"Slip Away" by Perfume Genius
I went to an impeachment hearing this week and it was insane! First of all, I got to see Ambassador Sondland being questioned and he was considered to be the one person who would be able to directly tie military aid to Ukraine with investigations into Biden, so the atmosphere was heavy. I still cannot believe that I got to witness a part of history, and the only reason why I had this opportunity was because I live in DC. After all, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take, so this week really reminded me to take risks and try new things.
Also, I’m obsessed with Todorov because his arguments are very refreshing to me. I grew up learning the “In 1942, Columbus sailed the ocean blue” song, and it’s only been in the past few years that I’ve learned that the story of the Americas is a lot more complicated and depressing than the Pocahontas movie.
I had a lot of trouble answering this week’s blog post, because I lack knowledge about the Americas’ colonization so I researched a lot in order to have more perspectives than just mine and Todorov’s. I went into this rabbit hole of researching the impact of the colonial legacy on present day Indians, and I ended up finding this research about developmental trauma that had nothing to do with the blog question, but is still something that deserves to be discussed, so I’ll do it here. Dr. van der Kolk, apart from having a cool name, is a psychiatrist who specializes in the area of post traumatic stress. He built upon this study done by the Center for Disease Control about Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and their correlation with future health problems by stating that chronic trauma perpetuates the cycle of violence in that victims of chronic trauma have a tendency to continue trauma when they are adults, and that systematic adversity in one’s life increases the likelihood one will experience a traumatic event. So, those facts coupled with his idea that a traumatized person can be interpreted as a way to “minimize objective threat and minimize emotional distress” states that trauma becomes the defining condition in a person’s life, present and future (van der Kolk 4). When taken with the context of identity development, children who experience trauma lack a cohesive sense of self and mood and impulse control and are left with internal instability. Thus, they experience problems forming relationships and intimacy and are left in social isolation since they do not understand themselves and what they want. Dr. van der Kolk states that developmental trauma disorder should be considered to be a mental illness and treated as such, and that’s an insane proposition to me because it means that children, just by being born in a certain location, are at risk for developmental problems that they cannot control. I don’t like the idea of not being held accountable for your actions and problems, but then what do you do when you’re systematically disadvantaged and your options are limited? Who’s to blame for your lack of potential?
Also, I’m obsessed with Todorov because his arguments are very refreshing to me. I grew up learning the “In 1942, Columbus sailed the ocean blue” song, and it’s only been in the past few years that I’ve learned that the story of the Americas is a lot more complicated and depressing than the Pocahontas movie.
I had a lot of trouble answering this week’s blog post, because I lack knowledge about the Americas’ colonization so I researched a lot in order to have more perspectives than just mine and Todorov’s. I went into this rabbit hole of researching the impact of the colonial legacy on present day Indians, and I ended up finding this research about developmental trauma that had nothing to do with the blog question, but is still something that deserves to be discussed, so I’ll do it here. Dr. van der Kolk, apart from having a cool name, is a psychiatrist who specializes in the area of post traumatic stress. He built upon this study done by the Center for Disease Control about Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and their correlation with future health problems by stating that chronic trauma perpetuates the cycle of violence in that victims of chronic trauma have a tendency to continue trauma when they are adults, and that systematic adversity in one’s life increases the likelihood one will experience a traumatic event. So, those facts coupled with his idea that a traumatized person can be interpreted as a way to “minimize objective threat and minimize emotional distress” states that trauma becomes the defining condition in a person’s life, present and future (van der Kolk 4). When taken with the context of identity development, children who experience trauma lack a cohesive sense of self and mood and impulse control and are left with internal instability. Thus, they experience problems forming relationships and intimacy and are left in social isolation since they do not understand themselves and what they want. Dr. van der Kolk states that developmental trauma disorder should be considered to be a mental illness and treated as such, and that’s an insane proposition to me because it means that children, just by being born in a certain location, are at risk for developmental problems that they cannot control. I don’t like the idea of not being held accountable for your actions and problems, but then what do you do when you’re systematically disadvantaged and your options are limited? Who’s to blame for your lack of potential?
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