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I always wondered why some people - particularly politicians - are cruel to the extent of committing genocide and wanting to inflict more pain on humanity until a friend introduced me to the term ponerology - a term coined by Polish psychiatrist Andrew Lobaczewski to describe the study of the causes of periods of social injustice.

Ponerology seeks to explain phenomena that include aggressive war, ethnic cleansing, genocide and police states (Wikipedia). Studies in this discipline have shown a tight link between social injustice and psychopathy - the ability to lie, steal, cause great harm or kill with virtually no remorse.

To understand what animal a psychopath is, Lobaczewski in Political Ponerology: A Science of Evil Adjusted for Political Purposes says: "Imagine - if you can - not having a conscience, none at all, no feelings of guilt or remorse no matter what you do, no limiting sense of concern for the well-being of strangers, friends, or even family members.

"Imagine no struggles with shame, not a single one in your whole life, no matter what kind of selfish, lazy, harmful, or immoral action you had taken.

"And pretend that the concept of responsibility is unknown to you, except as a burden others seem to accept without question, like gullible fools.

"Now add to this strange fantasy the ability to conceal from other people that your psychological make-up is radically different from theirs. Since everyone simply assumes that conscience is universal among human beings, hiding the fact that you are conscience-free is nearly effortless.

"You are not held back from any of your desires by guilt or shame, and you are never confronted by others for your cold-bloodedness.

"The ice water in your veins is so bizarre, so completely outside of their personal experience that they seldom even guess at your condition.

"In other words, you are completely free of internal restraints, and your unhampered liberty to do just as you please, with no pangs of conscience, is conveniently invisible to the world.

"You can do anything at all, and still your strange advantage over the majority of people, who are kept in line by their consciences will most likely remain undiscovered."


Comment: A note that the above quote attributed by the author to Lobaczewski is taken from Political Ponerology's Editor's Preface written by Laura Knight-Jadczyk, who quotes Martha Stout, a psychologist and author that has worked extensively with victims of psychopaths.


NobleDreams.co.uk notes that psychopaths are part of the Dark Triad that includes narcissists and Machiavellians.

It says: "All three types share to varying degrees an unappealing, though sometimes well-concealed core: social malevolence and duplicity, self-centredness and aggression, and emotional coldness. Most people who fall into the Dark Triad do not qualify for a psychiatric diagnosis, though at their extremes they shade into mental illness or become outlaws - particularly psychopaths. But the far more common 'subclinical' variety lives among us, populating offices, schools, bars, and the routine byways of daily life."

Martha Stout in The Sociopath Next Door says what distinguishes these people from the rest of us is "an utterly empty hole in the psyche, where there should be the most evolved of all humanising functions".

This explains why these people behave in an alarmingly inhuman way, incarcerating and torturing innocent people, murdering people - including women and children en masse - and above all ruling by the gun.

Utah governor Gary Hebert in an article titled Utah's Love Affair with Political Psychopaths says: "Political psychopaths don't feel the same range of emotions that normal people experience. They can only experience fear, greed and the occasional elation when they find out they got away with another crime at the public expense.

"Absent are normal emotions like remorse, shame, and the feeling of accomplishment that awaits those that know they put more into public service than they took out."

This explains the egocentric and idiosyncratic nature of political psychopaths and their insatiable appetite for murder, plunder and torture we see in many rulers and their acolytes..

Kevin Barrett in Twilight of the Psychopaths describes these anti-social characters as people who:
  • Use lies and brainwashing to create an army of controlled, systematic mass murderers;
  • Use that army to enslave large numbers of people by seizing control of their labour and its fruits;
  • And use that slave labour power to improve the brainwashing process (by using the economic surplus to employ scribes, priests and PR men). Then go back and repeat the process.
Psychopaths, according to the Wikipedia, "lack a sense of guilt or remorse for any harm they may have caused others, instead rationalising the behaviour, blaming someone else, or denying it outright".

They are masters at denial.

The most painful thing above all is that such people do not only live among us, but most of them constitute the greatest number of the ruling elite in the world.

We are in for a torrid time.

Feedback: kmudzingwa@newsday.co.zw