Elephant in the Global Living Room

Elephant in the Global Living Room. 51766.jpeg

There is a curious parallelism between dysfunctional, alcoholic families and the present 'family of nations.' It's fascinating, perhaps illuminating, to contemplate those similarities.

In the 'classic' alcoholic family (as studied and described by R.D. Laing, and others) there exists a number of archetypical roles played by family members. Of course, the principal role goes to the alcoholic person (usually the father, sometimes the mother). This person is the source of all the dysfunction, the chaos, and the tragedy that characterizes an alcoholic family. He is typically a bully who turns to drink to unleash his pent-up self-loathing and anger.  Everything revolves around this person, especially the roles of the other actors in the typical drama.

Next in importance is the 'enabler,' the person (or persons; there could be several) who facilitates the ongoing drama by making excuses for the alcoholic ("He just needs a break; he's really very nice when he's not drinking") and by covering up his constant transgressions of normal behavior ("He's very tired, that's why he's sleeping so long"). 

The enabler is a key reason why the prime characteristic of the alcoholic family is Denial, with a capital D! While other family members and outsiders may be aware of the alcoholic's true condition, the influence of the enabler is often as psychologically skillful as that of the alcoholic himself in perpetuating the ongoing denial of the truth.

Then we have the 'scape-goat,' who is usually one of the children, singled out for various reasons, as the 'cause' or the trigger for the alcoholic's bad behavior. ("He wouldn't have beat Mom and broken the TV if Bobby hadn't annoyed him.") The scape-goat may be a child who stands up against the alcoholic, or perhaps, even reminds the latter of something in his own make-up. 

Finally, there are the other victims; those who are directly or indirectly affected by the intolerable conduct of the alcoholic. Obviously, any children in the family are included, as are the siblings of the central person. But the circle of victims can extend quite wide, depending on the social circumstances of the family. The emotional scars, as well as physical, will usually exist for the lifetime of the victims, to a greater or lesser extent. 

Now, clicking to the 'macro' level, and looking at the current family of nations, consider that we have one 'actor' (nation) that has been on a decades-long 'binge' of violence, attacking all kinds of relatively defenceless countries around the world, uttering threats to all, and ignoring all attempts at peaceful solution. All indicators of a classic alcoholic, or in fact, of a psychopath, since the alcoholic exhibits many signs of psychopathy and sociopathy.

I haven't named the country, hoping that you will have had an 'Aha!' moment, and deduced the obvious-- it's 'Uncle Sam,' who has always been a little over-bearing even before his 'problem' became clear. Let's say that his family is the 'Western world,' basically, the OECD nations; and they are firmly in denial of Uncle Sam's 'substance abuse.'

If you follow current events, you can discern the enablers in this drama-- Britain, France, Canada and Australia, (sadly), and a number of other, players. A prime instigator of Uncle Sam's aggressive demeanor is Israel, always goading and cajoling for another war for the US to plunge into. Thus, Israel is a primary enabler.

As for the scape-goat, this role is unwillingly played by the Muslim world. "Those Ay-rab terrorists are the reason we're taking away your freedoms!" Since the 1990s, Uncle Sam has been irate with various states in the Middle East, and in typical 'alcoholic' manner, uses any excuse for another stiff drink of 'the strong stuff' that intoxicates those who profit from the senseless wars.

The victims, besides the whole of the Arab/Muslim world, are all other nations. All but a few of the strongest nations are afraid to incur the ire of Uncle Sam, lest he lash out against them in another drunken rage. Thus they are forced to endure the ongoing pillage of their resources, and pretend to approve the supposed benevolent encumbrances of the USA (such as 'democracy' and 'free elections').

Outside Uncle Sam's 'family,' only a few nations dare call him out on his atrocious behavior and hypocrisy. The two biggest guys on the global block, Russia and China, have only lately been in a position to refuse to jump when Sam yells. Little Cuba has defied the USA for decades, and despite living so close, they have managed to keep their independence from his greedy grip. Venezuela and Bolivia have also found the courage to stand up to the neighborhood bully, even after he's pummelled them in the past. 

But within the 'family,' denial still reigns supreme. For the OECD group to censure Uncle Sam, they would have to be prepared for the consequences of his anger, which would include economic, if not political affliction. Besides, many of them have been partakers, to some degree, of his binges in the 'Third World,' and would be condemning themselves.

In the micro-scale model of alcoholic dysfunction, there are only a few outcomes that are predictable in every case. In one outlook, the alcoholic eventually creates a crisis of such dimensions that people can no longer sustain the comfort of denial. He may have a serious accident (usually harming innocent victims), or often, may wake up in jail or in the hospital, as a result of actions taken in a drunken stupor.

In an alternate scenario, the alcoholic may 'hit rock bottom,' awakening from his last binge to realize that he has lost his family, his job, his friends, his self-respect; and finally accept that he must either change or his life is over.

Transcribing these options to the macrocosm, we can see that either scenario is entirely possible for our global psychopath, the USA. If certain 'insider' rumors hide genuine facts, Uncle Sam has come perilously close to triggering World War 3, over the engineered crisis in Syria. (War was only averted, the rumors claim, due to the refusal of sober-minded military brass to obey presidential commands... officers who have since been dismissed). If Israel succeeds in pushing Uncle Sam into another binge of violence, we may yet have our global crisis.

It appears that the other scenario, is already unfolding. Uncle Sam is finding that his bank account is hugely over-drawn (to the tune of trillions of dollars). He realizes that, apart from his partners in crime, he has lost all friends, and no-one wants to associate with him any more, unless bribed or coerced. Still, he hasn't hit bottom yet. In a last-ditch, desperation, Uncle Sam is as belligerent as ever, muttering threats to every scape-goat pointed out by his duplicitous enabler, Israel. Will Uncle Sam find sobriety? History and evidence suggest otherwise.

Some Biblical Foot-notes for the Astute Reader

As a final side-bar to this story, there are comments in the Bible's book of prophecy, Revelation, that also corroborate some of the broad strokes of this illustration. That book uses the image of drunkenness to describe an allegorical 'woman' (usually symbolic of a community or a nation): "I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus" (Rev 17:6).

In a described vision that applies to the nations at the end of this age, it refers to an entity called 'Babylon,' clearly a code for the dominant nation of the day:

"For all nations have drunk the wine of her passionate unfaithfulness and have fallen thereby. The kings of the earth have debauched themselves with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the extravagance of her dissipation!" (Rev 18:3 Phillips translation).

Further on, it states:

"Then the kings of the earth, who debauched and indulged themselves with her, will wail and lament over her. Standing at a safe distance through very fear of her torment, they will watch the smoke of her burning and cry, "Alas, alas for the great city, Babylon the mighty city, that your judgment should come in a single hour." (Rev 18:9-10, Phillips).

That vision concludes with the observations:

"For your merchants were the great ones of the earth, and all nations were seduced by your witchery!" (i.e. witch-craft = economic, technologic, military, political manipulation).

For in her was discovered the blood of prophets and saints, indeed the blood of all who were ever slaughtered upon the earth." (Rev 18:23-24, Phillips).

These are merely a few, revealing verses that identify a psychopathic nation, on a rampage at the end of this age, just prior to the final crisis of planet Earth. It doesn't take a genius graduate of divinity college to figure out who it is. It all fits the picture of our present world.

J. Krzyzewski

Dec./2013