In some senses, Man's scientific and cultural evolution has civilized us. Communication identifies problems and mobilizes us. Medicine and sanitation have decimated (merely cut by one-tenth) or even eliminated the big killers. We've ended or salved "harrassing" maladies -- malnutrition, rashes, appendicitis, toothache, and bedbugs, to name but a few. These are not to be underestimated in our psycho-social history. It's no joke; civilizations may have fallen to the ravages of flea-bites and the diseases they carried. Europe almost did.

For a time --not ended yet-- some "advances" in medicine have worked against us. Likely, we are born violently. Our safe reserves of oxygen literally cut off. Searing lights and caustic liquid hit the eyes. We may be shot with needles, hung by the heels, and beaten! This is the "modern" greeting to the world. Then, to top it off, we're taken away from our only known safe place --mom-- sometimes for hours. Finally, we get warm blankets, vitamins, and other elements, except the element of love. At the time when the die is cast, when a committment to a lifetime pattern is set, billions of people missed out. That short period when natural bonding is possible, passes in isolation. For the dumb-s**t, it will continue.

It seems as if the sub-conscious is subject to that law of computers that says: "Unfortunately, it does what you tell it to, not what you want it to." The sub-conscious is influenced the literality of what it hears, and not so much by what is meant. It is not absolutely controlled by what you tell it, of course; just influenced. But that influence accumulates during your whole life. Add that we tend to repeat to ourselves what we've been told about ourselves, and it can be overwhelming.

The subject is the victim of what I call the Dumb-s**t Syndrome: a habit of internalized repetition of mental and perhaps physical abuse, incompetence, and anti-nurturant behavior that is passed down thru the generations. It is displaced aggression ad infinitum; self-propagating, self-perpetuating, and culturally synergistic.

The dumb-s**t (D.S.) is a person who, from birth, has been deprived of most love, recognition, and acceptance. When someone is deprived of enough, then what is actually gotten is diminished and hard to absorb. He is told and shown his unworthiness and has accepted that definition of him/herself.

"I believe I've found the missing link between the animal and civilized Man: it is us." Konrad Lorenz (Not Pogo)

We must all be victims of the D.S. Syndrome to some degree, for no parent or situation is perfect, and it is he who is most sinned-upon who casts the hardest stones. The question is how much we can do about it ourselves--after the fact. Some will come to therapy before it's too late, and some will be sent by the courts after much damage has been done to the children.

Historically, it's been a case of very slow evolution. Parental anxieties were first resolved in a direct manner: infanticide or abandonment. Then the manichaeistic era produced the idea that the child was full of evil, and needed enemas or beatings to help rid him of it. Only in this century did we get past the idea of forcing behavior thru beating and guilt as the accepted manner of manipulation. Now we think more that the child is a little person (what a radical idea!), one who needs the guidance of one who knows everything (that's us). The idea has begun recently that the child knows best what he needs, and we can help and even learn from her/him. (Kids and cats are naturally enlightened--till we take it away from them.) But the loder modes have never died, they've just faded somewhat, and therein lies our subject: the D.S..

Many viscious circles work in synergy against the D.S.. His social isolation prevents learning to socialize. Her natural loving/sexual tendencies are frustrated by self-fulfilling prophecies like what I call the Groucho Syndrome: "I could never love someone who could respect me." The family's sibling rivalry and competition for attention could be cruel. The pecking order could then reinforce the submission of one and the aggression of the other. And, to top it off, the punishing parent is likely to be the child's role-model!

True story: I knew a dentist who was a good example. He dropped a bottle of liguid, which broke. His automatic reaction took over. He hit himself on the forehead, sayin' "You dumb s**t!" He hurried to clean it up, more to cover up his "stupidity" than out of cleanliness. But he'd had some therapy, and realized what had happened. He realized that his father had always called him that. Dad was coming on vacation soon, and my friend determined that he'd have his first good talk with him then. He did, adding the story of the dropped bottle at the end. "Dad, you donno how much that's effected me. Why'd you do that?" His dad thought about it a moment and said, "I guess it's 'cause that's what my father always called me!" An image appeared of his whole family tree, reaching back into the mists of history: a long line of dumb-s**ts.

Someone else was called a "klutz". She finally learned a "band-aid" of coping. At a party, she'd spill something that didn't stain, or trip over something that did no damage; all on purpose, because if she didn't, the subconscious imposed-identity of "klutz" would force a spill or trip that would be more damaging or embarrasing.