{"id":173458,"date":"2020-11-23T12:00:14","date_gmt":"2020-11-23T12:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=173458"},"modified":"2020-11-23T05:13:04","modified_gmt":"2020-11-23T05:13:04","slug":"can-we-transcend-the-brewing-us-civil-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2020\/11\/can-we-transcend-the-brewing-us-civil-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Can We TRANSCEND the Brewing US Civil War?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIf only a worldwide consciousness could arise that all division and fission are due to the splitting of opposites in the psyche, then we should know where to begin.\u201d<\/em>
\n\u2015\u00a0C.G. Jung<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A civil war is brewing in the US as Trump\u2019s unprecedented assaults on democracy set landmines yet to explode.<\/p>\n

How did we get to this point of the pathological splitting of the opposites? What does the Transcend Method offer us now?<\/p>\n

Splitting of US Political Culture<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In my youth, at 6:30pm, US households watched the evening news on ABC, NBC, or CBS TV with calm, avuncular anchors like Walter Cronkite.<\/p>\n

Since 1996, Roger Ailes with Rupert Murdoch shaped FOX News, appealing to those who felt left out of the mainstream. FOX prematurely called the 2000 election for Bush. Ailes brilliantly exploited and sensationalized the 9\/11\/2001 attacks and gave a platform for fundamentalists like Attorney General John Ashcroft in the Bush\/Cheney administration, legitimizing extremist voices that were formerly marginalized. FOX became number one, identified with the Republican Party.<\/p>\n

The 2003 US invasion of Iraq fueled outrage and cries from the left to \u201ctake our country back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite Trump\u2019s attempts to delegitimize Obama, his election, experienced as a humiliating defeat, provoked backlash, the emergence of the Tea Party, and cries from the right to \u201ctake our country back.\u201d Non-college educated whites felt threatened. Immigrants were blamed and \u201cotherized,\u201d paving the way for Trumpism.<\/p>\n

Social media evolved, reinforcing fragmented silos, driving opposites farther apart, giving rise to extremist groups like Antifa, QAnon, and Neo Nazis groups like Proud Boys.<\/p>\n

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Antifa, Election Night, November 3, 2020, 11:30 PM 16th Street DC towards Black Lives Matter Plaza.<\/p><\/div>\n

COVID-19, infuses existing splits with intense emotions, amplifying mistrust of government and fear of tyranny. Terror management theory states that mortality salience provokes more extremism.<\/p>\n

The police murder of George Floyd triggered a quantum leap, driving multitudes, including young whites into the streets for peaceful protests, elevating Black Lives Matter (BLM). Rare violent acts dominated FOX News. Mob rule was conflated with the Democratic base. Racial tensions and calls to \u201cDefund Police\u201d sparked moral outrage. FOX magnified every appearance of unrest.<\/p>\n

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Black Lives Matter rallies on Black Lives Matter Plaza near the White House June, 2020<\/p><\/div>\n

Before the election, Trump, in Machiavellian fashion, brilliantly created a compelling illusion for his base to believe that he could only lose if the election was rigged. They believe he won by millions and they were cheated by the elites, generating political hysteria. 75% of the 73 million who voted for Trump believe that Biden\u2019s election was fraudulent.<\/p>\n

When FOX called the election in Arizona for Biden, with some anchors reporting that there was no voter fraud, Trump loyalists erupted in rage. Believing FOX \u201csold out\u201d many Trumpists switched to more extreme Newsmax and One America. Feeling unfairly censored by social media giants like Twitter and Facebook, they turned to extremist app Parler, Extremists\u2019 ratings spiked.\u00a0 Trump marchers now chant, \u201cFOX News sucks!\u201d\u00a0\u00a0They feel that they\u2019re fighting an enemy determined to destroy America, and their rage feels righteous to them.<\/p>\n

Figure 1: Galtung’s Violence Triangle<\/strong>\"\"<\/a>*******************<\/p>\n

Figure 2: Galtung’s Triangle Redrawn<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The Archetypal Realm and the Cult of Personality<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Trump has built a cult of personality. He creates an alternate reality through his rallies and his uncanny genius at tuning into people\u2019s grievances and sense of humiliation and making them feel better about themselves. His crowds chanted, \u201cSuper Trump\u201d after is recovery from COVID-19.<\/p>\n

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11\/14\/20 Million MAGA March Washington DC<\/p><\/div>\n

Since Walter Cronkite, US culture has devolved from difference to splitting, causing it to descend into the primitive archetypal realm of good and evil.<\/p>\n

Differentiation of the opposites is a function of healthy development toward higher level integration, promoting individuation and maturity. Thesis – antithesis – synthesis. Splitting is a function of pathological development. Impacted by trauma and fear, opposites split, causing a dread of integration. Leaders promoting a union of opposites (Gandhi, MLK, Sadat, and Rabin) are assassinated by those stuck in one extreme.<\/p>\n

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11\/14\/20 Million MAGA March<\/p><\/div>\n

Dualism, DMA and US Deep Culture<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The US two-party system, a structural conflict generator, bakes dualistic thinking into the US psyche. We mindlessly accept our party\u2019s positions and automatically reject the other\u2019s, without discernment.<\/p>\n

This exemplifies Galtung\u2019s DMA Syndrome, Dualism-Manicheism-Armageddon<\/em>, dividing the world into us\/them, good\/evil, right\/left, Democrat\/Republican, in a win\/lose \u201cbattle with no compromise, no transcendence, only the victory of one over the other.[i]<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n

Jung and Galtung: The Transcendent Function and the Transcend Method<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The archetypal wisdom of Galtung\u2019s Transcend Method is supported by Jung\u2019s theory of the Transcendent Function, considered the most significant psychological factor for mediating the opposites. \u201cIt is a natural process, a manifestation of the energy that springs form the tension of opposites.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jung described the method in psychoanalysis of bringing unconscious contents into dialogue with consciousness \u201cto produce a wholly new perspective.\u201d Jung explained that,<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is exactly as if a dialogue were taking place between two human beings with equal rights.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He added that,<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the activity of the unconscious there now emerges a new content, constellated by thesis and antithesis in equal measure and standing in a compensatory relation to both. It thus forms the middle ground on which the opposites can be united.\u201d[ii]<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Also,<\/p>\n

\u201cThe confrontation of the two positions generates a tension charged with energy and creates a living, third thing \u2026..\u00a0 a movement out of the suspension between the opposites, a living birth that leads to a new level of being, a new situation.\u201d P 90[iii]<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Transcendent Function is the primary means through which reconciliation is accomplished.\u201d[iv]<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Since the Dems lost House seats and Trump received almost 74 million votes, it was a humbling experience for both sides, creating a context for dialogue as equals.<\/p>\n

As Galtung explains, negotiation involves compromise. Neither party is satisfied, but that dialogue can produce transcendence. It requires creativity, which produces a new reality that includes and transcends the opposites.<\/p>\n

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The Galtung\/TRANSCEND Conflict Diagram<\/strong>
TRANSCEND Method<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

It\u2019s Time for Political Therapy: Applying the TRANSCEND Method<\/a>
\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Johan Galtung conducted therapy with a couple experiencing incompatible contradictions. She was a spiritual Buddhist; he was a materialistic businessman. Applying the Transcend Method, he suggested they open a Buddhist bookstore, bridging incompatible goals, creating a new reality, fulfilling their needs.<\/p>\n

In 1995, Galtung helped resolve a territorial conflict between Peru and Ecuador, recommending a \u2018binational zone with a natural park\u2019, attracting tourists to benefit both countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Solutions require creativity, nonzero thinking to create a new reality, to include and transcend the opposites.<\/p>\n

We can design sound policies to transcend right\/left conflicts, realizing that these solutions occur in a context of an archetypal drama toward Armageddon, masterfully orchestrated by Trump, supported by cronies, enabled by silent cowards\u2014all intent on manipulating a hysterical base in order to sabotage reconciliation.<\/p>\n

We can address basic human needs, identify legitimate goals, address just grievances, solve real problems, and calm tensions to shift dynamics by creating compelling mediating forces and drawing energy from the extremes. As my grandmother would say, \u201cIt wouldn\u2019t hurt.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe more alternatives, the less likely the violence.\u201d<\/em>
\n— Johan Galtung<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Proposed solutions should include principles and strategies that:<\/strong><\/p>\n