Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or “Moral Injury”?

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Friday, December 28, 2012

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or “Moral Injury”?

Click here to access article by Shepherd Bliss from CounterCurrents.

This veteran, a survivor from the CIA engineered coup in Chile in 1973, was diagnosed with "post-traumatic stress disorder". However, he has come to realize that this is not really a disorder; it is something which he identifies as a "moral injury". It is an injury that occurs when we are exposed to, or have committed, acts which violate our core human nature.

from 'raghead the friendly terroist'

The ruthless, recent murderof elementary students and teachers in Connecticut re-stimulates my grief about the deaths of children in wars. I have cried for hours about the loss of life in Newtown and what it says about us as Americans. The weapons used by the Connecticut killer were military weapons. His killing is connected to the ongoing murders by Americans in Afghanistan.