Political Ponerology

Written by John Carroll

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.