Denial is not a river in Egypt

Denial is an emotional pain resisting malady that is unique to the human species. This emotional opiate rears its destructive head in our personal lives, the business world, sociologically, foreign relations, and in government. Some of us allow this insidious emotion to short circuit our estate, and financial planning, interfere with healthful life choices, and to set us onto a fantasy course of self destructive behavior. The following are some specific examples of how denial erodes our sense of both personal and national well being:

• How many of us put off going in for a medical checkup when our bodies are telling us that we are not feeling well, or that we have an unusual growth or lump on or about our bodies that should be investigated? Unfortunately there is still a portion of society that does not have adequate health coverage. Though with the new Health Care Reform we seem to be making an attempt at trying to include more of our citizens in the new health care system.

We have friend whose brother was concerned about a lump protruding from his body. He was not sure if it was a hernia, or a benign or malignant tumor. Due to his fears of taking time from work for an exam and his fear of what the prognosis might be he put off going to the doctor. As a result of his denial his new found cancer progressed to the point of entering his colon, liver, lungs, and other organs. Stage four cancers are usually fatal. This unfortunate man is on a battery of medications being paid for by the county, and his chances of recovery are slim to none.

• We do not always embrace death and the planning that is required for this normal event with a mature and realistic view. Having a Durable Power of Attorney, or Living Will is important for everyone so that their family and doctors will be clear about their intentions should a life threatening illness arise. Those with young children might want to consider a Guardianship directive, so that there is no family infighting or concern about who will care for the surviving children should both parents die simultaneously. My partner and I have gifted our bodies to UC Medical Center so that future generations of the living will get the benefits of medicines use of our organs for research and education. We all care about our children and want them to receive the greatest benefits from our estates with the least amount of stress and administrative costs. Family or Individual Trusts that cause assets to move on to the benefactors without costly probate costs are essential in addition to a will.

• Racism unfortunately is an issue that we have not been able to fully cure in this country. A national poll taken during the last presidential election revealed that 16% admittedly would not vote for a Black person for president. Even though that we have made considerable social progress in passing laws to make intolerant behavior illegal, some people still hold discriminatory beliefs within their emotional viscera. People of color and women still face overt and latent resistance in employment, housing, commerce, and educational opportunities.

• Most scientists and many CEO’s of major corporations now agree that there is a man made component of Global Warming (“GW”). Some anti-government groups claim that Global Warming is a hoax perpetuated to allow the government to charge a Carbon Tax, or a vehicle for Wall Street to make money from Cap and Trade transactions. Others demonize the Liberal establishment by saying that the Global Warming issue is just an over-reaction by “Tree Hugging” environmentalists. Let us assume for a moment that above is a hoax. My answer to the above is that we have a great economic political force from fossil fuel providers such as the coal and oil industry who see the GW issue as a threat to their economic survival. If we move toward reducing GW, by implementing clean energy sources such as nuclear power, wind, sea, and solar power, society will win by creating cleaner air, less dependency on oil imports, and reducing the political influence of entrenched fossil fuel industries.

• There is saying that, “Love is Blind”. This much used adage not only holds true in interpersonal relationships, but also in some peoples unconditional Nationalism and Patriotism. Some people are in such denial about their countries intentions and actions that they refuse to accept that the US is the largest perpetrator of international insurgent terrorism, human rights abuses, and military/CIA carried out mass murders. The massive slaughter of Native Americans during the period of European settler’s expansion across the American Plains, caused a holocaust that murdered hundreds of thousands of innocent people. The state of Texas was in such denial about the above atrocities that they wanted the realistic information to be removed from school textbooks.
The documented secret illegal killings of 2 million Cambodian civilians, slaughter of hundreds of thousands in East Timor in Indonesia, supported Israeli ghettoization and abuses of Palestinians who occupied lands for hundreds of years, illegal torture and incarceration of alleged Muslim terrorists in Guantanamo prisons, and other egregious murders and human rights abuses carried out directly or indirectly by the American government do not bode well to our so called reputation of being the “Greatest Country in the World”.
• Some of the most severe cases of denial that I have observed recently are some people’s emotional resistance to acknowledging that our country, even though based on overwhelming motive and scientific evidence, there is clear information that America was complicit in the crimes of 911. I believe that because we live in a Patriarchal culture where religion, parents, schools, and government are sometimes unrealistically viewed as the benevolent father who would never want to hurt it’s children, that there is evidence of denial behavior. I have heard some people say, “Why would our government want to kill 3,000 of its own innocent people”. My answer very simply is that history has shown worldwide, that many countries have authorized deleterious experimentations on its populace, committed mass atrocities, sent its soldiers into battle to die for the so called “Better Good”, all defined by the greed and power lust of its high level leaders. People in their childlike denial, will long for the “Kind Benevolent Father” who will keep them safe, and never do anything overtly to harm them.
In conclusion if we are to live healthier, more peaceful, and sane lives, it is incumbent upon all of us, long term, to move beyond that destructive un-empowering emotion called “Denial”. Denial has taken more than its share of well meaning prisoners.

Wrong Resaon, Wrong Party

To bring any thread of validity to the argument that a "Community Center" should not be built near Ground Zero, one has to be patently clear that the Muslim community orchestrated and carried out 911. There is a great deal of doubt around the "Official US Report". Motive, abundant evidence, US reticence to investigate 911, and US incongruent behavior strongly point to the US, Larry Silverstein, and Israel being the central players in this egregious crime. In any False Flag event there must be a perceived enemy. A great deal of the American public have been made to believe by our mass media in concert with our government that Muslims are the perpetrators. This Muslim baiting extends to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict where our media make Israel look like the innocent victims with no culpability for their inhumane and imperialistic treatment of peoples who are being poorly treated, ghettoized, having their land bulldozed, and insensitively demonized as "Uncivilized Barbarians". So to be really fair let’s put the blame for "911" where it is squarely deserved, our US government.