In a book published in 2003 when he was turning 80, Norman Mailer remarked that "the most haunting question" of the 20th century was Nazism.
"Liberalism can't come near to understanding this incredible phenomenon... of a fascism that went far beyond the bounds of totalitarianism into the most despicable and extraordinary extermination of vast numbers of people. And this, coming out of a nation that had always been exceptionally--even comically--law-abiding, suggests that the unconscious was truly a place of hideous ambushes and horrors."
His reference to the unconscious is appropriate, for no combination of economic conditions, geopolitics, internal politics, individual ambitions or historical forces is sufficient to explain the Nazi horrors, nor the apparent free choice of Fascism.
This is perhaps even more starkly evident in the emergence of fascist and white supremacist forces and personalities in this time. There are plenty of explanations for the basically inexplicable rise of Trump, a perfect storm of political, cultural and social currents on a given day in November 2016, despite a booming US economy and Barack Obama's successful, wholesome and inspiring presidency. But in the end, they are also insufficient. They also do not explain the rise of these forces in other countries, even factoring the corrupt manipulation of elections that occurred elsewhere as well as here, nor the unfamiliar impact of the Internet, though that gets closer to the nub.
The missing factor is the mysterious unconscious, individual and in combination. As C.G. Jung warned when he was 80, the unconscious is immensely powerful and yet "we know nothing about it." Unfortunately, the bulk of psychology has since gone mechanistic and small, so what little Jung and others had observed tentatively about the unconscious has been largely been forgotten, though perhaps the few key concepts that have become fairly ordinary (denial, projection, the Shadow, the Other) need to be taken more seriously.
Jung expressed his alarm in the 1950s, but part of the basis for that alarm is his work in the 1930s and 40s on precisely the topic Mailer identified as the most haunting question of that century. In 1946, he published a collection of these writings about Nazism and related matters, called
Essays on Contemporary Events. These essays were later translated and appear in permanent form in the Bollingen Series of his Collected Works, named Volume 10:
Civilization in Transition.
There are several shorter collections of Jung's work available in paperback, but these essays are not usually reprinted. But I find them extremely valuable. It is no coincidence that I quoted from them here on this blog in the days immediately following the 2016 elections.
Jung wrote of the national acceptance of Nazism as a "mass psychosis," which basically means that people were gripped by delusions, by shadow projections and so on, while believing they were making rational choices based on evidence. They found the perfect leader in Hitler, a liar who seemingly believed his own immense lies, a psychological disturbance that Jung recognized. Only this accounts for Hitler's hypnotic power, when those who were not so enthralled often characterized him as an unimpressive and inarticulate man with an awful speaking voice. His message--a New Order--thrilled those who believed themselves to be powerless, and played upon their own smoldering resentments and angers as well as their hopes.
The power of the unconscious is manifested today in the same way as then, as for example when obvious and evident falsehoods are apparently believed, and especially when the true factual information exposing them cannot get through.
For example, former UK Prime Minister David Cameron noted that Boris Johnson and other Brexit supporters were telling outrageous lies to convince voters to back the UK's exit from the European Union, while Cameron and other "remains" could not get through. As he
told the Guardian, “
I loved the explaining and arguing and that side of politics, persuasion, but then, as it went on, I just felt more and more bogged down. It turned into this terrible Tory psychodrama and I couldn’t seem to get through. What Boris and Michael Gove were doing was more exciting than the issues I was trying to get across. I felt like I was in a sort of quagmire by the end,” he said.
There are numerous examples of Trump's lies and corruption that were exposed before the election, and numerous warnings of the consequences of electing him. Most voters didn't vote for him, but enough in the right places did--more than were expected or predicted. It's likely that many prospective voters even lied to pollsters about both who they would vote for, and who they actually did vote for.
Mendacity ruled.
In both the UK and now in the US, an important step has recently been taken as their respective national legislatures have begun to stand up against the lying leaders and their abuses of power. In both cases, events have brought things to a head, forcing their hands. But legislators may also be feeling that the fever has broken, and the public can hear what they are saying.
These eruptions from a collective unconscious are inexplicable, partly because we are so ignorant and stupid about the unconscious. It's easy enough to point to factors such as the rampaging gap between the rich and the rest--at an historic high in the US--and feelings of fear, suspicion and helplessness, brought on by immigration and desperate increases in refugees brought about ultimately (in many cases) by effects of the climate emergency. But this is explanation afterwards--these factors need not produce the racist resurgence and proto-fascism we've been seeing, nor the authoritarian abuse of power. It's natural to be shocked that it has been all in plain sight, but that is further evidence that the unconscious is profoundly involved.
The best we can hope for is that this particular eruption is settling down, as inexplicably perhaps as it began. As the Brexit drama continues, and the US faces Trump's imminent impeachment, we'll see if this holds true. If it doesn't, and the next elections don't reflect enough of such a reversal as to change the outcome, then these key democracies will be deeply wounded, and distracted enough that civilization will likely lose its last chance for a long future, if indeed it still has one.
But even if this eruption is calming, there will still be consequences and deep dangers, if Jung is any guide. Both the right and the left cast shadows. Evil inspires evil, in both enemy and ally. To a certain extent, Jung wrote, this is inevitable if justice is to prevail. So even if we survive this eruption from the unconscious, our ignorance of it may mean the effective balance will be difficult to achieve.
In these essays about the collective unconscious, Jung stressed that ultimate responsibility is in the individual and that person's consciousness and unconscious. We each must heal ourselves, regardless.
But Jung had high hopes for democracies characterized by diversity, and diverse points of view freely expressed. Perhaps this has turned out to be not enough. In the US we see that in certain places and certain spheres, the rightist analysis--whether accurate or not--holds sway, and enforces its shadow projections on the others. And we also see that in certain places, on certain issues and in certain spheres, the leftist analysis--whether accurate or not--holds sway, and enforces its shadow projections on process.
It turns out that modern democracies also may amplify the human tendency to get along, which in a hierarchical society often means to follow the leader, and to get in line, or at the very least, keep your head down. It also means sticking with your own kind, right or wrong. Until the worm turns. (So much about societies comes down to a march of cliches.) The US
is diverse, and there is unlikely to be consensus on much of anything. Nevertheless, power shifts--and what happens afterwards shapes the future.
Things are happening fast in Washington. It reminds me of Mailer's analysis of modern society as being like plastic--it looks perfectly intact, until it suddenly breaks and falls apart. It may be too early to speculate on the response. But wanted or not, the unconscious will be present.
