Customer Reviews

The Art of the Obvious

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This book is absolutely brilliant and a must read -- I highly recommend it! My review and rating is based on the subject matter covered in the book (that is what these reviews are for, right?). I understand that some readers could have serious issues with certain accusations made against Dr. Bettelheim, and I leave that to the rules of evidence, due process, and the jurisdiction of the appropriate governing bodies. Its important to learn from our history before we start lighting torches: fair judgment can only occur when ALL the facts are in. And OBVIOUSLY, the context of time and place is an important factor in any just analysis. Taking the standards of today or any other time in history and projecting them onto a previous time in history is completely ridiculous -- you'd end up locking up entire populations. Maturity dictates an understanding of CONTEXT. This is in no way offered to minimize or invalidate anyone's personal pain or trauma; but one must be careful not to project their personal pain -- that's what perpetuates the cycle of abuse. This book is beautifully written and the insights offered herewithin are nothing short of profound. Nothing even remotely advocating abuse is offered in these pages. There's much to be learned from this presentation.

I don't care if Bruno Bettelheim was able to brilliantly speak about psychological issues. He beat and whipped and repeatedly smacked mentally ill patients under his care at the Orthogenic School for years without any interference. The man may have compartmentalized some part of his brain to rattle off psychological insights, but he was a criminal. Even if the laws regarding corporal punishment were more lax in the U.S. while Bruno was in charge at the Orthogenic School, these laws did NOT permit anyone in charge of mentally ill children to repeatedly smack and punch them in the head, or to smash the heads of two boys together, or to punch and smack children in some irrational outburst, or to pull down a girl's pants and whip her with a belt because she broke a dish. How can the co-author of this book just overlook Bruno's abuse of mentally ill children? Does the co-author, by publishing this book, believe that as long as a criminal is highly intelligent and can speak brilliantly on a topic, his crimes should be cast aside?