Trauma

[Carl Remick]

>At 03:34 PM 10/04/2001 -0400, you wrote:
>>Funny, I don't recall much popular anguish over the PTSD we may have 
>>caused
>>the citizens of Belgrade or any other civilians whom we have merrily 
>>bombed
>>over decades.
>>
>>C'mon, America, suck it up.
>
>... We in the West tend to have two options: acting out or repression. 
>Actually
>feeling things is not often an option. I don't think it's so great that
>people are medicating themselves against this trauma, but if this event
>gives them occasion for reflection, feeling, self knowledge, therapy, etc.
>how can it hurt?
>
>What kind of good things would "sucking it up" lead to?
>
>Joanna B.

I think I was too colloquial there.  By "sucking it up" I do not just mean 
that the US should show pluck in the face of adversity, but that it should 
also admit to its own recklessness in pursuing foreign policies that have 
bred such virulent anti-US feelings.  I'm all for Americans *reflecting* on 
what has happened and how it came to pass.  But I'm not in favor of 
Americans wallowing in feelings of "survivorship" or dealing with a foreign 
policy failure by jaw-jawing with their shrinks about PTSD.  I also detect a 
tendency on the part of NYCers to use all this stress as an excuse to get 
drunk and/or laid ... not, that is, that any excuse should be needed.

Carl

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