Defense mechanisms can persist after their original trigger disappears

Evidence

In addition, her brothers and sisters, who had discovered her weak point, amused themselves by scaring her. Lying in bed and hearing the tom-toms, she virtually saw Negroes. She fled under the covers, trembling. Then smaller and smaller circles appeared, blurring the Negroes. These circles are easily recognizable as a kind of defense mechanism against her hallucinosis. Later, the circles appeared without the Negroes–the defense mechanism had taken over without reference to what had brought it on. — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 748

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s psychoanalytic interest in how colonial-imagery fears get internalized and automated — the mechanism outliving its trigger parallels how white-narrative fears may persist absent direct exposure. — connects to: Sustained terror normalizes precaution until fear becomes habit — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1583

Broader Connections

• Sustained terror normalizes precaution until fear becomes habit #expands (0.60) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1583