Projection is one of the more powerful and intractable of our primitive defenses. In projection we disavow our own unacceptable thoughts and impulses and attribute them to an external actor. When Projection exists in the intrapsychic sphere, the individual is usually identifiable as paranoid, and often accuses others of behavior that he himself indulges.
[Projection can also be seen in those who are not diagnosable. It is a reflection of "normal" projection that both Left wing and Right wing activists typically accuse their opposing numbers of unacceptable behavior that they themselves frequently perform. This post is concerned with more pathological varieties.]
When Projection, and its less pathological relative, Externalization (the tendency to attribute one's faults to others' agency, as in the youngster's tearful cry, "he made me do it") are privileged functions sanctioned by a large group, the danger escalates.
Soccer Dad calls our attention to a wonderful, home grown example:
Abdul Alim Musa declares "Muslims live under dictatorship in US"
Abdul Alim Musa is a name worth knowing. According to Wikipedia:
In a video aired by Fox News, Musa stated, from behind a podium at the University of California at Irvine on Sept. 9, 2001, that "If you don't stay out of our way and leave us alone, we're going to burn America down."
We also learn, courtesy of Wikipedia, that Musa is reported to have said "Yahuds are the enemy of humanity." "Yahuds" are folks like your faithful Judeopundit who like a nice sip of single-malt scotch with their shmaltz-herring after davening on Saturday morning. Musa is apparently a great supporter of Khomeinism and he makes an appearance in the following IRIB item:
Muslims live under dictatorship in America, said an African-American Muslim activist, ahead of a review of the US human rights records by the UN Human Rights Council.In less than two weeks, the Human Rights Council will, for the first time ever, assess the human rights status of the United States in a Universal Periodic Review (UPR).
"We [Muslims] believe that it is our duty, it is our responsibility to stand up to what we call the US government's 'constitutional dictatorship'," activist and Imam of Masjid al-Islam Abdul Alim Musa said on Monday.
"When we say a constitutional dictatorship, we mean that they have a constitution, but with all of the new anti-terrorism bills, patriot acts, all of the homeland securities, all of the FBI memos... all of these new charges that they operate on allow them to go around all of the constitutional guarantees [for human rights,]" he added. [...]
If only America were more like Iran.
Mr. Musa, née Clarence Reams, has a long history of anti-social behavior, as documented by Steven Emerson and the Investigative Project on Terrorism:
Abdul Alim Musa, born as Clarence Reams, is the director of Masjid Al-Islam in Washington, DC and founder and director of the As-Sabiqun movement. Musa is also a member of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought (ICIT), an organization established in 1998 to continue the work of the global Islamic Movement. [1]
The As-Sabiqun website provides an extensive biography for Musa. According to this biography, Musa was born in Arkansas, but grew up in Oakland, California. In the 1960s, Musa's involvement with the drug trade earned him unwanted attention from law enforcement. Around the same time, he became sympathetic to the Black Panthers and the Nation of Islam. To avoid the consequences of his crimes, Musa traveled the world.[2]
As-Sabiqun's biography of Musa also claims that he became "leading cocaine-exporter in Colombia," met exiled Black Panther leaders such as Eldridge Cleaver and Pete O'Neal in Algeria.[3] After returning to the U.S. he supposedly surrendered to law enforcement authorities and served an unspecified time in prison. While incarcerated, Musa converted to Islam.[4]
The As-Sabiqun biography states that following the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, Musa announced his support for the Islamic Republic and its leader Ayatollah Khomeini. Since the early 1980s, he made several visits to Iran as a representative of Muslims in the United States and a supporter of, as he puts it, "the Islamic revival."[5]
Anti-social characters tend to rely upon externalization and projection to maintain unrealistically high self-esteem. None of their faults are ever due to their own behavior or limitations but always attributed to others, especially "society." Those who have sociopathic tendencies and can be redeemed often find such change through their adoption of religion while in prison. Christianity fosters a surrender to a benevolent, loving G-d who helps the sinner turn his life around; the modern incarnation of Islam, especially that promulgated in our prisons by Wahhabi trained and financed Imams, has a very different message. For this version of Islam, society is the enemy; they (we) oppress the innocents of Islam who merely want to bring Allah's word to the masses. Any resistance to their blandishments are experienced as attacks and justify counter-attacks. Islam is the Religion of Peace and is never inherently violent; Muslims are only violent when they needs to defend Islam. This has been the way of Islam for a very long time and we are now getting to see the results in our own country.
For the Psychiatrist, Patients who depend upon Projection are the most troubling and the ones with the greatest potential for violence. They do not respond well to appeasement, logic, or rational explanations; they do respond well to firm limit setting and the judicious appearance of overwhelming force. In other words, most Paranoids will calm down when confronted with a calm voice and demeanor and several large hospital police. For the paranoid, knowing you will not allow anyone to be harmed by his aggression (whether internally or externally located) is helpful rather than provocative. Although Islam is constantly complaining of being provoked, in reality, a show of steadiness and force will cause the radicals to back down and go back into hiding. We could use a little more Psychiatric common sense in our approach to radical Islam.
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