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Psychopaths Rule the World
Len Hart
The Existentialist Cowboy
Tue, 03 Jun 2008 21:13 EDT
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The psychologist Carl Jung estimated that in every 'society' could be found a 'psychopathic' thirty percent. It's sobering to think that over 60 percent of every society --even those we think most cultured --may be largely 'ruled' by about thirty percent who are utterly lacking the restraints that most of us associate with personal maturity, social cohesion, civilization itself.
A recent article by Dr. Kevin Barrett explores the dysfunctional underbelly of civilization which he says is "... largely the creation of psychopaths: all civilizations, he claims, are built upon 'slavery and mass murder'.
As I have written of Rome: it was in the death business having outsourced the more odious tasks to its 'Military/Industrial Complex' --the Praetorian Guard. Psychopaths, Dr. Barrett claims, are 'hard-wired to lie, kill, cheat, steal, torture, manipulate, and generally inflict great suffering on other humans without feeling any remorse, in order to establish their own sense of security through domination.' [See: Is George Bush A Psychopath?]
Earlier the psychologist Carl Jung estimated that as many as thirty percent of any population is certifiably psychopathic. Similarly, Dr. Gustav Gilbert, whose task it was to keep Nazi war criminals alive until they could be hanged, summed it up simply: evil, he said, was the utter lack of empathy. Hannah Arendt (The New School, New York) wrote of the 'banality of evil'.
It has been pointed out that 'normal people do not function like the Bushes, Clintons, Keetings, Stalins or Hitlers'. Dysfunctional and/or psychopathic GOP behaviors include the GOP habit of indulging self-reinforcing delusions, repeating failed strategies, and reversing the normal sequence of 'cause and effect'. The Bush administration, for example, will cite its own wars of aggression as justification for increasing military spending.
There is always the hope that as more become aware of this, steps may be taken to ameliorate the more overt and horrific effects which include the acts of genocide, heinous war crimes, indeed, war itself. [See: Of Bush and Evil: The Nature of his Crime Against Humanity]
There are some reasons for optimism. The GOP 'base' consists, interestingly, of about 30 percent of the population. I've often thought that 30 percent hard-core, GOP support to be the psychopaths described by Jung. Unless, the GOP can appeal to 'sane' people, it is sunk. In my article, I have made the case, that lately the GOP is losing support even among the thirty percent base (of Jung's description?). See: GOP Front-Runners Run Out of Wiggle Room
Is there hope that the world will achieve what author Henry Miller hoped would be a 'quantum leap'?
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Until someone comes up with a 'silver bullet', the 'sane majority' must fight back with sanity itself. As the world witnessed at Tiananmen Square, the psychotic, totalitarian state simply crushes dissent with tanks, brute force and more insanity [See: 1989: Massacre in Tiananmen Square].
The same thing has happened in America. In 1932, under orders from Herbert Hoover, George S. Patton lead a cavalry charge against World I veterans encamped on the mall. Their only demand was that they be paid the 'bonus' money that 'our' government had promised them for their service in World War I.
By 4:45 P.M. the troops were massed on Pennsylvania Ave. below the Capitol.
Thousands of Civil Service employees spilled out of work and lined the streets to watch. The veterans, assuming the military display was in their honor, cheered. Suddenly Patton's troopers turned and charged. "Shame, Shame" the spectators cried. Soldiers with fixed bayonets followed, hurling tear gas into the crowd.
By nightfall the BEF had retreated across the Anacostia River where Hoover ordered MacArthur to stop. Ignoring the command, the general led his infantry to the main camp. By early morning the 10,000 inhabitants were routed and the camp in flames. Two babies died and nearby hospitals overwhelmed with casualties. Eisenhower later wrote, "the whole scene was pitiful. The veterans were ragged, ill-fed, and felt themselves badly abused. To suddenly see the whole encampment going up in flames just added to the pity."
-- The Bonus Army]
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Later, during the commission of the war crime called 'Viet Nam', the Ohio National Guard opened fire on students who were not even protesting at Ohio State University. Four students were killed. There is now evidence that the Guard had been under orders to shoot and certainly, the guns were loaded with real bullets --not rubber!
The first day, there was some brutality; the Guard bayonetted two men, one a disabled veteran, who had cursed or yelled at them from cars. The following day, May 4th, the Guard, commanded with an amazing lack of military judgment, marched down a hill, to a field in the middle of angry demonstrators, then back up again.
Seconds before they would have passed around the corner of a large building, and out of sight of the crowd, many of the Guardsmen wheeled and fired directly into the students, hitting thirteen, killing four of them, pulling the trigger over and over, for thirteen seconds. (Count out loud--one Mississippi, two Mississippi, to see how long this is.) Guardsmen--none of whom were later punished, civilly, administratively, or criminally--admitted firing at specific unarmed targets; one man shot a demonstrator who was giving him the finger.
The closest student shot was fully sixty feet away; all but one were more than 100 feet away; all but two were more than 200 feet away. One of the dead was 255 feet away; the rest were 300 to 400 feet away. The most distant student shot was more than 700 feet from the Guardsmen.
--Kent State, May 4, 1970: America Kills Its Children]
What tactics are left the people when 'insane' governments monopolize military force and weaponry. For the longer term, the people must realize that governments have no powers but those given them by the people. This is as true for totalitarian states as it is for democracies. As was said in the sixties: drop out! Don't feed the beast. Secondly, as we have seen, passive resistance is no guarantee that the 'establishment' will not murder in the name of the state --a mere 'legal abstraction'. One of the most cogent strategies that I have seen recently was found on OpEd News:
I will not work for you, buy from you, fight for you, or die for you, until the criminals are gone from the halls of our government."
That is a strategy that I have adopted; it will, at least, assuage your conscience. Many, however, don't have the luxury of going 'cold turkey'. Even so --there is little excuse for enriching Wal-Mart. There is NO excuse whatsoever for watching Fox or patronizing its advertisers. With any luck and some publicity, we might even begin an advertisers boycott of Fox. Now ---THAT will change things in the Fox boardroom. The sound of money 'walking' is the sound of people 'talking'. And telling the truth.
With a bit of study, consumers should seek out local merchants and local companies while boycotting multi-nationals that are clearly a part of the problem.
The 'corporate' structure of American society is, itself psychopathic. Despite what is written by economists with regard to 'economies of scale', local firms often do a better job than multi-national conglomerates whose only purpose is the enrichment of some one percent of the population. Local firms put money back into the community by hiring local talent and expertise. Local firms were once the backbone of the nation and the soul of viable communities where, now, we have only bedroom suburbs and Potemkin villages. Corporate society is a fascist cancer.
These days, it is possible to get a lot of information about companies on the 'net. Boycott any business having anything to do with the Military/Industrial complex. The obvious boycotts are the oil companies. Unless a car is ABSOLUTELY essential, get a bike or use public transportation. Some cities, like Houston, have come around to the use of TRAMS but very late in the game. Still --late is better than never.
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