Reply #43: Some amateur psychology

[MikeH]

Looking at this, I would like to venture some speculation about what might be going on with Chris Wallace and his father. I am no psychologist myself, so you can take this for what it is worth.

I am writing this as one who had a very difficult father, and who has been in therapy dealing with issues having to do with my father. I am also familiar with the works of psychotherapists Alice Miller and Susan Forward, whose writings have been helpful to me. Alice Miller has written a number of books about the profound influence of a person’s childhood and childhood mistreatment on the rest of a person’s life. Susan Forward has written a number of books, including one called Toxic Parents, in which she includes practical suggestions for confronting toxic parents.

Links to Alice Miller's web sites:

http://www.naturalchild.com/alice_miller/

http://www.alice-miller.com/sujet/eng.htm

Links to Susan Forward's web site:

http://www.susanforward.com/


I do not know for sure, but I strongly suspect that Mike Wallace might have been a very difficult father. I would not be at all surprised if he was; I would be surprised if he was not.

Assuming that Mike Wallace was a difficult father, I am speculating that Chris Wallace internalized his father from the time he was little, and never questioned his upbringing. He has, I would guess, always carried his difficult childhood father in his head.

Having grown up, Chris Wallace now has a surrogate father in the person of Fox News and the right wing, which now takes the place of his childhood father. And he now judges others, including his own real father, according to the values and dictates of his surrogate father.

What would be essential for Chris Wallace (or anybody who has had a difficult parent or parents) would be a real awareness of what his father did when he was a child, and, if appropriate, a real confrontation with his father. (An actual confrontation might not be appropriate in all cases, and of course is not possible when a parent is dead.)

Unfortunately – unfortunately especially for Chris Wallace – attacking his father for his father’s political beliefs that go against those of Fox News, i.e. Chris’ surrogate father, is not in any way a genuine confrontation with his real father, or with the father of his childhood.

Again, take this for what it is worth. Just my own opinion.