Sarah Palin an example of a self-actualized person?
Unless you’ve been living under a rock these past several years you’ve probably heard the name Sarah Palin. Palin burst onto the national scene and into our national consciousness as John McCain’s choice as a running mate in his bid for office of the president in the 2010 Presidential election. Almost immediately people seemed to either like her or dislike her, with few expression of a neutral opinion about this polarizing figure.
During the 2010 Presidential election pundits, commentators, reporters, opinion makers, actors, pretty much everyone under the sun had an opinion on or about Palin. The more vociferous or negative opinions were sought out and giving leave to voice these opinions on any network or print media outlet that would have them. The same was done for those who held a positive viewpoint, but their opinions and voice seemed drowned out by the negative cacophony being broadcasted.
One would have thought that with President Obama’s election victory “Palin-haters” would have moved on to other “tastier” targets, but that was not the case. Nearly a day doesn’t go by that Palin’s name isn’t mentioned in print or over the airwaves. Negativity, which seems to have reached a crescendo this summer when Palin launched her “One Nation Tour” and with the subsequent release of more than 24,000 pages of her emails during her time as Governor of Alaska.
As I sat, read, and listen to the pundits chatter about Palin, insulting her intelligence, knowledge and even her child-rearing techniques I began to ponder where the roots of this almost pathological hatred emanated from? As a student of sociology it struck me that so much of the anger seemed – well visceral. People that I asked to explain the rationale for such a dislike often seemed at a loss for a substantial rationalization for their dislike of Palin, instead choosing to fall back on such reasons as she has no real world experience, she went to multiple colleges, and one of my favorites “she was a beauty pageant contestant after all” and so forth. But these were but shallow excuses used to describe a “je ne c’est quoi”. However, I think I may have finally begun to put my finger, sort of to speak, on the real issue why so many feel this undefined and unreasonable hate or love for Sarah Palin. In short, I think she evokes such passion and dispassion because Sarah Palin has reached the pinnacle of Maslow Hierarchy of Needs and has become what so many of us hope to but rarely attain – becoming fully self-actualized.
Maslow described self-actualization as "what a man can be, he must be. This need we may call self-actualization…It refers to the desire for self-fulfillment, namely, to the tendency for him to become actualized in what he is potentially. This tendency might be phrased as the desire to become more and more what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming." He went on to identify what he believed to be some key characteristics of the self-actualized individual. They are:
- Acceptance and Realism: Self-actualized people have realistic perceptions of themselves, others and the world around them.
- Problem-centering: Self-actualized individuals are concerned with solving problems outside of themselves, including helping others and finding solutions to problems in the external world. These people are often motivated by a sense of personal responsibility and ethics.
- Spontaneity: Self-actualized people are spontaneous in their internal thoughts and outward behavior. While they can conform to rules and social expectations, they also tend to be open and unconventional.
- Autonomy and Solitude: Another characteristics of self-actualized people is the need for independence and privacy. While they enjoy the company of others, these individuals need time to focus on developing their own individual potential.
- Continued Freshness of Appreciation: Self-actualized people tend to view the world with a continual sense of appreciation, wonder and awe. Even simple experiences continue to be a source of inspiration and pleasure.
- Peak Experiences: Individuals who are self-actualized often have what Maslow termed peak experiences, or moments of intense joy, wonder, awe and ecstasy. After these experiences, people feel inspired, strengthened, renewed or transformed.
I think that it’s this perception that Palin is self-actualized and thus not subject to the capricious whims of public opinion that evokes such unrestrained anger from her detractors and passion from her supporters. The public recognizes this self-actualization at an unconscious level and responds to it. Her supporters respond with unrestrained enthusiasm, while her detractors stew over how someone so plebeian can evoke such passion. Self-actualization is not conferred on an individual through the education as our wonderful country is filled with many well-educated individuals that have yet to attain self-actualization. Self-actualization is not the sole domain of the intelligent; one need not be a member of Mensa to be self-actualized. And as the saying goes money can’t buy you self-actualization either, because it shows no particular preference for rich or poor, beauty queen or not.
In an average person’s lifetime they may be lucky to encounter a handful of individuals that have reached the pinnacle of Maslow Hierarchy of Needs, these self-actualized individuals indeed make an impact on our lives. One need only look at Palin to see what emotions and passions a fully self-actualized person can evoke in others. All the slings and arrows her detractors may throw at Palin will do little to disabuse her passions and goals because a self-actualized person doesn’t seek nor need approval from external forces. Hopefully, her more rabid detractors will simply be seen as individuals on some self-fueled vendetta, harpies screeching from their perches at a force they cannot possible comprehend because they’ve yet to attain full self-actualization themselves.
