Texas prisoner confronts reactionary deprogramming
A Texas prisoner has sent us a copy of his "Rational Self-Analysis" (RSA) worksheet. RSA is a simplistic psychological method used by quack business consultants and other charlatans trying to make an easy buck off of people's insecurity. The method is designed to get people to disassociate themselves from things they "cannot" change and instead focus on the effects of their own actions. Like horoscopes, at a high enough level of generality these ideas may appear correct. For example, we should avoid ultraleft idealism, or the idea that we can take revolutionary action as if material conditions have already changed in the direction we want them to. But we do not say that we "cannot" change material conditions -- just that we need to understand how much they have actually changed, and be scientific about how much change we can effect in a certain time period.
In this Texas prison, the counselor applying the RSA program is clearly just trying to get the prisoner to stop worrying about other prisoners' conditions, to prevent the development of collective identity. Clearly, "an injury to one is an injury to all" would constitute a violation of the reprogramming the counselor is trying to impose.
The worksheet below says, "the way to change our feelings is not to change reality (this is impossible!) but to change our trouble causing patterns of thinking." We agree that what we think and feel reflects the interaction of external events and our own consciousness and reaction to them. However, we must insist that our reactions in turn influence external events. If that were not the case, society would never change. The counselor wants to break the dialectical connection between consciousness and conditions, to insist that the only correct approach for the prisoner is to accept all material conditions as unchanging "reality" and settle for adapting his behavior to survival within these conditions. We would agree that revolutionary prisoners need to put a very high priority on their own survival, and that idealism about the ability to affect conditions can lead to costly mistakes. But we reject the underlying philosophy in general and the shameless attempt to depoliticize this prisoner in particular.
We would like to see other examples of this or similar programs from other prisoners, so that we may expose them to prisoners and their supporters outside the walls.
Below is the excerpted text of the worksheet, with the prisoner's responses as written. The counselor's "corrections," marked in red pen, appear in [brackets].
Rational Self-Analysis
The A-B-C Model:
If we look at our lives, most of what is going on in our heads is focused on situations or events of some kind. Thousands of events are occurring all of the time but only certain ones get our attention. These events are called Activating Events. We often think that these cause us to feel a certain way and we believe we cannot help feeling the way we do because they "made" us feel that way. We believe that our feelings/behaviors are the consequences of the event. But if that were true, then everyone would react to the same event the same way. However, the Consequences of the event, our feelings and behaviors, are really caused by the Beliefs we hold about the event. The way to change our feelings is not to change reality (this is impossible!) but to change our trouble causing patterns of thinking. We need to create helpful, worthwhile, encouraging and useful Rational Responses that will help us feel and behave in healthy ways!
Worksheet
Rational Self-Analysis: A guide to help you challenge your self-talk
[Across the top, in red, the prison counselor has written, "Please try again!"]
A - Activating Event (Something happen^Å):
Prisoner: Officer did not feed another offender at chow.
B - Beliefs, thoughts, self-talk (I tell myself something about "A"):
Prisoner: The officer did this as a form of punishment but only because be believes he can get away with it.
C - Consequences (I feel and do something):
Emotions (I feel):
Prisoner: Anger
Behaviors (I do): I question the officer as to why he didn't feed the offender.
D - Dispute (Challenge) the above Beliefs by answering the following questions about each thought you listed above. If your answer is no, explain why.
A-live? Does this thought keep me safe?
Prisoner: No. It lets the officer know that I did not like what he did.
F-eel? Does this thought help me feel the way I want to feel?
Prisoner: Yes
[Counselor's red pen: Please refer to "B" and "C"]
R-eal? Is this though true? Is it based on objective reality?
Prisoner: Yes.
O-thers? Does this thought keep me out of trouble with others?
Prisoner: No. It places me in threat of retaliation.
G-oals? Does this help me reach my goals?
Prisoner: Yes.
[Counselor's red pen: Please refer to "B" and "C". It is the responsibility of the other offender to deal with this problem. By becoming involved in another offender's problem, you *make* it *your* problem.]
Create a Rational Response (New self-talk that is worthwhile, encouraging, useful, and helps you reach your goals):
Prisoner: Instead of questioning officer about the incident, simply file a complaint against him.