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Virginia Whitener, Ph.D.
The emotional plague, first identified by Wilhelm Reich, M.D., is everywhere and in everyone. It has existed throughout the ages. It survives in a less apparent form as well as in more obviously evil, heinous acts on a global scale—a subtle look, a knowing glance, a shift of posture that raises suspicion, innuendo, as well as killings, pogroms, decimation including by deliberate starvation1, resettlement, torture of races and groups of people, and devastation of their environment.
1 Stalin killed millions in the Soviet Union’s forced collectivization of unwilling farmers and their privately owned farms in Ukraine and Kazakhstan in a campaign of deliberate starvation and military brutality. (See The Black Book of Communism in References) He also killed millions during his brutal reign by gulag terror, outright murder or indirectly by “socialist” interference in the work function that promoted profound demoralization and alcoholism.
In the preface to his book The Emotional Plague, Charles Konia, M.D. writes, “[The emotional plague] permeates every area of social life, and everyone is a carrier, yet no one is aware of its existence. It is infectious and the disease can be transmitted from one person to another, yet neither the afflicted individual nor its next victim recognizes its symptoms. In fact, the disease’s existence depends on its remaining hidden from awareness. Like a virulent virus, it is disintegrating the fabric of society and crippling core life functions by attacking its victims at their most vulnerable place. However, this is not a physical disease but a bioemotional disease, one that manifests in the realm of emotions. As it spreads from one person to another, it destroys its victims by producing confusion, uncertainty, and paralysis.” (2008, page xvii)
No matter the scale of the emotional plague, its intent and effects are always the same: to destroy life and stop the spontaneous, natural, loving, vibrant, tender, healthy, pleasurable movements of the living.
The true intent of emotional plague behavior, acts, policies, and organizations is always hidden and disguised. Its purpose is not what is stated, which is most often presented as “for the good” of some or for the common good of all. Over time, plague behaviors and policies may be incorporated into the laws of a nation or state.2 At this point, the process has become institutionalized. Then, not just groups of people within the society, but the society as a whole is infected and in danger. Humans’ capacity for rationalizing this spreading of destruction in or by themselves and others is beyond measure.
2 Slavery is a well known example of state-sanctioned emotional plague in 19th century pre-Civil War America.
The emotional plague refers to destructive behavior specifically within the social sphere. Its life depends on it being spread, passed on, purposefully or unwittingly, by one person to another.3 If a destructive rumor, for example, is stopped, not spread, and the truth is unveiled, then the emotional plague dies for the moment in that case. The emotional plague cannot survive without finding new hosts, although the already accomplished destructive effects are not undone.
3 The passing on is also necessary for a sense of satisfaction and the release of tension in the sender, the infected one.
This destructive process originates in the chronic contraction of the human organism, an involuntary process which starts at birth, if not earlier, as the natural, simple functioning of the organism is stopped; that is, when the basic instincts, loving impulses, and efforts of the infant to reach out to the environment and survive are thwarted. A layer of secondary impulses builds up in the organism in response to obstacles to its natural movement and growth, and the frustration that results. This secondary layer contains anxiety, anger, and destructive impulses that are not well received in the individual’s social world and are stopped and further distorted. Tension increases. Convoluted layers of impulses and efforts to counter the original and secondary forbidden impulses evolve with all the defenses, disguises, repressions, internal conflicts, denial, reaction formations, hidden motives that Freud elucidated. All of this is usually covered over by a superficial layer of some degree of, or at the least the appearance of, sociability, civility and concern for the safety and well-being of self and others. This takes a great deal of energy, and, in some cases, not much is left over to pursue life in a positive, productive, satisfying way. This dynamic builds up and functions to deaden, compromise, sicken life in humans individually and cumulatively in their society. Perverse, destructive impulses break through sooner or later.
In certain individuals the pattern of constricting armor is of such a nature that there is little or no chance for satisfying discharge and release of excess energy and tension. The organism remains highly charged, unable to obtain release, satisfaction or discharge in life in general and in the sexual embrace in particular. This is the emotional plague character. He or she must take out their profound frustration and hatred on others—to control them, to tell them what to do and how to live their lives, to chronically wreak destruction and see others fail and suffer. The perpetrator, the creator, is blind to themselves, and to what they do. They also blind others. Their agenda may be spun with charisma, high energy, certainty, or subtlety, preying on the frustration and weakness of others. The more hidden the true intent and motivation, the more effective is the emotional plague and its attack.
A single act of the emotional plague by the common man as well as the more pervasive destructive acts of an emotional plague character have the same consequences: people are stymied, confused, uncertain about what to do, unable to move, and don’t have a sense of how to respond when under attack or witnessing others who are under attack or thus affected. If one is simply angry and able to respond effectively in response to someone’s actions and attack, the situation is not likely the emotional plague. In such a case the intent and the effect of the attack are clear, the recipient is not confused or immobilized, the nature of the situation is seen, action is taken. The person fights back in an effective manner.
Life from the single cell protozoa to the human organism in its natural state moves spontaneously. Unlike machines, people when overly regulated stop moving according to their nature. Control and regulation that stop natural movement destroy motility and health within humans and society. Human neurosis includes the build-up of secondary layer destructive impulses, the absence of appropriate armor to control these impulses, the presence of distorted thinking, perceptual disturbances, and difficulty in judgment. Given this sickness, certain external restraints, rules and consequences are necessary to protect the health of individuals living together and the stability of their society. This, Konia (2013) points out, is the natural function of a healthy government.
The emotional plague, on the other hand, gains control not to protect health but to destroy life. It focuses destructively on the healthy natural, spontaneous movements of life in humans. Sex, love, work, learning, curiosity, someone’s good fortune, happiness, liveliness, unencumbered life, satisfaction in a job well done are targets.
Certain forms of society beget and promote various types of emotional plague. Expression of the emotional plague may appear differently in different societal structures. Similarly, one can look at the types of emotional plague rampant in a society and tell much about the structure of that society. Konia’s seminal work, Neither Left Nor Right (2013), and articles in the Journal of Orgonomy have described the transformation of Western society from an authoritarian to an anti-authoritarian order. The influence of the sexual revolution of the 1960s on society and its mores, and the resulting changes in the last 50 years, have been presented. (See Konia, Neither Left Nor Right, 2013) In this transformation, the emotional plague has not disappeared or diminished. Society and the individuals therein are still sick,4 but the forms which the emotional plague take, how the plague manifests itself have changed. The underlying nature and principles are the same: the spread of activities that now or in time will sequester, stop and kill spontaneous, healthy, joyous, constructive, productive social interactions and life.
4 As Freud and Reich are quoted as saying in imaginary conversation in Konia’s script, On the Shoulders of a Giant, humans and the society they live in are in fact far sicker.
In the past this destructive activity took the form of rigid hierarchy, anti-sexual morality, laws, and regulations, brute force or the threat of such, obedience to authority, and known, enforced consequences for breaking or going against rules, mores and authority. Most often, the father was head of the household, the mother the purveyor of morality; children and adults were expected to respect their elders. Examples of the social climate of this past era, 50–90 years ago, follow.
D. H. Lawrence, a writer of novels, poetry, plays, literary criticism, and essays, and a painter, was born in 1885 in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, England. He died in Vence, France, in 1930 of tuberculosis. His wide array of writings includes a book Psychoanalysis and the Unconscious. His novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover, published in 1928 in Italy, was banned in the United States and in England. Lawrence and his works, which portrayed physical affection within an intimate sexual relationship, were declared indecent and vilified. Lawrence protested the claim of indecency, obscenity, and pornography, stating he was writing of the honest flow of affection between lovers.
In 1929 there was a showing of Lawrence’s paintings in London. Authorities confiscated 13 of these alleging their indecency. The paintings were to be burned. After legal battles and intervention through the court system the paintings were released provided they were taken out of England and never returned to that land. They were transported through Europe, eventually arriving in Taos, New Mexico, an area in which Lawrence lived off and on for several years, where they now reside. They can still be seen at the Hotel La Fonda de Taos. The banning of Lady Chatterley’s Lover was lifted in 1959 in the United States and in 1960 in England. Most readers today will probably see Lawrence’s writings and paintings as pale, even bland, compared to what is visible in everyday magazines, advertisements, fiction writing, news reports, material available on any bookstand or at movie houses, theaters, video stores, computers, and airplane video monitors, public showings, there for adults and children of all ages to see. Sexual images in the lyrics of today’s music are more graphic and sadistic, the latter element missing in Lawrence’s material.
Ingrid Bergman, actor, was born in Stockholm, Sweden in 1915. She died in 1982 in England of breast cancer. Coming to the United States around 1939, she starred in multiple European and American films and won numerous awards. She was known as most beautiful, conscientious in her work, direct and honest. Around 1949, amidst an estranged marriage, she fell in love with her director at the time, began an affair with him and had a son. The couple later married and had twin daughters. Gossip and tabloids denigrated her. On March 14, 1950, Senator Edwin C. Jackson (D-Colorado) stood on the floor of the Senate, denounced Bergman and proposed a bill to censor her and her lover Roberto Rossellini (also foreign-born) that “no alien guilty of turpitude can set foot on American soil.” Ed Sullivan canceled her upcoming, previously scheduled appearance on his TV show. Bergman moved to Europe for several years.5 In 1972, in an act of reversal, Senator Charles H. Percy of Illinois entered into the Congressional Record an apology for the attack on Bergman.
5 Bergman divorced Rossellini around 1957 and eventually returned to the United States.
As the above events involved legal entities and arms of governments, one can see the ingrained character of society at that time. Times have changed.
Konia writes:
“In today’s anti-authoritarian social order people have become far more sophisticated. Many use every possible means of distracting themselves by taking an ‘anything goes’ attitude. Social boundaries no longer exist. Everyone is equal. No one can be special and no one can be in charge. Standards of decency and acceptable social behavior have descended to the lowest possible level and mediocrity is the rule in culture and the arts.
This anti-authoritarian attitude is, ironically, more effective than simple repression and, as a result, people today are even more removed than ever from being in touch with themselves. Moreover, with today’s widespread breakthrough of social destructiveness, the result of the social transformation and the intense pressure to be ‘nonjudgmental’ in our politically correct society, it is more difficult than ever for people to look at themselves and their protective, defensive ways of living. They are thus more vulnerable to manipulation by power-hungry politicians.” (2013, xi)
The purpose of this article is to bring to awareness and discuss the emotional plague as it affects everyday life and to invite readers to submit, in writing, their stories, experiences and observations or questions regarding present-day manifestations of the emotional plague. Three such examples follow this article.
News articles, writings, presentations from the media, advertisements, art and literature tell a lot about the state of society at any given time. The cartoon Dilbert©, for example, creatively captures workplace comments that while couched in complimentary terms, the intent thus hidden, undermine, deflate co-workers and start a string of destructive actions and rumors spreading misinformation and disrupting work. These and personal experiences are welcomed for publication.
References:
Courtois, S., Werth, N. et al. 1999. The Black Book of Communism. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Konia, C. 2008. The Emotional Plague: The Root of Human Evil. Princeton, NJ: ACO Press.
—–. 2013. Neither Left Nor Right: Preventing America’s Decline into Socialism.
Indianapolis: Dog Ear Publishing.
Sagar, K. 1980. The Life of D. H. Lawrence. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000006/ Ingrid Bergman https://en. wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingrid Bergman https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin C._Johnson https://www.thedailybeast.com/when-congress-slut-shamed- ingrid-bergman http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/multimedia/video/2008/ wallace/allen_steve_t.html
Who is Jacob?
Toni Helstein, M.Ed.
Editor’s Note: As society changed and is changing from authoritarian to anti-authoritarian in structure, a new form of the emotional plague that affects daily life arose. This new form—political correctness—stifles spontaneity and questioning and, though presented as progressive, is suppressive of natural sexual development. The following submitted article shows this new morality at work. Note the confusion that resulted in those affected. The professional work and lively interaction that had hitherto occurred amongst the preschool staff stopped.
Jacob was an unusually charming child who attended a community preschool for two years. He was very bright, spoke English and Spanish interchangeably, was sociable, outgoing, and very boyish in appearance and actions. He seemed responsible and accepted adult direction. Every morning when Jacob arrived at school he followed the same routine: he waited until his parent left, went directly to the dress-up clothes and chose from among them the frilliest, most sequined and feathered outfit. Jacob stayed in these clothes throughout the school day. He had learned to tell time well enough to keep his eye on the clock and ten minutes before his parent, usually his father, was due to arrive, he changed back into his school clothes. I thought this behavior raised many questions: what it revealed about Jacob and how he saw himself, what role the family played in this, what knowledge the family had about this behavior, what response on the part of the staff would promote optimal development, what the daily, repetitive nature of Jacob’s behavior indicated, how this did or didn’t affect Jacob’s interactions with other children, to name a few.
There is a regularly scheduled meeting with staff to discuss just such issues. Usually, these meetings are stimulating, and staff that attend them often reveal a lot about their own reactions to the children and families they work with on a daily basis. This particular meeting, however, was different. When the issue of Jacob’s dressing up arose, the group became quiet. The family advocate spoke up and conveyed that this was not an issue of concern to her, that this was just who Jacob was and will continue to be. She felt that problems had been caused by people who saw this behavior as an issue. She wanted to focus on how to reeducate the other children in order to normalize this behavior in their minds and to teach everyone to accept Jacob for who he was. She planned to talk with the kindergarten program Jacob would be attending the following year in order to facilitate and promote the new school’s acceptance of this child, thus minimizing the amount of discomfort for Jacob.
No one spoke after this. Any attempt to raise concerns and try to refocus the discussion on who, in reality, Jacob was, was met with increased efforts on her part to point out that everyone needed to accept Jacob for who he was and that asking these questions implied that the problem lay with Jacob rather than with the school community’s lack of unquestioning tolerance. This line of attack was extremely powerful and spread an insidious kind of inhibition and confusion. The real issue of Jacob and Jacob’s needs was obscured. The family advocate had turned Jacob into a cause and everyone had to accommodate to him and his needs or risk being scapegoated and themselves labeled. Nevertheless, Jacob’s teacher was concerned about Jacob and later sought me out to talk about him in private.
Can’t Touch it
Toni Helstein, M.Ed.
Editor’s note: The stated goal of political correctness is to increase respect and acceptance of all persons. Does it do that? The following vignette responds to that question. It also brings out the increasing fear of sexuality and the hidden, denied but profoundly destructive action against developing sexuality that exist in current society, however permissive and superficially accepting it may appear to be.
Allie is an assistant teacher in a preschool classroom. She would like to become a teacher and talks about pursuing her education. Overall, Allie uses good judgment with the children and is a solid presence in the classroom. She has strong opinions about classroom management and assertively makes herself heard. Allie has some difficulty taking direction and following the teacher’s lead and on occasion tries to take over the class. She gives the teacher directions and openly contradicts her, undermining the teacher’s authority.
Early in the school year Allie informed her supervisor that she was transitioning to become male and wanted to be called by a different, more masculine name. Her supervisor discouraged her from changing her name during working hours at the preschool, fearing this would confuse children and parents. Allie acquiesced to this. Later in the year she let it be known that she was no longer planning a sex change and had decided to remain a woman.
The preschool day has many transitions and teachers often employ little games and tricks to make these transitions flow more smoothly. Frequently, teachers use these transitions as teaching moments, directing children who are wearing blue shoes or black shoes or something red to go on to the next activity. On one occasion while the children were sitting on the rug, the teacher, for whom Allie is the assistant, instructed first all the girls, then all the boys to stand up and go wash their hands for lunch. Speaking privately to her supervisor, Allie later complained about this teacher, putting forth her belief that the direction given should have been, “If you identify as a girl” or “If you identify as a boy.” This criticism was relayed to the teacher, a conscientious woman, who, chastised and confused, had no response. She did not use the terms girl or boy in the classroom again.
Whistling
Virginia Whitener, Ph.D.
It will soon be illegal to whistle at a woman in Paris and throughout the rest of France. Remember when men whistled at a woman, stranger, friend or acquaintance walking down the street? Consider the range of nuances in a whistle. In May 2018, the National Assembly, the lower house of the French Parliament, passed measures making whistling at a woman punishable by fines of $110 to $885. Fines must be paid on the spot, and repeat offenders may receive a fine of $3,500.
Catcalling in many settings has been seen as rude and offensive. Polite society, when teaching manners, taught young men not to do such. To make it illegal, however, is not only to punish the act but to also make it a government matter. Several departments and agencies of the French government are and will continue to be involved: The National Assembly, the legislative branch which deliberated this matter and passed the measures, the police force which will look for offenders and collect fines, and the Ministry of Justice which will need to hear and judge cases, make rulings on objections and complaints, and impose additional consequences for non-compliance.
How did we come to this? How did behaviors such as a whistle become a matter of laws and the government? This is what happens when, as now in the anti-authoritarian age, there are no authorities in the home and in society. With the breakdown of society individual responsibility declines, human values deteriorate, anyone can do anything they want. Civility and respect are no longer valued. Into this vacuum steps the government in what was formerly the parental domain, and the laws and the forces of the state address and attempt to control everyday behavior.
Social problems resulting from the decline in decency and respect have become politicized. Politicians capitalize on people’s fears, helplessness and inability to discern differences between unhealthy and healthy spontaneous behaviors. Feeding on these social fears, they step in, promise answers and gain control, enhancing their power. Of course, the rules they legislate have nothing to do with how they themselves behave.
The stated purpose of the legislation voiced and promoted by the President of France is in the name of curbing sexual violence and reducing harassment of women—worthy goals, commendable. The actual effects? Women are deprived of the pleasure of men’s attention, and men are deprived of the pleasure of looking, noticing, and showing their appreciation and pleasure. The act of whistling at a woman being punishable by law implies that even the associated feelings are immoral, condemnable. And, universally, as with all manifestations of the emotional plague, fear and confusion increase. What are men allowed to do? Can they look, notice, enjoy? Should women be more afraid, offended, guard against, rebuff any approach? Is it their duty to teach their children fear? Must the government tell us what to do in these matters, decide for us? Can we not think and evaluate for ourselves?
In current society the target of the emotional plague, particularly in its political correct form, is men, the male, and as always, in all forms and eras, the sexual and the spontaneous. Men are objects of suspicion. Now a guy can’t whistle. And he cannot follow a woman down the street, as the National Assembly also passed laws criminalizing this as well. He will be punished if he does.
France Moves to Fine Catcalling. Ashland Daily Tidings. May 21, 2018, page A10.