Exceedingly Obvious Reflections on the Construction "Noun" + Phobia

The construction "noun + phobic" supposedly meaning "irrational fear of x,y,z noun" is quite widespread in "psychiatry", psychology, the "social sciences" and political culture and politics too.

It is a dubious construction, borrowed from the pseudo-science of psychiatry for dubious and sometimes morally questionable motives.

Possibly it's first use was in "hydrophobic" with relation to a strong and irrational - possibly "irresistible" - fear of water - an undoubted psychological near-physiological symptom of the physical illness of rabies.

It seems that this use dates back to about 1759 and that the word also meant "madness".

Now a point to make straight away with regard to political language is that "disliking or disagreeing with something" simply cannot be the same as being scared of it or having a strong (and irrational) fear of it.

For example, if I genuinely don't particularly like the taste of carrots when I eat them and I spit them out, I cannot possibly be "carrotphobic."

And of course an obvious point that follows from this is that therefore anyone can apply this term to someone who opposes them.

For example, if someone is a socialist and there is someone who disagrees with them the socialist (whatever that term means) can conceivably call his opponent "socialism-phobic" if he choses to; and could obviously use this as a tactic rather than say arguing with his opponent.

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Kenan Malik has written an article questioning among other things whether there really is such a thing as "islamophobia"..
http://www.kenanmalik.com/essays/prospect_islamophobia.html


Thomas Szasz makes the point (in his set of esssays "The Medicalisation of Everyday Life" (2007)) that until about 1970 homosexuality or homosexual behaviour was an "illness" - whereas now aversion to homosexuality is - if not an illness - stigmatised, condemned and given a quasi-medical term - "homophobia".

"The Medicalisation of Everyday Life" (2007) is a very important set of essays that deal with
philosophical issues as well as the lie of "mental illness."
The breadth of learning is very wide.
It is a loss and a disgrace that it is not more highly regarded and read.

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If a piece of terminology with the meaning "(supposedly) irrational aversion to gay behaviour" is insisted upon; then surely "gayfobia" or more accurately "antigayism" would really be improvements as terms; even on the terms of those who insist we employ such politicized propagandistic buzzwords.

Especially for offended (Ancient) Greek-speakers of the world!!! :)

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Szasz shoud be a feminist hero

Szasz shoud be a feminist hero.

Szasz's filosofy is a counter to Freud's malicious "ideas" and "works" that are MASSIVELY oppressive of women.

The first so-called "Mental Illness" that Szasz debunks is the utterly NON-EXISTENT "hysteria" - which is named after a female part of the anatomy. Another example of pure oppression in a single word.

Also, statistically the majority of people oppressed and caused to suffer by the ridiculous  ideology of "Mental Illness" were and still are FEMALE.

And conditions for them within the system and the gulags were and still are far worse than those for males.

The radical feminist filosofer Nina Power, for example, lists as one of her interests - "Hysteria".

This term certainly has no scientific meaning! It has a cultural one, regrettably!

Is she aware that this term is in origin pure oppression?! It is straight from the Greek for womb!

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JFK was murdered by the US government in 1963.
His brother, Bobby, was murdered by the US government in 1968.
Their sister, Rose Marie, was murdered by the US government in 1941 at the age of 23. 

DO YOU UNDERSTAND?

To be clear

To be clear - I have nothing against people helping people.

Which is presumably what people wish to do.

However, for centuries "Psychiatry" has clearly done very much the opposite - and has hence nearly irreperably damaged a fundamental human endeavour - Medicine.

The first principle - traditionally, correctly and obviously of Medicine - is "FIRST DO NO HARM".


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A decent "psychiatrist" should not only avoid "hospitalising"/imprisoning his clients/patients/victims AT ALL COSTS etc.

This has been very much the case now for some time and is starting to be even more so.

They should also - I believe - start to have exactly the same attitude to the highly questionable so-called "Medication" involved as well.

Why should ANY doctor define himself by medication given???
Why should an eye doctor define himself by giving out ocular glasses???....

Exercise, peace and quiet, exposure to the countryside, periods of quiet escape/retreat are - I would say - far more important for people who are experiencing PROBLEMS IN LIVING.

I have nothing personally against any Psychiatrist. They are often as trapped in an ideology and an institution as anyone else. If I had studied Medicine I could easily have ended up choosing Psychiatry as an option in the belief that I would be helping people by doing so. All Psychiatrists have to have medical degrees.

We owe a great deal to Szasz for having the clarity of mind to point out at an early point of his own career that the Emperor has no clothes on at all and yet keeps "trying to put more on" so to speak.

Let's not be victims of sheer stupidity - often with entirely innocent beginnings - and let's try and make things better.


I sincerely hope so. And that we can go forward peacefully and in a spirit of deep forgiveness.

Love and best wishes,

The Sofa.

(By the way, I do not genuinely believe myself to be a Sofa. It is just a metaphor. Or something like that. OK? Great!)

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Incidentally, an interesting exercise would be to replace the piece of language "mental illness" with the piece of language "problems in living" or something like it whenever one can.

It could be quite revealing.

[Similar to "replacing" or "translating" "Economics" with/as "Household Management" which is both revealing and quite hilarious.
E.G. Stephanie Flanders, Household Management Correspondent of the BBC. etc. etc.]

A fundamental issue of human rights.

"THE MAGNA CARTA, THE PETITION OF RIGHTS, AND
THE BILL OF RIGHTS ARE DOCUMENTS WHICH ARE
HELD IN VENERATION BY DEMOCRATS
THROUGHOUT THE WORLD."

NELSON MANDELA.

In the UK people of African origin have been massive victims of the crime against humanity
that is psychiatry.

The ideology of "mental illness" includes A CLEAR, FLAGRANT
AND TOTAL BREACH of an old English legal principle of
HABEAS CORPUS which has been a strong principle since
at least 1215 and Magna Carta.

Truly, truly wicked in our time.

This means "the body will be present" at a legal trial before detention by the state.

This was to prevent arbitrary detention by the state - and is a basis of human rights today.

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In the UK specifically "The Mental Health Act" of 1983/2008 is a serious crime against humanity in itself.

All personnel involved in enforcing it are obviously and objectively criminals.

They should be liable to arrest by UN forces - just as Nazis were after 1945 and the liberation of the Death Camps.

This act is an embarrassment to the UK and would not be acceptable elsewhere in Europe.

It is one of the things that makes me sympathise with the German Bishop who recently called our so-called "country" a "Third World" country.

The situation is worse in other countries - particularly in Africa.

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[Incidentally Magna Carta - did she die in vain :) etc.? - also guaranteed 
"freedom for the English [Catholic] Church" (from state and other interference). 
The Barons efforts were in vain here too - since about 300 years later the Church became the State and vice versa....... and so it remains today......]

"The Sanity Plea"?

Declaration of "Insanity", "Diagnosis", Incarceration, Poisoning - these seem to be our contemporary Ultimate Punishment.

A "fate worse than death" indeed - as millions of innocents know.

"Insanity" DOES NOT EXIST.

A mass murderer now uses the new-fangled "Sanity Plea" :) as a DEFENCE :) ????

Even if Breivik thought genuinely that all he slew were alien beings from outer space he would still be guilty of a crime.

Mistaken beliefs are not an illness nor an exoneration.

Extremely obvious, extremely simple, extremely correct.

I am ashamed that I have to emphasise something so obvious and so simple.

Yet I repeat - to be clear - it could not be clearer - 
Mistaken beliefs are not an illness nor an exoneration.

This is ridiculous farce.

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Is it now required of Breivik to convince the world that he is a "normal", "run-of-the-mill", "good old fashioned", sensible, healthy, right-wing extremist? :) ? Is that it?.....

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Incidentally - a comparison between Anders Breivik and Tony Blair may be enlightening and perhaps helpful.

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Breivik perhaps fits more into the pattern of Michael Ryan/Hungerford, Dunblane, Columbine etc. etc. = the pattern of a "beserker"/mass killing.

This too is NOT an illness or "insanity". No behavior or misbehavior is or can be an illness.

The struggles against Psychiatry is the struggle against Nazism

The struggle against Psychiatry is the struggle against Nazism.

Want to help secure the 1945 victory - still not fully won?...

And secure HUMAN RIGHTS as established in 1948. Churchill was one of the architects of them.

Stage one - to achieve them here in Churchill's home - is without doubt :-

 destroy the crime against humanity that is Psychiatry....

NEVER AGAIN!

This organisation had a Pastor Niemoller poem in its literature:


"First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.
Then they came for the socialists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak for me."

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In terms of the mass murder - the first to be killed en masse were - I repeat - the disabled and "mentally ill".

And like Niemoller, they were Germans.

And what I am saying VERY CLEARLY - is that this persecution and harm and, yes, this murder is not something I am warning you all about happening again.

I am saying to you all that IT CONTINUES in England and elsewhere right this very second and it is called Psychiatry itself.

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In the UK at least Africans in particular have been victims of the crime that is Psychiatry on a particluarly large scale.

I mean this entirely seriously.

These are serious crimes. Harming people is harming people. Crimes are crimes.

Crimes MUST be recognised as such for civilisation to continue and flourish.

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The solution is REMOVE ALL COERCION from Psychiatry.
This needs to be done as soon as can be managed - across the whole world.

Coercion is harm and is violence.

Even if this is a big change - it is a change that must occur.

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