#Pathocrats

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

'Student SUPPORTS Hamas fully' | Peter Hughes: 'Kindness to one group can mean cruelty to another'

Andrew Doyle: Has kindness become cruel and divisive? Well, that's a theory being advanced by Dr Peter Hughes, a philosopher and author who has written this week about how acting with extreme kindness to one group can lead to acts of cruelty towards another. And I'm delighted to say that Dr Peter Hughes joins me now. Welcome to the show.

Peter Hughes: Thank you very much for inviting me.

Doyle: So, Peter, where does this theory of yours come from?

Hughes: Well, it comes originally from the work of a Polish psychiatrist called Andrzej Łobaczewski. He wrote a book when Poland was in a communist occupation called, "Political ponerology." And that means the theory of the origin of evil. And what really fascinated him was how, what he called a pathological minority, a minority of people who were narcissistic, grandiose, but mediocre and believed in themselves way beyond what their competence would dictate, took it upon themselves…

Doyle: I know few people like that.

Hughes: … but they took it upon themselves to decide what people could think, what people could do, what people could say, and he was fascinated by this. And he wrote this book in collaboration with other psychiatrists. It originally, they threw one copy of it on the fire when the secret police came around, just in time, they smuggled another one out to the Vatican which got lost, and then eventually he recovered it from memory and rewrote it from memory, missing a lot of the statistical data, but the basic points he made were true. And what I'm fascinated in is how a pathological minority can come to power, can hold power, when the majority of the people do not believe in what they're saying. In our case, what we pathologize in our society is kindness.

Doyle: So, there's something very interesting about this idea. I've seen kindness and being a victim weaponized so that effectively, the assertion of victimhood becomes a means to bully others, and to cudel others. Which sounds counterintuitive of course, but we see it all the time. So, we see it among activists, we've seen it on the streets of London. We've seen people chanting for, effectively, genocide and death of Jewish people. And saying that they are victims and that's why they're doing it. What's going on there?

Hughes: Well, because what you do is you have a strong allegiance to your ingroup and that means you have a strong aversion to your outgroup, and the more depth and virulence you support your ingroup, the more likely you are to be violent to your outgroups. Let me give you some examples. We had a a case recently, obviously in the wake of the Hamas atrocities in Israel, we've had people tearing down posters of children who've been who've been taken hostage. We've had universities making statements condemning Israel with no mention of Hamas whatsoever. We had yesterday a student in, I think, a Canadian college called Durham College saying that she supports herass fully and believes they should do it in her words again and again and again and again. And it's all done in the name of kindness for the oppressed.

Hughes: So, once you divide the world into oppressor and oppressed, the righteous and the unrighteous, the sinful and the blameless, then you can unleash unlimited cruelty.

Doyle: But is it just because these things have become abstractions to these people? You know, they're not there on the ground seeing the children being burnt alive, seeing people being raped and tortured and murdered, and so therefore they can see this as something that's happening far away and they can sort of, I suppose, romanticize it and change it into something that it isn't?

Hughes: But it's slightly different from that. Because the psychology, and what makes it such a a catastrophe really, is that the psychology of it is very robust, because they're really talking only to themselves. And what they're doing is that one person who believes in this type of pathological kindness will connect very well with somebody else who doesn't. Whereas, for the mass of ordinary people, they have a very different understanding of kindness. We understand kindness as being giving to someone who has a need, who might be in trouble, who might be struggling, regardless of what their belief is.

One of the foundational stories for our own civilization is the Good Samaritan. And of course, the Good Samaritan is someone who comes along and helps someone who's been robbed and attacked, even though they come from different social groups and the Samaritan is the exile, the other, if you want. And these acts of kindness which ordinary people engaged in are being demonized because they're not using the correct language.

Doyle: But it is baffling to me. You know, we saw that activist at the Trans Pride rally calling on, basically, the crowd to punch women who disagreed with them and getting a big cheer, right. Now what's going there, because these are a group of people who are saying they are demonized and victimized. But they are the bullies, quite clearly in that situation.

Hughes: Well, Łobaczewski estimated about 5 to 6% of a population - he called it the pathological underbelly - will drive these ideas. But what they do is, they pathologize, then they pathologize normal people and everybody else gets pulled into this catastrophic world.

Doyle: Okay that's interesting, so it's a minority.

Hughes: It's a minority that drive this, it's not a majority.

Doyle: Well, I was going to say because with all the the death threats and rape threats that go towards JK Rowling simply for having an opinion that most people hold, and for for a very compassionate opinion as it happens. Now, it would never occur to me, I can't think of any scenario where I would behave like that and yet you see these thousands and thousands of people doing that. I can't think of any scenario where I would attempt to defend terrorists like people are doing. So, is it just, it's not that we've suddenly got sociopathy on a widespread level. It's not that.

Hughes: No, it's not. I think it spreads and people can ally themselves to this pathological minority, but a minority that drives it. So, if you look at the situation with Hamas for example, Hamas went into the -- I, we don't need to go into all the details about what they did -- but, we know how horrific and horrendous it was. And that is the pathological minority.These are people who are jihadists, who will stop at nothing to erase Jews from the face or the Earth.

Doyle: I don't believe their supporters could do that.

Hughes: But not only could they not do it, they couldn't even watch it. But yet, they will cheer. They will say yes, let's do it again and again. Okay then here's a cudgel, here's an axe, here's a knife, do it. "Well, I couldn't do that." So, the way to counter these people, if there is a way to counter them because they've got so deep in our society, into the bureaucracies that govern our institutions and our corporations, but you have to isolate the pathocrats. Because most people just want to get on. Most people understand empathy. Most people are capable of looking at other people and seeing them as a fellow human being, as a fellow sufferer.

Doyle: It's about reclaiming humanity, right?

Hughes: About reclaiming one's humanity, and one's collective humanity from the pathological minority.

Doyle: So, finally, because we don't have much time, but there is nothing new about this in so far as if you go back to the Inquisition. The people who are strapping those individuals to the rack and torturing them -- they did think they were doing it for God. They did think they were on the side of the Angels. It's perfectly possible throughout human history for for good people to do the most horrendous things.

Hughes: Horrendous things. But what makes a tyranny of kindness so dangerous is that people can punish other people, the outgroup endlessly, take great pleasure in it, and still remain virtuous. And that is truly terrifying. And is where we're at. And we have to understand, the tyranny of kindness is also a tyranny of virtue which, interestingly enough we remember the Republic of Virtue at the end of the French Revolution which is what Robespierre and his fellow revolutionaries saw as the endpoint of the French Revolution. And where did that end? It ended in bloodshed and the guillotine. And that is where we're headed unless we isolate these pathocrats, reclaim normal kindness from its pathological underbelly, and reclaim words like love, hate and kindness for the mass of people, of normal people.

One final point, and Łobaczewski makes this really well, he said the only crime that normal people commit which makes them punished so much for their views, is that they're not psychopaths. And normal people aren't. Ordinary people are decent.

I believe in the decency of humanity, I absolutely do, but then I see these marches and I see most of them are not chanting anti-semitic chants or engaging in that kind of thing. But they are turning a blind eye when other people are. That's what disturbs me. That makes me think that it's become so normalized in that movement. How do you reach those people? I couldn't walk past someone calling for genocide and ignore it. I don't know how you reach that point, and once you've reached that point, isn't it a question of deradicalization rather than persuasion?

Hughes: It is, it is a process of deradicalization. But deradicalization is simply one form of psychological realignment, when what you're doing is you're enabling people to see that they've got this virus in their heads which is driving their behavior, which is against their interest and it's against the interest of all their fellow human beings, including those closest to them. Nobody wins in this game. Nobody at all wins, because where it ends is in chaos and bloodshed. And who's going to gain from that? No one.

Doyle: Well, I think it's absolutely chilling stuff. Dr Peter Hughes thank you so much for joining us.

[llewelynpritch]

https://lnkd.in/eMv2rX8j https://lnkd.in/erHmeXcn 

Explain how and why the Conservative majority UK Parliament at Westminster, London and beyond is no longer fit for purpose. AI Open Source GPT Chat Llewelyn Pritchard MA 27 April 2023  

[mariowil]

Comment: This is the problem with learning about psychopaths, pathocracy and ponerology - the seemingly inescapable desire to start labeling those we don't like as pathological. Trump rightly calls out the press for printing 'fake news'. He isn't making any moves to oust democracy. Putin (not an autocrat) similarly reacts to smears and lies by so-called 'journalists'. There's a big difference between these leaders and autocratic dictators. The author's biases are clearly visible here.

Moreover, pathological leaders are completely unable to comprehend the principles of democracy, since they regard themselves as superior, and see life as a competitive struggle in which the most ruthless deserve to dominate others.

Collective Pathocracy

But pathocracy isn't just about individuals. As Lobaczewsk pointed out, pathological leaders always attract other people with psychological disorders, who seize the opportunity to gain influence. At the same time, individuals who are moral, empathic and fair-minded gradually fall away. They are either ostracised or step aside voluntarily, appalled by the growing pathology around them. As a result, over time pathocracies tend to become entrenched and extreme.

This isn't to say that everyone who becomes part of a pathocratic government suffers from a psychological disorder. Some people may simply have a high level of ambition and a lack of empathy without actually having a diagnosable condition, while others may simply ride the coattails of a pathological leader whose goals happen to coincide with theirs.

A significant part of the problem is the attraction that many people feel to charismatic demagogues. Psychologically, this is very similar to the attraction of spiritual gurus, who often attract the blind devotion of disciples, despite unethical and exploitative behavior. The attraction of gurus and demagogues is a deep-rooted impulse to return to the childhood state of worshipping parents who seem omnipotent and infallible and could take complete responsibility for our lives, and magically solve our problems. At the same time, the paranoia of pathological leaders leads them to demonize other groups and creates an intoxicating sense of group identity with a common purpose.

[stonedandstudying]

Show Notes: Political Ponerology (The Study of Evil)

Written by: Tom Carroll on r/QuiteFrankly

In the future, when we look back on the genesis of the independent, citizen-driven media that’s blossoming before our eyes, I believe history will show that its success was always guaranteed, because so much of it was created to expose evil. Through its efforts thus far, it’s becoming clearer by the day that evil reached an unfathomable level of power over the last several decades. It infected the hearts and minds of those in power in seemingly every industry. New media has done a superb job of reporting on the what, when, where and how of the evil plaguing the world, but at some point, it must find the truth behind the why.

A life coach and consultant named Howard dedicated part of his blog to exploring the why, by delving into ponerology, the study of evil. He is a self-described agnostic, and in his words, “rather than simply accepting that evil inevitably emerges via supernatural or inexplicable means, ponerology employs the scientific method to persistently ask about and increasingly describe where evil really comes from, the various elements, roles, tactics and contexts involved in the stages of its arising and how we might limit its detrimental impact on our world.”

His study was largely fueled by the book Political Ponerology: A Science on the Nature of Evil Adjusted for Political Purposes, by Andrew M. Lobaczewski. Trained as a clinical psychologist, the Polish Lobaczewski “experienced firsthand the violence and oppression of both the Nazi and Soviet occupiers.” Instead of pondering the gigantic question of why mankind is afflicted with evil, the book asks something more specific: Why do individuals plot to gain power over others for the sole purpose of oppressing them?

Lobaczewski hypothesizes that humanity is made up of two groups, the normals and the pathological. The latter have distinct biological differences from the former. They were either born with them, or developed them later in life due to trauma, brain damage or early contact with other pathological people. The biological differences are so extreme that the pathological are actually identified as a subspecies of humanity, dubbed “para-Homo Sapiens.” The pathological seem to be aware of these differences, though they “ultimately consider themselves not a subspecies, but almost an entirely separate species from normals – and a far superior species at that.”

This superiority complex, combined with a lack of empathy, leads the pathological to seek power over the normals using manipulation tactics termed:

Paralogisms - Particular manners of twisting logic to falsely make the illogical appear logical and vice-versa

Paramoralisms - Specific methods of twisting morality to falsely portray the unethical as ethical and vice-versa

The health of a society, “at any point is profoundly influenced by the current state of this seemingly endless power struggle between its normal and pathological members. At any given time, the system’s state is determined by how successful or unsuccessful it is at resisting the pathologicals’ myriad methods of attempting to seize control and translate their “us vs. them” mentality from malevolent obsession into harsh reality.”

The book then compares the human immune system to society at large. In a weakened immune system, small threats “can take root and flourish into a dangerous cancer or infection that then further erodes the body’s ability to resist.” In society, mass denial and misunderstanding of the true nature of the pathological “can contribute to increasing the number of normals who are either hijackable by the pathological or, more commonly, are simply unmotivated or unable to resist them.”

After gaining a foothold in a weakened society, “the pathological, now operating within a more conducive environment, develop particular relationships amongst themselves and hijackable normals. These relationships then form the basis for the development of certain kinds of pathological groups.” “Later… the group… may use ideology or religion as a Trojan horse to convince the wider public that it has benevolent motivations and fool it into ceding the group greater power.” “Thus, ultimately, enormous evil can be carried out by pathological impostors waving the banners of the most benevolent sounding doctrines. And the public, focusing more on words than deeds, can be deceived into believing that a group is pursuing beneficial ends long after its words have become nothing but a mask for the underlying and growing pathology.”

“Eventually, a tipping point is reached at which the severely pathological are viewed within the system as impressive respectable figures, while normals are viewed with contempt. The pathological may forcefully defend against threats to this perception through actual censorship of books and other communications. They may further reinforce it by exerting control over educational systems, exercising censorship to rigidly determine which material can and cannot be taught or designating who can and cannot participate in teaching.”

This tipping point results in the establishment of a pathocracy. However, even when the pathological have achieved total control, “the central challenge that faces pathocrats is that of balancing their desire for domination and their technical dependence on certain others.” “Thus, pathocrats must, to some extent, grant autonomy to carefully selected people within the system possessing essential talents and skills. Since some of these necessary technicians are normals, who might balk at contributing to destruction, pathocrats may, at times, have to deceive them about the true nature of their goals.” This leads to a reality in which “the apparent power structure, reflected in public titles and formal positions, may bear little relationship to the actual power structure.”

Now for the good news.

Pathocracies are part of a recurring cycle, and eventually fall. “In time, the incompetent regime installed and overseen by the ruling pathocrats wastes the system’s talent and potential, paralyzes its development and leads to the deterioration of its structures. The contrast between the pathocrats’ stated ideology and their actions grows too stark and the populace begins to recognize the contempt that they actually feel for their espoused doctrine’s values. When a great enough proportion of society grows disillusioned and disaffected, the situation becomes unsustainable.”

New media is becoming the tip of the spear in what will hopefully be a new cultural renaissance, as “the constant effort required to survive within a pathocratic system eventually helps to rebuild the muscles of perception and creativity.” Lobaczewski even predicted the proliferation of meme magic as part of the takedown of the pathological cabal: “As they awaken from the nightmare of pathocracy, normals develop a language of oppression - complete with a characteristic irreverent sense of humor often highlighted by mockery of the pathocrats - that only they and others who have shared such an experience can understand. They also become progressively better at detecting and exploiting the ever more rapidly appearing cracks in the oppressive system.”

These people are sick. Literally. They are sick in the head and that sickness manifests itself in their deeds. They may have seized the thrones of the world, but it’s now only a matter of time until they lose them. We are all part of a cycle that will not be stopped, so keep fighting. We’re going to win.

[incendiaryfire]

We have had many far more dangerous real pandemics which caused real deaths, but this political virus is a cover for food shortages that soon will impact the world severely. 300,000 dead is a bad influenza season, not a pandemic. When CV totals surpass the #1 killer of humans on this planet, Coronary Heart Disease, then I can agree with it. That total is 8.7 MILLION PEOPLE EVERY YEAR!

Of course, wearing masks do not work, becoming a breeding ground for virus & bacteria you breathe out, to breathe in again and sicken you. It makes people FEEL safer, it does not make people ACTUALLY safer... which is a ridiculous concept anyway being surrounded by 10³¹ virus in the air and soil. Staying in lockdown until we are "made safe" from this virus, means staying in lockdown FOREVER!!

Which obviously is why this is political, and not scientific, as permanent states of lockdowns and control of every aspect of our lives is the goal, is the solution, is the desire of psychopaths in power who are currently making these decisions for us. Enjoy the NEW NORMAL, the world is never going back and was never intended to. Unless people rebel against the pathocrats making psychopathic decisions to destroy the freedom and will of normal people.

[geneticpsycho]

What is Life Like Within a Pathocracy?

Those within a pathocracy live under the constant threat of – if not amidst actually constant – psychological, as well as often physical, warfare. We have seen how desperate pathocrats are to... http://ift.tt/2AS9OGj via Psychopathy Genetics Facebook Page

[mariowil]

Comment:  So the Pathocrats finally got their man. Assange now faces being 'extraordinarily renditioned' to the US for torture, a confession of treason, followed by execution. Freedom of the press is dead. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do may be used against you in our secret courts... Watch now as liberals smugly squirm with faux-righteousness about this development. Being anti-freedom (the moniker 'liberal' is an ideological mask disguising their innate totalitarian tendencies), they will be unable to hold back their glee that Assange is about to 'get what he deserves' for his part in stopping one of their kind - Hillary Clinton - from becoming US president in 2016. In a sign of the times, the Kremlin has called on the Anglos to "respect Assange's rights," something that would certainly happen in Russia these days, but is extremely unlikely given the anglosphere's totalitarian drift. From the safety of his political asylum in Russia, Ed Snowden tweeted that "Assange's critics may cheer, but this is a dark moment for press freedom."