Was Cutting Off a White Man's Penis a Color-Aroused Crime?

Dear African-American Opinion:

Thank you for using the phrase "color arousal" in your article entitled, "The Channon Christian-Christopher Newsome Murders," and thank you for linking to the American Journal of Color Arousal (AMJCA)! You asked, "Is this a case of color arousal that caused acts of violence?" (Emphasis added.)

Cutting of of a penis ("castration") was an act typical of whites lynching Blacks at one time. It's possible, (although I have no more evidence), that these Blacks were lynching that white man metaphorically. Without trying to justify their behavior, we have to ask ourselves what could aroused Black men and women to be angry enough to do such a thing? Hmmmm. I'll bet many Black readers will have some opinions about that.

What is clear is that they WERE expressing anger by their behavior, and perhaps many other unseen emotions as well. The skin-color of the alleged perpetrators and the victims makes us want to at least explore the possibility that Extreme Color-Aroused Disorder is implicated here, a mental disorder wherein sufferers have such extreme ideation and emotion about their own skin-color and that of others that these thoughts and feelings can become manifest in extreme color-aroused behaviors, including acts of violent verbal abuse and physical violence. (Depending on the individual and social position, ECA may also be manifested in "avoidance" (segregation); depression; self-cutting (Michael Jackson's self-destructive facial surgery); and many of self-and-other-destructive-behaviors.)

It is said that these were "innocent victims," but to the person with the mental illness of Extreme Color-Aroused Disorder, all people of a certain color (even the perpetrator's own color group) can become merely representatives of their color-group rather than individual human beings. So, when the ECA perpetrator acts, he may pick victims, even strangers, "randomly". But the choice really IS NOT random, because the skin color of the victim is determined by the nature of the ECA perpetrator's ECA ideation and emotion symptoms established and ECA behavior patterns.

I Am Sometimes Somewhat Color-Aroused

I Am Sometimes Somewhat Color-Aroused



Cross-posted at the Francis L. Holland Blog and MyLeftWing

I am, at certain times and under certain circumstances, skin-color aroused. I offer myself and the facts of my case NOT as a perfect example of how to cope with color-arousal but rather as evidence that color-arousal exists and, perhaps, to offer some clues as to what can be done about it in cases where it becomes problematic.

Some people insist that they are “color blind” “or do not see color.” When someone says this to me, I ask them to tell me what color their car and house are. If they say, “my car is red and my house is green,” then I ask them how they know that. If they tell me, “I have eyes, I can see,” then I have learned two things about that person: (1) The person is NOT color-blind, because if they were they would not be able to perceive the color of their car and house and (2) the person is a “liar.” They misstate facts about their own biology “color-blindness” for the purpose of creating a false impression or maintaining a false self-image of themselves.

As a matter of biology, a person who is truly color-blind cannot perceive the difference between hues of red and green and yellow. But two colors they CAN clearly distinguish between are black and white. People who cannot distinguish between black and white are not “color-blind.” They are simply “blind” and can see nothing at all. The concept of “color-blindness” as to skin color is part of the fantasy world of color-aroused ideation (I can’t see color) and behavior (lying) in which too many of us spend too much of our time.

The biology of our natural world depends upon the existence of color in so many ways that to deny the existence of color, or to endeavor literally not to perceive color is a symptom of insanity. Colors tell us whether a tomato is ripe enough to eat or unripe enough to give us a severe stomach ache. Colors help us to distinguish between a harmless fly and a bee whose sting could cause a painful welt or even a fatal allergic reaction. We cannot dispense with the perception of color and it is not necessary to do so.

Although bees are yellow, most of us are sufficiently sophisticated in our perception and observation that we are able to distinguish dangerous yellow bees from harmless yellow butterflies. Even when the colors are virtually identical other cues enable us to distinguish between these insects. But, we are only able to make this distinction if we do not generalize about the harmfulness of a “color,” engaging instead in a more close observation and analysis of other characteristics in addition to color. A person who has a generalized fear of everything that is little and yellow has a “phobia.” Phobias can be mentally disabling if they are sufficiently pervasive and extreme.

As I said above, I am aroused by skin-color. When I perceive my own skin-color and that of others, I am aroused to ideation (thoughts) and emotions (fear, anger, envy, jealousy, hate, sadness, mirth, etc.) and this ideation and emotion sometimes become manifest in my outward behavior. Although I experience color arousal and I sometimes observe it in others, I cannot tell you what THE symptoms are of color-arousal. As with any inquiry into a person’s mental functioning, only interviews with the individual, a review of the individual’s history and close observation can lead to an understanding of that person’s ideation, emotion and behavior.

Were this not so, we could simply refer to a textbook to learn the stereotypical symptoms of a medical condition and dispense with all doctor-patient interviews. Physicians would have no need to talk to, observe or tests individuals at all if all symptoms could be understood stereotypically, with reference to one comprehensive and unchanging universal list. Instead, in medicine, diagnosis starts with the individual "signs" (what the patient describes) and "symptoms" (what the doctor observes) and works outward, rather than starting with a definition and working inward.

As I said, I cannot tell you what THE symptoms of color-arousal are. The symptoms are as varied as there are people and skin-colors. What conceptually makes the symptoms similar across various individual cases is only that the the symptoms include ideation, emotion and behavior that are aroused by the perception color of one’s own skin and/or the color of others’ skin.

For example, when I see a white man walking with a Black woman, I sometimes am aroused to have specific ideation that leads to peculiar emotion and behavior. My ideation is that “that white man ought not to be walking with that beautiful Black woman. Why don’t I have a Black woman as beautiful as she? This is terribly unfair!”

I am NOT reporting this as “model ideation” or as “universal ideation.” I am reporting it merely as MY ideation at some times and under certain circumstances, for the purpose of offering ONE example of color-aroused ideation. However, from discussions with other Black people, I know that there are other people who are sometimes aroused to this ideation by this particular stimulus or cue. Black Woman Struggles with Color-Aroused Emotion, Ideation and Behavior, with a Bi-Chromatic Couple Cue

Is my color-arousal "benign," "mild," "moderate" or "extreme" in this case? Don't you need to know how and whether I act upon my ideation and emotions in order to form an opinion about that?

Consider the case of woman I interviewed whom I will refer to here as "America." "America" says,

"When I see them, [a bi-chromatic couple] my first thought is 'here we go again, another Black man lost to white woman.' Then my second thought is 'Why does this man feel that a Black woman is not good enough for him,' and then comes the anger and irritation." Black Woman Struggles with Color-Aroused Emotion, Ideation and Behavior, with a Bi-Chromatic Couple Cue

America experiences skin-color aroused ideation, thought and (if you read the case, you will discover) color-aroused problematic behavior.

Also see, Skin-Color, Urban Murder and Extreme Color-Aroused Disorder (ECA): "The Elephant That Wont Go Away"

Bi-chromatic couples are a stimulus that arouses that particular woman's color-aroused ideation, emotions and behavior. With color-arousal, we experience ideation (thoughts) and/or emotions and/or behavior in response to a “stimulus” or “cue” – skin-color.

It is crucial to distinguish between ideation and emotion on the one hand and behavior on the other hand. When I personally see bi-chromatic couples in public, I may comment upon it later to my wife, but I NEVER comment upon it or otherwise communicate by ideation or emotion or behavior to the actual couple. This is because my other ideation with respect to bi-chromatic couples includes a belief that they have a right to stroll with, date and marry whomever they want, no matter how I feel about it. I also believe that individuals ought not be confronted about their most personal lifestyle choices by strangers in public. I also know that confronting strangers in public is potentially dangerous and I wish to avoid those dangers.

So, there are aspects of my color-associated ideation that arouse me and other aspects of my color-aroused ideation that restrain me. I believe that this balance between arousal and restraint is an important difference between those who grumble over color-stimuli in their environment and those who eventually kill or maim others when aroused by skin-color stimuli. (See the cases of Douglas Williams and the woman I have called "America" below for examples of what can happen when individuals experience but fail to exercise control over their color-aroused ideation, emotion and behavior.)

Some people will conclude that because I am color-aroused, I am “racist.” If so, they will have missed the entire point of this discussion. Unfortunately, some people will miss the entire point here and so they will learn nothing at all, even if the read all of the words I have written. Particularly with respect to matters involving skin-color, such people show an overwhelming preference for simplicity, even to the extent of being unable to learn anything new at all. Their preference for simplicity in “calling-out” the perpetrators of “racism” actually mirrors the simplistic stereotypical thinking of the “racists” themselves.

In fact, the stereotypical and simplistic thinking of symptomatic of color-arousal often affects both those who are perpetrators of “racism” and those who say they vehemently oppose it. Their simplistic and reductive thinking itself is a symptom of color-aroused ideation, and this reductionism is almost inevitably manifested in their emotions and behavior.

When people say “you’re a racist,” they are demonstrating the preference for simplicity that mirrors the stereotypical thinking of the racist (“all Blacks or whites or Asians bad”). There is nothing simple at all about human ideation, emotion and behavior. It is inevitably complex, depending as it does upon personal history, learned thoughts and behavior, personal choice, present environment, circumstances, stress, etc.

Compare our thinking about “racism” to our thinking about another human behavior, for example, the behavior of the financial markets. To describe the financial markets, we have individual names for every “product,” “practice,” “movement” and “trend.” We have highly-paid consultants to work with individuals to help us understand this language and these concepts and to help us maximize our financial behavior and manage their “risk.” We speak about “bull” and “bear markets,” “fluctuations,” “balloons” and “risk adversity.” The vocabulary increases with the increasing complexity of our society and our understanding of financial concepts.

Meanwhile, to describe “racism” we have only one word: “racism.”

If we know very little about “racism” and find it impossible to discuss the topic usefully and meaningfully with each other, part of the reason is our insistence upon an infantile simplicity of our language.

Even toddlers may know the difference between a “horse” and a “pony”, a “cat” and a “kitten.” And yet we have no words in our vocabulary that would help us to readily distinguish between a “racist” who won’t see all-white films and a “racist” who drags strangers behind a pickup truck or rapes them because of their skin color. Are they really “all the same” or does our simplistic thinking on this point mirror the thinking of the racists themselves who say that “whites are all the same” or “Blacks are all the same”? Shouldn’t we have some words to distinguish between big “racists” and small ones? Otherwise, don’t we show ourselves to be even less sophisticated than our own children?

Are we really more simple-minded than even our children are? Personally, I believe there are some very important practical differences between people whose color-arousal is manifested most extremely in a choice to marry someone of their own skin color and, on the one hand, others whose color arousal is manifested most extremely in a choice to kill a stranger, unprovoked.

In emergency psychiatric medicine, “dangerousness” is one of the first characteristics of a patient that interests a psychiatrist working in an emergency room, and for obvious reasons. Don't Ignore D.L. Hughley's Symptoms of Extreme Color-Aroused Disorder (ECA)

If the patient is “a danger to himself and/or others” than that needs to be addressed before any other aspect of the patients condition can be. Will he attack the interviewing doctor? Will he jump out of a window or impetuously swallow medicines laying on a table nearby? One purpose of emergency psychiatry’s vocabulary and terminology is to help doctor and nurses determine these facts and convey them quickly and precisely to others. The bald words “racist” and “racism” simply offers no insight whatsoever into the “dangerousness” of any particular individual. Therefore, these words fails the most basic test of practical utility for helping us to avoid and prevent the dangers presented by people who have extreme color-aroused disorder (ECA).

I believe that it would be useful to expand our vocabulary beyond the word “racist” to describe and distinguish between these two behaviors. And we must certainly ask ourselves why our vocabulary for defining and describing the financial markets is so rich while our common vocabulary for describing color-arousal is composed of one single word. We must ask ourselves why we prefer it this way.

Let us discuss “dangerousness” in the context of color-arousal, using myself and my color-aroused ideation in response to bi-chromatic couples as an example along the spectrum of dangerousness in color-arousal. In Practice Guidelines for the Psychiatric Evaluation of Adults, the American Psychiatric Association says, in a paragraph entitled “MENTAL STATUS EXAMINATION,”

The purpose of the mental status examination is to obtain evidence of symptoms and signs of mental disorders, including dangerousness to self and others, that are present at the time of the interview. Further, evidence is obtained regarding the patient’s insight, judgment, and capacity for abstract reasoning to inform decisions about treatment strategy and the choice of an appropriate treatment setting. Thus, the mental status examination is a systematic collection of data based on observation of the patient’s behavior while the patient is in the psychiatrist’s view during, before, and after the interview. During the mental status examination, the patient might also mention past symptoms and signs, but these should be recorded under the history of the present illness.

Responses to specific questions are an important part of the mental status examination (71, 72), particularly in the assessment of cognition. Consequently, in recording the findings of the mental status examination, it is useful to include examples that illustrate the clinical observations. For example, it would be preferable to note that the patient exhibited poor judgment in precipitously attempting to remove his intravenous line rather than simply describing the patient’s judgment as impaired. Practice Guidelines for the Psychiatric Evaluation of Adults.

Practice guidelines are necessary precisely because “some are sicker than others.” While it should be readily apparent that some people who are color-aroused are also dangerous, it should be equally apparent that NOT all people who are color-aroused present an immediate risk of physical injury to themselves and others. CNN: Workplace Shooter Described as an “Angry” The case of Doug Williams, a white color-aroused worker in a Mississippi Martin Marietta plan, is a case in point:

MERIDIAN, Miss., July 9 “When he overheard a black man complimenting a white woman a couple of years ago on the factory floor, Doug Williams stepped up to the man and, using a racial slur, angrily told him blacks had no business being with blond women, witnesses recalled today.

When a black colleague complained last month that the white protective shoe-covering Mr. Williams was wearing on his head looked like a Ku Klux Klansman’s pointy hood, and his boss at the Lockheed Martin aircraft parts plant a few miles outside of Meridian told him to take the bootie off his head or go home, Mr. Williams went home, company officials said today.

On Monday, Mr. Williams, 48, told his father he was ticked off that he would have to attend an ethics and sensitivity training course the next morning, the authorities say. A few minutes after it began, Mr. Williams left the room, returned from his pickup truck armed to the teeth, and began blasting away at close range at people who had known him, and known of his quick temper and simmering hatred, for years.

In less than 10 minutes, the authorities said, five people were dead, including at least one who had been offended by the bootie stunt three weeks earlier. An additional nine were wounded, at least one trying to wrest a shotgun away from Mr. Williams, as he stalked through the plant floor, shooting at some people, letting others live, following no discernible pattern. WhitePrivilege.Com, CNN: Workplace Shooter Described as an “Angry,” CNN Transcripts

Although some people have called me a “racist” at MyLeftWing, all they really know about me is that (1) I write about issues of skin-color, (2) I support Hillary Clinton’s candidacy for president, (3) I object to all-white movie casts and prefer color-integrated movie casts, (3) I have participated at three majority white blog sites and been banned from two (4) the fondling of blonde hair in public reminds of me of the white male supremacy paradigm. Many of them have also observed that I engage in constant dialogue with white people, I refrain from swearing at white people and Black people even when they swear at me, and I am an immigration lawyer in retirement.

Are these the characteristic symptoms and personal history of someone who shoots his co-workers because of extreme color-arousal? Does it matter? If we don’t know, wouldn’t it be interesting to study this topic enough to find out?

Do the characteristics I have described in myself, when taken alone, make me "extremely" color-aroused? If so, what qualifying adjective should we use to describe Doug Williams (above) who shot his co-workers and then killed himself because of extreme color-arousal? If we call my known symptoms and his equally "extreme" then doesn't the word "extreme" lose all value as a descriptive adjective?

Clearly, because Doug Williams' ideation, emotion and behavior led to his murder/suicide, we must consider his behavior to be at the extreme end of the spectrum. But, in medicine, the words extreme and "severe" have meaning only in relation to the words "benign," "mild" and "moderate." The insistence that all color-arousal is equally extreme prevents us from distinguishing the color-arousal that is really extreme enough to require diagnosis and treatment. The insistence that all color-arousal is equally extreme banalizes the murder suicide of Doug Bowman and deters those who are less color-aroused than Doug Bowman from acknowledging their color arousal and seeing what they can do about it.

As for me and my case, is there any additional information that readers or psychiatrists would be needed to make a diagnosis of the level and degree of my color-arousal as compared to the level and degree of Doug Williams' color-arousal? Of course we need more information to achieve even a barely adequate understanding!

For example, isn’t there a practical difference among “bad drivers” between people who occasionally run yellow lights and people who habitually drive while drunk? If bad drivers and their behaviors were “all the same,” then why would we have different penalties for different infractions of motor vehicle laws? If we carefully distinguish between various kinds of “bad driving,” does it really help us to predict and prevent the consequences of color-arousal when we group every color-associated ideation, emotion and behavior into one undifferentiated “racist” mass?

People who are not interested in answering these questions or in studying the problem of color-arousal with this level of specificity really have no business “diagnosing” others with “racism” or any other mental illness. Simplistic thinking is not useful and it stands as a barrier to the real scientific inquiry that can lead the way toward prevention, screening, diagnosis and treatment of Extreme Color Aroused Disorder (ECA).

Skin-Color, Urban Murder and Extreme Color-Aroused Disorder (ECA): "The Elephant that Won't Go Away"

"The longer we ignore the truth behind the urban murder crisis, the longer the good guys will continue to lose." - Simone, Philly Confidential

Cross-posted at the Francis L. Holland Blog.

For quite some time, Field Negro has been focusing our attention of the fratricide among Black men (and women) in Philadelphia, urgently asking what can be done to keep us from killing each other. Can the AfroSpear Help Reduce Urban Violence?

I have urged that we look at Color-Aroused antagonism and violence (antagonism and violence that target people because of emotions, ideation and behavior associated with their color) and I have urged that we think of this, in extreme cases, as a symptom of a psychiatric condition, Extreme Color-Arousal (ECA).

Now, Field points us toward an article by Simone at PhillyConfidential, with alarming statistics. In "Race and Urban Murder--The Elephant That Wont Go Away," Simone reports:

"Do you think Philadelphia, as a whole, is in the midst of a homicide crisis?
We don't think so. If you live and work in either Center City; the Northeast; Chestnut Hill; or any safe comfortable area, and never venture into the 'hood nor pick up the Daily News, Philly is a beautiful happy place.

Out of the 406 murder victims in 2006, 72 percent were black men. Throw black women into mix and the number rose to 83 percent.

Since PC embarked onto the crime beat in October 2003, Philadelphia has lost over 1,000 black men to murder, according to police stats.

Insane, huh?

The longer we ignore the truth behind the urban murder crisis, the longer the good guys will continue to lose." PhillyConfidential

But others are afraid to look at this problem in this way, for fear that the Black community or members among us may be "stigmatized." They urge that other diagnoses besides Extreme Color-Aroused Emotion, Ideation and Behavior Disorder (ECEIBD/ECA) may be sufficient to understand, diagnose and treat problems such as the Black-on-Black murder epidemic in Philadelphia. For example, Bronze Trinity says,

"I think that we have to be careful in advocating that a pretty common reaction or behaviour is a mental illness that needs to be recognized . . . Many people have unusual behaviours but unless they significantly interfere with their quality of life then there is no need to diagnose them with a disorder. Unless the diagnosis helps the people to receive treatment they really need in order to function then its just a label that doesn't really do anything other than stigmatize the individual. Maybe some of this can be explained by other existing disorders or problems like xenophobia, low self-esteem, envy, depression, defeatism, anxiety, etc."

Doesn't 1000 dead Black men since 2003 "significantly interfere with their quality of life"? Wasn't the mental condition - the emotions, ideation and behavior - that each of these men had ultimately (and rapidly) fatal? Don't the statistics and other facts prove without question that skin-color is a determining factor in these Black men's choice of murder victim, overwhelmingly murdering Black men rather than others? And isn't this concentrated auto-murder process also literally "suicidal?"

Can we address the negative "self-esteem" of these homicidal/suicidal Black men without addressing their position in society relative to other Blacks and relative to whites, and the inherently color-associated reasons for their "low self-esteem" "depression" and "defeatism" without focusing on the emotions, ideation and behavior? If we don't focus on these factors, where else WILL we focus?

When they are dead, does it matter any longer that they are stigmatized? Isn't it true that the very manner of their death - fratricide - is inherently stigmatic to them and to all Black people?

In fact, many Blacks are colluding with whites to ignore the "The Elephant That Wont Go Away." We are so afraid of being "stigmatized" that we prefer to ignore the stigma it causes when we are seen to be killing each other on the nightly news. Like family members of the alcoholic who refuse to admit that one of our own has a serious problem, our embarrassment and denial are enabling the disease and increasing the likelihood that more of our brothers will die.

"Everyone uses denial. It is a normal subconscious way to carry out day to day activities without annoying interference. To illustrate; Stop for a minute and listen to the sounds around you. More than likely you will hear sounds that you were not aware of previously. If you listened to these sounds constantly you would probably get an overload of noise and may not be able to carry out your normal duties. But denial does not just occur. It grows over time and may be so deeply ingrained in the subconscious that it is no longer a decision to deny anything.

In the noise example from above; denial begins as simple avoidance and minimizing of noises around you. You build up a resistance, a second nature of denial of interfering noises by blocking out more and more. After awhile you are not aware that you are blocking out anything. Alcoholics are no different. They just block out another form of annoyance, the amount they drink and the effect of their drinking. And, again it starts out in small ways and builds over time. Unfortunately for alcoholics their denial is contributing to the damage done by alcohol." AlcoholSelfhelpNews

Carl C. Bell, M.D. psychiatrist with the American Psychiatric Association, points out that color-associated stigma is part of the reason why Black people have low self-esteem. In an article addressing why Black people prefer white dolls over Black ones, he says that we have essentially been trained by our environment to devalue people of our own color, learning low self-esteem over time, and learning to hold other regard other Black people as less valuable than white people. Why Some Black Children Are Still Choosing White Dolls Over Black Dolls

Might that help to explain why 86% of the 406 Black men and women killed in Philadelphia in 2006 were Black men and women? Black Trinity and many others, Black and white, say that it is too dangerous for us to ask this question because the answer might be "stigmatizing." That is exactly like saying that it is too dangerous to ask whether Dad's drunken driving and crack use are indications of addiction, because calling Dad an addict would stigmatize him. Dying in a gutter will stigmatize Dad too, AND extinguish any chances he had of ever receiving help for his disorder.

Many people say that Blacks cannot be "racist" because we lack the power to harm whites as they harm us. But, can we harbor such color-associated antagonisms toward each other that it "significantly interfere with their quality of life"? Is Racism a Psychiatric Condition? Despite our ideological and political motives for remaining in denial about this, the statistics say that our skin color predicts whom we will preferentially target. We call each other the "N" word and then we kill each other. If it were white people doing that, it would be the definition of "hate crime" and the epitome of "racism."

Unfortunately, many people, Black and white have come to the same conclusion: It is better to ignore the role of color-aroused emotions, ideation and behavior in the deaths of almost 400 Black people in one city during one single year. Those 400 Black people needn't worry about stigma, because now they're dead. This year, another 400 will follow them into the grave, stigmatized by fratricide, but not by psychiatry.

The American Psychiatric Association's Position Statement and others who study "pathological bias" neglect what should be the most fundamental focus of their work to help color-aroused patients: the harm that this bias does to the patient him/herself. It is axiomatic in work with addictions that addicts are motivated to recover because they realize how the addiction harms THE ADDICT HIMSELF. When it comes to Color-Aroused Emotion, Ideation and Behavior, Blacks and whites have something in common: None of us - Black or white - will be willing to change until we identify the damage that our color-aroused emotions, ideation and behavior are doing TO US, in our own communities, in our families and in our homes. ECEIBD Analysis Can Help Corporations to Reduce Civil Liabilities and Increase Productivity

I have founded the American Journal of Color Arousal (AMJCA), an AfroSpear blog, because I am determined to study the role of extreme color-aroused emotion, ideation and behavior (ECA) in American dysfunctions, and I will not allow fear of stigma or anachronistic ideological definitions of the problem to compel me to ignore the fact that Blacks are preferentially killing Blacks and whites are targeting Blacks for color-aroused ideation, emotion and behavior. Because of factors inherently related to our skin color and our position in America, we are furious at whites, furious at each other, and it is eating us alive while killing us dead.

Hat Tip to Field Negro