Of Course He’s Crazy – And No, That Doesn’t Matter
News outlets have been rumbling in the past few days with their latest headlines:
Americans Question Putin’s Mental Health
The Russian People Question Putin’s Mental Health
Putin’s Own Government Officials Question His Mental Health
Look, folks. I can make this super easy on you all. The man is batshit crazy. Why is this even a question? All evidence continually points to that fact.
You all have missed the point, entirely.
The question we should be asking is: Why do we keep placing egomaniacal, war-mongering, racist, lying, violent men in positions of power and then enabling them while they’re there?
I live in a rural, Christian, heteronormative, Republican neighborhood in the Pacific Northwest. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this region, you might be surprised to know that most of it is like this. The only reason these states are blue is because of the density of Democrats in major urban areas that outweigh the rest of the region’s population.
So if you lean left, live in this area of the country, and don’t want to live in a major urban area, you’ll likely find yourself right here in one of these neighborhoods like mine.
The people on my street are all about “family values” and “freedom,” they tell me when they stop at the mailbox near my garden to talk to me while I’m doing yardwork.
They stop to tell me this because they don’t seem to much like my garden. It’s where their kids used to ride their dirt bikes. It’s where they used to come to run their dogs.
“You don’t seem to like kids or dogs,” one of them mentioned coldly as he stood in front me, his hands on his hips.
I’m not sure why he thinks that, as we had never spoken before. Oh, right. I’m single and childless. I’m the only woman who lives alone on this street.
I must hate children and dogs.
In this family-friendly neighborhood where everyone is supposed to have a child and lend their property to the neighborhood children for their dirt biking adventures, there’s a glaring dissonance that I witness when I see the FUCK BIDEN signs and flags on several of the properties.
FUCK? Right there for all these neighborhood children to see? What do they say, I wonder, when their kids ask, “What’s that word mean, daddy?” What do the older kids think about displaying the f-word in bold fonts for all the world to see? Cool? So long as we’re targeting the right people with it?
Be a good Christian. That’s what this neighborhood is all about.
Apparently, Jesus is okay with aggressive profanities – even in front of the children.
But in all seriousness, why are we working so hard to teach the children of this Christian, family-friendly neighborhood that it’s okay to see and use the f-word in certain circumstances? Well, to protect the man who was wronged by the person named on these signs and flags, of course.
Another man who is absolutely, inarguably off his rocker.
Though, don’t worry. That didn’t stop him from holding one of the highest positions of power in the entire world for four years, nor will it stop him, apparently, from pursuing that yet again in the all too near future.
Do you remember what you learned about Henry VIII? Doesn’t matter if you’re not from the United Kingdom – if there’s one British king the whole world knows, it’s him.
I learned that he was powerful and that he changed the course of British history.
Yes, all true. He, as is typical of men holding positions of absolute power, used that power to the fullest. So yeah. Powerful.
And did he change the course of British history? Yes. But why? Because he didn’t produce a male heir with his first wife and therefore decided to change every single rule and institution in order to acquire one.
How interesting that we don’t much remember the trail of blood that was left in his wake. Or that we only make passing jokes about the wives he had beheaded. They were just women, after all. Totally dispensable.
When it comes to his mental state, people who know his history will be quick to say that he didn’t develop mental health issues until later in life. He was perfectly healthy and mentally sound in his youth, up to and including the stage in his life in which he completely rewrote the religious doctrine and protocol of the time in order to allow him to get rid of his first wife, take on a new one, and later execute her when she stopped being useful to him.
Those decisions were made with a sound mind.
Isn’t that a little problematic?
How do we define mentally stable people in this culture? No, let me rephrase that. How do we define mentally stable men in this culture? (Because let’s be clear, those definitions are wildly different depending on your gender.)
A mentally stable man demonstrates qualities like:
strength
implacability
decisiveness (especially decisiveness that doesn’t take into account advisement from educated peers)
aggressive behavior
certainty
ability to value others only in relation to their current usefulness
This is particularly true when it comes to men in positions of power: CEOs, presidents, evangelical pastors, senators…hell, even heads of households, in some cases.
Again, to bring home an earlier point, these behaviors would be frowned upon, and in some cases, considered irrational and crazy in women. Just sayin’.
But back to the mentally stable men who are in charge of the entire world.
Does it really matter who is mentally stable or not? What we actually prize in male leaders is what our patriarchal, white supremacist hierarchy has created. It’s an archetype. A phantom structure. A faceless institution.
We invite men into that space, to wear that suit, to perform those duties. Because that is what the hierarchy tells us is good and right.
The problem isn’t that the men who put this suit on are crazy. The problem is that the whole system is deranged.
As the question about certain world leaders’ mental health continues to circulate, another rises eerily in its wake.
How far will he go?
How far? Don’t we know the answer to that, already?
Far enough to kill thousands of innocent people. Far enough to ignore sanctions that will cripple his – and ultimately the world’s – economy. Far enough to be willing to ostracize himself and his country in the face of nearly worldwide condemnation.
Far enough to incite hate crimes and openly spread racist propaganda. Far enough to use his position as a means to erase evidence of his crimes. Far enough to try to invalidate a lawful election and then to attempt to violently overthrow the government when that didn’t work.
Far enough to rewrite laws and long-standing traditions in order to gain access to absolute power. Far enough to treat his wives as nothing more than potential vessels for his heirs. Far enough to put some of them to death when their usefulness had worn out.
Oh, sorry. I mixed up a few of them there.
But really, isn’t it obvious after all this time how far he will go?
The hierarchy demands to be fed. And we always give it what it wants.
What would it be like if we didn’t live under the oppressive grip of a dominator system? If we didn’t promote, cultivate, and protect dominators, and then carefully step around them and attempt to mitigate the damage they inflict while they’re doing what they were put in power to do?
When will we finally understand that it’s not they who are crazy, but the system that we so passionately uphold?
These questions that we’re asking about Putin are simply the evidence of the failure and futility of this system. Because, yes, like so many others, he is not equipped to be in a position of such power.
The equation of a dominator system {plus} men like him {plus} power will always {equal} death and destruction. The laws of math are simple and straightforward, which means this equation will never render any other sum no matter how many times we calculate it.
If we want a different answer, a different outcome, then we have to change the equation altogether. We have to start asking a different set of questions.
And we can start with: Are we even willing to do that?
I have to wonder. Because we’ve already asked whether or not this man or that man was mentally stable. Century after century, we have this debate. And ultimately, the answer seems to be:
No he’s not, but we don’t give a damn.
