Subverting the Superpower Syndrome: A Jailbreak from Malignant Normality

Abstract Alligator Alcatraz, United States financial and military support for mass killing atrocities in Gaza, illegal invasions of other countries, thousands of people in the US arrested and deported (many to unknown destinations) without due process, millions of US citizens threatened with the loss of food, housing, and medical care, and most recently, the ICE brutality and killing of civilians. These are just a few instances of the atrocities conducted by the MAGA-led government this past year, a dystopian time with incomprehensible suffering. This research project employs a multidisciplinary approach to profile the superpower syndrome and the atrocity-justifying ideologies that support it. Robert Jay Lifton's conceptualization of the superpower syndrome (2003) frames the investigation of the core beliefs, attitudes, values, and actions of MAGA (Make America Great) leaders and followers, who serve as a case example of this malady that has fueled a degeneration of democracy with breakneck speed. Ledyard Maynard's work on the ideological analysis of mass atrocities (2017) provides a methodology to expose and interrogate MAGA's core beliefs and values that justify its atrocities. A social psychoanalytic lens highlights the unconscious normality that enables the government’s impunity in its mission of "killing to heal" (Lifton and Markusen, 1990). Three threads of the author’s lived experience inform the focus of this research: 1) history of resistance in the Plowshares movement (Plowshares Eight, 1980 & Griffiss Plowshares, 1983), 2) third-generation Holocaust survivor identity, and 3) training and practice in clinical psychology. Fifteen years after the Plowshares Eight action during doctoral training, I discovered that paternal ancestors died in the Nazi holocaust. The new understanding of my family story shed light on my activism as a transgenerational errand to prevent the unleashing of nuclear Auschwitz. The inclusion of personal and collective healing as integral modes of activism stems from my clinical psychology perspective. The final section will formulate intervention strategies. By employing a combination of theoretical frameworks, the author aims to address the collective trauma generated by the superpower syndrome and to foster a liberatory praxis that eradicates state-sanctioned atrocities. The goal is to inspire collective action and healing in the face of systemic oppression and violence. The research project seeks to subvert the malignant normality perpetuated by the current political regime in the United States and to cultivate multidisciplinary research collaboratives and action groups dedicated to planetary healing and emancipation. References Lifton, R. J., & Markusen, E. (1990). The genocidal mentality. New York. Lifton, R. J. (2003). Superpower syndrome: America's apocalyptic confrontation with the world. New York. Maynard, J. L. (2017). 14 Ideological Analysis. Methods in analytical political theory, 297.