The national irrational

You always suspected, but now it’s confirmed. When your heard congressmen who pressured banks to make ill-advised loans and subsequently crafted an altered reality in which the responsibility resides solely with financial executives, you knew something was amiss. When mayor and governor who failed to prevent or prepare for emergencies shifted all the blame to the feds, something was obviously askew. Who believes it makes sense to subsidize a crop with some funding and discourage its usage with other? Or, to refuse to acknowledge statistically-evidenced problems of irresponsible behavior and continuously try to bandaid the symptoms with handouts? Or, to ban automated pre-recorded phone solicitation because it's invasive, but deem it as benign for political campaign and fundraising purposes?

If it ever crossed your mind that this is just nuts and it’s no wonder we’ve arrived at this nexus, Dr. Carl Alasko supports that conclusion in his new book, Emotional BS (no quotation marks, because I abbreviated the second word).

The theme of the book hinges on the “Toxic Trio,” denial, delusion and blame, or the manipulation of truth and creation of a delusional reality. Is this breaking new ground?

I run a mental illness treatment center and encounter it about as rarely as I see a McDonald’s. But, you’ve seen it, too. For example, the malevolent coworker who is always the wellspring of the rumor or gripe mill, resulting in people avoiding him and low regard by management. It can’t be his toxic mentality (denial). They’re all aligning against him (delusion). They’re the reason he’s shunned, not his own malicious actions (blame).

The fact that most people easily recognize a scenario of this type would seem to indicate that Carl isn’t presenting any startling revelations. His focus is upon impaired individuals. But then, as a sidebar, he connects the dots.

The familiar pattern has been right in front of us. But Carl Alasko illuminates how we are being led in a demented manner. What outcomes could we expect, other than what’s happened?

Those who thought “insanity” watching Ted Kennedy presuming to impose morality lectures on subjects of senate investigations detected it. Or, “madness,” watching congress focus on steroid usage in baseball and professional football player pensions while the other three hundred million less fortunate citizens teetered on the brink of economic ruin. Irrationality rules.

Carl Alasko comes out and says it. The inmates are running the asylum.