The Moral Development Of George W. Bush

[Booberdawg]

I received this yesterday from a Democrat pal I've kept in contact with from another message boards I used to post on last year and prior when I had AOL. She sent me this article titled "Dumbya" cause it reminded her of me and how I used to rail about him during the 2000 campaign that he didn't seem too bright and never answered a fucking question that I could see. <G> Well, we know the rest of THAT story. Anyway, I am trying to encourage her fine self to join DU and told her I would post the story she sent me, so here goes.

The Moral Development Of George W. Bush
By Carol Norris
CounterPunch.org
9-21-3

"...people progress in their moral reasoning (i.e., in their bases for ethical behavior) through a series of levels... The first is "the Preconventional Level," where one usually finds oneself in elementary school. The first stage of this level is where George, I believe, makes his home. It's called: Stage Zero."

If George wasn't driving the world down the road to extinction with his wars, his environmentally disastrous choices and world alienating policies--"Look at me, ma, no hands" he says while sitting behind the wheel of our children's future--I'd think he was almost fascinating.

Fascinating the way one who is steeped in myriad psychological issues is.

I'm a psychotherapist. And, having never seen George in therapy, despite my open invitation, it would be unethical for me to make an official diagnosis of him. So, I won't. But, I can kick some thoughts around.

Remember Tom Hanks' movie, "Big," when the kid, by an accident of fate, finds himself turned into an adult, playing grown-up roles he is not developmentally ready for? This is George. I don't mean this maliciously or satirically; I really mean it. I think developmentally speaking George is a big kid. Lots of people are. The difference is they don't have the means to bomb human beings into "pink mist," obliterate the infrastructures of countries, and poison the world with coal and pesticides and carbon dioxide and depleted uranium and napalm, as they play grown up.


http://www.rense.com/general41/stage.htm

[Booberdawg]

1. kick

:kick:

[bobthedrummer]

2. Prescott enters into any discussion of character then too

http://globalresearch.ca/articles/ROG309A.html

http://www.spiritone.com/~gdy52150/waryearsp5.html

[janekat]

3. here's another good article: "Bush is a Sociopath and "Passive" Killer

http://www.onlinejournal.com/Commentary/Conover120502/conover120502.html

December 5, 2002—If any of us are to have a future worth having, the world's leaders, the members of Congress, the US corporate media and people of all political persuasions who value freedom and democracy had better start seeing George W. Bush for what he is: a sociopath and a passive serial killer.

Psychiatrists tell us that all serial killers lack the emotions that make us human; that they have to learn to emulate those emotions in order to get by in society. Hence, a charming, well educated fellow like Ted Bundy who is known to have murdered 15 women and may have killed 36 before he was caught.

While Bush is no Bundy, when it comes Bundy's education and acquired charm, and to our knowledge has never personally murdered anyone, it has been evident to us that there is something missing in George W. in terms of his lack of compassion and empathy. As governor of Texas, he set a record in signing death warrants—154 in five years. He even made fun of the way convicted killer Karla Faye Tucker begged for her life.

If we believe the psychiatrists, a sign of a future serial killer is a child who delights in torturing and killing animals. George W., as a child, did exactly that. In a May 21, 2000, New York Times' puff piece about the values Bush gained growing up in Midland, Texas, Nicholas D. Kristof quoted Bush's childhood friend Terry Throckmorton: "'We were terrible to animals,' recalled Mr. Throckmorton, laughing. A dip behind the Bush home turned into a small lake after a good rain, and thousands of frogs would come out. 'Everybody would get BB guns and shoot them,' Mr. Throckmorton said. 'Or we'd put firecrackers in the frogs and throw them and blow them up.'"

-snip-

[eridani]

6. Yep. "Feeling good"--then and now

Ruth Benedict was wrong about the 'abnormal' part--it's all too common.

"Among the Kwakiutl it did not matter whether a relative had died in bed of disease, or by the hand of an enemy; in either case death was an affront to be wiped out by the death of another person. A chief's sister and her daughter had gone up to Victoria and because their boat had capsized they never came back. Immediately the tribe set up the war pole to announce their intention of wiping out the injury, and gathered a war party. They set out and found seven men and two children asleep and killed them. Then they felt good when they arrived at Sebaa in the evening."

From "Anthropology and the Abnormal" by Ruth Benedict.


http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/page.cfm?objectid=12761184&method=full&siteid=50143

Later, just seconds before he went on TV to tell the world war had started, he vigorously pumped his fist and declared: "I feel good." The extraordinary gesture was in stark contrast to the furrowed brow and look of concern he adopted for the subsequent broadcast.

http://www.buzzflash.com/analysis/03/03/21_groom.html

As reported in the Washington Post, the White House is quite peeved that video of Bush getting groomed and acting jolly was broadcast prior to his "we're bombing Iraq" announcement:

The White House is vowing a strong retaliatory response after the BBC aired live video of President Bush getting his hair coiffed in the Oval Office as he squirmed in his chair and practiced on the teleprompter minutes before Wednesday night's speech announcing the launch of military operations against Saddam Hussein.

[nannygoat]

8. Another good psychological profile on *

So George, how do you feel about your mom and dad?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1033904,00.html

[cally]

4. I'm glad I read that article

* stuck in Stage Zero on morality makes scary sense. He really thinks and acts like a child. Good vs. evil, playing dressup, strutting around with "President" embroidered on his shirt, and his inability to comprehend differences of opinion. On a side note, I saw a clip of the Chimp throwing out the first ball at a baseball game. Again, he was playing dressup and he had President embroidered on his sleeve. The man is insane!

[Booberdawg]

5. kick

[punpirate]

7. Well, the man is...

... a zero. It should come as no surprise that he's stuck at zero on the moral development scale.

[Gin]

9. He visits first graders and reads to them...he has T-Ball games at

the white house...he is at home on that level. This is really very scary.

The analogy of his spiritual growth is a good one. I personlly think * is emotionally retarded.