Thanks for explaining, I think that is true in most cases that we do have agency as adults and it's not a simple cause and effect from childhood trauma to enlarged amygdala to fascism as there are multiple factors. But unfortunately the way society operates is to keep us in survival mode. So most people don't have the energy, time, privilege and knowledge to heal as they're working 24/7, don't have the education etc. So a lot of them perpetuate intergenerational trauma that has it's root causes in oppressive systems like capitalism, heteropatriachy, colonialism.
I've witnessed the lasting damage of childhood trauma and intergenerational trauma into adulthood first hand in myself and family. My parents survived the Bangladeshi genocide by US backed Western Pakistan in 1971 and before that the brutality, looting and violence of British colonisation of India creating multiple Bengal famines, partition etc. So that trauma did cause narcissism and violence in my father and my uncles, to this day he hasn't changed much.
I do think the science shows us that with some conditions mainly caused by childhood trauma it's near impossible to change like narcissism and sociopathy. The personal is political and ultimately oppressive systems like patriarchy, capitalism, imperialism are perpetuated against children in the family unit as a microcosm of the wider society. We need to heal ourselves to transform the world I believe. Staci Haines and Prentis Hemphill have done great work about need for healing as individual and collective to transform our society to a more fair and equal one.
I agree with a lot of what you say, as humans are social species that have evolved to be in groups and therefore the people in charge of systems that govern our lives like neoliberal capitalism must play a huge part in who becomes a fascist in a position of power.
I did have a critique of this part "We should believe that humans are better than their base psychological drives, that what happened to us in our past doesn’t define us. It is defeatist, in my opinion, to say that because one went through abuse in childhood, they have a higher propensity to become a certain way."
Neuroscience, neurobiology tell us that what happens in our childhood can affect us for the rest of our lives and literally causes physical brain structure changes. Our early environment plays a bigger role than our genetics in shaping who we are, but both play a part. It's obvious when you look at it - our early years are when our brains are developing the fastest, the brain doubles in size in the first year and by age 3 it is 80% of our adult size. If you look up the Adverse Childhood Experience Study and anything by Dr Bruce Perry, Dr Bessel Van Der Kolk, Dr Ramani, Daniel Siegel amongst many, many others. The evidence is there. We can change as adults, but it is very hard as our survival responses to trauma (fight/flight/freeze/fawn) are instinctive responses that are unconscious, we share this with reptiles and all mammals, hence it's called the 'reptilian brain.' It is hard to change from the top down alone i.e. cognitively and needs body-based healing such as retraining your nervious system to be regulated through meditation, exercise, co-regulation in therapy, somatic therapy etc. Narcissism is a personality trait caued by early childhood trauma and it is very hard for narcississts to change.
Thanks for your comment. You're right, childhood experiences inform us into adulthood. The clearer sentence could have been "... that because one went through abuse in childhood, they will inevitably turn out a certain way." Acknowledging the impact experiences have had on us can help us understand that some traits might not be our fault as teens and adults, which begins the process of healing and growing.
But it doesn't mean we can't do anything about it, and this is where I disagreed with the original article that made it seem like it was a fatality, that childhood trauma would lead to an enlarged amygdala which would lead to one being more fearful which leads to becoming a fascist. The author mentions therapy in a single sentence, but I disagree that:
a- childhood trauma X will always 100% make you turn out Y way.
b- it cannot be healed or even acknowledged by the person.
Pediatrician Dr Nadine Burke Harris has a great Ted Talk on how childhood trauma isn’t something you just get over as you grow up. Repeated stress of abuse, neglect and parents struggling with mental health or substance abuse issues has real, tangible effects on the development of the brain. This unfolds across a lifetime, to the point where those who’ve experienced high levels of trauma are at triple the risk for heart disease and lung cancer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95ovIJ3dsNk
Understandable that Mate starts with Erich Fromm, because Fromm had the reach selling millions of copies to the generation that most wanted to understand why they opposed violence with equal force. In the Anatomy of Destructiveness Fromm satisfies himself that the ideas in Fascism come from the anal eroticism of sociopaths. Which begs the question, Isn't that waiting too long to help the frightened child mind, to wait and watch for what Fromm calls variously "deadness" and the personal idea that yourself is an absentee landlord? 2 or 3 happenstance that I feel bear on how we anticipate-what you say, an effort by equity capital to enlist the downcast. Firstly, again, like you said it is alright to be dismissive towards framing You name it as trauma. Those who seek to outlive their own oldest grief, one name we call them are our friends. They stand a fighting chance. And 2, that there are middle terms between self identifying as a tool at work, or indifferently writing off your 'less-thans'. Graeber - who sold more than 2 million of that last book BTW- wants workers in every field to consider themselves the Maintenance staff. It is a Slow-revltnry idea that bears fruit with me. Helps me to take responsibilty for my after-work, as if where we are radically equall, I remain an unfinished house/temple/building.
Thanks for explaining, I think that is true in most cases that we do have agency as adults and it's not a simple cause and effect from childhood trauma to enlarged amygdala to fascism as there are multiple factors. But unfortunately the way society operates is to keep us in survival mode. So most people don't have the energy, time, privilege and knowledge to heal as they're working 24/7, don't have the education etc. So a lot of them perpetuate intergenerational trauma that has it's root causes in oppressive systems like capitalism, heteropatriachy, colonialism.
I've witnessed the lasting damage of childhood trauma and intergenerational trauma into adulthood first hand in myself and family. My parents survived the Bangladeshi genocide by US backed Western Pakistan in 1971 and before that the brutality, looting and violence of British colonisation of India creating multiple Bengal famines, partition etc. So that trauma did cause narcissism and violence in my father and my uncles, to this day he hasn't changed much.
I do think the science shows us that with some conditions mainly caused by childhood trauma it's near impossible to change like narcissism and sociopathy. The personal is political and ultimately oppressive systems like patriarchy, capitalism, imperialism are perpetuated against children in the family unit as a microcosm of the wider society. We need to heal ourselves to transform the world I believe. Staci Haines and Prentis Hemphill have done great work about need for healing as individual and collective to transform our society to a more fair and equal one.
I agree with a lot of what you say, as humans are social species that have evolved to be in groups and therefore the people in charge of systems that govern our lives like neoliberal capitalism must play a huge part in who becomes a fascist in a position of power.
I did have a critique of this part "We should believe that humans are better than their base psychological drives, that what happened to us in our past doesn’t define us. It is defeatist, in my opinion, to say that because one went through abuse in childhood, they have a higher propensity to become a certain way."
Neuroscience, neurobiology tell us that what happens in our childhood can affect us for the rest of our lives and literally causes physical brain structure changes. Our early environment plays a bigger role than our genetics in shaping who we are, but both play a part. It's obvious when you look at it - our early years are when our brains are developing the fastest, the brain doubles in size in the first year and by age 3 it is 80% of our adult size. If you look up the Adverse Childhood Experience Study and anything by Dr Bruce Perry, Dr Bessel Van Der Kolk, Dr Ramani, Daniel Siegel amongst many, many others. The evidence is there. We can change as adults, but it is very hard as our survival responses to trauma (fight/flight/freeze/fawn) are instinctive responses that are unconscious, we share this with reptiles and all mammals, hence it's called the 'reptilian brain.' It is hard to change from the top down alone i.e. cognitively and needs body-based healing such as retraining your nervious system to be regulated through meditation, exercise, co-regulation in therapy, somatic therapy etc. Narcissism is a personality trait caued by early childhood trauma and it is very hard for narcississts to change.
Thanks for your comment. You're right, childhood experiences inform us into adulthood. The clearer sentence could have been "... that because one went through abuse in childhood, they will inevitably turn out a certain way." Acknowledging the impact experiences have had on us can help us understand that some traits might not be our fault as teens and adults, which begins the process of healing and growing.
But it doesn't mean we can't do anything about it, and this is where I disagreed with the original article that made it seem like it was a fatality, that childhood trauma would lead to an enlarged amygdala which would lead to one being more fearful which leads to becoming a fascist. The author mentions therapy in a single sentence, but I disagree that:
a- childhood trauma X will always 100% make you turn out Y way.
b- it cannot be healed or even acknowledged by the person.
Which the author implicitly leads the reader to.
Pediatrician Dr Nadine Burke Harris has a great Ted Talk on how childhood trauma isn’t something you just get over as you grow up. Repeated stress of abuse, neglect and parents struggling with mental health or substance abuse issues has real, tangible effects on the development of the brain. This unfolds across a lifetime, to the point where those who’ve experienced high levels of trauma are at triple the risk for heart disease and lung cancer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95ovIJ3dsNk
Understandable that Mate starts with Erich Fromm, because Fromm had the reach selling millions of copies to the generation that most wanted to understand why they opposed violence with equal force. In the Anatomy of Destructiveness Fromm satisfies himself that the ideas in Fascism come from the anal eroticism of sociopaths. Which begs the question, Isn't that waiting too long to help the frightened child mind, to wait and watch for what Fromm calls variously "deadness" and the personal idea that yourself is an absentee landlord? 2 or 3 happenstance that I feel bear on how we anticipate-what you say, an effort by equity capital to enlist the downcast. Firstly, again, like you said it is alright to be dismissive towards framing You name it as trauma. Those who seek to outlive their own oldest grief, one name we call them are our friends. They stand a fighting chance. And 2, that there are middle terms between self identifying as a tool at work, or indifferently writing off your 'less-thans'. Graeber - who sold more than 2 million of that last book BTW- wants workers in every field to consider themselves the Maintenance staff. It is a Slow-revltnry idea that bears fruit with me. Helps me to take responsibilty for my after-work, as if where we are radically equall, I remain an unfinished house/temple/building.