1776.0
Americanistic
Personality Disorder
- A Satire
By Jason Miller
09 October, 2007
Countercurrents.org
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 one’s self and one’s 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
Fromm’s 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 Fromm’s 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 doesn’t 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 Cyrano’s Journal Online’s associate
editor (http://www.bestcyrano.org/)
and publishes Thomas Paine’s Corner within Cyrano’s at http://www.bestcyrano.org/THOMASPAINE/.
You can reach him at [email protected]
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