After viewing their actions during the Brett Kavanaugh hearings in 2018, commentator Megan Fox called them “screeching gorgons.” Another female pundit called many of those taking the lead in last year’s left-wing protests “hysterically angry white women.” And some just call them “Karens.” Whatever terms are given to these ladies, if you’ve ever joked that liberal white women are crazy, it’s no joke.
In fact, a women’s publication called Evie reported Tuesday, citing a Pew Research Center study, that more than 50 percent of young, liberal, white women have been diagnosed with some form of “mental health” problem.
The report, titled Pew American Trends Panel: Wave 64, “examined white liberals, moderates, and conservatives, both male and female, [and] found that conservatives were far less likely to be diagnosed with mental health issues than those who identified as either liberal or even ‘very liberal,’” writes author Elizabeth Condra. “What’s more, white women suffered the worst of all. White women, ages 18-29, who identified as liberal were given a mental health diagnosis from medical professionals at a rate of 56.3 percent, as compared to 28.4 percent in moderates and 27.3 percent in conservatives.”
As American Thinker points out, there’s no question that liberal women, especially white ones, are an emotionally unstable bunch. The question is why.
Both the Thinker and Evie finger leftism itself. In fact, an astute point was made by the top commenter under the Evie piece. Writes “Pedro,” the “delusion of external locus of control (e.g., I’m not successful because of societal or institutional biases against me) is a real problem on the contemporary American left. Invariably, such attitudes lead to failure despite (or in some cases, exacerbated by) actual institutional biases *in favor* of underrepresented groups. This recipe for spiraling resentment and hate has today’s youth in its grip.”
No doubt. While I’m no great Michael Jackson fan, coming to mind here is the line from his 1988 song “Man in the Mirror,” “If you wanna’ make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and then make a change.” This expresses an age-old truth emphasized by every religion worth its salt: Our main obligation regarding behavior is not to change others. Thus did Jesus say, “Take the log out of your own eye before worrying about the speck in your brother’s.”
The first order of business is changing ourselves, with God’s grace, and growing in holiness. Upon doing this, we’ll start to reflect virtue. Then we’ll naturally begin changing the world for the better, if only through our godly example. In contrast, externalizing and blaming others for our woes — focusing on things we can’t control — breeds unhappiness, resentment, and anger.
As for Condra, she makes a good observation when writing that “those raised to think reality is subjective bump up against objective reality, there can be mental health consequences.”
Tragically, many today, and leftists in particular, are raised to believe that their feelings can be the ultimate arbiters of reality; their parents often pander to their wants, and they can come to believe that reality should likewise conform to their emotions. But what we want and what reality dictates are often two different things.
That said, there are even deeper reasons for liberals’ “mental” problems. First, we must understand that while bona fide “mental illness” does exist, much of what’s labeled such actually results from moral deficits. As family psychologist John Rosemond once pointed out, what we years ago would have correctly defined as moral problems, we now diagnose as psychological problems (e.g., ADHD, “oppositional defiant disorder,” “sibling rivalry disorder”).
Related to this, ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle noted that living a moral life is a prerequisite for happiness. What we call sin or vice is actually psychological poison, and it’s as with actual poison:
It hurts you when you “ingest” it whether your know it’s poison or not.
And the more it accumulates, the sicker you get.
But what constitutes living a moral life? The concept may sound ambiguous to many moderns, awash as they are in relativism. But it’s not. As I’ve written in the past, if morality came in a jar, on the ingredients label would be virtues (“good moral habits”). Examples would be faith, hope, honesty, charity, courage, justice, temperance, prudence, chastity, diligence, patience, kindness, forgiveness, humility, and love.
Now realize that “leftism” — which is properly understood as movement toward moral disorder — represents the antithesis of the virtues. Consider:
- Faith — leftism preaches godlessness.
- Hope — how much can there be if this world is all that exists, death is final and, ultimately, there’s no inherent meaning to anything?
- Honesty — the Left’s moral relativism/nihilism and “ends justify the means” philosophy make this irrelevant.
- Charity — leftism preaches the outsourcing of this to government.
- Courage — leftism breeds not the stout-hearted, but snowflakes.
- Justice — that leftists just fired a city manager for saying that a police officer accused of manslaughter should get due process well epitomizes their contempt for this virtue.
- Temperance — the negative radicalism (e.g., displayed in protests) encouraged by the Left is anything but “self-restraint.”
- Prudence — not believing in absolutes, the Left cannot logically believe that wisdom — “knowledge of what is good or true” — even exists.
- Chastity — our ongoing Sexual Devolution says it all.
- Diligence — leftists encourage a slacker mentality.
- Patience — leftists demand immediate gratification; ergo the SCOTUS-packing scheme.
- Kindness — the Left’s viciousness and cancel culture tell the tale.
- Forgiveness — same as above.
- Humility — leftists seek to instill children with “self-esteem,” which has become a euphemism for pride.
- Love — as I illustrated in “Violence, Inc.: A Leftist Enterprise,” today’s liberals preach compassion but spew hatred.
Anyone aiming to improve his “mental state” should first examine his moral state. Remember, just as you become better at tennis by understanding and applying the game’s principles, you become better morally (and hence happier) by applying morality’s principles: virtues.
Moreover, if you’re self-aware enough to accept that you have a “mental problem,” you should probably try changing yourself before trying to change the world.
