Like Cruel Scientists Who Torture Dogs, the Democrats Want to Teach Us Learned Helplessness, by John Zmirak

One of the most heartbreaking phrases in the English language is “learned helplessness.” Here’s how Psychology Today explains it:

Learned helplessness occurs when an individual continuously faces a negative, uncontrollable situation and stops trying to change their circumstances, even when they have the ability to do so.

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The term was coined in 1967 by the American psychologists Martin Seligman and Steven Maier. The pair was conducting research on animal behavior that involved delivering electric shocks to dogs. Dogs who learned that they couldn’t escape the shock stopped trying in subsequent experiments, even when it became possible to avoid the shock by jumping over a barrier.

I almost had to stop reading at that point. As someone who rescues dogs, I’m all too familiar with the PTSD an abused dog displays. You reach to pet them and they flinch. They’re used to getting smacked. You try to housetrain them, and they don’t learn. Because nobody ever walked them — just left them all alone in a small concrete yard with some bowls of cheap kibble and stagnant water.  …