The Mood-Swing Voters

Before 2001 the main function of American elections was to periodically adjust the governmental process to account for shifts in the relative power of various interest groups. The upcoming contests will, in addition, factor in the clout of those afflicted by chronic psychiatric conditions caused by 9/11. In 2006, the elections’ swing voters may, in fact, turn out to be the mood-swing voters.

It has long been recognized by health professionals that terrorism can induce such conditions as generalized anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, and “post-traumatic stress disorder” (PTSD). Indeed, the goal of terrorism is not just to harm its nominal victims, but to inflict psychological wounds on a broad population as well.

A study published in The New England Journal of Medicine found that within five days after the September 11 attacks, 44 percent of Americans reported experiencing at least one symptom of PTSD. How many Americans went on to develop a permanent condition is not known, but what makes PTSD unique among psychiatric syndromes is that it is often caused by a single event.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fourth Edition (“DSM-IV-TR”) of the American Psychiatric Association, the standard reference on the subject, states that PTSD can result when “the person experienced, witnessed, or was confronted with an event or events that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury,” and “the person’s response involved intense fear, helplessness, or horror.” Symptoms include:

•”Recurrent and intrusive distressing recollections of the event.”
•”Efforts to avoid thoughts, feelings, or conversations associated with the trauma.”
• “Efforts to avoid activities, places, or people that arouse recollections of the trauma.”
• “Inability to recall an important aspect of the trauma.”
• “Difficulty concentrating.”
• “Hypervigilance.”
•”Irritability or outbursts of anger.”

I cannot help but detect some of these warning signs when I browse the “progressive” precincts of the blogosphere (or should I say-the blogohemisphere).

For all the global concern about avian flu, with world health authorities fretting over every dead duck, 9/11-induced mental illness is a pandemic that has already hit. It has already caused massive casualties. It has already impaired the functioning of a large number of individuals and of society as a whole. And yet it has been universally ignored. Blame for the degree of traumatization that is acknowledged has widely been displaced from the sponsors of the 9/11 hijackers (consistent with the DSM-IV-TR criterion for PTSD of inability to recall an important aspect of the trauma), and compulsively projected instead onto Bush and other bogeymen.

The pivotal role of mood-swing voters will not astonish Osama bin Laden, the stated purpose of whose terrorism against the U.S. has been regime change by means of influencing elections. This remains the case even though the regime he originally wanted to change was that of Bill Clinton.

Here is Bin Laden’s reply when asked in 1998, a little over two months before al-Qaeda’s deadly bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, if he “had a message” for the American public:

“I say to them that they have put themselves at the mercy of a disloyal government, and this is most evident in Clinton’s administration… We believe that this administration represents Israel inside America…

“This is my message to the American people. I urge them to find a serious administration that acts in their interest and does not attack people and violate their honor and pilfer their wealth.”

Manic Euphoria Captures Israel’s Soul

It is interesting to compare the psychological damage to many Americans caused by 9/11 with the effect of terrorism on “the Jews” to whose interests bin Laden believes Clinton and, presumably, his successor has been catering.
Recently I visited Israel and was struck by-in remarkable contradistinction to the “troubled region” image that causes TV anchors to furrow their brows whenever they intone the phrase “troubled region”-the brimming optimism, assertive confidence, and almost rollicking good cheer I encountered everywhere I went in the country.

The consensus among Israelis was that they prevailed in the second Intifada, which they considered to be behind them. Their sense of relief was so extreme that it had ballooned into a collective euphoria. They regarded the episodes of mayhem that continued to occur as outrages to be dealt with, but not to be allowed to rain on their parade. They were in such a fine fettle that they were itching to unilaterally relinquish what, only a short while ago, they had regarded as strategically indispensable territory. The fact that nobody had expressed the slightest willingness to receive the land they were so giddy to give did not seem to interfere with their pathological positivism.

Ehud Olmert was elected prime minister earlier this year by Israel’s mood-swing voters, the difference between the effect of terrorism on the U.S. and Israeli electorates being that the outcome of a single day of terror here was traumatization of numerous Americans into a state of anger and hypervigilance, while the outcome of several years of terror there was traumatization of numerous Israelis into a state of elation and insufficient vigilance. It remains to be seen whether this summer’s cross-border attacks will deflate their mood into closer accord with a reality that is, objectively, less than exhilarating.

The Israeli town of Sderot has a high-tech alarm that wails eerily when it detects a rocket being launched toward its residents from nearby Gaza. A few weeks ago a local photographer recorded the siren, which was designed to sound as ominous as possible, and installed it as a ringtone on his cell phone. He made it available on the Web, and using it has become a fad among Israeli young people as a way of masking their underlying anxiety with a display of nonchalance.

In my estimation, the likelihood that any Americans would find a ringtone consisting of audio of the Twin Towers collapsing to be helpful in relieving tension is minimal. American politicians who hope to be elected or returned to office would be best advised to attempt to attract with healing words and reassuring deeds the votes of those whose minds were maimed by terror five years ago.