This question arises from DANC's link below about Twitter trolls and mental illness. That link describes the mental pathology of Borderline Personality Disorder as this:
These days when pride in the United Stats is falling as the Stars and Stripes in some quarters is seen as divisive, as are celebrations like Memorial Day and Independence Day, the opposite is happening with Pride events. Why do we hold "Merry Christmas" as a divisive greeting yet we see a Rainbow Flag as inclusive? The opposite of pride is self-loathing. We are simultaneously seeing an increase in self loathing of the United States while an increase in pride in skin color and LBGQ celebrations. What is going on here? I think an understanding of Borderline Personality Disorder sheds some light on where we are as a common society.
The other relevant aspect of BPD is the author's metaphor of "light" emotional anchors. Such individuals are easily moved and swayed by minor, or fleeting, events. It seems to me that this is increasing throughout society. One aspect of this is, as the author notes, the idea that people and events are binary, all good or all bad. (There is no . . .ahem . . .nuance). How often have we heard that people or events are "polarizing"? I have never liked that term or that approach to thinking, but I never knew exactly why until reading DANC's link. People who think in polarizing terms are "light". With very rare exceptions, people or things should not be polarizing. There is always a deeper level of thinking to be done. This was brought home by this reporting about the National Archives and Thomas Jefferson. The United States was the first nation that codified such important ideas as government by consent of the governed, natural rights, and due process of law. Thomas Jefferson was a huge and vital part of that. Yet to describe these accomplishments as undeserved valor is hugely ignorant. To condemn TJ with setting in motion the displacement of Indigenous peoples is even more ignorance, in my view a product of BPD. TJ's role isn't any more important than the Spanish settlements and colonization of the entire Southwestern U.S., the California Gold Rush, the Santa Fe trail, and the thousands of settlers in search of better lives, just like todays migrants.
“identity disturbance with markedly or persistently unstable self-image or sense of self,”
The author further states:This is a marvellous, sympathetic piece on BPD; the metaphor it uses is that people with BPD are cognitively “lighter” than neurotypical people. That is: if you are heavy, it takes a lot to move you. So when something quite nice happens to a neurotypical person, it makes them slightly happier: the wind only moves them a little bit. When something quite unpleasant happens, it makes them slightly sadder.
But if you are cognitively light, then the same events will move you much further. A small victory will make you thrill with joy; a small problem can make you suicidal (and BPD patients have a tragically high suicide risk in their younger years). It also applies to people’s opinions of others: “Either a relationship is perfect and that person is wonderful, or the relationship is doomed and that person is terrible,” as the NHS page on BPD puts it. This is called “splitting”, and again, it’s easy to think of it as someone being light, rather than heavy: being blown on the wind of events.
People with these conditions feel emotions much more strongly. But they also have difficulty forming a strong self-image, and often take on very visible identities, such as being a Goth or a fan of a particular band, dyeing their hair or getting tattoos, in order to give themselves something solid to cling to.
It's becoming obvious to me that large portions of the population of the US have lost a sense of community or social self and are searching for one. Nothing makes this more obvious than the Pride celebrations. I don't have strong opinions one way or another about Pride Week, Month, Parades, or Flags. To me its more of a meh. I think pride is important for people to have to give them a self image. But Pride seems to be a group thing these days. I think it is strange that as gay rights is pretty much establishment orthodoxy these days, that Pride events are taking on increasing importance. Why? Even the US Navy participates.
These days when pride in the United Stats is falling as the Stars and Stripes in some quarters is seen as divisive, as are celebrations like Memorial Day and Independence Day, the opposite is happening with Pride events. Why do we hold "Merry Christmas" as a divisive greeting yet we see a Rainbow Flag as inclusive? The opposite of pride is self-loathing. We are simultaneously seeing an increase in self loathing of the United States while an increase in pride in skin color and LBGQ celebrations. What is going on here? I think an understanding of Borderline Personality Disorder sheds some light on where we are as a common society.
The other relevant aspect of BPD is the author's metaphor of "light" emotional anchors. Such individuals are easily moved and swayed by minor, or fleeting, events. It seems to me that this is increasing throughout society. One aspect of this is, as the author notes, the idea that people and events are binary, all good or all bad. (There is no . . .ahem . . .nuance). How often have we heard that people or events are "polarizing"? I have never liked that term or that approach to thinking, but I never knew exactly why until reading DANC's link. People who think in polarizing terms are "light". With very rare exceptions, people or things should not be polarizing. There is always a deeper level of thinking to be done. This was brought home by this reporting about the National Archives and Thomas Jefferson. The United States was the first nation that codified such important ideas as government by consent of the governed, natural rights, and due process of law. Thomas Jefferson was a huge and vital part of that. Yet to describe these accomplishments as undeserved valor is hugely ignorant. To condemn TJ with setting in motion the displacement of Indigenous peoples is even more ignorance, in my view a product of BPD. TJ's role isn't any more important than the Spanish settlements and colonization of the entire Southwestern U.S., the California Gold Rush, the Santa Fe trail, and the thousands of settlers in search of better lives, just like todays migrants.
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