State of Confusion: Political Manipulation and the Assault on the American Mind (Revised)

225 Pages·2018·1.1 MB·English

by  Bryant Welch

PRAISE FOR STATE OF CONFUSION
“Bryant Welch was born to write this vitally important and highly readable
investigation of how a cadre of ethically challenged political operatives and their
religious and journalistic allies have gradually distorted and disabled the minds
of ordinarily Americans - and have a but crippled the once-extraordinary mind of
America. It is not too late for us to reclaim our identity, but we will succeed only
if we take to heart the lessons so lucidly laid bare by the remarkable work of this
insightful psychologist and experienced political activist.” - Laurence H.
Tribe, Carl M. Loeb University Professor, Harvard Law School

“Bryant Welch makes a fascinating and compelling case that right-wing politics
has subverted our democracy by infecting us with a form of national political
neurosis. This book unmasks the politics of fear - the deeper chords touched by
campaigns that appeal to the dark side.” - Robert Shrum, Senior Strategist of
the Gore and Kerry Presidential Campaigns and Author of No Excuses:
Confessions of a Serial Campaigner

“State of Confusion is intense, clear, logical and striking in it message. It will
grab you emotionally and intellectually… the message cannot be missed….
Bryant Welch sees through the smoke and mirrors and offers the only remedy
that will place democracy firmly in the grip of the people from whom it is being
stolen: the truth.” - Harold. I. Eist, M.D., Clinical Professor of Psychiatry,
George Washington University and Former President of the American
Psychiatric Association

“Dr. Welch is a master of making complex psychological concepts
understandable and using them to explain the disturbing political climate of our
time. This beautifully written, urgently relevant work should be on the bookshelf
of everyone who cares about the survival of American democracy.” - Nancy
McWilliams, PH.D., President of the Division of Psychoanalysis, American
Psychological Association, and Professor, Rutgers Graduate School of
Applied and Professional Psychology

“[State of Confusion] is a unique and successful effort to understand the
machinations of politicians and others who have significant influence on
others…. With professional credentials in both law and psychology, Dr. Bryant
Welch is ideally suited to raise the issues…. Fascinating reading.” - Lewis P.
Lipsitt, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, Emeritus, Brown University
S C
TATE OF ONFUSION
POLITICAL MANIPULATION AND
THE ASSAULT ON
THE AMERICAN MIND
BRYANT WELCH
To Leni,
in
love,
gratitude,
and awe
CONTENTS
Dedication
Author's Note
Epigraph
1. The State of Confusion
2. The Assault on the American Mind: Gaslighting
3. The Mind: Reality Sense, Perplexity, and Regression
4. Battleground State: Paranoia
5. Battleground State: Sexual Perplexity
6. Battleground State: Envy
7. Why Did They Hate Hillary So Much? The Battleground State Trifecta
8. The Gaslighters: Architects of False Realities
9. Fox News: Speaking Power to Truth
10. The Religious Right: Faith-based Reality
11. The Assault on Professionalism
12. The Disintegration of the American Mind: Fear Itself
13. Resurrecting the American Mind
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
About the Author
May, 2018

Dear Reader,

I published the first edition of “State of Confusion” in 2008. I am a clinical
psychologist and attorney, and the previous two decades had given me an
unusual perch from which to observe the American mind as it played out in the
political arena. I became increasingly concerned with the growing instability of
the American mind itself as it struggled under trauma and political manipulation
to bear the psychological burdens needed to maintain a democracy. As
frightening as our neglect of the deterioration of the environment was, the
deterioration of our minds was even more worrisome and even more neglected.
It became clear to me that the disruptions within our minds were dangerous and
would lead us to the puzzling and frightening situation we face today hanging
precipitously on the edge of a national descent into a fascist state
psychologically unable to sustain the principles our Founding Fathers
bequeathed us.
I believe the analysis I presented in the 2008 edition is even more compelling
today than it was then. What was shocking at the time, now just a decade later,
seems almost quaint and illustrates the rapid deterioration of our mental state —
an increasingly dysfunctional state of confusion.
Fortunately, however, as rapidly as the mind has deteriorated, so has our
understanding of the mind increased. I have incorporated the resultant
evolution of my thinking into this version of the book. The most important and
hopeful antidote to our current predicament is psychological awareness,
awareness of the nature of the mind itself and an awareness of the forces that
have so distorted our American character and mental stability. Do not gloss
over the significance of psychological awareness, because of the word’s
common, everyday usage. When we understand the nature of our mind we see
that awareness itself can be profoundly healing and can illuminate the
constructive things we can do to restore the American mind to rationality,
tranquility, and vibrancy.
My hope is that by reading State of Confusion, you will see that despite our
current dire situation America’s promise is still vast and that through our
increased understanding we can correct our course and avoid the horrible
things that could happen if we do not. The hour is getting late, however.
Awareness, deeper psychological awareness itself, must become America’s new
Manhattan Project. This book is dedicated to that effort.
S C
TATE OF ONFUSION