Sherlock said it, IMHO. Malpractice. If Hater is a real person, she got no help…instead the discussion turned to Palin’s political qualifications, personality, and significance. But Hater spelled out very clearly that she has become a victim of hate, that her feelings have overwhelmed her daily life, and that she recognizes she is becoming increasingly disabled.
That last point is significant. If Hater is not a fictional construct, she deserves sympathy and assistance. Sorry to say it, but most of the comments here, and the original post, seem to assume that Hater deserves to stew in her own juice. Include me out of that group. I feel sorry for her, and I don’t want to scold her, rub her nose in her mess, or change her political veiws. Hater is in deep, deep trouble.
IF she exists….
Maybe there is too much of a tendency to see normal political differences as defects, disorders, disease? I think so. It’s a way of stigmatizing one’s opponents. Today people are not evil, they are “sick.” People are not mistaken, they have psychological profiles that predispose them to error, and we should put these misguided souls into therapy. Or those who disagree with us are genetic weaklings who literally can’t think straight. It’s a new form of racism.
Hater’s problem is not politics, but excess: she has left ideology behind. She desperately needs a total change of environment, as well as gentle but firm externally imposed discipline.
For those who are not breaking down, adopting maladaptive tactics and losing their emotional balance, psychology is not a substitute for philosophy, any more than palm-reading is a substitute for erudition. Adorno was wrong: it’s ideas that matter, not syndromes…for individuals who can cope. Hater cannot cope.
