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Sunday, September 2, 2012

Leftism & Ponerology—Studies of Human Evil in Political Spheres

Leftism & Ponerology—Studies of Human Evil in Political Spheres

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Is Obama's Incipient Hatred of America A Sign of Spiritual, Moral or Psychological Defect?

Leftism & Ponerology—Studies of Human Evil in Political Spheres

Author
- Kelly OConnell  Sunday, September 2, 2012 


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Are mentally ill persons fated to ascend to power in socialist political movements? History proves this to be true. Yet, we must inquire further: Could a genuinely far left establishment be dominated by any type other than nut-cases, given the moral defects of Marxism?
The question, fortunately, answers itself. Granted, we see Lenin, Stalin and Mao as all quintessentially mad souls—quick to unleash violence on others. Yet today, many mental health practitioners and observant private persons see the only likely explanation of Barack’s hopelessly self-absorbed, superficial and harm-inducing personality as the result of a profound mental defect.
Ponerology is the study of institutionalized evil in high places. But is there such a thing as evil, or is what we call “evil” merely the lack of good in any particular situation? If evil exists, it seems to imply decision making which depends upon mankind’s freewill, misused. Whether any particular politician is evil, as opposed to merely clueless or lacking in the kind of training that fits one for the task, depends upon the details of each case. Here we examine the idea, and whether it applies to Barack Obama. The book is a study of what the editor calls:
Macro-social Evil: large scale evil that overtakes whole societies and nations, and has done so again and again since time immemorial. The history of mankind, when considered objectively, is a terrible thing.

I. What is Ponerology?

Ponerology, from the Greek root poneros for “evil,” means the scientific study of evil as a disease, societal and political phenomenon. Andrzej M. Lobaczewski, a Polish psychiatrist, coined the term and wrote Political Ponerology (A Science on the Nature of Evil Adjusted for Political Purposes) as a study of the topic. Writes Lobaczewski,
Experience has taught the author that evil is similar to disease in nature, although possibly more complex and elusive to our understanding. Its genesis reveals many factors, pathological, especially psychopathological, in character, whose essence medicine and psychology have already studied… A comprehension of the essence and genesis of evil generally makes use of data from [biology, medicine, and psychology]. Philosophical reflection alone is insufficient.

II. Causes of Evil

Lobaczewski describes several basic sources of evil in humans and society. The first is structural defects, disease or injury to the brain. The second is learned evil, by way of family or other influences.

A. Brain Defects

Brain defects can result from genetic factors, birth defects, formative problems—such as fetal alcohol syndrome, later drug abuse or accidents. Writes Lobaczewski,
The early appearance of psychopathic behavior in children, and the similarity with some forms of brain damage, are evidence of the genetic and biological basis for psychopathy. Certain inherited, and thus irreversible, psychopathies play an important role in the genesis evil on the macrosocial level, while others play lesser roles. These include many commonly known personality disorders….In a much larger segment of the bearers of brain tissue damage, the negative deformation of their characters grows in the course of time. It takes on variegated mental pictures, depending upon the properties and localization of these changes, their time of origin, and also the life conditions of the individual after their occurrence. We will call such character disorders—characteropathies. Some characteropathies play an outstanding role as pathological agents in the processes of the genesis of evil.
While one can quite easily take a more tolerant view of those motivated to evil deeds for causes beyond their control, such as a brain injury, society must still deal with these and their actions. For example, first Russian communist tyrant Vlad Lenin is thought to have suffered from brain irregularities. Lobaczewski writes Lenin was a “kind of paranoid personality, i.e. most probably due to diencephalic brain damage.” His character is here described:
Lenin was always tactful, gentle, and polite, but simultaneously characterized by an excessively sharp, ruthless, and brutal attitude to political opponents. He never allowed any possibility that they might be even minimally right, nor that he might be even minimally wrong. He would often call his opponents hucksters, lackeys, servant-boys, mercenaries, agents, or Judases bribed for thirty pieces of silver. He made no attempt to persuade his opponents during a dispute. He communicated not with them, but rather with those witnessing the dispute, in order to ridicule and compromise his adversaries. Sometimes such witnesses were just a few people, sometimes thousands of delegates to a congress, sometimes millions worth throngs of newspaper readers.
Joseph Stalin, who committed more monstrous acts than Lenin, was thought to have perinatal damage to his prefrontal fields.

B. Untoward Character Influences

Children can hardly be expected to develop a better character than the family unit displays, given early learning is based on modeling. Lobaczewski writes,
If a parent manifests such a defect, no matter how minimal, all the children in the family evidence anomalies in personality development. The author studied an entire generation of older, educated, people wherein the source of such influence was the eldest sister who suffered perinatal damage of the frontal centers. From early childhood, her four younger brothers exposed to and assimilated pathologically altered psychological material, including their sister’s growing component of hysteria. They retained well into their sixties the deformities of personality and world view, as well as the hysterical features thus caused, whose intensity diminished in proportion to the greater difference in age.

III. Is There a Problem With Socialism?

Is it possible that the reason that socialism and Marxism tend to attract such deplorable leaders is that the ideas behind these movements are highly defective? What other explanation could there be for such monstrous and inept commanders? Karl Marx, the most dynamic and influential writer in the history of socialism, was also an extremely unrealistic, juvenile, petty and egotistical personality, according to Paul Johnson, in Intellectuals, Intellectuals: From Marx and Tolstoy to Sartre and Chomsky. Lobaczewski claims Marx, with his sweeping unrealistic claims about how he would change the world, was schizoidal. Ultimately, the problem of socialism is it is built upon a lie—that a society can survive which treats the idea of private property as a joke.

IV. What is Barack’s Problem?

A. Is Barack Schizoid?

Having observed Barack Obama nationally for nearly four years, is there anyone who doubts he is a highly dysfunctional, strange and even disturbingly disconnected soul? Survivors of unusual and emotionally deficient childhoods can still achieve success, although such a background can also lead to a schizoid personality disorder. But is this what affects Barack?
Schizoids are hypersensitive and distrustful, while, at the same time, pay little attention to the feelings of others. They tend to assume extreme positions, and are eager to retaliate for minor offenses. Sometimes they are eccentric and odd. Their poor sense of psychological situation and reality leads them to superimpose erroneous, pejorative interpretations upon other people’s intentions. They easily become involved in activities which are ostensibly moral, but which actually inflict damage upon themselves and others. Their impoverished psychological worldview makes them typically pessimistic regarding human nature. We frequently find expressions of their characteristic attitudes in their statements and writings: “Human nature is so bad that order in human society can only be maintained by a strong power created by highly qualified individuals in the name of some higher idea.” Let us call this typical expression the “schizoid declaration”.
A schizoid statement is one reeking of grandiosity, megalomania, and self-importance. Most Americans recall such a statement from Obama’s campaign:
Because if we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless. This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal. This was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth.

B. Barack Shortcomings

Consider the many strange elements of Obama’s persona. He is a classic, high-level underachiever having begun his presidency with every advantage, bragging about how ethical and accomplished his tenure would be. He still seems to suffer under a deep sense of self-satisfaction as if his presidency had gone from one success to the next, instead of its meandering course of incompetence marked by indifference. He seems to suffer from a pathological inability to compromise, presenting himself as good incarnate, but his opponents as evil.
One of the most characteristic aspects of Obama is his apparent inability to feel anything for those who have been affected by his decisions. This is full in keeping with schizoid defects. Overall, that Barack lacks a mature worldview explains his superficial foreign policy that was anti-war, but then spontaneously supported various rebellions across the Middle East—just in time to install the Muslim Brethren.
Obama is famed for his very high opinion of his own mind and brain power, saying to one job applicant at the White House:
I think that I’m a better speechwriter than my speechwriters. I know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors. And I’ll tell you right now that I’m gonna think I’m a better political director than my political director.
Yet, other instructors at the University of Chicago found him to be non-gregarious, refusing to engage in any faculty discussions. Further, some believed this was due to his sense of intellectual inferiority. Says Lobaczewski,
On the average, they are also less intelligent than normal people, and their mind avoids consistency and accuracy in reasoning. Their psychological world view is clearly falsified, so their options about people can never be trusted. A kind of mask cloaks the world of their personal aspirations, which is at variance with what they are actually capable of doing.

C. Cause of Obama Mental Infirmity: Irregular Childhood

What could be the cause of Obama’s psychological problems? In fact, Barack’s youth with a somewat disinterested mother who ultimately left him with her parents, and a father who abandoned him almost from birth. Lobaczewski notes,
Every person in the span of his life, and particularly during childhood and youth, assimilates psychological material from others through mental resonance, identification, imitation, and other communicative means, thereupon transforming it to build his own personality and world view. If such material is contaminated by pathological factors and deformities, personality development shall also be deformed. The product will be a person unable to understand correctly either himself and others, normal human relations and morals; he develops into a person who commits evil acts with a poor feeling of being faulty. Is he really at fault?
Let’s not forget nearly every important influence on Barack till he got into the US Senate was either socialist or Marxist, including his entire family, his mentor Davis, and all his early political contacts.

D. Genesis of a Con Artist?

Barack landed on the map of possible presidential candidates in 2004 after delivering a well-received speech at the DNC Convention. In fact, being glib is one sign of the schizoid personality. And many critics claim the only thing Obama is really any good at is talking. Says Lobaczewski,
Persons with an innate talent for intuiting psychological situations tend to take advantage of this gift in an egotistical and ruthless fashion. In the thought process of such people, a short cut way develops which bypasses the handicapped function, thus leading from associations directly to words, deeds, and decisions which are not subject to any dissuasion. Such individuals interpret their talent for intuiting situations and making split-second oversimplified decisions as a sign of their superiority compared to normal people, who need to think for long time, experiencing self-doubt and conflicting motivations. The fate of such creatures does not deserve to be pondered long. Such “Stalinistic characters” traumatize and actively spell-bind others, and their influence finds it exceptionally easy to bypass the controls of common sense. A large proportion of people tend to credit such individuals with special powers, thereby succumbing to their egotistic beliefs.
Obama has been flattered since his youth and told he was special. He is on record for taking absurdly short amounts of time to make decisions before turning to other matters. Overall, he’snoted as being ridiculously lazy.

Conclusion

The point of this essay is not prove that Barack Obama is evil, but merely to point out that if he has a serious mental defect, others more savvy than he are currently using this flaw to further their own agendas. This, if true, is exactly what Lobaczewski means when he talks about bureaucratic and group evil done by dysfunctional persons who have no connection to others except in their lust to have power over them.

Kelly OConnell 
Most recent columns
Kelly O’Connell hosts American Anthem on CFP Radio Sundays at 4 pm (EST).
Kelly O’Connell is an author and attorney. He was born on the West Coast, raised in Las Vegas, and matriculated from the University of Oregon. After laboring for the Reformed Church in Galway, Ireland, he returned to America and attended law school in Virginia, where he earned a JD and a Master’s degree in Government. He spent a stint working as a researcher and writer of academic articles at a Miami law school, focusing on ancient law and society. He has also been employed as a university Speech & Debate professor. He then returned West and worked as an assistant district attorney. Kelly is now is a private practitioner with a small law practice in New Mexico. Kelly is now host of a daily, Monday to Friday talk show at AM KOBE called AM Las Cruces w/Kelly O’Connell
Kelly can be reached at: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

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