Political psychologists have widely identified the syndrome of malignant narcissism in corporate and political leaders who threaten political stability and civil society.15 Perhaps due to the unlimited graft and greed, cronyism, malicious war mongering, disregard for the public welfare, unwarranted usurpation of political liberties, and flagrant disregard for constitutional limitations, some are directly describing our “leaders” as psychopaths. Susan Rosenthal, M.D. makes that connection in her book Power and Powerlessness in which she discusses the grasp on power and control, and the irrational preoccupation of profit at the expense of suffering and death of others that consumes the leaders of corporations and nations. She says that a person perfectly suited to the capitalist system would be a psychopath—someone who is disconnected from emotions, having no empathy and no compassion. Indeed, a study by a team of U.S. scientists, published in the journal Psychological Science contends that psychopaths would make the best financial traders.32 Andrzej Lobaczewski, a clinical psychologist in Poland during the Communist era puts it more strongly. He says that many leaders of corporations and government are psychopaths. Because psychopaths are absolutely without remorse, and have no compunction about lying or doing any unethical practice in order to get what they want, they can easily climb to the top. Psychopaths, Lobaczewski says, can attach themselves to any ideology and, like a virus, change it from within to something that may eventually be completely alien to its original purpose. At the same time the original workers/followers, continuing to pursue what they believe is the original idea or cause, gradually become mere pawns of a power-hungry, self-serving elite. Although those who have the wherewithal to realize what is taking place often leave such organizations (and countries), the presence of the psychopaths in leadership roles creates disaster in the lives of many people. Compounding the disaster, the psychopaths behind this violence do not understand that their striving for total domination can only lead to the destruction of everyone’s interests. They cannot understand the implications of their actions, nor do they care, and neither will they ever stop. 16 Lobaczewski and his colleagues observed that “an ever-strengthening network of psychopathic and related individuals gradually starts to dominate, overshadowing the others,” eventually resulting in a pathocracy—a system wherein a small pathological minority achieves control over various institutions and even over all society. Studying this pathocracy in government, business and other social settings, their conclusions are offered in Political Ponerology—A Science on the Nature of Evil Adjusted for Political Purposes. The book’s editor does not hesitate to identify America as a pathocracy based on the character and activities of key members of the Bush administration. Dr. Kevin Barrett, professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, challenges that the only conflict that really matters is that of the psychopathic leadership v. the rest of humanity. “Civilization, as we know it, is largely the creation of psychopaths. Behind the apparent insanity of contemporary history is the actual insanity of psychopaths fighting to preserve their disproportionate power...Psychopaths have played a disproportionate role in the development of civilization, because they are hard-wired to lie, kill, injure, and generally inflict great suffering on other humans without feeling any remorse.” It is urgent, he says, for society to take constructive action to rein-in these out-of-control power mongers before they destroy the world and all of us with it. We are witnessing the apotheosis of the over-world—the criminal syndicate or overlapping set of syndicates that lurks above ordinary society and law just as the underworld lurks below it. In 9/11 and the 9/11 wars, we are seeing the power-grab or “endgame” of brutal, cunning gangs of CIA drug-runners and President-killers; money- laundering international bankers and their hit-men, economic and otherwise; corrupt military contractors and gung-ho generals; corporate predators and their political enablers; brainwashers and mind-rapists euphemistically known as psy-ops experts and PR specialists—in short, the whole sick crew of certifiable psychopaths running our so-called civilization.17 Twenty years ago when the world scene still seemed somewhat normal, or even improving considering the developments in the USSR and Eastern Europe, Dr. Robert Hare warned about the nature and behavior of psychopaths in what he calls our “camouflage society” which allows these predatory people to blend in and seem as normal as the person next door. In fact they may even be the people next door. He exposed their characteristics and patterns as one of the most frightening, often-hidden social problems affecting people today in his book Without Conscience. In 2006, just after we began to hear terms such as predatory capitalism, he updated the warning about psychopaths in the workplace with his newest book Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go To Work. Knowing the symptoms and nature of the psychopath may help us to guard against them in our personal and professional lives, but they are not easy to identify. They often make a very good impression, charming others with the intent of victimizing them. Dr. Robert Hare spent ten years creating a highly reliable and scientifically sound “Psychopathy Checklist” not only for evaluating whether a person is likely to be a psychopath, but also to guard against the danger of improper diagnosis. In Without Conscience he explains: Given their glibness and the facility with which they lie, it is not surprising that psychopaths successfully cheat, bilk, defraud, con, and manipulate people and have not the slightest compunction about doing so. They are often forthright in describing themselves as con men, hustlers, or fraud artists. Their statements often reveal their belief that the world is made up of ‘givers and takers,’ predators and prey, and that it would be very foolish not to exploit the weaknesses of others...The hallmark of these often charming—but always deadly—individuals...is a stunning lack of conscience; their game is self-gratification at the other person’s expense. Many spend time in prison, but many do not. All take far more than they give. "Spiritual Economics" Dhanesvara Das
Posted on: Mon, 10 Jun 2013 08:33:46 +0000
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