Scott Brown’s Solution

While PsychePolitics uncovers the unconscious difference between the major U.S. parties as gender identification and gender values, Scott Brown has had a chance to deal quite consciously with gender differences.

The matter occurred several weeks ago. Brown was told his likely Democratic opponent, Elizabeth Warren, had made a comment about him, something like, “Well, at least I didn’t take my clothes off to get through college.” This referred to  Brown, whose good looks gained him some college tuition, when he posed nude in a magazine.

Brown’s response was a very male, “Thank God.” It’s male, because males respond to aggression with aggression. They are comfortable with it, and learn at a young age how to deal with it. His quick retort is a male hit, a homer, a winner. He puts down a clearly aggressive bean ball comment, unrelated to what it takes to be a Senator, with a homer.

Unfortunately for Brown, not all listeners or voters are men. Women also heard the retort, and so did the Democrats, who unconsciously portray the role of Mom of 50 years ago (see an upcoming post on this). Anyway, women and Democrats alike jumped on him for his aggression, especially aggression to a woman.

Men learned this as boys, of course. You don’t hit a girl, even if she hits you first. After all, she really can’t hurt you.

Of course, girls learn to deal with aggression, too. They do it with words, not fists. So, why were words something Brown got slammed for, at least slammed by the Democrats and women? Remember, if there is anything a politician does not want to do is leave himself or herself open to criticism, especially slamming.

Well, certainly one’s opponents will jump on anything they can, turn a response to aggression into pure aggression, whatever. That’s part of politics and done by all parties.

However, there is an additional component here. The Democrats, with unconscious female identities and values, find aggression distasteful, even anxiety provoking. Remember, women were girls, told by Moms that boys play rough. Boys are bigger, stronger, etc. There is appropriate fear instilled in girls about male  aggression that is carried into adulthood, womanhood.

So, Brown’s come-back did not just counter aggression leveled at him. It created fear, anxiety, some uncomfortableness in the Democrats and women. It challenged the female value of non-aggression. Of course, not all females share that value, not in the least, especially in modern Western culture. But that’s the reality. We’re talking here about the unconscious, where reality is defined differently, more like the reality of a two or three year old, when lots of what is in our unconscious minds began.

So, what is a guy to do? What is a boy to do? What is a male or non-Democratic candidate to do? Basically, what’s the solution?

Here it is: Instead of answering aggression with aggression, one must answer aggression with nothing more and nothing less than pointing out the aggression. An example might be, “Now, that’s an aggressive statement.” Or, “You’re being aggressive there.” Of course one could twist the dagger with something like, “You wouldn’t like it, if someone tried to make an aggressive, unflattering comment about you, would you?”

Now, for a man, or a Republican woman, this sounds like complaining, something inconsistent with their values. Even more, a man complaining about a woman’s aggression sounds even coward-like. However, what pointing out aggression to a woman or a Democratic male does is confront them with something they devalue: aggression. It says: You are bad. You are not true to your own values, of political correctness/civility/world peacefulness. In this way, Brown could drive a dagger into Warren’s heart, or at least get her to stop making political hay out of his irrelevant past.

While Brown might lose some esteem in the male/Republican arena, at least he’ll have struck fear into his opponent’s heart, fear she’ll be called uncaring/impolite/politically incorrect, etc. She and those who would do this in the future would be on notice of the repercussions.

By the way, the same goes for the embedded attacks Barack Obama made so successfully in 2008, though there are additional ways to confront them. More  to come.