Profile of a deeply divisive defence mechanism in our democracy today

The hoi polloi have waged psychological warfare online – hat in hand, a PDA in the other – ever since the shock arrest

The curious case of an ex chief executive’s indictment has brought on a battery of psychiatric symptoms among denizens of the Demotic Social-media Republic of Sri Lanka. ‘Demotic’ in the sense of the common people and ‘Social-media’ is self-explanatory. The hoi polloi have waged psychological warfare online – hat in hand, a PDA in the other – ever since the shock arrest.

Far more interesting to followers of social studies is the plethora of symptoms suggesting that there is something rotten in the web-side state of Denmark other than the political milieu we presently muddle through. The issue is mostly of the defence mechanism type. It was defined by the father of psychoanalysis Prof. Sigmund Freud as an unconscious psychological strategy used by the ego to manage internal conflict and reduce anxiety by distorting or denying reality. And the concept was refined by his equally influential protégé Dr. Carl Jung as unconscious ways individuals avoid confronting distressing or disruptive material from their subconscious, such as instinctual urges, to protect the conscious mind.

And suffice it to say that as with the heart, which has its reasons of which reason knows nothing, so with matters of the mind... If you don’t mind too much that the propaganda wars on the internet in our fair to middling neck of the cosmic woods are mediocre at best and mindful of Machiavellianism at worst, it doesn’t matter too much in the larger scheme of universal things.

But read on ye brave for a sharp, short insight – intuition is a brief madness – into the mindsets of our armchair warriors, sofa-side social commentators and sundry citizens of a sunny isle clouded over for the nonce by a deeply divisive issue. 

ACTING OUT (behaving contrary to what one truly feels or thinks to hide the truth): Query: “Surely you are not suggesting that doing one’s job (he signed up to ‘save’ the country) entitles one to a free pass to abuse laws and regulations and raid the Treasury for personal gain?” Reply: “Since you are a friend of [the owner of the original post], I won’t get into an argument with you.”

ALTRUISM (being particularly helpful to opponents to neutralise their argument): 

“Bail should have been granted at the outset. However, he has not been exonerated. Let the justice system play out without interference.”

“Certainly, the justice system should work independently. Based on what evidence you have seen, do you say bail should have been granted at the outset?”

“No flight risk. There’s no need to humiliate.”

“No flight risk, that’s it? Do you even know what the prosecution presented and the defence’s argument for bail?”

“Tell me all about it.”

“No speculation from me. On what basis did you conclude no flight risk? This is someone who travelled overseas on 22 occasions from 2022 – 2024.”

“He always came back. RW knows that with the life he is accustomed to leading he cannot survive overseas. Give the man his due; unlike the Poxes, there is no indication that he has spirited away millions overseas. Allow him to preside over his Colombo 7 cronies, commune with his RC buddies, preside over the RoyTho tents, and let them all wallow in the sorrows until he is held to account by the courts.”

“Ha ha why not if you say so.”

ANTICIPATION (foreseeing potential problems before they occur to prepare support): “This could well turn out to be a dangerous precedent that even the incumbent(s) may find hard to steer clear of... if and when similar questions are raised in the months and years ahead.”

AVOIDANCE COPING (avoiding stresses by avoiding stressors): “Let’s then go backwards to the ugliest events of the past – and forget about all else that ails this country we dearly love!”

COMPENSATION (over-achievement in one area to make up for failure in another): “The speed at which Ranil together with the Governor of the Central Bank was able to extricate Sri Lanka from the depths it fell [sic] economically, seems to have been forgotten at the same speed.” 

CONVERSION (anxious un-dealt-with feelings are converted into physical ailments): “I am not worried about him in prison. I am scared about the hatred. Reading comments make me feel so sick about this hatred. Where are we heading? I am so scared.”

DENIAL (avoiding anxiety by ignoring the reality of the situation): “I don’t know all the specifics of the case. It was just my opinion. But I still think that there are more pressing matters to be investigated in the country.”

DISPLACEMENT (redirecting impulses to a less threatening place): “It was all a scam! They have no case!”

DISSOCIATION (mild emotional detachment to severe mental disconnect to stay sane): In response to the comment below: “I wish that can be told for the many Aragalaya activists who Ranil used and abused the Public Property Act and the PTA to put in remand for many, many months.”

FANTASY (retreating into the imagination to deflate tension): Statement: “Bail. Justice served.” Response: “Justice?” Reply: “Yep.”

HUMOUR (decreasing anxiety by highlighting the funny or ironic): “It’s the same as Barack and Michelle Obama using Air Force One to go on a date night. Or Modi using an Indian Air Force helicopter to visit his mother.”

IDENTIFICATION (adopting behaviours and values of persons who have power over us): “We are pretty much on the same page.” This, in response to: “There are other more blatant crimes to be investigated and punished if you are looking to make a change. This seems to be making the point that no one is above the law. And this case became low-hanging fruit.”

INTELLECTUALISATION (using facts, logic and reason to dismiss uncomfortable feelings): “Why should we worry if any current leaders are punished for misdemeanour in future? Celebrate at last we are making politicians accountable!” This, in response to: “Hatred seems to be the name of the game in our not so sunny isle. Meanwhile, the man who saved us from those long queues (that many of our friends seem to have forgotten) is now in ICU.”

INTROJECTION (internalising the beliefs and perspectives of others to feel safer): “When a ruling party minister acknowledges that this episode was over a ‘minor allegation’ it isn’t surprising that so many people feel this way.”

ISOLATION (compartmentalising anxious feelings from the ideas articulated): “That is what all the whining we have heard the last few days is all about... not really the love for Ranil, but self-preservation of the rest, who are fearing that the noose of the law [may be] tightening around they [sic] necks.”

PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOUR (indirect expression of anger through socially acceptable modes of action or communication): “Some Aragalaya activists were hauled up during Ranil’s tenure under the Public Property Ordinance for damaging the tar on the road in front of the Prime Minister’s office.”

PROJECTION (attributing unacceptable feelings and thoughts to another person): “So your take is that what’s good for the goose is not good for the gander... when the goose is RW.” This, in response to: “If finally Ranil can be touched, no one else in the political sphere is safe.”

RATIONALISATION (cognitive distortion of the facts to make events less threatening): “Misappropriation of public funds can happen on an official or private tour... i.e. lavish over-expenditure well above expected thresholds, without due diligence to taxpayers’ money – for food, accommodation, entertainment, etc., for self and entourage. Without all the facts, it’s just random speculation and irrelevant comparison.”

REGRESSION (reverting to an earlier stage of social, emotional or behavioural development): Statement: “I meant the can of worms this episode has opened.” Response: “Yes I know but that can has been opened and shut many times... for years if not decades, noh?”

REPRESSION (keeping threatening feelings from becoming conscious thoughts): “It’s been going on for years so it is best we all move on – the cost of the most recent disruption may well exceed the claims that are being made if one were to factor in time costs, legal costs, and most of all the reputational cost at a time we need offshore investors. Just my take – I may well be wrong.”

SPLITTING (seeing everything in black and white and being unable to integrate polarities): A response to a thread in which this defence mechanism was evident: “This charge of misuse of state funds in my opinion falls very clearly into a grey area in terms of demands of the job vs. needs of the person.” Another: “I saw a comment earlier today suggesting that public officials switch between their official vehicles and Uber depending on whether their next move is ‘public’ or ‘private’! A can of worms this is.”

SUBLIMATION: (channelling negative impulses into productive behaviour): “All such matters are important, and investigations and proceedings have to start somewhere. Particularly start with the cases the Attorney General’s office (if that’s the right area) is confident that there is enough evidence to an allegation to charge someone.”

SUPPRESSION (choosing to ignore unpleasant sensations for the sake of peace of mind or sanity): “They [WRT to that above – investigations and proceedings] should not be subject to public’s feelings about grey areas, or how important an office the alleged offender/s held in the past.”

REACTION FORMATION (reacting opposite to the way one is truly feeling): “RW is bailed. However our society has refused the bail and embraced the self-imprisonment. Sad situ.”

An end note

Dear reader, all of this above is not merely a tongue-in-cheek idyll to while away the time that would have passed anyway. But rather, an amateur shrink’s attempt to offer himself and his interlocutors no smidgen or iota of therapy in times when the healing touch is needed most...

Hopefully, the pathos – as such if any you may find in it as found on these social media threads – will defray the greater cost if you were to undertake ‘the talking cure’... whether on Facebook or face-to-face with an FRCPsych.

Let the sun shine again on our corner of a sultry southern summer. Not least because the solar orb is directly overhead until the 7th of September; but in order that a gentle knowing smile replace all those frowns, tears, lowered eyebrows and furrowed foreheads on social media these days... 

(Editor-at-large of LMD | Psych-major diplomate * Post-graduate diploma in politics and governance)