A little more background, arfie? I'm not sure what you mean co-opting in reference to. Have you had a birthday or an event that was co-opted lately?

Oh, semantics, ouch. A bibliophilic nerd such as myself loves the words but hates the way English lets them slip and slide out of original meanings so that I never know what the word will mean next....

that said.... No clue what it really means other than "claim jumping". You make a claim, someone else jumps it, and like the Old West, now it's *their* claim. That's all I can think of.

I think the "co" is deceptive. That usually means unity. Co-operation. Co-incidence. Co-dependence, for htat matter. But when something is "co-opted" it's more a hostile takeover to me.

I can only offer a sister.
The one younger by 2 years. She had a lot of medical problems early in her life and was in and out of the children's hospital until she was in her second year.
But she often and has all her life co-opted stories . She really believes the stories so there is not much you can do to explain that she couldn't have possibly done some things.
She changed my diaper and cooked for all of us girls so we could eat...(my older sis Jackie did some of this)
She can do some part of something, but just let her talk and pretty soon she was the hero of the day, moment or so tired from doing it all...

Because she was so sick she was out of the house for months at a time and very small for her age all of her life.
At times schizophrenic, angry and volatile, but mostly her world was always like a parallel universe where her role and ruler were synonymous. Her three children all have various problems because of their upbringing in that environment.

She now has Parkinson's

BTW I, older sis and brothers did cooking and chores..when she got married she couldn't cook a boiled egg (really, she burnt it)

"Co-opting" is a term which seems to be popping out of my efforts to sort the alphabet soup my memory has made of my professional encounters since 1972. The Schools of Psychiatry/Psychology sure have gone through allot of language evolutions in that 43 years. I honestly don't know which pro, published or live, said what nor what I just picked up from non-professional sources.

The birthday example came from a television series (Judging Amy) where they showed an upper-middle-class mother throwing a birthday party for one the main characters. The main character did not believe, even for a second, that her birthday was any more than an excuse for her mother to strut her party skills. I am pretty sure she called it, "Co-opting."

Just sorting. . .

Seems like the rap from the alphabet soup is in regards to, "Setting boundaries."

yuck and ouch... Just read the use in Psychological warfare.... Taking some of the leaders/respected members of other cultures/country in to the fold and giving them esteem as intergral parts of the conquering regime, and letting them help pass along the conquerors goals.

There were many examples. But what hit was a part of Leo's story of a sister being made to be like (Dad) to be accepted and even rewarded for acts against their own nature. For themselves and others, extending his rule beyond just himself.

Assimilation,by forces made of kinsmen to the soon to be conquered, by a form of ego-istic brain washing of another?



yuck and ouch on many levels...

As I have stated here before, my Mother always and forever had to have a male bad guy. Primarily because her father had abused her. I had to listen every day before I went to school what a rotten SOB my father was. Then it was my brother. What a lazy, no good SOB he was. Then it was my father's best friend, who was her live-in boyfriend. And now, if I could get a peak at her Facebook Page, no doubt it is yours truly. Yours truly could care less, believe me.

My point being, I believe she had to have a male bad guy in between herself and her victims. I believe the male bad guy acted as a human shield if you will to keep her from actually looking at and taking responsibility for her own actions. I believe she co-opted the character of males, be they innocent or not, to shield her from her own filthy actions. Artie, I don't know if it applies, but at the very least it is a good chew.

Co-opting is what a cult is all about. I grew up with my supposed father and step mother trying to brainwash me. It is YUCK just like Jewells said. They try to convince you things are as they see them and to pass them along to other. Fortunately for me they were not able to do that. Although, I have had to do a lot of work to realize I am not bad. My worst fear was being just like them. It is a good thing to chew. A very special lady always tell the community "gentle support as you sort". I'll be keeping you in my thoughts.