The Literal Recipe for Disaster In Our Time
Shortly, I will be dividing my blog/site into two completely different venues. One will be political, simply because it’s impossible to ignore the ignorance and stupidity being visited on all of us currently. The second reason is that to ignore politics is to be doomed to repeat the same idiocy and horrors that humans have lived through so often in the past.
You may not wish to imbibe. So be it. I am not looking for Kool-aid drinkers, I’m looking for those who can think critically, hold their biases at bay, and come to conclusions based on scientific methodology, reason and rational understanding of the forces at play.
When I decided to complete a Master’s at University, it was mostly in response to what I believed was wrong with the way politics was being co-opted into submission by those who only sought power and wealth through greed and the manipulation of people. It was also the reason why I chose to teach ethics, conflict resolution and political discourse at college.
Every demagogue, sociopath and psychopath has a vision of how they will find a victim, group, or race of victims, so that they might demonize, dehumanize and then target that group for retribution, or ultimately extinction, if possible.
This has been the historical means for bringing the masses into the fold. “According to social scientists, the percentage of people in the general population without conscience and who take pleasure in the pain of others is one percent.” They are sociopaths and psychopaths.
Psychology Today, wrote a lengthy scientific explanation for why people vote for, and elect, sociopaths. The article, by Bill Eddy, draws attention to some of the specific attributes possessed by some, not all, politicians whose personality patterns fit with sociopathy. They are;
- Seductive personalities – whether in dating, hiring, or electing people, narcissists and sociopaths are the two most seductive personalities on the planet. For those narcissists and sociopaths who also want to be politicians, they learn how to seduce whole populations and can be temporarily highly effective – long enough to get elected – but then are usually very harmful in the long run. People miss the simple early warning signs of these high-conflict politicians (HCPs), which are: a) preoccupied with blaming others; b) Lots of all-or-nothing thinking; c) Unmanaged or intense emotions; d) extreme behavior or threats.
I won’t repeat here all of what Bill Eddy and Psychology Today articulate in their article, but it should be thoroughly read to understand where we are about its findings, and to be informed.
- High-Emotion Media
“Nowadays, with network television, cable TV, Facebook (META), YouTube, and Twitter (X), there is a lot of competition to get attention for a candidate. But since anyone can run for almost any office now, this means that people with extreme personalities will get the most attention.
Those with these high-conflict personalities are attracted to lots of attention and unlimited power. These forms of media are compelled to fill their programming and news with those who have the most exciting faces and voices who are always talking about conflict, crises, chaos, and fear – the emotional situations that are most likely to grab our attention away from the more boring (but useful) information of normal politicians. In other words, you don’t need any leadership skills or governing skills to get elected now. You just need a personality that is dramatically preoccupied with telling stories of conflict, crisis, chaos, and fear. (Similarly to how Religions hold sway over their tribe.) Just as the game of basketball attracts the tallest players, the game of high-emotion media attracts the most high-conflict personalities. They are the best at the game.”
- The Fantasy Crisis Triad
There are three components of the fantasy crisis triad. They are;
1) There’s a terrible crisis threatening us all,
2) It’s caused by an evil villain – an individual or group,
3) An incredible hero is needed – typically an exciting outsider – one who will quickly slay the villains and solve the crisis with easy all-or-nothing solutions. The fantasy hero is the HCP who couldn’t get elected if it was based on skills, so they have to create or declare a crisis to get everyone thinking about the fantasy crisis triad rather than analyzing real abilities.
“The fantasy crisis triad works whenever there’s an HCP with narcissistic and sociopathic traits who cons a significant number of people into believing he (occasionally she) is the hero they need because of how confidently and aggressively they speak. It’s all based on emotions and endless speeches, which distract from the realities. Everyone I (Bill Eddy) looked at in depth relied heavily on this with surprising success, from Hitler, Stalin, and Mao, to McCarthy, Nixon, and Trump, to Putin, Maduro, Duterte, Orban, and Berlusconi.”
- 4-Way Voter Split
“But not everyone misses the warning signs. In fact, throughout the examples I researched (again, Billy Eddy), the high-conflict politicians rarely reached the support of more than 40% of the population. The majority of the people never supported the HCP as a leader. However, the majority became divided, fought with each other, and became hopelessly ineffective. Even though they were able to see the disaster that the high-conflict politician presented – who was not a hero at all – they still tended to believe in the fantasy crisis and the fantasy villain. They were emotionally seduced as well.“
Eddy suggests that until enough voters recognize the patterns outlined above, voters will continue to elect HCPs who are sociopathic and narcissistic.
Which brings me to the situation at hand in Israel.
On Fareed Zakaria, former Israeli President Olmert stated that “messianic Jews are looking for a final solution in Israel by obliterating Gaza and then permanently integrating Gaza into Israel.”
There will be no two-state solution for Palestinians. Only a plan to simply integrate Gaza into Israel and force the Palestinians out.
To where?
And worse, Israel has “baked in” the next terrorist attack on Israel by exterminating Palestinians in Gaza, even though by their admission, Hamas represents 1/100th of the population.
Netanyahu is finished, and he knows it. The only way for him to temporarily stay in power is to stoke and fuel the hatred. He has used the extreme right’s rabid loathing of Palestinians, all Palestinians, to charge and supply the propellant needed to continue this heinous agenda.
The future for Israel is now in question, while support from the West is waning. Israel, a nation founded on the legacy of the horrors visited upon the Jewish people is now imposing those same horrors on Palestinians. The mechanisms may be different, but the results, are the same.
Israel will learn to deeply regret its retributive actions.
Ciao, stay safe and be well.
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