Mediating shame and pride: countermedia coverage of Independence Day in Poland and the US

This article adopts a comparative qualitative approach to studying the rhetoric of injured pride in the coverage of Independence Day celebrations by the right-wing countermedia in Poland (wPolityce.pl) and the US (Breitbart News) from 2012 to 2018. In both countries, the number of countermedia articles on Independence Day proliferated in the aftermath of the election of the Law and Justice party (2015) and Donald Trump (2016). Based on the analysis of the narrative strategy for affective polarisation, we argue that the countermedia mobilise support from an electorate of ‘the disenfranchised’ by strategically invoking emotions of shame and pride. By positioning the radical right as a political force that shields ‘patriots’ from the leftist ‘pedagogy of shame’, the outlets instrumentalise the mobilising potential of shame by transforming it into righteous anger and pride. This strategy results in a mediated ‘emotional regime’ that offers guidelines for an acceptable emotional repertoire for the members of the nationally bound in-group.

The Art of Stoic Living

Meditation is key to the art of Stoic living. But it’s not Zen or Buddhist meditation. If you are meditating like an Eastern monk, you are trying to quiet the chattering mind. If you are meditating like a Stoic, you are cultivating that busy mind. How does self-talk, and often self-blame, promote calm? Stoic living also involves monitoring the onset of disruptive emotions, and some Stoic-minded teachers have designed Stoic exercises for this kind of impulse control in their classrooms. Others practice Stoicism by looking to moral exemplars. A Cato or a Socrates, as the Stoics would say. But who is a modern moral exemplar? Take Hugh Thompson, the young American Army helicopter pilot who stopped the My Lai massacre. Would he be part of a Stoic pantheon? Moral outrage at the brutal massacre of 500 innocents prompted him to land his helicopter that day and stop the onslaught. Would a Stoic permit, or extoll, just action motivated by righteous anger?

“Our Tongue-Cut God, Respond to Us”: Prayer of Righteous Anger and Communal Lament as Theology of the Oppressed

This article offers a theological reflection on prayer of anger and lament as a formative source for the oppressed in constructing and embodying their own theology. For this purpose, particular attention is paid to Kim Heunggyum’s scandalous prayer-song “The Father of Minjung,” which was widely sung by Korean minjung amid their political resistance against the authoritarian regimes in the 1980s. This article historically traces this prayer-song’s original context and developmental stages and analyzes its use of cross-genre that blends the styles and structures of the minjung-gayo and the lament psalms. Theological reflection on this prayer-song focuses on particular religious affections, righteous anger and communal lament, shaped by the Korean minjung’s collective performance to sing this prayer-song as a means of political resistance. By drawing on Audre Lorde, Johann Baptist Metz, and Emmanuel Levinas, this article points out limitations of Barth’s theology of prayer and presents how Kim’s prayer-song that evokes righteous anger and communal lament served as a formative source for the Korean minjung in doing their own critical and incarnational theology.

Empowerment perception and health-related quality of life among schizophrenic patients

Objective: The study aims to explore the perception of empowerment, HRQoL and their relationship in schizophrenia patients in rehabilitation ward.Methods: Cross-sectional correlational design and convenience sampling were used to recruit 102 subjects from rehabilitation wards of a psychiatric hospital in southern Taiwan. Three instruments were used: the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, the Empowerment Scale (subscales: self-esteem and self-efficacy, power-powerlessness, righteous anger, and community autonomy), and the Taiwanese version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF) with four domains (physical health, psychological, social relationship, and environment).Results: (1) Overall empowerment perception and overall HRQoL were at a moderate and above level in patients with schizophrenia in rehabilitation ward. (2) Older patients having a lower empowerment perception with power-powerlessness than youngers; the more severe the psychiatric symptoms, the lower the righteous anger. (3) Male patients scored higher than female patients on overall HRQoL and “environment” domain. The duration of mental illness also influenced at “environment” domain, 6-10 years group scored higher than ≤ 5 years group. (4) Actively participate in rehabilitation activities correlated positively; psychiatric symptoms correlated negatively with overall HRQoL and with each individual domain. (5) Empowerment perception correlated positively with overall HRQoL and with each individual domain.Conclusions: Mental health workers should assist chronic schizophrenic patients in coping with their psychiatric symptoms, allow patients to express negative emotions, and provide opportunities for patients to make their own decisions and exercise their own rights.

Measuring the paradox of self-stigma: psychometric properties of a brief scale

Background Exposure to public stigma can lead to stereotype endorsement and resignation, which are constructs related to self-stigma. This latter phenomenon has well-documented deleterious consequences for people living with mental illness. Paradoxically, it can also lead to the empowering reactions of righteous anger and coming out proud. Aim The aim of this study was to develop and validate a brief tool to measure stereotype endorsement, righteous anger, and non-disclosure across different groups of stigmatized persons. This process was conducted in collaboration with users. Method Using focus groups with mental health professionals and people living with mental illness, 72 items were developed to measure various aspects of self-stigma. The Paradox of Self-Stigma scale (PaSS-24) containing 24 items and three subscores (stereotype endorsement, non-disclosure, and righteous anger) resulted from a calibration phase using factor analysis. This structure was cross-validated on an independent sample. Internal consistency, test–retest reliability, and convergent validity were also evaluated. Results 202 patients were assessed. The PaSS-24 demonstrated good internal validity. Internal consistency, test–retest reliability, and convergent validity estimates were also good. Conclusions The PaSS-24 is a short but psychometrically rigorous tool designed to measure self-stigma and related constructs in French language, developed in collaboration with users. The development and validation of the PaSS-24 represent a first step towards implementing and evaluating programs aimed at reducing negative consequences of self-stigma.

In Praise of Indignation

As a survivor of interpersonal violence and expert in recovery from relational abuse, I instinctively reacted with indignation when I recognized Trump as an abusive personality. Indignation advocates righteous anger in opposition to immoral, disgusting, or unfair behavior aimed at reducing the dignity of others. Accessing indignation to confront abusers is essential for the health of interpersonal relationships. In the same way, I had a moral obligation to be a truth-teller about Trump in service of the country. Prosocial emotions help manage antisocial behaviors universally judged as nonreciprocal. When Trump’s mental health was first discussed, I predicted it would be frustrating, because the medical model of psychiatry has lost its way in many regards, notably its disavowal of the role of emotions. Evolution designed emotions as essential guides for healthy human relationships. A case formulation model I designed advocates identifying those like Trump as other-blamers—people with low self-worth who manage shame and social downranking by blame-shifting. They are attracted to partners with low self-worth who readily accept blame ( self-blamers). The profession should educate on the power of shame, the widespread harms of narcissistic abuse, and help clients access indignation and assertiveness. Moral elements should be reintegrated into psychology.