- Q. Where do you get off questioning the psychological health
of millions of American citizens?
- A. I fully appreciate the difficulty some American
readers may have in accepting the unsolicited pronouncements of a foreigner
who, having visited their country on very few occasions, claims not
only that they and their compatriots are being continuously conditioned
by their socialization process into a permanent state of collective
neurosis but also asks them to give consideration to his secondary assertion
that he can provide an immediate, effective and painless solution. In
expounding my thesis, I am not trying to influence or change American
culture nor am I attempting to reshape American ideals. My only wish
is to see harmful psychosocial factors eliminated.
- Q. What makes you think you have the answer to America's realtionship
issues?
- A. Unfortunately, space does not permit me to
detail here the highly individual set of circumstances and life experiences
that have collectively brought me to the deep understanding I have acquired
about North America. Suffice to say that I have long been acutely aware
that the American people have been seeking a solution to this problem,
albeit subconsciously, for over a century now, and without fully realising
the extent of the damage they have been inflicting upon each other throughout
this time. However, I believe my detailed explanation in the book adequately
covers this question.
- Q. Only a Britisher could be nutty enough to pronounce the entire
population of the USA as 'emotionally-compromised'!
- A. Actually, there are numerous literary American allusions
to a home-grown neurotic condition. Here are just two from the internationally
respected American author Dale Carnegie. First: "One of the
reasons why we go to plays and movies is that we want to hear and see
emotions expressed. We have become so fearful of giving vent to our
feelings in public that we have to go to a play to satisfy this need
for emotional expression." (pp 94/95) and second: (on losing
self-consciousness when speaking publicly) "You can see why
it is that people flock to the theatre and the movies - because there
they see their fellow human beings act with little or no inhibition;
there they see people wearing their emotions prominently displayed on
their sleeves…" (p 196) Both examples from: Dale Carnegie:
Effective Speaking - a revision by Dorothy Carnegie of Public Speaking
And Influencing Men In Business by Dale Carnegie, The World's Work (1913)
Ltd.
- Q. Don't you think your concerns about the power of 'collective
emotional dysfunctionality' are exaggerated?
- A. Absolutely not! Never underestimate the power of the collective
psyche, both for good and evil, in any country. For example, in Britain,
good was highly conspicuous with the unity displayed by Londoners during
the blitz in World War II, and bad, with the 'herd mentality' into which
Britain's unscrupulous, manipulative, pro-Communist Trade Union leaders
deleteriously conditioned millions of their unsuspecting members during
the 1960's, 70's and 80's when they dominated British TV. A collective
national psyche is a source of immense power - for good or ill!
- Q. You say the subject of America kept 'nagging' at you. How,
exactly?
- A. By my early twenties I had become an avid 'America Watcher'.
I had remained suitably impressed with the American musical and entertainment
influences to which I had been exposed whilst growing up yet, paradoxically,
vague feelings of unease and uncertainty about America prevailed. Despite
numerous attempts to explain away my concerns and misgivings I could
not dismiss them from my mind, and my obsession to get at and expound
the truth about America has never really wavered since. Just about everything
I observed within and about America jarred within my personal 'reference
frame', ie. my overall viewpoint formed by the sum total of personal
experience, attitudes, beliefs and general understanding of human behaviour
acquired by then. For these reasons I could not resist the urge to try
to discover the true nature of these anomalies and make some sense of
the complex and subtle relationships between them.
- Q. How did you make the leap from thinking of America as 'different'
to being 'sick'?
- A. I gradually came to understand that the underlying causes
of the differences I had discerned were highly complex but, while I
could discover no logical, conventional or rational explanation for
them which satisfied my immediate curiosity, I began to wonder if they
might have some as yet undiscovered psychological connotations. I increasingly
felt that, whatever their cause, they were sufficiently different to
constitute an emotional affliction and thus a subject worthy of psychological
analysis and scrutiny in their own right. An ever-lengthening curiosity
simply developed into a firm conviction that the characteristics I had
noted would, in all likelihood, eventually confirm the existence of
some kind of behavioural malady; a collective, psychoneurotic condition
which, to a greater or lesser extent, had somehow afflicted the American
people.
- Q. Are you a Freudian?
- A. I am certainly a committed devotee of psychoanalysis and
the interpretation of dreams which are proven beyond doubt as far as
I am concerned, but I part company with Freud on matters of child sexuality,
ie. Freud's Oedipus and Electra complexes which, I would suggest, owe
a great deal more to Freud's own repressed impulses than hard-headed,
objective analysis. I also feel that Americans in particular have unfortunately
given far too much credence to these concepts which may even have created
sufficient psychological confusion as to have inadvertantly helped sustain
the neurosis.
- Q. You condemn Americans for removing 'to obey' from the wife's
wedding vow, but did you know this practice was initiated in England?
- A. Yes, you are absolutely, 100% correct. I am heartily ashamed
to confirm that it was indeed a couple of British 'nuts' who set this
disastrous trend in motion. However, although to 'obey' was first omitted
in a British wedding, the practice was not widely taken up here, yet
became institutionalized throughout the USA.
- Q. What gives you the right to criticize our right to bear arms?
It's written in our Constitution.
- A. The simple fact that no less than ten children die each
and every day in America from guns! Please also try to appreciate that
the foreigner's unceasing sense of horror at the extent of random murders
there is matched only by our dismay at your authorities' constant refusal
to take appropriately tough counter-measures. How many more innocent
lives have to lost because you refuse to deal firmly with gun crime?
How many more serial killers will it take for a change in your gun laws?
The NRA billboard motto: 'Happiness is a warm gun' has obvious sexual
connotations. Let's confront America's deep-rooted sexual problems and
the male ego's perceived need for subliminal phallic support, and guns
will become unecessary.
- Q. If America is having a bad psychological effect on the world
should the US and Britain sever their political ties?
- A. Absolutely not! As I point out in the book, I am a passionate
admirer of America and practically all my musical heroes are American.
I believe that our 'special relationship' is an essential cornerstone
of world peace and stability. Winston Churchill said on August 20th
1940 in the House of Commons: "The British Empire and the
United States will have to be somewhat mixed up together in some of
their affairs for mutual and general advantage. For my part, looking
out upon the future, I do not view the process with any misgivings."
I wholeheartedly concur with our greatest statesman.
- Q. What do you think is the significance of Letter To America
in the realm of psychological theory?
- A. Whatever value it may or may not have it is certainly not
for me to say. I would wish it to be as far removed from the scientific
arena as possible although, should it ultimately find a place within
the social sciences, I hope it is seen as one which takes account of
humanitarian considerations as much as scientific objectivity. While
I hope it may make a contribution to our understanding of the essential
nature of man, more importantly, I would hope that the practical application
of the behavioural principles outlined therein may provide a springboard
for the generation of new therapies.
- Q. Your comments on feminism are outrageous. You are a total
Phillistine!
- A. Thank you, though I regret to say I am not the first. The
witticism: 'Womens' Rights are Men's Lefts' goes back to
Victorian days, while even the monarch herself issued the following
statement: 'The Queen is most anxious to enlist everyone who can
speak or write or join in checking this mad, wicked folly of Women's
Rights with all its attendant horrors, on which her poor feeble sex
is bent, forgetting every sense of womanly feeling and propriety. Lady
Amberley ought to get a good whipping'. The Victorian writer
Mrs Lynn Linton described them as 'The Shrieking Sisterhood'
while after one demonstration, Winston Churchill described the Women's
Social and Political Union as: 'that copious fountain of mendacity'.
Finally, if you think I'm hard on feminists I refer you to Sir Almroth
Wright's letter to The Times in the 19th century referring to female
militants as 'the sexually embittered' and 'the incomplete'.
My aim is to help all the emotionally-crippled, including feminists,
to become 'the sexually fulfilled' and thus, by definition,
part of 'the complete'.
- Q. You are unbelievably sexist. How can you seriously suggest
that children's gender roles are intrinsically pre-determined.
- A. By observing the behaviour of children playing by themselves
in infants' and junior school we notice a natural instinct towards parenthood
as acted out in the games they play; girls with dolls and dolls' houses,
boys with rough and tumble and ball games. It is true that at a young
age boys also play some domestically-oriented games and even adopt parental,
'father' roles on occasion, but they reject domestic roles with a corresponding
increase in age.
- Q. How can you possibly claim America appears to want to own
the world?
- A. I am speaking entirely metaphorically, of course. US imperialism
is essentially non-territorial in nature, yet is an expression of a
desire for 'control' through commercial exploitation. In principle,
there is absolutely nothing wrong in worldwide investment and I wholly
support rampant capitalism. All I am saying is that while worldwide
movement of capital is perfectly justified in principle, America is
using up the world's resources much too quickly and in gross disproportion
to the rest of the world population. For these reasons, it often seems
to be intent on turning the world into one gigantic American corporation
- something which cannot be good for the world - or America.
- Q. What was it about the US film industry that prompted you
to connect it with a neurotic condition?
- A. Along with America, other countries like France,
Germany, and particularly Britain, with our strong tradition of music
halls and theatres, had developed embryonic film industries, and all
started at roughly the same time. But the parity changed abruptly with
the American film industry's sudden and inexplicable explosion of growth
seemingly overnight, as thousands flocked to be part of the world of
make-believe. I therefore wanted to understand just what were the specific
causes or underlying motivational forces within America that led to
the formation of so many film and theatre companies and studios suddenly
producing such a vast range of entertainment. I also ponderered what
factors might have caused the equally immediate and enthusiastic public
response across America to these early offerings, and why Americans
established entertainment as such an integral - even, seemingly, indispensable
- component of their lifestyle, without question.
I am now throughly convinced that entertainment provides
a substitute for interaction, that the Big 'E' stands more for 'escape'
than 'Entertainment', and that, subconsciously, it affords Americans
a temporary respite from the rigours of their domestic tensions.
- Q. What was your analytical approach?
- A. The problem in trying to categorize America's psychological
and emotional features was entirely one of creating some clarity out
of their emotional maze. Initially, in attempting to formulate an appropriate
hypothesis, the evidence-gathering process was a totally subjective
exercise. I had originally perceived Americans as being different only
in comparison to my personal mind-set of what constituted 'normal' behaviour,
and the extent of any 'abnormality' in behaviour was discernible only
in how strongly it contrasted with my broad, personal concept of 'appropriate'
behaviour. This simple curiosity, conceived in raw and total subjectivity,
became my sole incentive and starting point for investigative action.
Above all, I realised that to get to understand their cultural phenomena
and be able to give these manifestations their true meaning, I would
have to keep a very open mind at all times and try to maintain a fierce
objectivity and rigid adherence to pure, scientific psychological criteria.
- Q. Surely, your claim about the physical health of USA, the
richest country in the world, is incorrect?
- A. I'm afraid it's absolutely true. The US is,
by contrast with others, now an unhealthy nation as it sits at 25th
in the international health league. (School of Public Health, University
of Washington, 2001)
- Q. I have not read Letter To America yet but what does your
'Total ResensitizationTherapy' course comprise of?
- A. In the first chapter of Part 2, I outline
some general aspects of the condition and briefly explain the approach
to the cure of my 10-stage Resensitisation Therapy Course. Specific
recommendations based on the course are made in Chapters 10 and 11 while
in the final chapter (12), I offer a brief explanation of its structure.
In full and final presentation the course will comprise of 6 x 1 hour
TV documentaries which I shall make available, free of charge, at an
appropriate time. It will also be available in written form.
- Q. What makes you conclude that US slang has more sexual connotations
than others.
- A. Until it became familiarised through repetition via the
US media, American slang was not initially understood by the rest of
the English-speaking world . But its usage there was so widespread and
entrenched it appeared to me to represent something more than mere cultural
affectation; even, possibly, some kind of esoteric and even covert communication.
Further examination, as expounded in my book, appears, I strongly suggest,
to have proven that this is the case.
- Q. What was your method of 'analysing' America?
- A. The method I used is called inductive reasoning ie. noting
down what I discerned as individual component units of both general
and problematic behaviour and then forming loose generalisations which
became more specified as the evidence grew. I simply recorded every
strange fact, everything I considered inappropriate about America and
tried to turn and blend these seemingly unrelated scraps of knowledge
into meaningful structures, to see if they fitted together somehow to
form a coherent whole. I also tried to gain insights into American behaviour
by observing and noting the simplest forms of reflex activity as well
as dissecting more complex forms of behavioural patterns and responses,
whilst at all time rigorously seeking a common denominator, a unifying
theme or factor which held all the pieces of the jig-saw together.
- Q. How did you determine what was important?
- A. At the earliest stage of trying to analyse an intriguing
anomaly which nags for one's attention one is initially drawn to those
initial clues, signs and irregularities which elicit one's interest
and suspicion in the first place. In my case, initial curiosity was
stirred by nothing more than the basic, everyday behaviour of the average
American which, simply by the nature of its inherent contrast to that
of mine and other nationalities, was sufficient to arouse more than
a passing interest, and almost automatically invite investigation. These
were different elements which, taken individually, had little in common.
Taking an extended overview, however, the picture changes. Gradually,
through constant scrutiny, a common thread starts to emerge and eventually
a distinguishable pattern is clearly discernible. As I began to understand
their relationship to one another I felt that, at least on balance,
there were more than sufficient facts to support a 'repression-oriented'
theory.
- Q. I think you are being grossly unfair on the American education
system. Don't we have some of the best educational facilities in the
world?
- A. Absolutely, but I'm afraid you miss the point. I'm
not knocking the US educational system but the underlying culture of
drugs and institutionalised violence within it that remains unchallenged.
My point is that every day, no less than 16 American children and adolescents
die in gun-related homicides, suicides and accidents. Many more suffer
injuries, some requiring long-term hospitalization. Some children suffer
permanent disabilities, including loss of extremeties, spinal cord injuries
and head injuries. (Source: American Academy of Pediatrics. 'Your Health';
CNN TV, transmission date 29/04/01) All this is bound to contribute
to the general emotional destabilisation of the students, their families
and, ultimately, your society.
-
|
- Personal Stats.
- Age: 60. Born: 1942, Edgware, North London, England. Family: Parents
both deceased. Father: Welsh, Policeman (Scotland Yard detective) died
age 95, Mother: Londoner, housewife died aged 79. Sister: Born June
1944 (living) Raised: North London (Hendon, Edgware and Colindale).
Education: All North London schools. Kindergarten from 3 to 7; Bell
Lane Primary, Hendon from 7 to 9; Camrose Primary, Edgware, from 9 to
11; Harrow County Grammar, Harrow from 11 to 17. Opted out of Higher
Education opportunity.
- Career and Family
- September 1959 Aged 17, started work as trainee sales manager
with distribution company in Baker Street, London. At same time, took
up and pursued hobbies as psychology student and part-time hypnotherapist
throughout teens and twenties. Played jazz trombone during teens with
semi-pro bands throughout Britain, turning professional on 19th birthday
with a traditional jazz outfit based in Bournemouth, England. Returned
to London after 9 months, switched to trumpet, and for the next two
years played with jazz and dance combos throughout Europe and on passenger
ships to Europe, Africa and North America. Became a featured broadcaster
on BBC radio shows with his own quintet.
1964 Aged 22, realised main ambition of becoming a solo entertainer
as trumpet/guitar/vocals cabaret act. Went to Manchester, then England's
clubland capital, for a 'trial weekend' and stayed for a year. He gradually
added comedy impressions throughout the 1960s, and became established
as a leading entertainer in the UK night club, social club and theatre
circuits.
1975 Married Scottish singer Eileen Cameron. In same year reached
No. 4 with solo comedy Hit Record 'King Of The Cops' (comedy impressions
single of US TV Cops Kojak, Columbo, McCloud, Cannon, Ironside et al)
which stayed in UK Top 20 for 3 months (see Guinness Book of UK Hit
Singles). Headlined throughout UK, Africa and Far East in Hotels, Club,
Theatre and cabaret venues for next 5 years.
1980 After several miscarriages, pregnant Eileen advised to remain
in bed to ensure successful completion of term. Bill happily quit showbiz,
switching to sales and marketing career for new challenges with a more
psychological bent. Daughter Annabel born in same year. Bill continued
in direct sales throughout the eighties, gradually expanding role to
sales manager, trainer and motivator for various direct sales companies
including storm and PVC windows, kitchens, bathrooms, showers, insurance
etc.
1985 Started own domestic heating sales business which grew to
£ ½ million annual turnover within 2 years.
1989 Recession hit and after 4 years struggling to sustain it,
finally wound up business in 1992.
1992 Undertook prolonged psychological studies to provide correct
terminological framework for formal description of America's psychological
malaise.
1996 Commenced writing, editing and producing 'Letter To
America', his thesis concerned with the 'collective emotional
dysfunctionality' he claims to have discovered within America. He focuses
on a 'deep-rooted inter-gender imbalance' (which he describes as 'The
American Neurosis'), a condition he believes he is uniquely qualified
to painlessly and permanently expunge from the collective American psyche.
|
