Projection: The Mental Disability That’s Crippling Humanity

When most people hear the word ‘projection,’ they probably think of a movie projector throwing images on a screen. The psychological term ‘projection’ is not a widely known or well-understood concept in our society — but it should be.

Projection should be a widely understood phenomenon because it is one of the primary mental afflictions or ‘disabilities’ hampering human growth, understanding, and cooperation. Our ‘human, all-too-human’ tendency to project our pain, anger, suffering, and judgments onto other people is one of the major root causes of human conflict, oppression, and war.

Spiritual teachings warn about the inherent dangers of ‘projection’

What exactly IS psychological projection? The Psychology Today website defines it this way:

However, I am defining and using the term ‘projection’ much more broadly. My understanding of projection certainly includes the above definition, but also applies equally — or more — to the ‘normal,’ everyday ways most of us see other people as either ‘less than’ us or ‘better than’ us. Plus, active projection is behind most of the ways we judge or even condemn others’ beliefs or behaviors — while doing little or nothing to improve our own.

This is exactly the kind of widespread projection Jesus undoubtedly had in mind (Matthew 7: 3–5) when he admonished his listeners:

(And no, I am not a ‘Christian,’ but I treasure many of Christ’s teachings and see him as a ‘master psychologist.’)

I contend that the human tendency to project our pain, failings, and judgments onto others is THE single most crippling human character trait. It is a vicious, double-edged sword that combines hating or condemning others with the simultaneous total avoidance of personal responsibility and self-awareness.

Projection, in all its forms, is responsible for a majority of human suffering and interpersonal conflict. It is the primary force behind racism, ethnic hatred, and religious conflict — and always has been.

Dangerous, out-of-control projection is surging

Why am I so focused on ‘projection’ now? It’s because these days, many societies (including the U.S.) are doing the exact opposite of what’s needed to create a healthy, balanced society.

We — or any viable civilization — should be doing our best to minimize and redirect the awesome, destructive power of projection. But we don’t usually do that, and lately the U.S. has instead rushed in the opposite direction, rewarding and intensifying our negative, harmful projections.

We are increasingly looking for ‘evil others’ — illegal immigrants, LGBTQ+ folks, transgender kids, Black men, etc. — to blame for our social problems… and attack. If we can just control or get rid of these ‘evil others’ (we assure ourselves), then everything will be fine.

Intense, persistent projection is the prime motive force behind burgeoning fascist and autocratic movements all around the world. Such movements thrive on racism, ethnic hatred, and religious conflict, and always utilize dependable far-right tropes about inferior ‘others’ vs. a superior ‘in-group.’ Or, they harp on the supposed ‘superiority’ of Whites and Christians over dark-skinned folks or followers of other faiths.

It’s always the same sick, sad storyline, which is ridiculous on its face — yet easily gains traction and gullible ‘converts’ due to human beings’ tendency to project like crazy. We project all sorts of nasty, ugly, and dangerous qualities onto the latest group of despised ‘others’ — for instance, the way DJT, his MAGA movement, and the U.S. government keep (erroneously) portraying most illegal immigrants as criminals, rapists, ‘scum,’ and/or drug dealers.

This is no small matter. Far-right groups and demagogues routinely encourage massive projection and racial or ethnic hatred. Indeed, they very deliberately incite these vicious mindsets and attitudes. Yet, when some of their followers take these noxious ideas to heart and shoot up a Walmart or bomb a mosque to ‘get rid of’ some of the ‘invaders,’ everyone acts shocked. We shake our heads and wonder, “How and why do these awful events keep happening, here in the ‘land of the free’?”

But it’s quite obvious why these things are happening. It is not mysterious. All these grotesque horrors and violence are happening because we foolishly set it up this way, enabled far-right provocateurs, and passively encouraged these hateful, violent attitudes. That’s what always and necessarily occurs when a given society starts amplifying our collective ‘projection disability’ instead of working hard to quell or heal it.

We’re at the mercy of MAGA’s ‘Master Projector’

I’d be remiss if I ignored the elephant in the room. A crucial aspect of our current, huge projection problem is the malign influence of our projection-enabler-in-chief, our ‘Master Projector’ president, whom I’ll refer to as *Bleep* (I refuse to write or speak his name anymore).

Many psychologists and sociologists have been studying *Bleep* and his MAGA movement and trying desperately to ‘figure out’ his massive appeal. But most of it seems fairly obvious to me.

*Bleep* is perhaps the world’s foremost liar and projector par excellence, and he encourages — no, incites — Americans to be just as devious, hateful, and arrogant as he is. He incites people to project their hate, pain, and cruelty on various despised ‘others,’ including Blacks, Hispanics, LGBTQ+ folks, and illegal immigrants.

Plus, there’s his equally pernicious strong tendency to deny responsibility, refuse expert advice, and evade all accountability. *Bleep* is infamous for his amazing, confounding ability to evade both responsibility and accountability — and reject facts and proven science. Yet somehow, his dangerous personal weakness is misunderstood as ‘strength’ or just a ‘macho’ way of imposing his will on others and our nation.

But the reality is far worse.

. . .

Consider: it’s certain that no other president or politician could get away with such constant lying, evasion, ‘waffling,’ and denial of responsibility. And the main reason *Bleep* keeps getting away with it is because he’s such a master projector and social manipulator.

I believe that a huge part of *Bleep’s* appeal is that he gives people full, blatant permission to be their worst, most judgmental, and cruellest selves. Thus, it’s no surprise that today’s U.S. is descending rapidly into intense social conflict, spreading hate, and mounting violence. This is the inevitable result of decades of hateful right-wing ‘programming’ — and the rise and re-election of *Bleep* is just the icing on the cake for the victorious far right.

Can we stop our rapid downward spiral?

The sad and terrifying fact that *Bleep* and ‘his’ compliant, submissive GOP completely control the U.S. government ensures that, in the short term, our nation’s downward spiral will keep accelerating. Their constant emphasis on ‘controlling’ or even ‘getting rid of’ all those nasty ‘others’ *infecting* our society ensures that vicious, irresponsible projection will continue to dominate U.S. politics and our entire society.

From the standpoint of sane social policy and national and interpersonal cooperation, the rise and continued dominance of *Bleep* and his hateful MAGA movement represent perhaps the ultimate tragedy for our nation. And it’s crucial to understand: Our rapid devolution and moral collapse are fully dependent on incited projection and incited mass hatred.

If responsible, concerned Americans don’t find a way — fast! — to counteract *Bleep’s* and MAGA’s uber-effective ‘projection machine’ and constant mass incitement, I fear there will be no viable way out left for the U.S.

If U.S. society collapses or descends into overt civil war over the next few years, mass projection and hate will have done their (awful) job. They will have successfully undermined and destroyed their most famous and (formerly) illustrious victim: the U.S.A.

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This post was previously published on Bouncin’ and Behavin’ Blogs.

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