OF THE
TIMES
The psychological features of each such crisis are unique to the culture and the time, but one common denominator that exists at the beginning of all such 'bad times' is an exacerbation of society's hysterical condition. The emotionalism dominating in individual, collective, and political life, combined with the subconscious selection and substitution of data in reasoning, lead to individual and national egotism. The mania for taking offense at the drop of a hat provokes constant retaliation, taking advantage of hyperirritability and hypocriticality on the part of others. It is this feature, this hystericization of society, that enables pathological plotters, snake charmers, and other primitive deviants to act as essential factors in the processes of the origination of evil on a macro-social scale. - Political Ponerology: The Science of Evil, Psychopathy, and the Origins of Totalitarianism
Comment: Specific and defining information with a sense of humor amongst the facts. (And we thought we knew about 'water'! )