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The collective self- saboteur

Reader comment on item: The Wisdom of Ehud Olmert – A Dreamy Return to Oslo

Submitted by Mike (United States), Nov 19, 2007 at 10:40

Carl Jung, the great psychoanalyst postulated the theory of psychological archetypes. Archetypes are powerful symbols that represent aspects of a person's personality. One such archetype is that of the self -saboteur.

As a psychologist I often think about how a person or group sabotages their success. I think about how to help them shift from saboteur to achiever. I don't personally know any of the Israeli leadership, but I do know how people and groups sabotage themselves. Self-delusion is one way. Wishful thinking may be part of self-delusion or a separate sabotaging strategy. There is no hope in avoiding reality. The hope is in facing what exists and developing appropriate strategies for coping.

It is apparent that strategies of concession only further the agenda of the opponent that is sworn to destroy Israel. Such strategies do not advance the agenda of regional peace. There seems to be a collective self-saboteur among many Israeli and American leaders who think they can create a peace process when there is no true peace partner. Imposing our Western approach to compromise on the situation is self-sabotaging. Our leaders appear to consistently underestimate the opponent.

This is a tragic error and another way to sabotage one's own success. Perhaps our leaders could hire a Jungian psychologist as a consultant to help them recognize their self-sabotaging thought processes. Of course, to do this would undermine their self-sabotaging approach as it would be a way to shift from self-sabotage to success.

Submitting....

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Reader comments (11) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
RETURN GILAD HOME PLEASE!!!! [128 words]lioraJan 17, 2009 19:23148305
G-d as the only leader. [49 words]YnnatchkahNov 24, 2007 02:38114580
The collective self- saboteur [244 words]MikeNov 19, 2007 10:40114015
This is war, not a garden party [60 words]jennifer solisNov 16, 2007 15:34113885
The Ultimate Fool [95 words]JW DickinsonMay 3, 2007 22:4591574
Unfortunately, Olmert, Peretz and Livni are the wrong politicians to lead the State of Israel at the Wrong Time. [113 words]RichardNov 1, 2006 10:5464993
Unilateral Disengagement [260 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Neil GoldsteinJan 17, 2006 16:0331836
Predicting the future in Israel. [124 words]ElmoJan 10, 2006 09:4131384
Olmert's statement [93 words]Ed KatzJan 9, 2006 13:2931348
The Israeli Politicos have betrayed their brave founders and pioneers [311 words]Jeff BercovitchJan 7, 2006 13:1631234
The Disengagement brainstorm.... [79 words]Jacob MandelblumJan 6, 2006 07:3531172

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