Conditional Acceptance: An Ideologically Inconsistent Case

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Recently, at the White House, President of the United States (U.S.) Donald Trump met with the President of Syria Ahmed al-Sharaa (also known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Julani). Many people, especially U.S. military veterans, were upset by beliefs about this move.

Al-Sharaa joined al-Qaeda in Iraq shortly before the 2003 invasion of Iraq and fought for three years in the Iraqi insurgency. Not long ago, the U.S. kept a $10 million bounty on the head of al-Sharaa. However, Trump seemingly thought it wise to meet al-Sharaa at the White House.

When asked by a reporter about this decision, Trump stated of al-Sharaa, “People said he’s had a rough past. We’ve all had rough pasts. But he has had a rough past, and I think, frankly, if you didn’t have a rough past, you wouldn’t have a chance.”

Rather than litigating within this blogpost the moral and ethical considerations of Trump having met with an apparent terrorist (one who uses violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims), I’ll instead critique an obvious ideological inconsistency.

For context, when providing psychoeducational lessons on Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), I invite people to consider personal scripts which are rational (in accordance with both logic and reason) – especially regarding events which correlate with strong feelings.

Here, “logic” is the interrelation or sequence of facts or events when seen as inevitable or predictable, and “reason” is a statement offered in explanation or justification. For instance, a modus ponens syllogism uses the following logical form: If p, then q; p; therefore, q.

Noteworthy, when using this logical form, it’s inferred that premises p and q follow without completing the syllogistic form. As such, merely proposing ‘if p, then q’ assumes to represent truth about reality, which is why further assessment of the proposition is necessary.

Before providing an example, allow me to clarify a couple terms. An ideology is a manner or the content of thinking characteristic of an individual, group, or culture. It may also be described as the integrated assertions, theories, and aims that constitute a sociopolitical program.

As well, that which is inconsistent relates to lacking consistency, or containing incompatible elements. Thus, for the sake of this blogpost, a proposition that is ideologically inconsistent is a sociopolitical position based on assertions which are incompatible with one another.

As an example of a modus ponens syllogism—one in which the full form doesn’t need to be completely asserted, consider this: If an individual is a terrorist only when the U.S. deems one to conveniently fit this description (p), then the term “terrorist” is essentially meaningless (q).

Although this ideologically inconsistent proposition follows logical form, I argue that it isn’t reasonable. This is because the irrational proposal affords the U.S. to haphazardly label anyone with whom national leaders may disagree as a “terrorist.” This is where REBT comes into play.

First, REBT uses the ABC model to illustrate that when an undesirable Action occurs and you Believe an unhelpful narrative about the event, it’s your unfavorable assumption, not the occurrence itself, that causes an unpleasant Consequence. This is known as self-disturbance.

In particular, there are four predominate irrational beliefs which people often use to self-disturb: global evaluations, low frustration tolerance, awfulizing, and demandingness. When contemplating these unproductive beliefs, think of the acronym GLAD.

Now, Trump recently met with al-Sharaa—a man who relatively five minutes ago was labeled as a terrorist by the U.S. (Action) and many U.S. military veterans who fought the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) self-disturbed. Was the meeting with al-Sharaa what caused this outcome?

Not at all! From a psychological standpoint, people disturb themselves using a Belief-Consequence (B-C) connection. Of course, this isn’t to suggest that in the context of the naturalistic or physical world there is no Action-Consequence (A-C) connection.

For instance, using an A-C outlook, if al-Sharaa actively participated in the uses violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims by shooting U.S. military personnel (Action), then some military service members were plausibly killed by al-Sharaa (Consequence).

However, from a B-C perspective, Trump met with al-Sharaa (Action) and GWOT veterans compositely Believed, “Al-Sharaa is a worthless piece of shit [G], and it’s intolerable that Trump met with him [L], because this terrible [A] injustice shouldn’t have occurred [D]!”

When using this unhelpful Belief, GWOT veterans then became enraged (Consequence). Though you may reason that this unpleasant outcome is understandable, given that so many U.S. military veterans killed for and died during GWOT operations, it isn’t a necessary or helpful reaction.

Addressing how people upset themselves with unhelpful attitudes, the ABC model incorporates Disputation of unproductive philosophies of life in order to explore Effective new beliefs. Whereas rigid beliefs cause self-disturbance, flexible beliefs result in an un-disturbed condition.

Second, REBT uses unconditional acceptance (UA) to relieve self-induced suffering. This is accomplished through use of unconditional self-acceptance (USA), unconditional other-acceptance (UOA), and unconditional life-acceptance (ULA).

Whereas the ABC model is a scientific approach to wellness, UA serves as a philosophical method for un-disturbing yourself. I view the former as an abortive approach to disturbance and the latter as a preventative method. Of course, not all REBT practitioners use the same style as I.

With my approach to REBT, I incorporate author Stephen Covey’s concepts regarding the circles of control, influence, and concern, as well as an area of no concern. UA maps onto the circle of control (USA), circle of influence (UOA), and circle of concern and area of no concern (ULA).

The circle of control encompasses only oneself, the circle of influence encapsulates elements which may be subject to one’s sway, the circle of concern engrosses most matters one can imagine, and the area of no concern relates to all content which isn’t yet imagined.

Rather than merely considering al-Sharaa as a fallible human being who likely committed undesirable acts of subjectively-labeled terrorism, I suspect that many GWOT veterans used a rigid conditional belief that was antithetical to UA. This type of attitude uses an either-or form.

As an example, as Trump proposed, either “we’ve all had rough pasts” and are worthy of mercy (compassion, leniency, or restraint, as in imposing punishment, shown especially to an offender or to one subject to the power of another), or none of us deserve mercy for our rough pasts.

This is a form of conditional acceptance. For clarity, a condition is a premise upon which the fulfillment of an agreement depends. Thus, if or when the inflexible condition isn’t met, then the person using the unhelpful prerequisite will self-disturb into an unpleasant disposition.

I argue that not even Trump would agree to his self-proposed standard of mercy, which satisfies the quality of conditional acceptance, as he ostensibly used an ideologically inconsistent approach regarding al-Sharaa’s case. Would he use the same principle regarding other people?

For instance, one source reports that the Trump administration, presumably under the direction or approval of President Trump, is seeking legal charges against John Bolton, James Comey, Letitia James, Lisa Cook, Chris Christie, Adam Schiff, Jack Smith, and others.

Hypothetically, would Trump’s ideological position remain consistent for these individuals? One imagines that Trump wouldn’t conclude that “we’ve all had rough pasts” and “if you didn’t have a rough past, you wouldn’t have a chance” regarding these people, as he wouldn’t evoke mercy.

For a moment, presume that my modus ponens proposition is true. If Trump subjectively favors some people, though not others (p), then he uses conditional acceptance for some individuals, to include previously identified terrorists, yet not others (q).

I maintain that my proposal is rational (i.e., in accordance with both logic and reason) and that if true, then Trump’s ideological inconsistency is irrational (i.e., not in accordance with both logic and reason). I state this, because the conditional belief expressed herein is inherently irrational.

In closing, this post isn’t in support or condemnation of any person addressed herein. Personally, every individual listed in this post is merely an imperfect being. Granted, some of these people behave in morally and ethically reprehensible ways. Nevertheless, people are not their behavior.

The point I hope to have rationally illustrated herein is that use of conditional acceptance with ideologically inconsistent beliefs is irrational. When you’re able to understand these unhelpful patterns of belief, then you can un-disturb yourself without use of unfavorable conditions.

If you’re looking for a provider who tries to work to help understand how thinking impacts physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral elements of your life—helping you to sharpen your critical thinking skills, I invite you to reach out today by using the contact widget on my website.

As a psychotherapist, I’m pleased to try to help people with an assortment of issues ranging from anger (hostility, rage, and aggression) to relational issues, adjustment matters, trauma experience, justice involvement, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and depression, and other mood or personality-related matters.

At Hollings Therapy, LLC, serving all of Texas, I aim to treat clients with dignity and respect while offering a multi-lensed approach to the practice of psychotherapy and life coaching. My mission includes: Prioritizing the cognitive and emotive needs of clients, an overall reduction in client suffering, and supporting sustainable growth for the clients I serve. Rather than simply trying to help you to feel better, I want to try to help you get better!

Deric Hollings, LPC, LCSW

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