"Toward A More Socially Responsible Psychology"
"Toward A More Socially Responsible Psychology"PsySR's 2010 Conference
July 15-17, 2010
Holiday Inn Boston-Brookline
& Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis
& Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis
Performing at PsySR’s 2010 Conference, John Crigler paid tribute in song to two U.S. soldiers who opposed torture interrogation. John graduated from Berklee College of Music with a major in music composition. He composed these songs for the Project on Ethics and Art in Testimony, with consent of the protagonists. John can be contacted at peat@peat-intel.org.
"We the People Stand Witness for the Forsaken General Fiscus" (video and lyrics below) recounts in ballad form the Bush Administration’s retaliation against a principal opponent of the Torture Memos, Air Force Judge Advocate General Thomas J. Fiscus. This case engages PsySR because a military psychologist discredited Gen. Fiscus with a fraudulent diagnosis. Military management of moral dissidents through clinical diagnosis is a recurring problem of psychological ethics.
We the People Stand Witness for the Forsaken General Fiscus Oh, sweet turned to salt
and espirit de corps run dry—
the Fourteenth Air Force Judge Advocate General
fell hard on his sword to deny
that U.S. torture is legal,
to deny it could ever be legal.
And We the People stand witness
for the forsaken General Fiscus.
I. White House lawyers ruled U.S. torture is not “torture.”
The White House informed the Senate, U.S. torture is not “torture.”
But General Fiscus told Senators Graham and McCain:
Air Force lawyers say torture’s illegal and obscene.II. The White House determined to destroy an Air Force Lawyer.
Scott Horton learned the White House would destroy an Air Force lawyer
to set a good example and stop sabotage of torture.
Horton said: General Fiscus, the one they picked is you, sir.III. White House appointee Mary Walker made Air Force lawyers crawl.
The White House Air Force Counsel made Air Force lawyers crawl.
Defender of the Torture Memos, a White House zealot’s dream,
Mary Walker deployed to bring Tom Fiscus to his knees.IV. Air Force investigators painted Fiscus a sexual predator.
Colonel Donald Higgins painted Fiscus a sexual predator:
We don’t have to prove it true because they can’t prove it wrong.
His colleagues will betray him. When they see the stakes, they’ll go along.V. Deputy Judge Advocate Rives fabricated evidence.
Fiscus’s deputy Jack Rives fabricated evidence,
lied that Fiscus had deleted e-mail to impede investigation.
The White House rewarded Rives with Fiscus’s position.VI. Psychologist Linda Estes did not assess Tom Fiscus.
Psychologist Major Estes did not assess Tom Fiscus,
nor any of the nineteen noncompliant trumped-up victims.
But she testified for the colonels: He’s a sexual predator, yes.VII. The American Psych. Association said: Linda, it’s okay.
Ethics Section One-O-Two said: Linda, it’s okay.
You can fake a diagnosis like sexual predator
as long as your commander tells you what to say.VIII. Now let us rise and salute General Tom Fiscus.
Let us rise and salute General Thomas J. Fiscus
who sacrificed for decency more than the rest of us
to champion law against torture sponsored by the worst of us.Oh, sweet turned to salt
and espirit de corps run dry—
the Fourteenth Air Force Judge Advocate General
fell hard on his sword to deny
that U.S. torture is legal,
to deny it could ever be legal.
And We the People stand witness
for the forsaken General Fiscus.
Copyright: John Crigler 2010