Posted on 08/26/2005 7:54:41 AM PDT by BJClinton
Sigmund Freud had a concept he called “projection, which has been defined as a defense where the ego deals with unacceptable impulses and/or terrifying anxieties by attributing them to someone in the external world.
In many ways I think that explains the behavior of the media’s current patron saint, Cindy Sheehan, whose hate rhetoric aimed at President Bush is really meant for someone else who she can’t admit even to herself is her real target. To do so would represent one of those “unacceptable impulses” Dr. Freud was talking about.
In this case it could well be that Cindy Sheehan is projecting her rage at George Bush when the one she really despises is her late son Casey, who died as a hero in Iraq, precisely because he did die a hero in Iraq.
The more I listen to Cindy Sheehan and consider her past actions and her past words, it occurs to me she has always been a liberal, she’s always been anti-military, and she’s always been anti-Republican. It appears that she raised Casey in such an environment, yet despite that what does he do? He not only joins the military engaged in a war she bitterly opposes, but to add insult to injury when his enlistment runs out, he re-enlists although he knew that by so doing it meant he would be sent to Iraq where a war his mother despises is being fought.
Think about that. What Casey did was to reject not by words but by deeds his mother’s most closely-held beliefs.
Then, to make matter worse in her eyes, this son volunteers to go on a dangerous mission even his superiors warned him against, and dies as a result. Casey Sheehan's sergeant asked for volunteers. Sheehan had just returned from Mass. After Sheehan volunteered once, the sergeant asked Sheehan again if he wanted to go on the mission. According to many reports (and according to his own mother) Casey responded, "Where my chief goes, I go."
He went, and it cost him his life. You can almost hear her saying to his spirit, “How dare you spurn me and turn your back on me? How dare you go join the military, and then how dare you volunteer to fight against the innocent Iraqi freedom fighters and get yourself killed?”
Casey Sheehan’s heroic action has embittered Cindy Sheehan. And her actions have embittered her family who bitterly resent her exploitation of her son’s heroic death in behalf of her political extremism. Here’s what they wrote to Matt Drudge:
“The Sheehan Family lost our beloved Casey in the Iraq War and we have been silently, respectfully grieving. We do not agree with the political motivations and publicity tactics of Cindy Sheehan. She now appears to be promoting her own personal agenda and notoriety at the expense of her son’s good name and reputation. The rest of the Sheehan Family supports the troops, our country, and our president, silently, with prayer and respect.”
Cindy Sheehan says she wants to ask the president, “Why did you kill my son?” She knows that George Bush did not kill her son. The butchers she supports with her far-out liberal activism killed Casey Sheehan and that activism is now resulting in the deaths of other young Americans because she is giving aid and comfort to our enemies and encouraging them to persist in their terrorism, giving them hope that if her views prevail the U.S. will lose its will and pull out. And so the fight goes on, and more Casey Sheehans die as a result.
And she says of her son, "He died for oil. He died to make your friends," Bush’s friends, "richer. He died to expand American imperialism in the Middle East."
How dare he?
Cindy Sheehan doesn’t need to talk to the president. A talk with a therapist would be more appropriate.
Sheehan is bi-polar and suffering the emotional tragic loss of her son.
The Anti War crowd did something very similar as this with Steve Pitkin's.
I hope whoever has her ear, saying just the 'right things' to get her perform to the anti war advantage burns in hell.
No, I'm not excusing Sheehan. She should be adult enough to go get help. But that is no excuse for the anti war puppet masters. They are exploiting her emotional state regardless.
This quote from Cindy's blog linked on Drudge is revealing. She ignores the factoid that doesn't fit in with her view of realtiy. Dismissing her sons actions as merely inconsequential and "uncharacteristic" shows how little she values her sons actions to support our country and the future of America.
Since he's gone she can say whatever she wants and twist it any which way. It's also revealing that her huband is filed for divorce and her family has distanced themselves from her. Cindy's new best friends are the George Soros behind-the-scenes types that are funding her swan song. Where will she be in three years without their cash flow?
She is a demented Sheehadist...a general in her tin foil hat brigade..
pinger
It's from the Rap-To-Latin-To-Standard-English translation of "Baby Got Back"
LOL, that's why it's so hard to write examples. There are just too many of them.
Wow is right. It's amazing that the adopted Reagan son inherited more insight and sense than the biological children ever did.
I can understand why a grieving parent would feel anger towards his/her son for putting himself in harm's way, regardless of how illogical the anger might be. I do think, however, that in a healthy grieving process, this stage would be short lived.
I know 2 people who committed suicide, and have been angry at them for the sadness and destruction they chose to leave behind. But they're not heroes. They didn't die to save someone's life. What they did was the epitome of selfishness.
What Casey did was the epitome of selflessness.
Due to Cindy's extreme leftist position, I imagine she feels her son "committed suicide", and she's just stuck in the 2nd stage of grief (i.e. anger).
Of course this doesn't justify her words in the least. Just some armchair psychology on my part.
Just wanted to add that I think her statements claiming that her son was "brainwashed" are also part of her denial (first stage of grief). "My Casey wouldn't put himself in harm's way! He wouldn't do this to us."
This is a very unhealthy woman stuck in a very toxic grieving process that seems to be festering.
bttt
(I was saying this over a week ago :-).
Exactly
Wow... excellent article by Michael Reagan. Thanks for the ping.
Excellent post!
She was this way long before her son died. They're not making a puppet of her. She contacted Code Pink around the time of the President's inauguration to set this stunt up--but she had been working with them for many years prior.
I've no doubt she had emotional and personality issues before.
Casey in heaven 'calls Bush idiot'
I thought it was satire at first, but then checked out the transcript and audio file of Cindy's recent speech (links in #268). To my amazement, these whacko statements are indeed Cindy's own words.
I'd agree with you EXCEPT she was this way long before her son even enlisted. She's pretty much the same person as she was then, except now she can use the son who rejected her "values" as a battering ram. I agree that she's angry, and I think what angers her the most is the fact that he rejected her "values" and chose other, more suitable values.
Actually, I was talking more about her leftwing activism more than anything else, but her friends and family have told interviewers that she was very controlling, and could fly off the handle if people didn't toe her line.
I expected to see a very short article following the headline: Her fellow Americans.
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