Why Liberals Sometimes Secretly Desire Nazis (Wac-a-Mole, Shadow Projection, Heavy Metal, and Why Soldiers Often Miss War) - Part 2
Unhealthy Shadow Projection Vs Healthy Shadow Projection
In the previous article (part 1), I brought up the latest controversy about the so-called “nazi problem” on substack, and I started to introduce a broader concept by going back in time to my own childhood when I loved to play all manner of video games where I would conquer the bad guy and save the day (virtually).
And I also discussed how, isn’t it interesting how Hollywood has been giving us a steady diet of movies that feature nazis or neo-nazis? Whether it’s the regular stream of war movies that show the struggle against fascist regimes, or just normal movies where the villain has some sort of neo-nazi fetish (like Breaking Bad, as I mentioned), there is definitely a thirst in society for movies where people see villains like that appear, and then get to see them vanquished.
It is a reliably common theme, and those who make those movies often make out getting quite rich, as Hollywood regularly does.
Indeed, in a sense, they focus on it so much, we could confirm that, not Substack, but rather Hollywood is the very one who has a “nazi problem”.
Or maybe the problem is that too many of us in the larger society enjoy a sort of “nazi-whack-a-mole” game ourselves, where we enjoy the “bad guy” coming out of hiding, just to get smacked back down again.
And if I’m honest, I would have to admit that I myself have enjoyed watching these “anti-nazi” movies over the years.
One of my favorites is the movie “Fury” starring Brad Pitt. Coming from a Christian background myself, scenes like the one below deeply resonated with me, with it’s deeply archetypal bible references:
And as historian Tom Holland has explained, the nazi movement was a true attempt (although failing) to refute Christian values (despite a largely Christian population in Germany at the time, and although Hitler condescended to Christianity in some public speeches, history reveals that the true ethos he represented was an Odin/Wotan archetype, which I discuss here, and not truly Christian).
And I think that is a big reason for Fury’s psychological power, and we forget that for non-Judeo/Christian cultures, it probably would not have the same spiritual power that it does for us with all of our Christian assumptions (particularly our morality of “be kind” and “love your neighbor”) and our prevalent Christian archetypes (which would have been disgusting to other cultures, the cross in particular, etc).
In reality, by juxtaposing the heroic characters quoting scripture with the outward pressure of a very “anti-Christian” enemy surrounding them (“nazis”), Fury is tapping into very primal archetypal/religious motifs that, despite our secular pretensions, still motivate us to this very day, and give us a sense of who we are and where we come from.
Yes, this particular movie was a wonderful “nazi-whack-a-mole” for me, as it helped reassert my personal sense of identity (my family lineage and struggle, but particularly, my Christian history). And after seeing such a graphic display of war, I felt quite satisfied (for a time), for I myself identified with the brave men fighting for good as I saw it (and especially since I’m well aware of my own grandfathers efforts in the war, of which I identify with).
I could indeed resonate with title, “Best job I ever had…”
Indeed!
There are no shortage of epic movie villains, and for me at least, especially turn-of-the-century epic villains like Commodus from “Gladiator”, or King Edward from “Braveheart” or Smith from “The Matrix”. Indeed, these movies just simply wouldn’t have their power without a grand villain.
And I was incredibly fortunate to be coming of age as they came out, and in the same way I enjoyed video games (and playing dragons) as a child, I reveled in their glory being able to watch the protagonist triumph over these dark forces.
But in terms of our values and our “be kind” culture, as historian Tom Holland explains, we are undeniably Christian.
And so for a culture like ours, Fury was so much the more enhanced by the Nazi villain background (because in our still morally-Christian society, there is nothing more “evil” or “bad” than a nazi), and that scene in particular which takes place in the center of the encroaching nazi horde.
Yes, at least for the time watching the movie, I too was an “anti-nazi”, and I loved it.
And that then brings me to the idea of “shadow projection”, which was a concept first given shape by the famous psychiatrist, Carl Jung.
We all have a dark side - The Shadow
We all have aspects about ourselves that we don’t like. And in Jungian psychology, that is what is called our “shadow”.
And when we project our shadow outside of ourselves onto other people or things, we are doing something called displacement, or shadow projection.
Now this an idea that I have been aware of for quite some time. It is a common thing in society now to see people projecting onto other people a truth about themselves that they have a hard time acknowledging. And so they get some relief from imagining (whether rightly or wrongly) that the other person is actually the main person with that dark aspect, and not themselves.
And I think this is a powerful idea for explaining much of the behavior coming from left-wing politics these days (and is also common in the moralizing right wing as well).
Does Positive and Healthy Shadow Projection Exist?
But what happens usually when people talk about shadow projection, is that it tends to be considered entirely a negative thing (please feel free to comment if you have found otherwise), and that we need to become more aware of what we are doing in our “displacement”, and try to stop that process, to integrate our shadow, in order to cause less damage to ourselves and to society at large, and to do less “evil”.
And so then you become aware, in order to reign the problem in and minimize it.
But as far as I can tell, what is rarely discussed openly is the question of if unconscious shadow projection could ever end up being a good thing?
It seems quite counterintuitive, doesn’t it, but could projecting your dark side outside of yourself ever have a desirable effect?
Nietzsche seems to say… YES.
And thus we return to the video I discussed in part 1:
Forget the title of the video for a moment and just listen to the content of what Nietzsche is actually saying here from “The Gay Science”, to get the general principle, or read below:
The Desire for Suffering.
When I think of the desire to do something, how it continually tickles and stimulates millions of young Europeans, who cannot endure themselves and all their ennui,-
I conceive that there must be a desire in them to suffer something, in order to derive from the suffering a worthy motive for acting, for doing something.
Distress is necessary!
Hence the cry of the politicians, hence the many false, trumped-up, exaggerated "states of distress" of all possible kinds, and the blind readiness to believe in them.
This young world desires that there should arrive or appear from the outside - not happiness - but misfortune; and their imagination is already busy beforehand to form a monster out of it,
so that they may afterwards be able to fight with a monster.
If these distress-seekers felt the power to benefit themselves, to do something for themselves from internal sources, they would also understand how to create a distress of their own, specially their own, from internal sources. Their inventions might then be more refined, and their gratifications might sound like good music.
while at present they fill the world with their cries of distress, and consequently too often with the feeling of distress in the first place! They do not know what to make of themselves - and so they paint the misfortune of others on the wall; they always need others! And always again other others! - Pardon me, my friends, I have ventured to paint my happiness on the wall.
Nietzsche, “The Gay Science”
I have highlighted various parts of this quote to help the reader get the really important bits.
He talks about about how people have excessive “ennui”, which the dictionary defines as: “listlessness and dissatisfaction resulting from lack of interest; boredom.” (He also says later that people “don’t know what to make of themselves”)
And in this listless and bored state, a desire arises in people…
to suffer.
But this desire for suffering is not without a reason, ie: it isn’t pure masochism.
So why then?
People want suffering to arrive so that they can give themselves a really good excuse (with a good conscience) to do something. In other words, people secretly desire the permission that an emergency would grant (in their minds) to finally end their boredom and anxiety/listlessness.
The true logic behind people’s “ennui” is basically this:
“Dammit, if there’s no emergency coming over the hill on it’s own, well then, we’ll make one!”
Sound like anything familiar? Maybe covid times and warp speed and the whole debacle?
Essentially, people want to end their boredom by getting a monster to arrive, so that they can fight the great monster and become a super hero (just like I did as a child!), or at least end their boredom by watching others fight the demon for them. You see, this is a very basic and fundamental aspect of human psychology (however child-like, it is very common), and Nietzsche is essentially saying here that there is nothing wrong with that fundamental part of ourselves, that is, the part that wants to create monsters so that we can fight them.
Yes, he’s saying there’s nothing wrong with shadow projection in this sense! Projecting a monster so that you can fight the monster, in certain sense, could actually be construed as a healthy thing…
Indeed, as a child, in the backyard we would imagine a world full of dragons and demons (ie, trees, lol) where we would fight those dragons and then see them descend back to the “hell from whence they came”. Our imagine would run wild, and we would feel stronger as children by going through this process of seeing the demons rise and then fall.
But of course, as you grow up, you can’t do that forever.
So what to do then?
Well, some people get into MMA (UFC), and have you noticed that people who regularly fight with others in a ring tend to be less histrionic politically speaking, and it is usually those who keep themselves “safe” from such confrontation who are the more histrionic?
But I myself was less drawn to cage fighting, but I did have something similar…
Heavy Metal (and other healthy shadow projections)
I always felt that there was something purging and purifying about listening to heavy metal, and lo and behold, I was right. Indeed, science is proving it more and more:
If you are an angry person (and there’s nothing wrong with that fundamentally), heavy metal is a beautiful and healthy form of “shadow projection”.
You see, just like these “substackers against nazis”, who, as Nietzsche explains, are…
“…painting the misfortunes of others on the wall”
…because they don’t understand themselves and their own boredom and listlessness…
But SO ALSO are metalheads (myself included) projecting their own demons (shadow projection) on the wall through their loud music and concerts and aggression and mosh pits, etc.
BUT… there is one big difference between these two types of shadow projection.
For the “substackers against nazis”, this is what, as Nietzsche explained (see quote above), they do:
they “fill the world with their cries of distress”
and they “consequently [fill the world] too often with the feeling of distress in the first place!”
But for metalheads (or MMA fighters or other similar people), this is what they are doing with their shadow projection:
they “feel the power to benefit themselves, to do something for themselves from internal sources, they…create a distress of their own, specially their own, from internal sources.”
and thus “their inventions {are} more refined, and their gratifications…sound like good music.
In other words, one shadow projection is coming from a weaker place (like “substackers against nazis”), while the other shadow projection is coming from a healthier place.
And instead of filling the whole world with anxiety (like how people did during covid, or how the anti-nazis want to fill all of substack with anxiety), metalheads or MMA fighters “benefit themselves from their own internal sources” by projecting their own shadows in a CONTAINED MANNER, isolated to their own “arena” of battle or concerts. In these contained areas, shadow projection reigns supreme, and all you have to do is go to a moshpit to see all manner of beautiful monsters raging at each other and pushing each other around.
And what do these people do after they are done raging and shadow projecting? Well they are typically alot more chill… and for someone like me particularly, if I was raging hard enough, I would probably just want to sleep…
Lol.
You see, I would call this (generally speaking) healthy shadow projection.
While the “substackers against nazis” are of a type of shadow projection that fills the world (and substack) with anxiety, and they don’t feel any sense of satisfaction until their “monster” (ie nazis) are removed from wherever they are fighting them.
So one manifestation is healthy (generally), and the other is very unhealthy (generally), but the fundamental phenomenon of feeling the need to “shadow project”, is according to Nietzsche (and from my experience also),
not a bad thing.
Brothers in War
But there is one other benefit of “shadow projection”, why people often seek out monsters… and it is actually very simple…
loneliness.
People want comrades and connections, and if they don’t share a common religion or culture, they will sometimes seek out a common enemy to fight against, because with combat and struggle, comes a level of brotherhood that doesn’t always seem possible in our atomized “capitalistic” society.
But the reason that many liberals make themselves “anti-nazis” is also why many veterans sign up for war to begin with… for brotherhood:
And I should also point out that, in the same way that war creates a “band of brothers” often, so also heavy metal or MMA fighting can do the same thing, and so it is understandable why people, consciously or unconsciously, seek them out.
So what is my conclusion here?
The fundamental impulse to be an “anti-nazi” (ie: shadow project) is not fundamentally a “bad” thing per se, and we shouldn’t look at these people as “bad”.
In reality, they are doing what most of us have an impulse to do on some level or another, except they are doing it from a weaker place, where they cannot benefit themselves from “internal sources”… (as opposed to MMA fighters)
and so they inevitably (just like they did with covid):
“paint the misfortunes of others on the wall. They always need others… and other others…”
In order to not be controlled by these people, we need to properly understand the psychology, and sometimes, that means also understanding (and appreciating) our own psychology.
And maybe, along the way, we can gain an appreciation of the idea that not all “shadow projection” is bad, but that, in the same way that fire is put to use in a vehicle engine, maybe our dark side projection could also, if not just blunted, actually be put to use for something positive…
And speaking of villains, come join me on a journey through the context and background of the Bible:
This is perhaps why I now identify more strongly with Solzhenitsyn's quote: "The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart -- and through all human hearts."
It also better echoes verses like Ephesians 6:12 : "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."
How much easier life is when evil is out there somewhere (gestures vaguely), in some flesh and blood body we could destroy at minimal cost to ourselves, than when it is ensconced in our own society, in our team where we risk friendships and social support, or in high places that can exact a terrible price for our refusal to go along, or God forbid, in ourselves.
It's why I love that my church prays at most service for forgiveness of sinners "of whom I am first". I'm probably not literally the worst sinner God has met, but it's better to put myself in that mindset of putting my own sinfulness at the top of the spiritual to-do list.