LOL! I love this article over at Family Security Matters as two authors look at what a therapy session would be like with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad being on the shrink's couch.
Now, personally, I would have liked to have seen more time spent on them delving into the childhood of this madman as I think that probably holds some keys to this minime's issues with the world, but it's pretty good stuff.
Now, personally, I would have liked to have seen more time spent on them delving into the childhood of this madman as I think that probably holds some keys to this minime's issues with the world, but it's pretty good stuff.
Ahmadinejad On the Couch
What follows is a fantasy analysis of what would happened if someone like President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were put on our couch for a therapy session. In this analysis, we are very confrontational, but in reality most likely no therapist would respond in this way.
However, the main point is to bring life the “folie a deux,” of the conflict as it reflects the cultural madness of a society embedded in denial, avoidance, revenge and manipulation -- a psychological catch-22 with the key therapeutic challenge for the therapist -- not to get seduced by the manipulations, distortions, seductions and delusions of “her patient.”
Seduction means a loss of boundaries which are designed to help maintain a sense of safety and well being, crucial for trusting others, which President Ahmadinejad lacks (Here we see the therapist struggling with the boundaries).
Therapist: Tell me what brings you here?
President Ahmadinejad: I am here to show good will. I want to be sure that my people will not turn against me and will continue to support our efforts to fight for our cause.
Therapist: Your cause? Could you please elaborate?
Ahmadinejad: Sure, to show my people that I am fighting for them. They are concerned that I might concede to the enemy in our midst.
Therapist: Enemy?
Ahmadinejad: You know that little place on the Mediterranean, that has completely destroyed our pure Muslim unity and solidarity – those intruders!!
Therapist: Oh, you mean “Israel”? [The therapist, being Jewish herself, is having a hard time maintaining her sense of objectivity.]
Ahmadinejad: Yeah, the land of monkeys, apes, pigs and dogs. “The Jews” [said in a hushed voice, barely audible]. They are nothing more than liars and hypocrites. I must protect my people from this evil and I need to keep the trust of my people.
Therapist: What are your thoughts and feelings about this?
Ahmadinejad: Feelings? What are those? To continue to fight and destroy all infidels.
Therapist: You mean by continuing to bomb, kill and murder thousands of innocent woman and children?
Ahmadinejad: Ah, doctor here is we disagree, what you call killing and murder we call survival. We will not have peace or honor until we have Sharia Law for the entire world ummah.
Therapist: Dear Mr. President, with all due respect this is still called murder.
Ahmadinejad: What you call killers and murderers, we call freedom fighters. We are a peaceful society. . .
Therapist: So what you are saying is that after you destroy everyone who is an infidel or defies Islam and does not obey Sharia Law then only then there will be peace.
Ahmadinejad: Yep, you got it! That is exactly what our cause is about. You see thousands of years ago we were betrayed and we have never forgotten, we have lost our rights, our identity as a people, and we will fight to get it back.
Therapist: How so? What rights?
Ahmadinejad: Come on doctor you know exactly what I am talking about... Don’t you remember the story of Ishmael and Isaac how an old woman by the name of Sara gave birth to Isaac and then banished Ishmael and his mother Hagar to the desert leaving the golden precious son Isaac heir.
Therapist: Oh, I see that is the real injury isn't it? So it is not that you as Shiite Islam didn’t get the inheritance from the Prophet Muhammad and that the Sunnis bullied their way into power through bloody conquest??
Ahmadinejad: Yes, it’s not about that. It’s about the Jews. We will revenge this betrayal to the end. These are the Jews and they think they are the Chosen Ones!!!
Therapist: So the betrayal is not only the loss of the inheritance but the loss of the father, Abraham/Ibrahim, so the Jews got the land flowing with milk and honey.
Ahmadinejad: Yeah, and we got stuck with the dry desert of Mecca and Medina! This left us deprived and empty.
Therapist: So, is it because it was the power of Sara to cast out your Hagar and Ishmael that you now seek revenge against the power of women? By diminishing female power as with Sara?
Ahmadinejad: Gee, I never thought of it that way but that definitely plays a part and sounds right.
Therapist: So are you feeling envy and betrayal?
Ahmadinejad: Don't know, maybe? But the reason why I am here is so that I can reassure my people that I will not betray them for they are beginning to doubt our integrity.
Therapist: Mr. President -- Did it ever occur to you there might be another way to protect your people?
Ahmadinejad: How?
Therapist: By feeding them, giving them religious/sexual freedom, liberty, education, jobs, women’s rights, art, music, creativity. Restoring men so they don’t feel so impotent with women.
Ahmadinejad: You are really an ignorant woman. I knew it would be a waste of time to come to therapy. [His voice starts to rise]. Did you know that we do not have one homosexual in Iran and also we have developed programs for women’s rights? Because we are guided by Allah, we come as close to perfection as perfection can be that is why we pray and are obedient to his commands.
Therapist: If that is so, why did I read about the severe abuse of women still remaining – like stoning?
Ahmadinejad: What you read in the media is pure propaganda. Again that is meant to humiliate us. We protect our people and provide for them. We protect them, we provide for them, now we are giving them the right to exist in their own land without Western toxic morals invading into our space.
Therapist: So you feel entitled to take what you feel is rightfully yours as you become
the (fantasized) protective good daddy for them, sort of like a messianic leader,
even a savior? You have certainly gotten a lot of mileage out of this sense
(fantasy) of entitlement, don't you think?
Ahmadinejad: Moi, entitled? This is where you are wrong. It is not entitlement. We follow the Quran, we are the followers and the believers. Where in the Bible does it say -- Jews can steal from us, take over other people’s land and destroy their homes?
Therapist: I feel we have stumbled upon something important here, President Ahmadinejad. This is where there is a difference between the West and Iran. The West, by and large, has grown away from dogma and adherence to Bible stories, yet the laws of western nations remain informed by and seek to follow the Judeo-Christian Ten Commandments. The West remains spiritually informed not seeking to die or kill others for their beliefs. As you say – the West loves life and Islam loves death. The West accepts and allows others to have their own beliefs – freedom of speech and freedom of religion.
Ahmadinejad: That’s not true at all! [He gets up from the couch and turns to the therapist and starts to wag his finger and rant at her with his voice rising], western countries are banning burkas, condemning our right to build a mosque [The therapist is growing increasingly more frustrated].
Therapist: I see that you are very upset with what I have just said. I didn’t mean to have upset you and I apologize if I have. [Motioning to Pres. A to relax and lie back down on the couch. He does so, though is disgruntled. The therapist continues] Well, perhaps you might look at it a different way for just this moment. The West sees you as having become a corrupt violent culture. Under the guise of religion, it seems as though you act out heinous crimes and aggression.
Ahmadinejad: [Fuming] Look at you! In your culture you are the most corrupt, drugs, sex, no family values, divorces, homeless people, drugs. You have gangsters that use and manipulate other people. How about your Bernie Madoff?
Therapist: True, Madoff is a crook and a thief but he is only one – not indicative of an entire regime.
Well, Pres. A. perhaps on this note, we must end. I hope this has been helpful to you. This session has been very insightful and you have helped me understand at a deeper level our cultural differences. We need to stop now. The time is up.
Ahmadinejad: This is not what I expected. I expected to get some help with my problem and all you did is attack us.
Therapist: But, I did help you, not only did I help you, I offered the “real” help you could give your people, to feed them instead of killing them.
Ahmadinejad: Wait I need to take out my prayer rug.
Final Analysis
Again this is a fantasy analysis designed to show how western therapy would not be applicable to societies that focus on the group self rather than the individual self. These contrasting “Selves” are of vital importance. For in Asian and Middle Eastern cultures, there does not exist an individual self, generally speaking. Instead the focus is on the group self, so western psychotherapy would be quite foreign since the emphasis is on the development of the self (the “I/me” vs. the “We/us” self).
It is also noted how the group self is driven by magical thinking, shame/blame, living in the past, “revenge” for their losses instead of mourning their losses, idealizing their saviors, and having an entirely different concept of peace and honor.
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