Conflicts In American Consciousness

"The term Jumbo Shrimp has always amazed me. What is a Jumbo Shrimp? I mean, it’s like Military Intelligence – the words don’t go together, man." - George Carlin, SNL 10/11/75

I'm no psychiatrist, but for a while have considered the brunt of the American consciousness as schizophrenic, inducing self-inflicted and stuck in the mud behavioral patterns; it's one of the main reasons things don't change as much as people claim they want change. The conflict in consciousness is baked into the system's language: "... with liberty and justice for all"... except for, too-often, non-Whites and the financially poor.

So why is it that many people who are for liberty and justice tend to make exceptions? Because it's embedded into the consciousness which belies the realities.

This essay aims to pry back the lid of said schizophrenia/conflicts in consciousness so that more people can think and feel clearly so as to make more informed and coherent choices. Also to note is that I use the term “schizophrenia” loosely, not as a reference to any specific psychiatric or related conditions.

From a recent Substack post by Peter d'Errico, "Political Principles and Indian Sovereignty": Lee Hester's Philosophical Critique of US Anti-Indian Law”:

“ 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.'

Hester says that “Christian discovery” contradicts these principles and the supposedly secular nature of the United States:

“We cannot seriously consent to a law that would allow countries to ‘legitimately’ take over other countries just because they are the ‘wrong’ religion.

“Only one member of the current US Supreme Court has called for a resolution of this issue: Justice Clarence Thomas:

In US v. Lara (2004), Thomas said:

“In my view, the tribes either are or are not separate sovereigns, and our federal Indian law cases untenably hold both positions simultaneously.”

“Federal Indian policy is, to say the least, schizophrenic. And this confusion continues to infuse federal Indian law and our cases.

“[The United States] cannot simultaneously claim power to regulate virtually every aspect of the tribes through . . . legislation and also maintain that the tribes possess anything resembling ‘sovereignty.’”

That's the first such legal mention of schizophrenia I’ve heard of. While the legal angle is of course significant, my unfamiliarity with such texts and matters leads me to give other examples of schizophrenic ideology —can’t “hold both positions simultaneously” — that are often exhibited via oxymorons:

⎼ “empire of liberty” ⎼ Thomas Jefferson 1780.
Empires claim supreme rule and authority over others, thus “liberty” becomes an illusion, a deception to make some people feel free, while others suffer; some travel freely, while others are stuck in ghettos, and reservations, slave-wage jobs.

⎼ Walt Whitman, considered the father of free verse and one of America's most influential poets, was a “populist imperialist,” as his poetry championed the common people and he was one of the few to even mention Natives, yet he touted the so-called New World (imperialistic) at the expense of the Original/Native Nations.

⎼ “private equity”
While an economic term, the word “equity” represents being equal or fair, but that goes by the wayside with “private” ownership.

- “politically correct”
Some would argue this one is legit, but imho am edu-guessing that at least 95% of the time they'd be, ahem, incorrect.

- “artificial intelligence” (known as AI)
Self-explanatory, except to add that the recent tech-ability to produce AI images renders ALL images posted online as suspect of authenticity. Think about that. Henceforth, every news, weather, tabloid, etc. photo or chart may have been tampered with, may be an illusion so as to manipulate your consciousness and opinion which then may affect your choice of action. The image of a spade is no longer necessarily a spade.

- “fine print”
Calligraphy is fine print (actually “beautiful writing”), not "You may only copy, modify, distribute, display, license, or sell the content if you are granted explicit permission within the End-User License Agreement (EULA) or license terms that accompany the content or are provided in the following guidelines. For more information, consult your copyright attorney."

Who in god's name reads the entire EULA before opening up their new software? But somebody wrote that stuff! And in the Empire of Liberty you are free to use the stuff, IF you can afford it.

From my 2003 book “Singing an Epic of Peace”, a section or laundry list (thanks to Peter d'Errico for prompting this essay with that phrase) from a longer poem:

Fed up with ‘fast food’ oxymoron,
‘consumer confidence’ oxymoron,
‘compassionate conservative’ oxymoron
‘professional sports a game’ oxymoron,
‘industrial park’ oxymoron,
‘state-of-the-Art’ oxymoron,
‘free press’ oxymoron,
“…deriving their Powers from the Consent of the Governed” oxymoron,
‘peacekeeper missile’ oxymoron,
‘friendly fire’ oxymoron, (‘hostile fire’ redundancy,)
‘holy war’ oxymoron,
‘politically correct’ oxymoron,
‘pre-emptive self-defense’ oxymoron,
‘virtual reality’ oxymoron.

Unfortunately the list has gotten longer. In the past week or so I read of:

- “AI-driven farmerless farms”
and
- “laboratory engineered ‘food’.” The apostrophes say it all.
(The ‘Food Transition’ Is a War on Food, Farmers and Everybody Worldwide”
&
- “AI ‘school teacher’”
’Information Dispenser’ seems more accurate.
(”India gets its first AI ‘school teacher’")

While some of the oxymorons may be a tad amusing or provide a fleeting moment of insight, for long-term use, consult your shrink, in other words, believing in and abiding by conflicting ideas can affect one's consciousness and mental processes, or create what's known in the vernacular as a mind-fuck. Some of the most well-known such phrases are from George Orwell’s 1984: “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength", to which could be added, “Green is renewable”, sponsored by the ‘sustainable extractive resources industry.’

These contradictions, conflicts of consciousness, oxymorons, and schizoid consciousness phrases are a subtle yet potent way of programming people's minds and perpetuating the status quo. To break free of the patterning requires breaking free form the thinking patterns that blindly accept such phrasings. Oxymorons and the schizoid-ness they represent encourage swallowing half-truths and allowing for injustices (as with the above cited legal example) to slide by thus inducing toxic positivity and cherry-picking consciousness: 'Man, that new place is State-of-the art!' … 'Yes, it is a beautiful Art center, but did you know it was funded by a genocidal State?'

Currently I try to avoid following coverage of the campaign trail, but it's a textbook case of corporate-state-media-plex smokescreen schizophrenia. For example, CNN.com was plastered with headlines about the State of the Union with extra-large font size for “5 Takeaways from Biden's Speech.” But what they won't tell you is that he and the “State” (and other countries) are accomplices to genocidal attacks (including starving to death), against Palestinians.

“60,000 pregnant women in Gaza suffer from malnutrition, dehydration and a lack of proper health care,” according to Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra.

Add to that the fact that many people in the US abhor what Israel and Co. are doing and so are speaking out against it, proving that “State of the Union” is yet another oxymoron. But step back there's nothing to see here . . . except the fervor for the Empire of Liberty's next election.

“... A state is a human community that (successfully) claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory.”
― Max Weber, The Vocation Lectures: Science as a Vocation/Politics as a Vocation

According to that definition, there can be no “state of the union” because union by violence or illegitimate control of a territory (see: terrortory) is certainly not true “union.” Yet under the headline/banner/flag, oxymoronic consciousness rules the day and distracts (dis- “apart from” + “tracts of land and water”) people from caring for land and water and all manner of living beings.

split decisions

The word-root of schizophrenia is: “"a splitting of the mind," from German Schizophrenie (1908), coined by Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler (1857-1939), from Latinized form of Greek skhizein "to split" (from skei- "to cut, split") + phrēn (genitive phrenos) "heart, mind" (hence phrenes "wits, sanity").”

Do you know how many times a US election is won by 51/49% or thereabouts? I don't know the exact answer but have seen those numbers over and over again, equating to a virtual “split (schizophrenic) decision.” Thus, by the numbers, America is politically schizophrenic. Now compare that to the Haundenosaunee Confederacy – from which some of the US political system is derived – where traditionally unanimous decisions must be reached so that the people are of “one mind.” And that is truly mind-boggling in today's highly populated and opinionated world.

If the American consciousness (a broad term used here to present an overview) does not learn to reconcile the contradictions, things will not change of themselves because, to paraphrase the well-known saying: Schizophrenic oxymorons are having the same split consciousness over and over again and expecting different results.