Learned helplessness
In 1967, American psychologist Martin Seligman put some dogs in a cage and sent an electric shock through its bars. The dogs tried to escape the first time, but the cage door was closed. Experimenters repeated the operation as the dogs tried to escape again, and then again, and again, and again… The dogs were in a cage, there was no escaping.
After a while, the dogs learned helplessness. They stopped trying, they resigned. They lied silently in their cages, taking the harm, unable to do anything.
One day, the experimenters opened the cage doors. But the dogs did not try to escape this time. They had learned that nothing would get them away from this torture, they had learned to go on, surviving, no matter what comes along. They had learned not to fight anymore.
Seligman initially used his theory to explain depression as those suffering from personal helplessness are more likely to experiment depressive symptoms, burnouts etc. I find this theory to be particularly appealing when it comes to my home country.
The case of Lebanon
It’s Christmas and the end-of-year season. Roughly 20 million Lebanese people abroad would like to come home for this event. The airline having the monopoly over direct flights home knows it well. What you can buy for $250 in the low season now costs around $1000 if you don’t buy it early enough.
Then, when you arrive, permanent traffic jam problem intensifies: you spend 3 or 4 hours on the main road going from a to z, while it would normally take you 20 minutes. And God forbid that it rains! In that case, roads are flooded and time stops.
The people in power have known about this problem for years now. They have also been offered solutions, which they probably don’t even consider unless there’s enough financial gain for everyone involved. They have also known about the air, land and sea pollution, electricity and water problems, social injustice and poverty, and so on. They have no interest in seeking solutions as they fill their pockets with this mess on a daily basis. We are governed by a mafia.
People abroad ask me: why does the people do nothing? They don’t understand that we tolerate this. But what they don’t know, and that the people in charge know too well, is that we have learned helplessness. Resignation and acceptance are two very different things.
A cage and a door
When a country has been through war for 15 years, occupation for 30, and banana republic for God knows how long, people have resigned. Generations have lived and died in this., They have tried to fight, they have tried to survive, but they have been silenced. They have seen others try, and those have been killed. They are not silly, they are in a cage, hopeless for change. And so they go on.
And many get resilient. They find new ways around it, develop strengths and weaknesses but they go on, they make their lives. What can seem inconceivable for some is here done by many.
I wish them well. I wish them a life were they don’t have to be so resilient, where they eventually learn that they can hope for more, that they deserve it. But meanwhile, I wish them a very merry Christmas! I know that their smiles won’t perish, that their family will gather whatever the circumstances, physically or mentally. I know they will help each other out. Because they have also learned that you need to rely on yourself, and on others around you- which is probably why they are so successful abroad.
