{"id":1050,"date":"2008-11-04T08:06:02","date_gmt":"2008-11-04T12:06:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.geneveith.com\/election-induced-insanity\/_1050\/"},"modified":"2008-11-04T08:06:02","modified_gmt":"2008-11-04T12:06:02","slug":"election-induced-insanity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2008\/11\/election-induced-insanity\/","title":{"rendered":"Election-induced insanity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Psychiatrist Phyllis Chesler is worried about Pre-Election Psycho-Somatic Hysteria<\/a>:<\/p>\n

There are important reasons to vote for Obama and important reasons to vote for McCain. Neither candidate thrills me, both frighten me but for different reasons. But, what worries me even more than the candidates is the way in which so many Americans seem to have lost both their gravity and their sanity. They are behaving like drunken soccer fans or like ecstatic True Believers undergoing a religious transformation. During Obama\u2019s acceptance speech 100 years ago in Denver, I saw people of all ages, both genders, and of every color, weeping, trembling, transfixed.<\/p>\n

Pro-Obama grandmothers are behaving just like \u201cbobby-soxers\u201d once did at a Frank Sinatra or Elvis concert.<\/p>\n

\nMcCain-Palin supporters do not seem to be behaving in this way. Perhaps that is because they do not view McCain or Palin as Messiahs. I am not saying that Republican supporters are free of weird and tragic behaviors. Au contraire. A week ago today, I wrote about the young woman (a McCain supporter) who\u2019d claimed she\u2019d been attacked and mutilated by an angry, black, pro-Obama supporter. It was all a hoax, the woman clearly had \u201cproblems.\u201d\n

But this was one individual, it was not an entire crowd; this was a young and powerless individual, not a successful and powerful one.<\/p>\n

So, what are we to make of someone like my friend and colleague, the accomplished and hard-working Erica Jong, when she tells the Italian media that she has begun to somatize the election? Insomnia, back spasms and all? I\u2019ve emailed her to find out if she really, honestly said this but as yet, have heard nothing back.<\/p>\n

According to Jason Horowitz in the New York Observer, Jong told Corriere della Sera that an \u201cObama loss will spark the second American Civil War. Blood Will Run in the Streets.\u201d . . .Jong allegedly told Corriere della Sera that her \u201cfear that Obama might lose the election has become an obsession. A paralyzing terror. An anxious fever that keeps you awake at night.\u201d She also mentions that her friends Naomi Wolf and Jane Fonda are \u201cextremely worried that Obama will be sabotaged by Republican dirty tricks\u201d and that it will lead to a \u201csecond American Civil War.\u201d<\/p>\n

Il Foglio\u2019s New York based correspondent, Christian Rocca, has translated parts of the Jong interview into English. What is going on when Jong and her equally creative, accomplished, and wealthy friends (Ken Follett, Susan Cheever, Wolf, Fonda, Michael Chabon) claim that the Republican Party is causing a psycho-somatic \u201cmeltdown?\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Jong, Fonda says that she \u201ccried all night and can\u2019t cure (her) ailing back for all the stress.\u201d Jong herself is also suffering from \u201cback spasms\u201d and has had to turn to \u201cacupuncture and valium.\u201d Jong is quoted as saying:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a coincidence that President Bush recalled soldiers from Iraq for Dick Cheney to lead against American citizens in the streets\u2026Bush has transformed America into a police state, from torture to the imprisonment of reporters, to the Patriot Act.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oh, Erica, say it isn\u2019t so, tell me you were quoted out of context, tell me you took too much valium, tell me anything. What can it mean when smart, feminist women start acting like hysterical nineteenth century heroines? When they feel \u201cvictimized\u201d even as their candidate appears to be winning?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Psychiatrist Phyllis Chesler is worried about Pre-Election Psycho-Somatic Hysteria: There are important reasons to vote for Obama and important reasons to vote for McCain. Neither candidate thrills me, both frighten me but for different reasons. But, what worries me even more than the candidates is the way in which so many Americans seem to have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nElection-induced insanity<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Psychiatrist Phyllis Chesler is worried about Pre-Election Psycho-Somatic Hysteria: There are important reasons to vote for Obama and important reasons to\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2008\/11\/election-induced-insanity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Election-induced insanity\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Psychiatrist Phyllis Chesler is worried about Pre-Election Psycho-Somatic Hysteria: There are important reasons to vote for Obama and important reasons to\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2008\/11\/election-induced-insanity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-11-04T12:06:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2008\/11\/election-induced-insanity\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2008\/11\/election-induced-insanity\/\",\"name\":\"Election-induced insanity\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2008-11-04T12:06:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2008-11-04T12:06:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"Psychiatrist Phyllis Chesler is worried about Pre-Election Psycho-Somatic Hysteria: There are important reasons to vote for Obama and important reasons to\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2008\/11\/election-induced-insanity\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2008\/11\/election-induced-insanity\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2008\/11\/election-induced-insanity\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Election-induced insanity\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. 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