Two important articles to understand the mentality of Bush supporters:
THE BUSH CULT
by Paul Levy
http://www.awakeninthedream.com/bushcult.htmlexcerpt:
It is a shattering experience to see through our imaginary projections and recognize that someone we thought was leading and protecting us does not have our best interest at heart. People who support Mr. George Bush resist and turn away from the irrefutable and readily available evidence that Bush is anything but a good leader, as if they are in denial with a capital D. Bush is saying one thing and doing totally the opposite, and many people are simply in denial of this and look away. It is truly as if people who support Bush are not only in denial, but are actually refusing to look and hence, blind to what to most of the world is very obvious. It is as if people who support Bush are under a hypnotic spell, and are suffering from a form of collective brainwashing. People who support Bush in his pathology are exhibiting nothing other than the groupthink of cultic behavior.
Followers of a cult unquestioningly give their power away to their leader’s version of reality. People in a cult have dis-connected from their discerning wisdom, which is the ability to discriminate between the opposites, between truth and lies, between good and evil. In a cult, any sort of reflection of the leader’s unconscious shadow is not only not allowed, but is severely punished. The cult leader is typically insulated from people who disagree with him, not even wanting to come in contact and have any connection with people who have a different point of view. People in a cult exhibit complete and total denial with regard to any evidence that contradicts the agreed upon belief of the cult. This perfectly describes people who are following Bush as their leader. People who follow Bush are completely in denial about his truly criminal behavior.
People who belong to a cult always get hooked through their unconscious fear and blind spot. The cult members’ relationship with each other is based on mutual unconsciousness, as they reciprocally reinforce each other’s denial and illusion. In a cult, there is always some form of mind-control, such as the Bush Administration’s control and manipulation of the media. “Staying on message” is the typical communication style within a cult. The cult leader plays with people’s fears so as to gain their trust and control them, which is a process that is not based on love but on power over others.
There are always aspects of a cult that are kept hidden and secret, which is the mechanism that keeps its hierarchical power in place. In a cult, this inequality of power ensures that a form of abuse always gets unconsciously acted out. In a cult, the members identify with only one side of an inherently two-sided polarity, projecting out the marginalized shadow. Hence, people who disagree with the cult are seen to have fallen under the spell of the Devil. Members of a cult are convinced of the rightness of their point of view, which they consider non-negotiable. Hence, there is no room for the open dialogue and debate which is at the core of a true democracy. Cults will even suppress and distort science to serve their ends, just like the Bush Administration is doing for partisan political ends. And the cult leader is (arche)typically either identified with God or feels he has a special relationship with God. Cult leaders and their followers see themselves as agents of apocalyptic, end-time scenarios, which is one of the more disturbing aspects of Bush and his supporters from the religious right.
full article at above link.
WHY DO BUSH SUPPORTERS DENY THE OBVIOUS?
by Paul Levy
http://www.awakeninthedream.com/bushsupporters.htmlexcerpt:
To quote Stanley Hilton, Bob Dole’s former chief of staff and a long-time Republican, “George Bush makes Benedict Arnold look like a patriot. He makes Benedict Arnold look like George Washington. I mean that’s what we have- a criminal and traitor sitting in the White House pretending he is a patriot, wrapping himself in the flag.” The evidence of Bush and Company’s corruptness and duplicity is beyond overwhelming, and it is literally everywhere, staring us in the face. Why are so many people looking away and not noticing? I find myself no longer interested in trying to convince anyone of what a madman, criminal and traitor Bush is, though it’s not for lack of trying. What I find more fruitful is to contemplate why people who are supporting Bush are both unwilling and seemingly unable to see the evil that is playing out through him. People who follow Bush are in denial about something that to the overwhelming majority of the world could not be more obvious.
The denial of people who support Bush is a form of blindness. People who support Bush are refusing to look at what is right in front of their eyes, an evil that they themselves are complicit in and participating in by their denial. People who are following Bush are acting out of their unconscious. It is as if they have fallen asleep and are dreaming, entranced by their own projections. It is as if they are bewitched, having fallen under a spell. They are living in what John Kerry calls “a fantasy world of spin,” ignoring and oblivious to any facts that contradict their worldview. It is exactly like they are hypnotized, like they are brainwashed. People who follow Bush are behaving exactly like members of a cult who have blindly and unquestioningly given away their power to their leader. They have left behind their critical thinking, dis-connecting from their capacity to discern truth from fiction. Not to mention selling their soul in the bargain. People who support Bush are suffering from a collective psychosis. Why else would they be supporting a madman for President? It is shattering to look in the mirror and see that we, as a people, have gone temporarily mad.
There is a psychic epidemic manifesting in our country right now, and millions of people in our populace have fallen prey to it. There is no sense pretending otherwise. It is of the most profound importance that we notice and understand the psychological nature of the collective malady that we, as a people, are suffering from. Understanding the psychological nature of our illness gives us insight into how to treat it. By looking away from what Bush is doing and naively supporting him, people are complicit in and feeding Bush’s malignant psychosis. There is something about the depth of depravity, though, that is enacting itself through the Axis of Evil represented by Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, Rice, Rove and others that is so dark that it induces in some of us a tendency to pretend that it isn’t really happening. The malevolent energy that is playing itself out through Bush is very hard to look at. People look away, as it is too horrific. The intensity of the evil provokes people to rationalize it, to justify it, to explain it away. It triggers a tendency in people to fall asleep. We like to imagine that people couldn’t be THAT corrupt, THAT two-faced, THAT evil. It is truly shocking to see the depth of depravity a human being can fall into. It is doubly shocking when we realize that these criminally insane individuals control the most powerful nation on earth.
For people who are not seeing the evil of Bush and Co, the great doctor of the soul, psychiatrist C. G. Jung would point out that it is not a matter of preaching the light to them, for they are unable to see, as if they are blind. Rather it is a question of teaching people the art of seeing. In order to teach people how to see the absolute evil that is playing itself out through George Bush and Co, we must come to terms with the darkness inside of ourselves that Bush is a reflection of. This involves seeing the fascist in ourselves. This is where we see our potential for being, unwittingly or otherwise, an instrument of evil ourselves, based on our own capacity for self-deception, our own greed, our own lust for power, our own fear, anger and hatred, our own delusion, ignorance and unconsciousness. For archetypal evil is a power, or a principality that exists within God’s totality, which is to say, ourselves. Archetypal evil is something we are all capable of. It is an awe-full, shocking and humbling experience to look into the dark side of our nature, to see the monstrousness of our totality, to see what we are capable of. In other words, in order to teach people how to see we must be able to see ourselves.
full article at above link.
More articles on The Madness of George Bush at Paul Levy's site, "Awaken in the Dream"
http://www.awakeninthedream.com