Anti-Psychiatry, Szasz, Torrey, Biederman & the Death of Freethinking
In contemporary U.S. society, financial conflicts of interest, flip-flopping, belittling, and arrogance are no drawbacks to becoming a powerful authority—this is true today not only for national leaders but for influential psychiatry authorities (discussed later). Illegitimate authorities are often embraced when fear subverts critical thinking. Americans appear to be increasingly terrified by the possibility of […]
The Shaming and Punishment of Whoopi Goldberg: What Does It Say About US Society?
A couple of days after the public shaming and suspension punishment of Whoopi Goldberg for saying that “the Holocaust isn’t about race,” I combed the Internet to see if any Jewish leader would cut her some slack. Finally, I found one, Rabbi Sharon Brous of the Ikar community in Los Angeles. She tweeted, “If what […]
Suicide, Indian Farmers, Indigenous North Americans . . . and the Shame of Shrinks
Roland Chrisjohn, lead author of Dying to Please You: Indigenous Suicide in Contemporary Canada, more effectively than anyone I know, confronts this tragic denial by mental health professionals: through their medicalizing and diseasing of sociopolitically-fueled suicidality, they are enabling suffering and increasing suicide. Chrisjohn is Onyota’a:ka of the Haudenausaunee, has a doctorate in psychology, and […]
Harvard Tells Us Young Americans are Increasingly Hopeful . . . Really?
Given my experience with young people’s hopelessness, I was skeptical of a Harvard Kennedy School spring 2021 poll of 18-to-29 year olds that declared “hope for America among young people is rising dramatically.” Harvard’s #1 top finding is: “In the fall of 2017, only 31% of young Americans said they were hopeful about the future […]
Psychiatry Films and Politics: Filmmakers Take Issue with my CounterPunch Review of Their Doc
Owing to my speculation of establishment psychiatry pressure—which has been reported in other psychiatry films (more later on A Beautiful Mind)—the Cured filmmakers reached out to me, and we had a teleconference discussion.
In a PBS documentary, ECT is Bad for “Curing” Homosexuality, but Great for Depression!
A new documentary about gay activists’ defeat of the APA ends with a disclaimer that ECT is “effective for severe depression.” Bruce Levine spoke with the filmmakers.
Upcoming PBS Doc “Cured” About Gay Liberation from Psychiatry…and Much More
Not that long ago, there was no public outcry directed at governments that had declared homosexuality a crime, churches that had declared homosexuality a sin, and psychiatry—the focus of Cured—that had declared homosexuality a sickness.
U.S. Authorities Pay No Price for Acknowledged Lying: What’s the Impact on Us?
Presidents and other U.S. authorities have always been liars—just ask Native Americans. While lying to Native Americans has never been politically costly for U.S. presidents, getting caught lying by the entire American public was once politically damaging.
Politics & Science: Rahm Emanuel, Mike Pence, Homosexuality, Pandemics, Masks, Vaccines
Aside from their icy-mobster visages, Rahm Emanuel and Mike Pence have something else in common. Both, as members of presidential administrations, tried to rewrite Centers for Disease Control (CDC) pandemic guidance for political purposes. The reason why one was successful and the other was not has nothing to do with courageous CDC scientists threatening to […]
COVID-19 Slaughter, CDC Tragedy, and One U.S. Authority without Blood on His Hands
It is easy for progressives to blame the staggering calamity of U.S. COVID-19 deaths solely on Trump. Yes, Donald Trump is a self-serving liar, and his vice president, Mike Pence, as chair of the President’s Coronavirus Task Force and Trump henchman, has blocked life-saving guidance from scientific authorities. There is smoking-gun evidence (some of which […]
