THE SYNDROME OF THE OPPRESSED

I like Psychology very much, especially because it suggests explanations of certain phenomena in the field of human behavior that would be simply irrational otherwise. In watching the Republican presidential debate hosted by the Spanish language television network Univision yesterday afternoon, I kept on thinking about it.

To watch members of the so called “Hispanic community” booing Castro or Chavez´s references during the debate was something kind of expected, as the event was held in Miami (the Cuban element) but, to see them enthusiastically applauding the Republican notion of taking a harder line on illegal immigration or that of maintaining the troops in Iraq (or even escalating them), was something that definitely deserves an explanation more than a simple sensation of astonishment.

I am not a psychologist nor feel I capable of producing such explanation but somehow I feel it has to do with that psychological response sometimes seen in victims of violence who end up showing signs of loyalty to their victimizers or sometimes reproducing their mindset and in some extreme cases, even worshiping it.