Extremism & Polarizations ~ What Is The Cost To Mental Health?

Mainstream media has dealt us a daily dose of polarizing concepts and characters. This creates large followings with rapid and often frenzied exchanges on social media. It causes people to take sides – to draw a proverbial line in the sand. It propels and gives momentum to an intellectual battle that is swinging wildly on a “group think” pendulum. Pick your side – in particular, your allies and basic beliefs, and take it from there. How do we determine what is influencing our thinking? Does it help or hinder us?

As examples of current extremes, we have Jordan Peterson who advocates and teaches bravado and self-responsibility. He is highly educated and has sold millions of books. Yet he himself has not avoided the very pitfalls he preaches against. Wondering where and how he went wrong, is not attacking him. Nor is it about lacking empathy or compassion. It is about opening avenues for edification, discussion and self-awareness. We don’t just learn from our own mistakes. More than anything, we learn from the mistakes of others.

On the other extreme, we have Greta Thunberg, who has become the voice of climate change. She is accusing the adults, mostly the “older generation” and world leaders of not taking responsibility. But she herself has not taken even the most basic responsibility of childhood, which is going to school. It seems to be an obvious and extreme contradiction, yet there is no end to how much the media loves to exalt controversial people and topics.

I will admit that I have followed the news articles on both individuals, but have only a limited knowledge of their points of view. The subject matter after all, in both cases, is vast and complex. Anger, arrogance and elitism are traits coming from both of them. “How dare you” is not about a changing climate. It sounds more like scolding a peon for having the gall to insult their superior.

If we are not for Greta – we are against her. If we do not think she has contributed proportionately to her rise to fame, we are haters and deniers. Only the meanest and crudest of bullies would “attack” an innocent and frail child. In most people’s minds, children should be shielded and protected. This translates to supporting, advancing and protecting her radical ideas. Using Greta as a spokesperson for climate change has done the cause more harm than good. It has deviated from science to be espoused like a fountain by an uneducated young girl. It basically turns it into science fiction, believe it or not.

In reality, we should not put so much weight on anyone’s shoulders. Climate change, human psychology, philosophy, and religion are topics worthy of a wide range of opinions and ideas. Solutions are found through cooperation, openness, learning, sharing knowledge, compromise, and humility. We seek truth and peace more than anything. They are trying to find their own way – and have had much exposure. Let us do the same, and be glad for the anonymity. It brings us closer to an existential moment, as well as a more egalitarian perspective toward our fellow human beings.

I do believe we should all take individual responsibility. But what does that mean? It means vastly different things to different people. Being clean and organized simplifies life and saves time. I will vouch for cleaning your room as being good advice. Having concern and care for animals and the environment are worthwhile values as well. As far as contributing to good – we have lots of options.

For me, the autonomy of our own health care and choices is paramount when it comes to self-responsibility. Therefore I don’t understand how Jordan Peterson reconciled the contradictions surrounding the medication he was taking. He is obviously educated in the field of psychology. One would assume his education and experience included some level of knowledge on psychopharmacology. How does he distance himself from his own knowledge when it comes to the medication he chose to take?

In keeping with the extremes, even the diets of Jordan Peterson and Greta Thunberg are diametrically opposed. He claims to eat only meat, salt and water. She is religiously vegan, and wants others to take the high road and follow the vegan morality. There is almost a graphic metaphor arising from these extreme diet restrictions alone. Do they look healthy, happy and vibrant as a result of their choices? Does it make any sense?

Wouldn’t it be better to eat a balanced diet of whole foods, give up packaged food (for the sake of the environment too)? After that, avoid additives, high salt, high sugar and all processed food, to include meat with nitrates. Reduce the grains and meat, but don’t eliminate any healthy food group unless it does not agree with you.

Why advocate for such extremes for those who have a choice to eat a well-balanced diet? This is especially true for those who are wealthy and famous. But for some reason, it is the wealthy and famous who generate these extreme diets. The outcomes are not usually positive, especially over the long term.

It seems likely that due to our ancestral backgrounds and genetic makeup that we, as individuals have different tolerances for food. I think we should make adjustments according to maximizing the nutrients, which requires lots of variety, not restrictions. But by all means, avoid what does not agree with you, which seldom involves entire categories of food.

Food is not only necessary for survival, but there are many emotional aspects surrounding what we eat as well. I do not believe a person can remain healthy by eating only meat. Our guts are intricately linked with our brains, to include regulating our mood. The micronutrients from plants feed and rebuild the neurochemistry, as well as the function of the digestive system. We need plenty of plant fibre to function.

Some people on strict vegan diets remain healthy, but a higher percentage do not, as it is difficult to get adequate nutrients (protein) on strict vegan diets. Regardless, what we, as adults eat, remains an individual choice. Food choices are altered of course by poverty, availability, emotion, and convenience.

As a Registered Nurse for many years, I observed a great deal of human behaviour, more in sickness than in health. As much as chronic disease is caused by diet and lifestyle, the health care system itself sucks people in. If and when it spits you back out, your life might be altered by side effects and systemic damage. Unfortunately, nurses see many people who are addicted to prescription drugs. Jordan Peterson’s patterns do not reflect his position. Quite the opposite in fact.

We are meant to be kind and compassionate, but that should not blind us to the obvious. Mercy and discernment are two different things, and both are important. We have no choice but to make up our minds about leaders or public figures based on their outward appearances and behaviors.

If someone is telling us how to live our life – don’t we have the right to evaluate how he or she is living his or her life? It is really all we have to go on. The reason it matters is because large numbers of people are choosing to follow the ideas, talk, advice, accusations, judgments, etc. of those who become powerful through the development of fame and followers.

Money has always been the basis of power, but now what has loomed larger is the “numbers” – not so much in the bank accounts, but rather, how many followers do they have on social media. Those numbers are far more transparent than anything else about the person.

An individual’s general appearance matters because of what we read through body language, energy, vitality, sincerity, passion, patterns of speech, intonation, etc. For those who work in the field of mental health – part of the admission and history is to describe the appearance and mood of the person. People who are decompensating mentally will often become disheveled with a very flat affect, or else be extremely agitated.

Although both Jordan Peterson and Greta Thunberg have risen to the level of fame few people will ever achieve, and deserve a certain amount of credit for their energy and passion – the extremism is destructive.

The first time Jordan Peterson went for prescriptions for anxiety and depression – he was making a personal choice. There are many announcements in the media claiming he took them “exactly as prescribed” and that they were increased because his wife was diagnosed with cancer.

But this very description is giving power to the system and the drug – not to individual responsibility. How can someone with his level of education not know the risks, especially when taken over a long period of time? There are adverse effects on the brain and central nervous system caused by neuroleptic drugs. The extent and depth of this damage is well known, but not well understood.

The locus of control must come from within. There is much sympathy for him over his struggles and reasons for them. But we all face the loss of a loved one. It is part of life. I can certainly understand why emotional and psychological pain pushes a person toward seeking help. I can also understand the appeal of anti-anxiety medications. What I don’t understand is the reluctance to admit that it is a psychological/mental health issue, not purely a physical one.

Addiction that ravages the soul to the extent the person is hospitalized is often addiction that has gone on for a long period of time. Some substances weaken and destroy the health of the individual faster than others. Although I have only watched snippets of interviews and video lectures, it is clear to me that Jordan Peterson looked ill, gaunt, and haunted in many of those images. I do not see a vibrant, autonomous individual.

In the case of Greta Thunberg – her mental health issues are pretty much taboo in the mainstream media. Yet Greta Thunberg’s mother has written a book about it, describing those mental health issues in detail. Greta must be protected because she is a child. Why turn her into an adversarial figurehead then?

Like the Petersons, the Thunbergs have been very public about all these personal struggles. The biggest contradiction is in that such a troubled young girl has been exalted to such and extent.  Her outward appearance is that of an angry, cynical, rebellious teenager who has yet to sort out family of origin issues, or even the basic challenges of childhood, let alone being tasked to save the world from climate change. What planet are we on?

How do we find the healthier and more stable middle ground? Individual responsibility means that we take care of ourselves to include our mental health. We cannot stop the bushfires in Australia, but we can reduce our own individual carbon footprint. Depending on our circumstances, it could be taking public transport, turning the heat down, reusing and recycling, setting up businesses with smaller carbon footprints, reducing pollution and packaging, and reducing the concept of poly-pharmaceuticals, as just a few examples.

I can honestly say that I wish I followed my own advice all my life. For years I abused over the counter antihistamines and pain medication like Ibuprofen. Even as a nurse, I was blasé about it all. It has only been within the past ten years that I really started to become cognizant of the damage to the body as a result of mindless pill popping.

The problem with extremism is that it is polarizing. It creates the greatest possible distance between two ideas or concepts. But in many ways, the off-balance aspect of extremism lets us see how similar they are. Fame and fortune does not make the man or woman – it unmasks them.

Perhaps the greatest vulnerability of all is to be unmasked in front of the entire world. How we view ourselves versus how others view us – might be the greatest polarization of all. 

A less partisan and more centrist position is far more stable. Whether you are gaunt and miserable while lecturing the masses – or sitting waif-like on a boat trying to save the world, how futile can one be?  

Although attention itself seems to have addictive properties, my guess is that fame and fortune is not all it is cracked up to be.

Copyright Valerie J. Hayes and Quiet West Vintage (2020). Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author/owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Valerie J. Hayes and Quiet West Vintage with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.