THE HOSTAGE SYNDROME
God forbid that you ever are captured by hostage takers who hate you and want to destroy you and your way of life. But would you recognize it if it happened? How would you respond?
There is a very well known survival technique called “The Hostage Syndrome.” This occurs when the hostage begins to believe and identify with the hostage takers. The hostage tries to placate the hostage takers and to comply with their demands.
“The Hostage Syndrome” usually occurs over a period of time, sometimes so gradually that the hostage is not even aware it is happening. We see the same kind of behavior in abusive families.
The abused spouse or child actually begins to believe that what the abuser says about them is true…”You are lazy”, “You are stupid”, “You are the problem”, “You need to change”, “I need to punish you”, “You deserve it.”
“Everything that is happening is your fault”, “You are the cause of all my problems”, “I know what is best for you”, and “You need to get with the program.”
If we hear voices like these coming from our political leaders will we recognize it as abuse? What will we do about it?
If we fall into “The Hostage Syndrome”, we will comply, placate, appease, keep our head down and try not to be seen. How is that working for you?
If we are to have liberty to pass on to our children and grandchildren then we must engage in telling them the truth. We must ask questions of our leaders and we must defend the freedoms of all our citizens, even those with whom we disagree.
Liberty cannot survive if we allow ourselves to become hostages to those who would attempt to control us. It is important that we understand that we “consent” to be governed but we should no more be controlled than the abused spouse or child should be victimized.
We all know the 20th century adage that “doing the same thing and expecting different results” is the definition of insanity. I contend that believing political speak that doesn’t lead to quantifiably better results is the pinnacle of insanity.
Someone once said, “There is only one way to judge a idea and that is by results; it is often harsh but it is always fair.”
This political season, let’s be fair to our politicians. Let’s judge them by results. If what they say has not resulted in the things they promised, then let’s make some changes. Look at the results in their past, in their own lives, in their careers. Can we believe them or are we just living in “The Hostage Syndrome” trying to survive?
We are the solution.
Brenda
