Cassandra (metaphor)

People have applied the metaphor in a variety of contexts, such as psychology, environmentalism, politics, science, cinema, the corporate world, and philosophy; it has been in circulation since at least 1914, when Charles Oman used it in his book A History of the Peninsular War, Volume 5, published in 1914.

In 1963, psychoanalyst Melanie Klein provided an interpretation of Cassandra as representing the human moral conscience whose main task is to issue warnings.

[5] Based on clinical experience, she delineates three factors constituting the Cassandra complex: Layton Schapira views the Cassandra complex as resulting from a dysfunctional relationship with what she calls the "Apollo archetype", an archetype referring to any individual's or culture's pattern that is dedicated to, yet bound by, order, reason, intellect, truth, and clarity that disavows itself of anything occult or irrational.

[5] She further states that a "Cassandra woman" is very prone to hysteria because she "feels attacked not only from the outside world but also from within, especially from the body in the form of somatic, often gynaecological, complaints.

"[10] "As an archetype, Apollo personifies the aspect of the personality that wants clear definitions, is drawn to master a skill, values order and harmony, and prefers to look at the surface rather than at what underlies appearances.

"[11] Of what she describes as the negative Apollonic influence, Dr. Bolen writes: Individuals who resemble Apollo have difficulties that are related to emotional distance, such as communication problems, and the inability to be intimate ...

[13] Andy Grove, in his book Only the Paranoid Survive, reminds the reader of the Helpful Cassandras that sense the winds of change before others and are critical to managing through Strategic Inflection Points.

[16] Environmentalist Alan Atkisson wrote in 1999 that to understand that humanity is on a collision course with the laws of nature is to be stuck in what he calls the 'Cassandra dilemma' in which a person can see the most likely outcome of current trends and can warn people about what is happening, but the vast majority cannot, or will not respond, and later if catastrophe occurs, they may even blame the person, as if their prediction set the disaster in motion.

In the words of Atkisson: "too often we watch helplessly, as Cassandra did, while the soldiers emerge from the Trojan horse just as foreseen and wreak their predicted havoc.

Dean Phillips has been described as the "modern Cassandra of American politics" due to his warnings about President Joe Biden's ability to win the 2024 United States presidential election and his campaign being widely ignored.