more easily inculcated with American culture to which they are daily exposed. Also, in his idea, such kind of artificial ethnic chauvinism cannot bring more self-esteem to those black children. He insisted that it is wrong to use faked history as therapy means, and when the black children grow up to find what he had believed for his life is not true would feel hurt in their self-esteem.
“Black, white and brown are merely skin colors. But we attach to them meanings and assumptions, even laws that create enduring social inequality.”(Adelman and Smith 2003). When I first heard this quote in this film, I was not surprised about it. Each human is unique compared to the other; however, we are group together based on uncontrollable physical characteristics. Eyes, hair texture, and skin tone became a way to separate who belongs where. Each group was labeled as having the same traits. African Americans were physically superior, Asians were the more intellectual race, and Indians were the advanced farmers. Certain races became superior to the next and society shaped their hierarchy on what genes you inherited.
The Dangers of Fear Irish Playwright, George Bernard Shaw, once said, “The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them; that's the essence of inhumanity.” Inhumanity is mankind’s worst attribute. Every so often, ordinary humans are driven to the point where they have no choice but to think of themselves. One of the most famous examples used today is the Holocaust. Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night demonstrates how fear is a debilitating force that causes people to lose sight of who they once were.
As the world leaps into the future, it seems that mental illness is becoming more of a problem among many people. One of the most common types of illness's among the current population is anxiety disorders. It is evident that there is a rise of anxiety disorder among the Western World. There are three main factors that contribute to this, they include our education system, technology and media, and the treatment and decreasing criticism anxiety patients receive.
In the words of Bertrand Russell, “Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom” (Russell). Fear causes many problems in our lives. Fear influences many of a person’s actions and decisions. However, people usually regret the decisions or actions they made out of fear. Also, these actions and decisions can cause problems for those people in their future. Fear is a harmful emotion, for it clouds people’s judgement, disables them from taking action, and causes them to make decisions that they will regret later.
Panic disorder is an anxiety disorder categorized by repetitive severe attacks. It may also contain significant behavioral changes enduring at least a month and of ongoing worry about the implications or anxiety about having other attacks. The latter are known as anticipatory attacks, or DSM-IVR. Panic disorder is not the equivalent of agoraphobia, the fear of public places, even though many afflicted with panic disorder as well suffer from agoraphobia. Panic attacks cannot be foreseen; therefore an individual may come to be stressed, anxious, or worried wondering when the following panic attack will transpire. Panic disorder may be differentiated as a medical condition, or chemical imbalance. The DSM-IVR describes panic disorder and anxiety differently. Whereas anxiety is preceded by chronic stressors which build to reactions of moderate intensity that can last for days, weeks, or months, panic attacks are acute events triggered by a sudden, out of the blue cause. The duration is short and symptoms are more intense. Panic attacks can occur in children, as well as adults. Panic in young people may be particularly distressing because children tend to have less insight about what is happening, and parents are also likely to experience distress when attacks occur.
His published work, The Races of Man, agues that race cannot be changed with interbreeding because “when they accidently appear they soon cease to be, for they are either non productive or one or other of the pure breeds speedily predominates, and the weaker disappears” (Knox 52). To Knox, race, and to an extent their mental capabilities, was a genetic occurrence that was predestined to a person’s location. So when a group of individuals colonize in another place and interbred, the people will surely fail because heredity is a permanent force that could not be changed through