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So where did the 6 million Jews of the Holocaust go wrong?
They clearly manifested their imprisonment, torture and all those gassings ... hard to understand why they would do a thing like that!
Seriously though .. I admit to having a bit of a malfunction with the famous holocaust survivor Vicotor Frankl and some of his statements in Man's Search for Meaning. It flirts with the same victim blaming, just on a less obvious and toxic level, and I think it's at heart mostly well-meaning. We have a choice in how we respond to anything, says he ... and it's true so far as it goes ... but loss is loss, sorrow is sorrow, and the trajectory of your life and the baggage you inevitably carry from the trajectory change exists ... and you can never escape it. My losses have forever changed me, as in, diminished me. That is an unchangeable fact of my existence, no matter HOW I respond to it. "Making the best of a bad job", as the British put it, is a good strategy in alignment with the "serenity prayer" ... but it doesn't get rid of the 800 pound gorilla in the room, either, which is that the source of the trauma and its side effects are still there and still take lots of life force to deal with that could be better used in other ways. And I have full awareness of what could / should/ might have been that I have to repress or "let go of" or otherwise sublimate, and that both requires effort, and is never 100% doable. 99% I suppose, but that 1% is still there, peeking out from the edge of the rug, so to speak.
They clearly manifested their imprisonment, torture and all those gassings ... hard to understand why they would do a thing like that!
Seriously though .. I admit to having a bit of a malfunction with the famous holocaust survivor Vicotor Frankl and some of his statements in Man's Search for Meaning. It flirts with the same victim blaming, just on a less obvious and toxic level, and I think it's at heart mostly well-meaning. We have a choice in how we respond to anything, says he ... and it's true so far as it goes ... but loss is loss, sorrow is sorrow, and the trajectory of your life and the baggage you inevitably carry from the trajectory change exists ... and you can never escape it. My losses have forever changed me, as in, diminished me. That is an unchangeable fact of my existence, no matter HOW I respond to it. "Making the best of a bad job", as the British put it, is a good strategy in alignment with the "serenity prayer" ... but it doesn't get rid of the 800 pound gorilla in the room, either, which is that the source of the trauma and its side effects are still there and still take lots of life force to deal with that could be better used in other ways. And I have full awareness of what could / should/ might have been that I have to repress or "let go of" or otherwise sublimate, and that both requires effort, and is never 100% doable. 99% I suppose, but that 1% is still there, peeking out from the edge of the rug, so to speak.
Of course it doesn't but practicing it keeps that 800 pound gorilla from taking over your life.
I'm sure you've seen those types of people...hating on everyone because of something that happened 20+ years ago and they can't let it go; they let it rule their attitude in life. They are miserable and they see misery in everything around them.
i can't be the only reader who finds comments like those above incredibly crass.
I believe Mordant was sarcastically paraphrasing Frankl's descriptions and interpretations of the Holocaust that he felt were too much like victim-blaming, which Mordant decries, Tzaph. It does have a flavor of "shock-jock" to it though!
I find nothing about the Holocaust worthy of anything but outrage and shame over the extent of our species' capacity for inhumanity.
I believe Mordant was sarcastically paraphrasing Frankl's descriptions and interpretations of the Holocaust that he felt were too much like victim-blaming, which Mordant decries, Tzaph. It does have a flavor of "shock-jock" to it though!
I find nothing about the Holocaust worthy of anything but outrage and shame over the extent of our species' capacity for inhumanity.
that capacity for inhumanity includes making flippant jokes about it, as seen in this thread.
Probably because many people don't believe in it...it's all that "wu-wu" stuff.
Most people understand the tangible while few understand the intangible.
Optimistic outlook, positive attitude and always being grateful for what you have.
Mindfulness, yoga, meditation, a zen outlook on life, not worrying about things you have no control over are a few ways.
If they don't believe in it, why would they post on a thread dedicated to it?
They clearly manifested their imprisonment, torture and all those gassings ... hard to understand why they would do a thing like that!
Seriously though .. I admit to having a bit of a malfunction with the famous holocaust survivor Vicotor Frankl and some of his statements in Man's Search for Meaning. It flirts with the same victim blaming, just on a less obvious and toxic level, and I think it's at heart mostly well-meaning. We have a choice in how we respond to anything, says he ... and it's true so far as it goes ... but loss is loss, sorrow is sorrow, and the trajectory of your life and the baggage you inevitably carry from the trajectory change exists ... and you can never escape it. My losses have forever changed me, as in, diminished me. That is an unchangeable fact of my existence, no matter HOW I respond to it. "Making the best of a bad job", as the British put it, is a good strategy in alignment with the "serenity prayer" ... but it doesn't get rid of the 800 pound gorilla in the room, either, which is that the source of the trauma and its side effects are still there and still take lots of life force to deal with that could be better used in other ways. And I have full awareness of what could / should/ might have been that I have to repress or "let go of" or otherwise sublimate, and that both requires effort, and is never 100% doable. 99% I suppose, but that 1% is still there, peeking out from the edge of the rug, so to speak.
yes it is possible to get rid of the baggage.
many paths of religion and spirituality address this, as do programs of recovery.
so that no it does not continue to "take lots of life force to deal with it"
nor does it require "sublimation and repression." nor is there the bleak knell and doom of "you can never escape it."
to say it is "never 100% doable" is simply not accurate. It may well describe the feelings and beliefs of the person expressing view in post above, but it is in no way sweeping or accurate for others. Healing happens. Trauma is not permanent, people can and do heal 100% from trauma.
and no it is NOT a "fact" that trauma permanently diminishes a person, and that "you can never escape it."
that is a belief a person may hold, and a bleak one at that.
Last edited by Tzaphkiel; 09-02-2023 at 07:21 PM..
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