"What is hell? I maintain that it is the inability to love."
Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, 1880
"Dictatorship is characterized by having absolute sole power over people, and this power is often used in a cruel way. A dictator disrespects basic, political, socioeconomic, and cultural human rights.
The glorification of a dictator has been called the cult of personality. At its heart lies a paradox: the modern dictator must create the illusion of popular support or consent by rigging the electoral system. He must rely on military forces, a secret police, a praetorian guard, spies, informants, interrogators and torturers.
Many dictators suffer from manic-depressive disorders, paranoia and delusions of omniscience and omnipotence. They are usually ruthless, intolerant of criticism and indifferent to the suffering of others. Acutely suspicious of others, they surrounded themselves with flatterers.
Narcissistic individuals have a greatly exaggerated sense of their own importance and are preoccupied with their own achievements and abilities. They see themselves as grandiose, have difficulty empathizing with the feelings and needs of others (lack empathy), and tend to be vindictive. This becomes so serious that it interferes with daily life.
Many believed in the cults of Stalin, Mao, Hitler and Mussolini. People had to acclaim their leaders and shout party slogans on command. The purpose of the cult was not to convince or persuade, but to sow confusion, destroy common sense, enforce obedience, isolate individuals and crush their dignity. People had to self-censor and in turn they monitored others, denouncing those who failed to appear sufficiently sincere in their professions of loyalty."
Francesco Gallo, Psychopathology of Dictatorship, Il Sileno Edizioni, 24 July 2020
“Evil wins through the strength of its splendid dupes, and there has in all ages been a disastrous alliance between abnormal innocence and abnormal sin.”
G. K. Chesterton, Eugenics and Other Evils, 1922
"The narcissist is the guru at the centre of a cult. Like other gurus, he demands complete obedience from his flock, and feels entitled to adulation and special treatment by his followers. He punishes the wayward and the straying lambs. He enforces discipline, adherence to his teachings, and common goals.
Every cult needs a hate figure. Narcissists and cult leaders thrive on hatred and pathological envy.
Narcissists, and often by contagion their unfortunate victims, don't talk or communicate: they fend off, hide and evade. They perfect the ability of saying nothing in lengthy speeches. They employ a lack of commitment elevated to an ideology. The narcissist prefers to wait and see what procrastination brings: postponement of the inevitable leads to the inevitability of postponement as a strategy of survival.
The narcissist has to condition his human environment to refrain from expressing criticism and disapproval of him, or of his actions and decisions. He has to teach people around him that any form of disagreement, however mild and minor, throws him into frightful fits of temper and rage attacks and turn him into a constantly cantankerous and irascible person.
To the narcissist, all other people are cardboard cutouts, two-dimensional animated cartoon characters, or symbols. They exist only in his inner universe. He is startled when they deviate from the script and prove to be complex and autonomous. Narcissists damage and hurt but they do so offhandedly and naturally, as an afterthought. They are aware of what they are doing to others — but
they do not care."
Sam Vaknin, Malignant Self-Love, 2003
“Every idol, however exalted, turns out in the long run to be a Moloch, hungry for human sacrifice.”
Aldous Huxley, The Devils of Loudun, 1952
"The consensus as to Donald Trump’s psychiatric issues is nearly unanimous. 'Textbook narcissistic personality disorder.'
Yet while the various diagnoses with which he has been labeled may accurately describe his actions, attitudes, verbal patterns and mental states, they cannot explain them. As a stressed electorate tries to make sense of a campaign unlike any other, many people are asking themselves, what is the root of Trump’s bizarre displays?
Underneath all psychiatric categories Trump manifests childhood trauma. His opponent Hillary Clinton evinces her own history of early suffering, even if milder and far more muted in its impact.
The ghostwriter of The Art of the Deal, Tony Schwartz, reports that Trump had no recollection of his youth. There is always a reason for such amnesia. People have poor recall of their childhoods when they found reality so painful that their minds had to repress awareness and push memories into the unconscious. 'I don’t like to analyze myself because I might not like what I see,' Trump admitted to a biographer.
What does it say about our society that such deeply troubled individuals frequently rise to the top ruling circles, attaining wealth and power and even the admiration of millions?
People who are anxious, fearful and aggrieved may be unable to recognize the flaws in those seeking power. They mistake desperate ambition for determination, see grandiosity as authority, paranoia as security, seductiveness as charm, dogmatism as decisiveness, selfishness as economic wisdom, manipulation as political savvy, and the lack of principles as flexibility.
The flaws of our leaders perfectly mirror the emotional underdevelopment of the society that elevates them to power."
Gabor Maté, Trump, Clinton and Trauma, Globe and Mail, October 14, 2016
“The world says: 'You have needs — satisfy them. Don't hesitate to satisfy your needs; indeed, expand your needs and demand more.' This is the worldly doctrine of today. And they believe that this is freedom. The result for the rich is isolation and suicide, for the poor, envy and murder.”
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, 1880
Stocks slumped today as the recognition of what is happening in the Mideast and its economic consequences penetrated the fog of AI bubblemania.
The dollar rose.
Gold and silver fell in the related impulse to increase trading liquidity.
Bitcoin slipped from the top of its trading range.
The impact of the price of oil is not fully priced into the markets, although it is starting to creep through.
I have included a map of Iran with population density superimposed over a map of continental Europe.
Politicians who say we should just 'bomb the hell out of Iran and let them negotiate from the rubble' should consider the magnitude of what they are suggesting. Their lack of basic tactical and strategic knowledge, and the limitations of air power, especially in light of their positions, is shocking.
But considering their basic lack of knowledge and regard for US law and the Constitution it may not be so surprising.
Let's see how this progresses.
Have a pleasant evening.
