Saturday, December 17, 2005

The science of evil-Ponerology

Do not honor our leaders, our military "geniuses," our captains of industry; they represent the most selfish faction among us. Many are sociopaths and the rest are mostly so; how else could they go through life choosing mass murder and oppression for greedy purpose? ----Chris Crittenden



Long time no blog. Been at the grind on this prison planet but I haven't forgotten the
struggle to break out. I've been studying the terrain that's all. A larg part of the terrain involves the problem of evil.

Often you hear this person is evil or that person is good. What makes a person evil and our world increasingly so? The psychologist Andrew Lobaczewski has spent considerable time researching the problem of evil and how it spreads in society. He calls this science ponerology. Although the linked article deals with political ponerology, it is interesting to see how evil invades all spheres of existence on our planet and how it is done through the psychopathic personality.

Many of the powerful used to care enough to pretend concern for others. In the process they sometimes serve others in a positive way. Lately however, the looking out for number one/self serving disregard for others displayed by leaders in all spheres of our society has been blatant to the point of the destruction of American society. This behavior has also trickled down to many of the prisioners on planet earth who take their cues from said leaders. At the other end are many others who don't take those cues but prefer to pretend these behaviors are not exhibited at all. These two issues I believe, and the author of ponerology indicates is at the essence of the problem of evi. Of the two, the latter is the most dangerous for it leaves us unprepared for dealing with the consequence of evil behavior.

For example, many refused to accept that our government would do some of the very things evidence is now showing it to be involved in. In fact many supported its activities and ostracized those who warned of the dangers a Bush government posed. Would the Bush government have been able to cause so much damage if enough Americans accepted its propensity for evil a long time ago?
Maybe it's time we all start learning about the nature of evil before it gets even worse. A good start is with studying psychopaths

Recommended reading:
The Sociopath Next Door -Martha Stout
Inside the Criminal Mind - Stanton Samenow
Antisocial Behavior-Benjamin B. Wolman
Trapped in the mirror-Elan Golomb
Unholy hungers-Barbara E. Hort
Without Conscience-Robert D. Hare
Mask of sanity- Hervey Cleckly found at http://www.cassiopaea.org/cass/sanity_1.PdF
In sheep's clothing-George K. Simon
The cunning of history- Richard Rubenstein
By Way of Deception- Victor Ostrovsky

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