Inside the Mind of Jimmy Savile : a response

In an article in the Guardian, Oliver James asks that we try to see into the mind of Jimmy Savile as part of our effort to prevent more predatroy behaviour emerging across Society as a whole.

There is of course the usual range of comments, including those that treat the emergence of someone like Jimmy Savile as a genetic disorder, as an inhumane  monster or another reason to 'lock them up' or execute them.... as well as a few well reasoned comments, and stories from survivors of childhood mistreatment, abuse about their minds and experiences.

I quote from one reasoned commentator, rogergdavidson as the starting point for this article:

"If all the people at the BBC who saw what Savile was doing had been able to discern that he was a sociopath and compulsive sex abuser - that he clearly had serious personality problems - they might have realized the potential scale of what he was doing, and also the harm it would cause, and someone would hopefully have been more likely to take action."

What this means in reality is that in a societal culture that tends to avoid examining and understanding the nature of emergent and predatory pathologies, such as Savile, Blair, Bush, Henry the 8th, Nillsen, Bundy, the banksters, gansters, terrorists, et al, demonstrate, is in part because these people are part of a wider pathology of Power (and the issue of childhood trauma, abuse and deprivation or mistreatment is fundamentally linked to the issue of WHY some people seek power over others, both in terms of it's genesis and outcomes) and in part because there is a cultural revulsion and an emotional response (both anger and fear) which avoids looking atrocities in the face.

"THE ORDINARY RESPONSE TO ATROCITIES is to banish them from consciousness. Certain violations of the social compact are too terrible to utter aloud: this is the meaning of the word unspeakable."
Quoted from : The opening lines of Trauma and Recovery : the aftermath of violence - from domestic abuse to political terror, by Judith Herman

1. The BBC is an hierarchical power structure in itself, and it is part of a larger hierarchical power structure - the establishment.

People within the BBC are subject to two distinct and connected threads of Power.

The immediate thread is observed when employees expose adverse behaviour in someone higher up, in that it will often have an impact on their careers, and their lives, that the higher up has allies and power he or she can bring to bear on the whistleblowers.

The wider thread is the BBC's place in the UK Power structure, which it has occupied since it's inception, as an arm of State propaganda.

This can be seen, for example, in the manner that the BBC refused to present the case against Pope Benedict in any substantial detail, in spite of massive evidence, and calls from thousands of Survivors, and from Geoffery Robinson no less, during his State Visit in 2010. It enables Tony Blair to articulate his insane perspective without any decent challenge. These are but two examples, and there are many, many more...

2. This speaks of a societal culture of Power that has a profound impact on the lives of all those who live within it's influence. The emergence of such hierarchically violent societies is directly related to childhood mistreatment (which is often seen as 'normal' ), and to post traumatic inter-generational patterns
In the anthropological research there is a constant and reliable predictor of hierarchical violence in any Society : the degree to which the biologically mandated child-mother bonding process is disrupted , The two are profoundly connected. They feed into each other.

Over the past 40 years, this initial research has been consistently corroborated and confirmed by newer research and understandings about child development and trauma (we now consider trauma to be any event or sequence of events that have an affect on a child's development from 'in utero' through birth, infancy, toddlership, childhood)... some of this understanding comes from Survivors, some form the detailed research into endocrinology, neuro-biology, neuro-chemistry, pre-natal and ante-natal studies, how children learn, indergenerational trauma patterning and much else besides.

To put it in simple terms:

When a person is traumatised, and cannot resolve the issues related to the trauma, they adapt a 'coping mechanism' to survive: the coping mechanism is often a necessary attempt to maintain some form of control over events and people in order to feel safe.

When a community, a family or indeed a Society, is traumatised, and cannot resolve the issues related to the trauma, they may each in turn adapt a 'coping mechanism' to survive: the coping mechanism is often a necessary attempt to maintain some form of control over events and people in order to feel safe. It may be driven by the unconscious, and it may well have conscious elements.

In either case, if that group of people, or Society build Institutions, or social structures, those entities will have within them the psychology of the unresolved trauma issues. And in their attempt to create safety, they may well cause harm to those the perceive as a threat.

None of this is to suggest an 'excuse' for any adult who perpetrates, predates, causes harm, abuses or manipulates other people to meet perceived needs.

Adults are volitional, we do choose our actions, and we are ALL accountable for those actions....
However, in order to PREVENT more repeating cycles of trauma and abuse we have to understand them, and we have to be 100% honest about what has happened, Survivors must be listened to and understood, and perpetrators must be put in positions where they cannot cause any more harm.

Punishment as 'revenge' is futile: it has NEVER prevented further abuse in meaningful and societal terms.
Nuremberg was an utter failure. Bullying is rife in our schools. Ridding Iraq of Saddam has blatantly made life for most Iraqis worse. The war or Drugs has increased the trafficking, and the incarceration rates of recreational and addict 'users' is growing year on year.

I understand the reactive responses of people, and institutions, who refuse to engage with this most important subject matter. Power and trauma. For some it's a matter of their own conditioning, for Institutions it's a question of their desire to maintain and expand their power, for others the sheer horror of what we are seeing across the world is beyond words, and terrifying.

However, that said, unless we - the adults - get to grips with what Savile is telling us, with that trauma and power is telling us, then we are in for a bumpy ride, and worse than that, far worse, we are committing all our children, and their children to come, to even more turbulence.

That is unconscionable.

That, in my opinion, would be the most egregious failure of responsibility of all.

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A note of clarification:

"In a child's life (as in any other) there are things that ought to happen, that don't, and things that ought not happen, that do"  Gabor Mate

These can range from, for example, a pregnancy where the mother is under chronic stress from external or personal effectors (where the mothers endocrine flows impact the development of the foetus) to a birth trauma (where damage to healthy tissue goes unresolved), to emotional coldness and to a sense of abandonment (leaving the child to cry it out..), to the loss of one or both parents or living an inadequate caring environment, to outright abuse by parents, siblings, in school, amongst peers.... to intense religious or ideological indoctrination....

Some predispositions emerge from stress in the in utero situation. Some may well be genetic. yet the child is not born to be the monster.

All of these, and more, can happen in a child's life, and the signs of distress can be missed, or diagnosed as 'problems' : and not all children will react or respond in the same way.

Statistically, we can say with some degree of certainty, that there will emerge from a population of children who are mistreated, abused, traumatised those who become part of the continuing pattern of predation, and that if their distress symptoms are missed, or the children are treated as 'problems' : bad, shamed, loathed, and punished, then more damaged and predatory adults will emerge, It doesn't take many to cause havoc in a community.

We can also say with a degree of certainty that many who do not become predators will show signs of that stress in terms of health outcomes in later life. The Adverse Childhood Study by the CDC in the USA, amongst many others, shows this to be the case for addiction, obesity, heart disease, diabetes etc.
If the signs, the symptoms of distress, are understood and the adult worlds response is empathic, concerned, caring and well informed, that the patterns can be broken before they become too ingrained.

We can prevent much of the repeated abuse cycles, and we can prevent the emergence of serious health issuers if we understand their roots, and act responsibly and responsively ....

This is a cultural response ability we desperately need to create.



Kindest regards

Corneilius

Do what you love, it's Your Gift to Universe

The question of Power is also a question of biological immaturity

It's a question of biological maturity, biological in the sense of expressing optimal health of an organism.

Those who are attracted to Power over others are biologically immature. They are insecure, they have not 'grown up' or matured into wholesome nurturant adults and tend to exert Power over others to assuage their insecurities. The more they use that Power to assuage their insecurities, the more pathologically addicted to Power they become.


Those who are unwilling to move beyond religion, ideology, this side, that side, those who turn away from the natural responsibilities of being an adult human being which lay fundamentally with nurturing the future for all who will follow, and I mean ALL, no exceptions, are functionally and biologically immature.

I am concerned with Tony Blair and all of those people who are 'in Power'. because their immaturity has been part of massive trauma causation, not because I hate them, or despise them (which I don't - I detest what they have done, and what they are doing, and I am appalled at the harm he and others like him have been allowed to inflict on so many innocent, beautiful men, women and children)  and I do loathe what they stand for - the use of Power over other people to meet their narcissistic needs, because it is SO immature and harmful. It is totally unnecessary.

I am concerned with world cup football and any other form of 'mass' entertainment only because they are SO blatantly infantile in biological terms. They are not about nurturing the world, they are about competition, winning and taking sides. The corruption in the world cup, the Olympics and other mass entertainment sports now obvious to everyone. It is a mirror of Power Politics.

I am not bothered if this annoys anyone or if people feel it is a dig or some form of superiority ego complex that I have. Other than if you refuse to face your own maturity, then you are part of the problem. And at the very least you might as well deal with that little part BECAUSE you can.

Because.

It IS a question of maturity. Bio-logical maturity.

And.

Because we live in an Power society that infantilises all of us through the processes of Power, indoctrination, bullying, war, economics and entertainment, I do UNDERSTAND that feeling of powerlessness that goes with a certain kind of immaturity and the desire to avoid that feeling.

I do understand the difficulties inherent in breaking free, in true liberation, the fear and the confusion, the insecurity.

So talk about it, explore it through your own mind, your social media, your friendships, your families.

Work it.


Kindest regards

Corneilius

Do what you love, it's Your Gift to Universe

Some thoughts on War as a policy of State Power

"True forgiveness cannot be granted until the perpetrator has sought and earned it through confession, repentance, and restitution."

and

"restoring a sense of social community requires a public forum where victims can speak their truth and their suffering can be formally acknowledged. In addition, establishing any lasting peace requires an organized effort to hold individual perpetrators accountable for their crimes. … If there is no hope of justice, the helpless rage of the of victimized groups can fester, impervious to the passage of time. Demagogic political leaders well understand the power of this rage, and are only too willing to exploit it by offering to an aggrieved people the promise of collective revenge. Like traumatized individuals, traumatized countries need to remember, grieve, and atone for their wrongs in order to avoid reliving them."

Judith Herman : Trauma and Recovery

http://www.amazon.com/Trauma-Recovery-Aftermath-Violence-Political/dp/0465087302


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SONG FOR 1914 : THE CHILDREN WHO GO TO WAR

THE DEADLY GAMES OF POWER, THE PRIZE THE WINNER SEEKS
THE DUTY BOUND ARE MADE TO MURDER, THEY LOSE THIS GAME FOR KEEPS
THIS SLAUGHTER IS PURE CRUELTY, ALL WAR IS CHILD ABUSE
TO PREPARE THE CHILD HE MUST BE BROKEN, IT’S BEST WE FACE THE TRUTH.

ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO, OUR FATHERS WERE TALKED TO WAR WITH PRIDE
LED BY POWER AND DUTY, FOR THEIR COUNTRY AND THEIR GOD THEY DIED
AND SO THEY BELIEVED, THEY HAD TO, OR THEY’D NEVER HAVE LEFT THEIR HOMES,
TO BE BILLETED IN WET TRENCHES, SOME BURIED BY BOMBS, SO MANY LEFT TO DIE ALONE

TO SERVE THE IMAGINED GLORY OF KAISERS, KINGS AND GENERAL STAFF
THEY RODE IN LINE, SANG IN LINE, THEY DIED IN LINE AND STILL THEY LAUGHED
THAT UPPER LIP, THAT STOIC SMILE, THAT SENSE OF DUTY HELD, AND LOST SO MANY LIVES
WHERE MEN WERE MURDERED IN THEIR THOUSANDS, AND DESERTERS WERE REVILED

YET THE DESERTERS WERE THE HONEST ONES, THEY SHOWED THEIR FEAR FOR REAL
NO MAN OUGHT GO TO WAR, WHERE THERE IS NO BEAUTY THERE TO BE REVEALED
ONLY THE BLINDED WILL GO THERE, ONLY THE BROKEN CHILD
ONLY THE MAN TRAINED TO KILL, ONLY THE BROKEN MIND

GRACE IN DANGER IS A LIE, IT’S A BLOODY, DIRTY CONFIDENCE TRICK
GRACE IN PEACE IS RESISTANCE TO THAT DREADFUL YET STILL CONSTANT MYTH
THAT WAR BRINGS A BETTER PEACE, A BETTER WAY OF LIFE,
THAT WAR IS SOMETIMES A NECESSITY, A NECESSARY SACRIFICE.

'TIS TIME TO END THESE FALSE APPRAISALS, 'TIS TIME TO TELL THE TRUTH
THAT THE POWER THAT WILL MURDER IS FOUNDED ON ACCEPTED CHILD ABUSE
THAT THE TRAUMA UNRESOLVED WILL CONTINUE TO CAUSE HARM
UNTIL THAT WOUND HAS HEALED WE WILL CONTINUE TO GO TO WAR.

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Two items that my readers might wish to explore, to investigate for yourselves, the truth of this piece.


1. Stefan Molyneux: a Radio Chat with a Veteran... moving, honest, revealing, worth hearing...

2. The Cycle of (Legal) Violence?
Child Abuse and Military Aspirations
MA Research Paper by Christopher Khawand
Florida International University 2009 - On the linkage between adverse childhoods and Voluntary Enlistment in Military...




Kindest regards
Corneilius

Do what you love, it's Your Gift to Universe

Tony Blair: Accountabilty cannot stop with him alone.

Tony Blair's 'essay' on Iraq, Syria etc ::

http://www.tonyblairoffice.org/news/entry/iraq-syria-and-the-middle-east-an-essay-by-tony-blair/

I would like to suggest that he is not alone in accountability for the war crimes of Iraq and Afghanistan, and that meaningful accountability must include all culpable officials and other actors involved. He cannot be set up as a fall guy on his own. To do that would be a failure of equal proportions to the wars themselves.

Here's some pertinent points concerning his recent essay .... some background the mainstream media has avoided like the plague...

1. Blair claims that the underlying problem is "Islamic Fundamentalism". Some of the most extreme Islamic Fundamentalists are the Wahhabist Saudi Regime, Quatar, Bahrain etc - all 'allies' of the West. These States have are Religious Autocracies, and are extreme puritans amongst other things, and been funding attacks on progressive Islamic Social Democracy movements across the Middle East and further afield, since the 1940s, in order to protect their Power, supported by the Western Powers, who also helped to established these States as their local proxies.

2. The popular uprisings in North Africa, and Ukraine have a common thread. A progressive grass roots protest undermined by 'imported' violence from 'foreign fighters' who escalate violence.

This pattern is old, well used and well documented and we know that Power often has a hidden hand in terms of planting paid agent provocateurs within protests and activist communities. It's a standard tactic.

Once that cycle of violence starts things get out of hand quickly and the progressive grass roots movements are sidelined. Until the violence cycle ends. Which is not possible when Western 'military funding and training' is supplied to one side or the other.

This is true in Syria. A state that was/is a Militarized Government : The primary reason the State in Syria is militarized is because an official state of war exists between the Syrian State and the Israeli State.

It also happened in Venezuela, during the failed coup to oust Hugo Chavez in 2002. There were direct links to US support in these events.

The Syrian Government faced a progressive movement, was willing to make concessions (albeit slowly), then that movement was infiltrated by foreign fighters who escalated the violence, even to the extent of invading urban areas, causing locals to flee, which forced the State to defend itself.... then Western allied funding for those foreign fighters increased dramatically whilst laying ALL the blame for the violence on the Syrian State Government.

Thus the  indigenous movement for a Social Democracy is thwarted.

Indigenous Arab Social Democracy is seen as a threat, because it would necessarily involve projects such as Nationalising Resources, stepping away from Western/Eastern power alliances, etc, etc.... this happened also in Ireland in 1916, 1922 and in Northern Ireland in the 60s.

The escalation of violence is a deliberate tactic, and has been deployed many, many times. It's a pattern, and it's intentional.

3. The history of these areas cannot be avoided : the issue goes back to Colonial state line drawing which split communities and installed 'Power' that would work with 'Western Interests' (Corporations, Resource 'Management' etc.) and undermined any local grass roots Social Democracy which sought to develop 'resources' for the grass roots benefits.

4. History is also about patterns.

Look to what has happened in South America and understand that the Western Powers knew what would happen in Iraq because they had practiced it in South America - wars cannot be sustained for much longer than a decade, chaos will follow all wars, a traumatised people will take two or three generations to get back on an even keel, if they have a chance.

In South America the exposure of the US Governments and Corporations direct involvement in horrific practices known as 'counter-insurgency' in the 70s and 80s led to a partial withdrawal from such direct intervention, (the War On Drugs was a cover story to allow the continuation of this direct intervention) which allowed grass roots movements to gain traction and slowly alter the power dynamic. Bolivia, Agrentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Honduras, Equador, Nicaragua, Panama etc etc...

The internet in the late 90s and early 2000s helped the grass roots movements gain support across the world as information became widely more available, and the action of Western Power was exposed.

5. The proliferation of violence in the Middle East and Persia is a direct result of Western support for one side over another...

The Militia that emerged post invasion in Iraq were two fold : The US funded Militarised Police and local shia and sunni, kurdish and secular resistance to them. In other words the US created the civil war. All these groups lived side by side at the grass roots without tension (as they had done for many centuries) and in Saddam's Government were members of each grouping who participated in Power - the divide in Iraq was always along power lines rather than sectarian lines. The US support for one sect and the violence that followed created the sectarianism the now dominates the situation.

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The details of all these patterns are laid out in some detail, very well referenced and evidenced in Naomi Klein's opus: Shock Doctrine. And in that book she warned that the Economic Policies we are subject to in the UK today were on their way. She was correct because she has studied the matter in some depth, and sought out the evidence.

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Blair knows EXACTLY what he is doing - he is lying through his teeth, protecting himself and his allies. His words make sense only if you ignore the wider historical realities and his personal responsibility in causing so much trauma.

Lastly two quotes to illustrate the central problem of Power and the dynamic of integenerational trauma..

Reaching back in time, a quote from Keith Joseph, Conservative Education Minister under Thatcher...1984

"We are in a period of considerable social change. There may be social unrest, but we can cope with the Toxteths. But if we have a highly educated and idle population we may possibly anticipate more serious social conflict. People must be educated to know their place."

This reveals a preoccupation with conditioning the children of each generation to accept the status quo of Power as 'right' and 'normal', even if it causes harm, or trauma to a large part of the population, and even if parts of that population are so hurt, so enraged by their mistreatment that the are reduced to rioting in order to be heard or felt. It shows that Power is happy to accept low level rioting as it is something they can handle, or 'manage' or even utilise.

and

“Like traumatized individuals, traumatized countries need to remember, grieve and atone for their wrongs in order to avoid reliving them.” Judith Herman

I would say the the the UK or 'Great Britain' has not yet gone through the process of honest remembrance, grief or atonement.... and THAT is a big part of this problem.

Certainly Blair has not done this, he as studiously avoided it as have the UK Government. Bear in mind that Blair is calling for more violence, not less violence.

Blair cannot be held meaningfully accountable without exposing the thousands of other officials and other actors who were directly involved in pushing for and prosecuting the illegal and amoral wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to the same degree of accountability.



Kindest regards

Corneilius

Do what you love, it's Your Gift to Universe