The second in a series of discussions on the origins of ISIS, the U.S. involvement in Iraq and how the psychology of our current political leaders plays into these issues will be led by retired counseling psychologist Michael O’Brien on Friday, May 27 at 9:30 a.m. at Bemis Hall.
The first session on May 20 focused on an article published March 13 in Boston Globe Magazine titled “An Iraq Reckoning” describing how two key decisions by Paul Bremer in Iraq in 2003 shook the Middle East and paved the way for ISIS. At this week’s session, attendees will watch the 2007 documentary No End in Sight that presents a “staggering portrait of arrogance and incompetence in our chain of decisions that led Iraq into a state of chaos and civil war following our occupation.” The third session, “Fiasco in Iraq” on Friday, June 3, will discuss the May 27 film and the book Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq by Thomas Ricks, senior Pentagon correspondent for the Washington Post.
Each of these Friday morning sessions, co-sponsored by the Lincoln Public Library and the Lincoln Council on Aging, will run from 9:30-11 a.m. at Bemis Hall. For more information on the series, call the Lincoln Council on Aging at 781-259-8211
O’Brien will also speak on Monday, June 13 about “Making Sense of Our Crazy Politics: How Psychology Can Change What We See.” It will consist of a 30-minute talk followed by discussion as part of the Lincoln Academy series regularly held on Mondays from 12:30-1:30 p.m. at Bemis Hall. O’Brien will focus on how psychological research on various developmental needs—as well as narcissistic and socially dominant personalities, submissive-follower types, and even differing views on God and reality—can illuminate what we’re seeing in our current national political contests.
Attendees are urged to read the Boston Globe article before the next two discussions, as well as Ricks’s book prior to the June 13 session. For those unable to attend the May 27 screening, No End in Sight is available on DVD and from some libraries.
O’Brien, a longtime Lincoln resident, has a doctorate in counseling psychology and an master’s degree in theology. Now retired, he has long focused on phenomenological approaches to the study of personality. He worked for many years as a clinical counselor and therapist at counseling and testing centers at both Boston University and Northeastern University. Earlier, after years of theological study, he taught courses on biblical exegesis at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut.
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