Projection is displacing one’s feelings and actions onto another person. It cost Magill her job at Penn because nobody made others aware of Stefanik’s background with her university which was Harvard.
Usually, I see various levels of projection when I am counseling someone else. It varies in degree, but when it manifests in an extreme way it can become dangerous.
Let me give you some examples as a lead up to Stefanik. The Roman Catholic Church spent years covering up the sexual abuse of their clergy where the clergy projected the tension of the sexual purity on to children in their care. The priests were paragons of virtue with sexual desires that ended in acts of abuse. Projection.
The Sothern Baptist clergy had a similar problem where their clergy were involved in the same kind of projection of clergy desires onto the people in their congregations. The clergy were not removed, they were, as was true in the Roman Catholic Church, moved to other congregations without appropriate monitoring. They repeated their crimes. Projection.
Remember the group, Moms for Liberty, who were investigating books and curriculum so that inappropriate sexual content would not be present. The Pennsylvania Chapter of the conservative group split from the organization over the national leadership’s response to rape allegations against a co-founder’s husband.
“According to a search warrant, a woman who had known the Zieglers for 20 years reported to the police that Christian Ziegler sexually assaulted her at her apartment on October 2. Bridget Ziegler told detectives that she and her husband had a consensual three-way sexual encounter with the woman last year. Christian Ziegler is the Florida Republican Party Chairman. He made a presentation at the Moms for Liberty national summit in July. His address was to warn of the sexual immorality in our nation particularly in books and curriculum.” He didn’t mention his three-way sexual escapades or that he may be accused of rape because it was before the actual crime was reported. Projection.
Now to Elise Stefanik written about in a January 12, 2021 article titled, IOP Removes U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik ’06 From Senior Advisory Committee. “U.S. Representative Elise M. Stefanik (R-N.Y.) was removed from the Institute of Politics Senior Advisory Committee Tuesday morning. Harvard Kennedy School Dean Douglas W. Elmendorf announced in a letter sent to members of the committee.
“The decision comes after hundreds of Harvard affiliates circulated a petition last week calling on the IOP to sever ties with Stefanik for ‘improperly challenging the certification of President elect Biden’s electoral college win and enabling violence in Wednesday’s riot in Washington D.C. that left five people dead.”
“We are very thankful that we can say that no insurrectionist will be held up as a role model at the IOP.” Stefanik refused to step aside, and was essentially fired.
Stefanik responded in part, “The Ivory Tower’s march toward a monoculture of like-minded, intolerant liberal views demonstrates the sneering disdain for everyday Americans and will instill fear for students who will understand that a conservative viewpoint will not be tolerated and WILL BE SILENCED.”
Recall that one of the Republican talking points is Cancel Culture where people or events are canceled without regard for the facts. Stefanik, in effect, cancelled Magill and indicated “one down, two to go.” She was referring to the Presidents of Harvard and MIT. Projection.
What was the seed for Stefanik’s unethical behavior? If I had her in counseling it would not take long to see that it was her unresolved anger toward her firing at Harvard. If they can fire me, watch what I will do to them. Projection.
Projection becomes dangerous because of its cause. If someone does not acknowledge their anger, it grows exponentially. You can push down an event that hurts you or angers you to the point that the original anger becomes ten-fold and dangerous. Projection is seen in those who are quick to blame. We saw this in Stefanik. She was interested in revenge not in understanding the issue. Projection is also characterized by people who can’t stand in another’s shoes particularly those who represent the source of their anger. It’s called empathy. Did you actually see Stefanik’s face during her questioning. Revenge.
My anger is that this is counseling 101 stuff. How come someone didn’t see this for what it was which is projection and revenge on Stefanik’s part? One terrific person’s life sacrificed on the altar of projection and revenge that is obvious and people couldn’t name it and put Stefanik in her place as the Harvard committee did. 30 seconds of a person trying to help others see that actions speak louder than words in an exchange with Stefanik. It had nothing to do with the fact that Magill would be the first to say “Genocide for Jews” is evil! She would have gotten to that endpoint if she was allowed to speak first of the nuance of where words become actions of hate which an academic would do. It’s called context and then you can deal with a yes or no answer.
Penn, this is not your finest hour!
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