Trauma Nation

Waferinos-

Have recently been listening to talks by Gabor Mate, an honorary Wafer for sure. He's got an hour-long film coming out soon, "The Wisdom of Trauma." He believes that trauma means a disconnection from the self, and healing = reconnecting to your true self. We get disconnected, he says, because it's too painful to be ourself. I thought, this is the story of America.

In one of his short YouTube cuts, he comments on the 2016 Hillary-Trump debates as two traumatized people fighting for the right to govern a traumatized America. These are the people our society rewards with power. And his data as to how sick Americans are, are impressive: rates of addiction, suicide, anxiety, depression, and so on. You folks may remember my list of "ized": weaponized, moronized, digitalized, buffoonized, and so on. Mate would argue that these are the effects of being traumatized.

Of course, Mate's treatment, like all therapy, is individual; politically speaking, the country will remain fucked, with people like Hillary or Trumpalumpi in charge. "Mass therapy," complete with very sick gurus, is a cure worse than the disease. But Mate does offer some help to those who want to get beyond being run by traumatized, unconscious programs.

-mb