Bren Jah Lee...most of what is occuring here says everything about them and nothing about us. Many here are so afraid of the future and angry about the past, they use us as symbols of their disaffection. And, the behavior they engage in is so distasteful even to themselves that they cannot accept responsibility for it. Thus the instigation and later attempts to convince themselves it is not they who are responsible but rather the other person.

Their target identification is primarily based in anything and anyone they see as being part of the party and leader they are convicned are responsible for every prolbem they have in life and in the world. Thus anyone or anything associated with th REpublican party is an automatic and unconsicious target towards which they direct their anger, rage and hate over their self believed losses over the past years and their fears of the future towards the target who represents that which they hate. They become fixated upon it as a threat and in that lies their incessant need to convince themselves that they are taking the appropriate and correct course of action. It is their fears and anger that drives them.

You and I know it is just an election and are not so committed to "having to win" as if the world will stop if they do not get their desired end. And for us, it is not win at all cost. That is their game...the fear and anger is obvious and clearly overwhelming them. I would expect their age and place in the life cycle, most likely middle age, as well as approaching retirement has much to do with it. Perhaps even memories of the tough times in the seventies and early eighties, times very different tham the overconsumption of today, times very similar to today in terms of oil, housing, inflation, unemployment, etc. Maybe even the effects of that time on their parents and how their parents acted out upon them and how they suffered for it. Their "displacement" is obvious: (Displacement: redirect of feelings to another target).

Psych 101 was a wonderful class and I would recommend it for anyone. While I may not be a psychologist, the stuff is not rocket science and often obvious as herein...we see it everyday. Defense mechanisms may hide any of a variety of thoughts or feelings: anger, fear, sadness, depression, greed, envy, competitiveness, love, passion, admiration, criticalness, dependency, selfishness, grandiosity, helplessness.

What is Transference? During transference, people turn into a "biological time machine". A nerve is struck when someone says or does something that reminds them of themself or their past. This creates an "emotional time warp" that transfers their emotional past and psychological needs into the present. In less poetic terms, a transference reaction means that they are reacting to someone in terms of what they need to see, they are afraid of or what they see when they know very little about the person. This all happens without them knowing why they feel and react the way they do.

What Is Projection? Some people refer to transference as a "projection." In this case they are projecting their own feelings, emotions or motivations into another person without realizing their reaction is really more about them than it is about the other person. In a life filled with transference, theri job may be "the family reunion they are avoiding and they are forced to go to each day." In other cases of projection, the girlfriend may remind them of all the irritating things theri mother did when they were growing up. Love at first sight is usually a projection – especially if it ends in disaster and they could have seen it coming.

Harmful Patterns. Transference reactions are caused by unmet emotional needs, neglect, seductions and other abuses that transpired when they were a child. Once one
discovers a transference pattern, they can chose to respond in terms of what is really happening instead of what happened 20 or 30 years ago. People who don’t recognize the difference between past and present can end up in the same messed–up relationships over and over or with the same problem over and over. Perhaps why some people think they actually have formed "friendships on message boards and choose to act like thye did in high school wtih bullying and such."

Some other defesne mechanisms:

Denial: They completely reject the thought or feeling.

Suppression: They are vaguely aware of the thought or feeling, but try to hide it.

Reaction Formation: They turn the feeling into its opposite.

Projection: They think someone else has your thought or feeling.

Undoing: They try to reverse or undo your feeling by DOING something that indicates the opposite feeling. It may be an "apology" for the feeling you find unacceptable within themselves.

Isolation of affect: They "think" the feeling but don't really feel it.

Regression: They revert to an old, usually immature behavior to ventilate their feeling. Triple stars here! LOL.

Sublimation: Tedirect the feeling into a socially productive activity...choosing change they can beleive in....lol.

It has been completely fascinating watching this sociological event and the overwhelming insecurities, rears an anger of many in this election. While fascinating I find it sad as well. The overwhelming amount of intolerance and inapporpriately initiated comments from a bunch of people who profess being unbiased and sensitive folks makes for a clear and convincing case of overwhelming denial.