Notes for 06/07/25
Attack on the American Mind, Immigrant Heritage Month, Pride month, Evolutionary Thought Systems, Generational soundtracks, Systematic desensitization, My work is human nature, MAID
Trump’s Vicious Attack on the American Mind - He wants America to be ignorant because ignorance is the handmaiden of tyranny. Robert Reich Jun 03, 2025
Americans are already ignorant enough. After all, voters elected Donald Trump and in many jurisdictions such as the red states politicians who pass legislation which is against their own self interest. The effort in autocracies is to make the public even more ignorant with all kinds of misinformation and the abolishing or radically altering institutions and organizations which truly educate and provide truthful information.
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June is Immigrant Heritage Month - A very large group of private non-profits and public agencies began Immigrant Heritage Month in 2013. Then-President Biden issued an official declaration about it (I’m betting we won’t get one from President Trump). America was founded based on an idea: that all people are created equal – it’s what has drawn people to our shores for centuries. Immigrants’ dreams built America. And during National Immigrant Heritage Month, we celebrate their courage and their contributions. pic.twitter.com/5uhIrurhmA — President Biden (@POTUS) June 5, 2023 (From Larry Ferlazzo’s web site on 06/02/25)
What a difference Presidential administrations make with one celebrating immigrants and the other demonizing them. Which do you prefer? Does your vote reflect your preference?
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June is Pride Month and transgender advocates are speaking out, seeking equal recognition in society and in the workplace. The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled President Donald Trump can enforce a ban on transgender people in the military while litigation proceeds. Martha Gomez, director of workforce development for the nonprofit Trans Can Work, said the attacks on transgender people ultimately hurt society as a whole. (Public News Service 06/03/25)
The demonization of Trans people by the MAGA group is another example of a political group trying to gain political power by pitting one social group against another and injecting fear into our society needlessly for political advantage. One of the principles of Unitarian Universalism is to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person. Jesus and most leaders of our world religions have preached the same thing.
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Evolutionary thought systems - There are models of the evolution of social thought systems like Spiral Dynamics which is the product of the thinking of Clare Graves, Don Beck, and Chrisotpher Cowan which is a developmental model of how societies evolve through stages of beliefs and values. Ken Wilber also has a similar model in his Integral Theory. Using these models, what we are experiencing currently in the US is a regression from green to red. Green is the stage of awareness of interdependence to red the stage of egocentrism.
The interesting observation is that just like human beings societies can regress but they cannot undo their awareness of the experience of more advanced stages of evolutionary functioning, Considering this frame of reference we might ask what it will take for the US to return to its previous higher level of awareness and functioning? As we know from clinical work with folks, sometimes they have to hit bottom before they are willing to consider and engage in change efforts. Human beings change much more based on adaptation to external circumstances than to intrinsic understanding and motivation.
Just this week we are seeing the thought system of the egocentric perspective start to implode with infighting, and societies functioning at higher levels of development making new alliances leaving the egocentric society behind.
Keep the faith in the power of human evolution. (David G. Markham post to Clinicians’ Exchange on 06/07/25)
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Generational soundtracks - It is very interesting how music defines generations. It's like the popular music of the developmental years of 14-21 becomes the soundtrack playing behind the memories of those years when identity formation is paramount. The music sticks for the rest of the generation's life. (David G. Markham post to Allnonfiction on 06/07/25)
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Systematic desensitization - We have learned to rationalize the deaths of children in schools as a reasonable cost to pay for our alleged freedoms. We have learned to watch videos captioned “the sound of children screaming has been removed” and then to go watch the next NFL game without pausing to think about why we can accept that. We watch children screaming, reaching for their parents as masked Gestapo agents tear them away for the crime of seeking asylum and eat our pizza without blinking.We have learned to protect our own emotional distance instead of the lives of others. (The Connections, 06/06/25)
Americans live in fear and want their guns to keep them safe. To what extent is this coping strategy a spiritual sickness? Jesus was clear about this when He told his companion to put away his sword when the Roman soldiers came to arrest Him. Matthew 26:51-53At this, one of Jesus’ companions drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear. “Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him. “For all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Are you not aware that I can call on My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?
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My work is human nature - I can’t talk about the economy, or the universe, or academe, as academicians like to call where they work when they’re feeling kind of grand. I’m a novelist. My work is human nature. Real life is all I really know. A Short Guide To A Happy Life by Anna Quindlen, p.4
As a Psychiatric Social Worker I resonated with Anna Quindlen’s statement that “my work is human nature.” That has been my work too, not as a novelist, but as a nurturer of souls. I am not alone as every good parent, spouse, friend, neighbor, co-worker is engaged in this work too.
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MAID - The New York State Assembly passed a Medical Assistance In Dying bill on April 29, 2025. It now goes to the NYS Senate. There is concern that people with disabilities, people worried about finances, and who are seen as a burden on society will be encouraged to end their lives.
The Catholic Bishops have come out against the bill.
Passage of the bill would usher New York state into "a dangerous new era," the state's bishops wrote in an April 24 letter. The legislation states that health care providers and facilities may choose not to participate in the provision of life-ending medication to a patient, yet passage of this bill would leave vulnerable people — including those with disabilities, the elderly, and residents of impoverished and medically underserved communities — subject to pressure and coercion to end their lives "so as not to be a burden to society or an excessive cost to insurance companies," the bishops wrote.
(National Catholic Reporter, 05/01/25)
To what extent, if any, do you want to have the option to end your own life? Would you like a loved one to have this option?