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And by a prudent flight and cunning save A life which valour could not, from the grave. A better buckler I can soon regain, But who can get another life again? Archilochus

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

"Splitter!" Portrait of an American Journalist Covering the Republican Convention

Splitting (also called black-and-white thinking or all-or-nothing thinking) is the failure in a person's thinking to bring together the dichotomy of both positive and negative qualities of the self and others into a cohesive, realistic whole. It is a common defense mechanism used by many people. The individual tends to think in extremes (i.e., an individual's actions and motivations are all good or all bad with no middle ground).

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People matching the diagnostic criteria for narcissistic personality disorder also use splitting as a central defence mechanism. Most often the narcissist does this as an attempt to stabilize their sense of self positivity in order to preserve their self-esteem, by perceiving themselves as purely upright or admirable and others who do not conform to their will or values as purely wicked or contemptible. Given "the narcissist's perverse sense of entitlement and splitting ... [s]he can be equally geared, psychologically and practically, towards the promotion and towards the demise of a certain collectively beneficial project".

The cognitive habit of splitting also implies the use of other related defence mechanisms, namely idealization and devaluation, which are preventative attitudes or reactions to narcissistic rage and narcissistic injury.
from Wikipedia

33 comments:

(((Thought Criminal))) said...

So when Trump answers valid criticisms of his boorish and demeaning treatment of women with a tu quoque fallacy about Bill Clinton?

(((Thought Criminal))) said...

What do we make of Trump's admiration of Vladimir Putin, and when reminded of Putin's killing of political rivals, the Trump tu quoque that "America does plenty of killing too."

(((Thought Criminal))) said...

What do with with the soupy oatmeal of Trumptowertarianism that claims Saddam Hussein killed more terrorists in Iraq than America has, that American soldiers in Iraq were "thieves," and that we should "steal Iraq's oil?"

(((Thought Criminal))) said...

With Trump's history of spending money to help left wing Democrats defeat Republicans in key Senate and Congressional races over the last 25 years, should current Trump sycophants and supporters painting conservative and libertarian critics of Trump as "Hillary supporters" be regarded as the intellectually stunted bowel movements that each and every one of them are?

-FJ the Dangerous and Extreme MAGA Jew said...

Still splitting, beamish? :)

(((Thought Criminal))) said...

Not at all. Donald Trump's landslide loss will be yooooooge.

What remains to be seen is if the losers will blame themselves or the majority of people that find them.repulsive.

Thersites said...

Funny...Romney's supporters sure didn't blame Themselves for any of 2012 and we ALL know what pandering to the media masses did for them, and what the love and admiration of the world did for Obama. :)

(((Thought Criminal))) said...

Gary Johnson only needs to raise his national polling 2 more percentage points before the FEC will include him in national televised debates with Hillary and Trump.

I think Donald the Dipshit will help with that by the time this GOP train wreck convention is over.

Republican Party delenda est.

Thersites said...

The Bernie supporters are going to back Jill Stein. She's going to give Johnson a run for his money.

FreeThinke said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
(((Thought Criminal))) said...

I don't know, FJ. The FEC requires a candidate to poll at 15% to participate in a national partisan debate with the major two parties. Johnson is at 13% and Stein is at 1%.

-FJ the Dangerous and Extreme MAGA Jew said...

Which polls are your following? Bernie just endorsed, so I doubt that even these fully reflect Democrat disaffection.

(((Thought Criminal))) said...

The smarter of the Bernie kids and disgruntled conservative NeverTrumpers have Johnson polling a lot higher than Libertarian candidates usually do. Stein's anti-vaccination pro-homeopathy stances aren't doing her any favors, and Johnson is a proven leader with the right amounts of social liberal / economic conservative in him to own the center.

-FJ the Dangerous and Extreme MAGA Jew said...

Johnson's an idiot TPP free-trader. If you're a neoliberal neocon, you're for Johnson. Stein will get anti-TPP vote.

Inspector AIPac said...

...and after 3 months of heavy Hillary bashing, Stein will be looking pretty good to the old Bernie crowd.

(((Thought Criminal))) said...

So Stein and Trump are neo-Hoovers?

"Hoover's depression was great. Mine will be yoooooooge!"

Inspector AIPac said...

I can hardly wait! :)

Inspector AIPac said...

After NAFTA, Hoover's looking pretty good to former steelworkers. After the TPP, Hoover's looking better to anyone with a manufacturing job.

"Old wisdoms" ain't fooling no one no more.

(((Thought Criminal))) said...

Manufacturing what? Unfunded liabilities and union pensions to bailout?

(((Thought Criminal))) said...

How's financing Democrats that shut down coal mines working out for coal miners unions?

Yeah, let's lean on those guys for investment decisions.... ;)

(((Thought Criminal))) said...

"We're gonna tax businesses out of existence to pay foe unemployment programs yuk yuk."

I guess everyone owns the means of production when there are no means of production.

The Absolute Marxist said...

Manufacturing actual products. That's what happens in a country that doesn't outsource all it's labour to countries with no corresponding import tariffs.

The Absolute Marxist said...

Stop being a walking talking spokesman for "products w/o borders," beamish. Build a financially based tariff "wall" and make Mexicans pay for it.

(((Thought Criminal))) said...

Selling Chinese products in America accounts for 20% of our GDP (and 75% of China's). How high does the tariff have to be to make American products / labor costs cheaper than overseas bulk shipping rates?

I don't have the answer, but I'm pretty sure WalMart won't stock a $600 box fan.

(((Thought Criminal))) said...

But hey, there's a whole world of people going without box fans be they $20 or $600.

I like my standard of living. If the Chinese want to raise their standard of living they need to bitch to their shop steward over their holding the AK-47 to their heads.

(((Thought Criminal))) said...

Or maybe all these out of work union manufacturing employees over here need to be bussed to factories at gunpoint?

Thersites said...

I don't have the answer, but I'm pretty sure WalMart won't stock a $600 box fan.

That would depend entirely upon the equilibrium between supply and demand. And a tariff is just one means of "adjusting" that equilibrium.

if the Chinese want to sell $20 box fans in the US, let them pay Uncle Sam $50 a fan for the privilege. Maybe then it might start to prove worthwhile for an American to build a $50 box fan.

(((Thought Criminal))) said...

But then you end up with $70+ American box fans that no one can afford to sell overseas, much less when they can get three Chinese box fans for the same price without the overseas shipping costs.

Thersites said...

I don't want to export any box fans. I don't want to import any, either.

Thersites said...

btw - I wonder where Gary Johnson's poll numbers will go once Jeb Bush endorses him...

TPP Birds of a feather...

(((Thought Criminal))) said...

I suppose they will go up enough to get a national debate between a capitalist and two Democrats.

Trevor Armbuster said...

Mental illness and moral perversion on display make a very depressing spectacle.

-FJ the Dangerous and Extreme MAGA Jew said...

@beamish - What's the difference between a capitalist and a Democrat? I sure don't see any. What we'll have is a debate between a nationalist capitalist and two global capitalists.