In my book, Psychopathic Authoritarianism: A Disease of the Soul, I examine the question about why do Psychopathic Authoritarians continue to rise to power across time and culture?
Hegseth's plan to livestream executions appears a severe manifestation of Psychopathic Authoritarianism.
All those who seek power via force (as in government) are psychos. I would surmise most authority seeking people are psychos. They have to control the others so that they can pretend to be powerful.
99% of the time, these authorities have no relationship to your individual life. They treat everyone as being helpless without some authority to "guide" them. The exception would be guidance from the Heavens. This scares most psychos as their presumed authority will be usurped by a much higher power.
I call 'authority' syndrome "mommy syndrome". Persons displaying such authoritarian syndrome *seem* to believe other persons are their own creations - like children to be beaten and abused rather than furthered or guided.
Authoritarianism is a spiritual sickness, and those who cower before such specter are spiritually sick in other ways...
Iran has clearly won the war, Hormus will stay closed until they decide to open it. Trump doesn't know what to do now, he's running around like a chicken with its head cut off.
Erm... I agree. The US/Israeli assault was an abject failure. But permanently wrecked economies were the actual target. Everyone but bankers and whores lose in war...
Speaking of Psychopaths, Hegseth was at a presidential campaign fundraiser for John McCain. Leading up to the 2008 United States presidential election, Vets for Freedom began supporting McCain.
Birds of a feather. Hegseth is playground bully who didn't get his ass kicked in grade school. Playground bullies remain bullies until someone else beats the crap out of them. Pleading for an ambulance is a humbling experience...
I see Hegseth more in the Zimbardo way, while Trump appears to be an empty narcissist, turning more malignant because he does not believe in anything. I mean, Great hair, right?
The Roman Caesars also had psychopathical display of bread and circus with public audience cheerleading!! Minds sick unto death. They create the infrastructure of weaponized technology for targeting and surveillance. And merge military with all channels of activity, medical, legal, educational, scientific, artistic, media. Termite to the Constitution and souls
Yes. They all did. Persian Empire, Chinese, etc. It is a definite pattern in history to start carrying out public executions. There seems to be a lot of backlash so hopefully they will not do it.
It's human running itself disconnected from God. The definition of becoming law unto ourselves! With that atrocities are committed and wrongs justified, rationalizing Evil!!! That's why the Founding Fathers said that humans not being angels, must be leashed. And the system of three branches checking each other.
It's been a pleasure seeing you make the rounds on YouTube. After sitting on the wordy translation of Lobaczewski for a couple of years, I am really looking forward to reading your book and what appears to be a comprehensive update. For what it's worth, some thoughts on the matter, but having yet to read your book, I might just be preaching to the choir
The same self-destructive group dynamics are at work here in Japan, and I suspect they have always been a part of the collective human genome. I think the problem of scaling the social primate to herding levels (anything beyond Dunbar's number) has something to do with this. The world's oldest sustainable populations have been Australian Aboriginal People, or similar small communities living close to the land. They have their psychopaths too, such as the Inuit 'Kulangeta' (thanks, Mathew Crawford). But those populations do not scale to a size large enough to sustain a ruling caste.
Although even personal relationships from friendships, to families, to communities can involve sociopathic levels of Cluster B behavior, at least we have the cognitive capacity to identify and possibly constrain the dark tetrads within small, empathy-driven groups. Larger populations are another problem altogether … necessarily hierarchical and 'rule-driven' ... if we can define 'rule' as anything from habits, customs, and rituals to mandates, laws, and algorithms.
One problem with hierarchies of rule-driven behavior is that those best able to navigate them tend to lack empathy for others, or empathy with the spiritual side of traditional religion, or spiritual naturalists such as Spinoza, Emerson, Jung, or Einstein. Although not the only reason, I suspect some people are genetically predisposed to high Cluster B behavior. Just born, bad-to-the-bone. If for no other reason than to get along with the neurotypical majority, from a young age, they develop keen observational skills and mimicry of authentic empathy. Among high-functioning Cluster Bs in large populations, rehearsed and performative faux-empathy can be more influential on the herding primate than personal authenticity. Despite my spending 20 years as an undergrad biology lab director (Temple Univ. Japan), my own mom opted for the televised narrative over my advice. She was fully jabbed when she passed away due to various accelerated neurological conditions.
This begs other questions about the fundamental nature of what it means to be a social primate. James Fallon (author of ‘The Psychopath Inside’) is an example of a ‘good psychopath’ … morphologically stunted in his capacity to empathize, but apparently without a sadistic or manipulative bone in his body. One theory explaining the small percentage of Cluster Bs in any population is that the same atypical neurocircuitry preventing them from empathy also makes them fearless … a quality necessary for group survival when under an external threat or in a search for necessary resources.
Related to my previous observation of ethnic communities not having a specialized ruling caste, I’ve recently begun to wonder if most of what we call 'art' or 'culture' may similarly be one epiphenomenon of Cluster B behavior in large populations of specialists ... for example, the necessary narcissism and drive to be a movie star or a Diva. Looking at those aspiring to be a rock star, and their fans, I suppose age, the waxing and waning of epigenetics and hormones, and the mating game have more than a bit to do with it.
But an even deeper dig into what it means to be human, and the intersection of those Cluster B dark-tetrads, might be found in a debate between Carl Sagan and evolutionary biologist Ernst Mayr regarding the Fermi paradox. Mayr conceded the mathematical probability of life elsewhere in the cosmos, but also said it would most likely not have human-like intelligence. He even went so far as to say the evolutionary record suggests that 'human intelligence' will most likely prove to be a fatal mutation.
No one gets out of this room alive, but rather than end this comment with despair, will sign off with at least enough hope to enjoy the ride while it lasts, and to do that by helping ease the way for others.
I think, if a system and citizenry is going to accept execution and sanctioned murder - in all its forms - we should be required to experience it. Maybe not via video but in person. Watching someone get shot; lethally injected; blown up; or aborted is traumatic for most people. Maybe it should be. Participating in that trauma can cause it to become common place. But not seeing it first hand keeps it in the realm of fantasy. As in not real. And when it’s not traumatic and not real, what motivation do we have to end it? I don’t know the answer to this dilemma but it appears to be a generic, human flaw. We kill and torture each other routinely. And we accept that universally as part of life. I don’t believe this aspect resides in just a handful of human, psychiatric pigeon holes. I think it’s part of the entire human expression. As in “normal.” Given that violence and power over others becomes so easily normalized it might reside in humans along with hair color and body shape. I don’t know but I don’t think it’s to be found only in figures of authority. I live in an extremely rural area and the expressions of violence out here aren’t much different from anything you speak to. The local authorities don’t stop it. Probably participate in it. And the community surrounds it and covers it up as if it were a treasured aspect of life itself. It’s the same in urban settings. I just don’t see this as an anomaly. Sadly.
I think video and movie "hero" characterizations have destroyed all healthy mirror effects of soul. People are living in *projected* minds, rather than physically sensing sensory feedback.
Mr. Sansone put it this way: "With war, people cheer the bombs dropping on civilians on the other side of the world as if the civilians being bombed did not have families and dreams, instead they are viewed as the equivalent of characters in a video game." [End quote]
Joseph is spot on here. The movie and selfie generations are characters *acting* in a sick video projection.
The Iran War is essentially over. The wait and sanctions, and oil work arounds have won it. Oil is traveling freely through the Straight. Your endless war sub-headline is deceptively false. And negotiations through strength is not authoritarianism.
False. We lost, that is fairly clear. The status of our military bases alone shows that. Trump has no leverage. Since the 911 false flag we have seen endless war.
All those who seek power via force (as in government) are psychos. I would surmise most authority seeking people are psychos. They have to control the others so that they can pretend to be powerful.
99% of the time, these authorities have no relationship to your individual life. They treat everyone as being helpless without some authority to "guide" them. The exception would be guidance from the Heavens. This scares most psychos as their presumed authority will be usurped by a much higher power.
I call 'authority' syndrome "mommy syndrome". Persons displaying such authoritarian syndrome *seem* to believe other persons are their own creations - like children to be beaten and abused rather than furthered or guided.
Authoritarianism is a spiritual sickness, and those who cower before such specter are spiritually sick in other ways...
Iran has clearly won the war, Hormus will stay closed until they decide to open it. Trump doesn't know what to do now, he's running around like a chicken with its head cut off.
As do most politicians when their silly demands are not met.
Erm... I agree. The US/Israeli assault was an abject failure. But permanently wrecked economies were the actual target. Everyone but bankers and whores lose in war...
Dr. Sansone is definitely one of the most brilliant people I’ve ever listened to!! Now the Covid tragedy has become very clear!!
100% correct, until I start talking....lol
Speaking of Psychopaths, Hegseth was at a presidential campaign fundraiser for John McCain. Leading up to the 2008 United States presidential election, Vets for Freedom began supporting McCain.
Birds of a feather. Hegseth is playground bully who didn't get his ass kicked in grade school. Playground bullies remain bullies until someone else beats the crap out of them. Pleading for an ambulance is a humbling experience...
I see Hegseth more in the Zimbardo way, while Trump appears to be an empty narcissist, turning more malignant because he does not believe in anything. I mean, Great hair, right?
I have no desire to watch another human being executed. I cannot imagine why anyone would?
Seminal work, Joe.
Thank you!
I just sent this article to a group of high-powered conservative therapists for comment.
Do you mind if I ask, Are you a practicing Catholic? It is none of my business but I am curious and may have a suggestion for you.
Realize that the military has its own set of psychological power over people. I think if you have not ever served, you might not understand it!
That has nothing to do with live streaming an execution.
The Roman Caesars also had psychopathical display of bread and circus with public audience cheerleading!! Minds sick unto death. They create the infrastructure of weaponized technology for targeting and surveillance. And merge military with all channels of activity, medical, legal, educational, scientific, artistic, media. Termite to the Constitution and souls
Yes. They all did. Persian Empire, Chinese, etc. It is a definite pattern in history to start carrying out public executions. There seems to be a lot of backlash so hopefully they will not do it.
It's human running itself disconnected from God. The definition of becoming law unto ourselves! With that atrocities are committed and wrongs justified, rationalizing Evil!!! That's why the Founding Fathers said that humans not being angels, must be leashed. And the system of three branches checking each other.
Respectfully sir, I am not talking about the live-streaming event. I am talking about the bravado of the military personality.
Side note: As a Floridian, I applaud your efforts to hold those accountable for the CV-19 harms across the state, and world.
Well, I was writing about the livestream so I figured that was what you were talking about. Thanks.
By your definition, America’s Founders, greatest leaders and even Jesus Christ would qualify. Insane.
Not by my standards at all.
Hello Dr. Sansone, and nice to ‘meet’ you.
It's been a pleasure seeing you make the rounds on YouTube. After sitting on the wordy translation of Lobaczewski for a couple of years, I am really looking forward to reading your book and what appears to be a comprehensive update. For what it's worth, some thoughts on the matter, but having yet to read your book, I might just be preaching to the choir
The same self-destructive group dynamics are at work here in Japan, and I suspect they have always been a part of the collective human genome. I think the problem of scaling the social primate to herding levels (anything beyond Dunbar's number) has something to do with this. The world's oldest sustainable populations have been Australian Aboriginal People, or similar small communities living close to the land. They have their psychopaths too, such as the Inuit 'Kulangeta' (thanks, Mathew Crawford). But those populations do not scale to a size large enough to sustain a ruling caste.
Although even personal relationships from friendships, to families, to communities can involve sociopathic levels of Cluster B behavior, at least we have the cognitive capacity to identify and possibly constrain the dark tetrads within small, empathy-driven groups. Larger populations are another problem altogether … necessarily hierarchical and 'rule-driven' ... if we can define 'rule' as anything from habits, customs, and rituals to mandates, laws, and algorithms.
One problem with hierarchies of rule-driven behavior is that those best able to navigate them tend to lack empathy for others, or empathy with the spiritual side of traditional religion, or spiritual naturalists such as Spinoza, Emerson, Jung, or Einstein. Although not the only reason, I suspect some people are genetically predisposed to high Cluster B behavior. Just born, bad-to-the-bone. If for no other reason than to get along with the neurotypical majority, from a young age, they develop keen observational skills and mimicry of authentic empathy. Among high-functioning Cluster Bs in large populations, rehearsed and performative faux-empathy can be more influential on the herding primate than personal authenticity. Despite my spending 20 years as an undergrad biology lab director (Temple Univ. Japan), my own mom opted for the televised narrative over my advice. She was fully jabbed when she passed away due to various accelerated neurological conditions.
This begs other questions about the fundamental nature of what it means to be a social primate. James Fallon (author of ‘The Psychopath Inside’) is an example of a ‘good psychopath’ … morphologically stunted in his capacity to empathize, but apparently without a sadistic or manipulative bone in his body. One theory explaining the small percentage of Cluster Bs in any population is that the same atypical neurocircuitry preventing them from empathy also makes them fearless … a quality necessary for group survival when under an external threat or in a search for necessary resources.
Related to my previous observation of ethnic communities not having a specialized ruling caste, I’ve recently begun to wonder if most of what we call 'art' or 'culture' may similarly be one epiphenomenon of Cluster B behavior in large populations of specialists ... for example, the necessary narcissism and drive to be a movie star or a Diva. Looking at those aspiring to be a rock star, and their fans, I suppose age, the waxing and waning of epigenetics and hormones, and the mating game have more than a bit to do with it.
But an even deeper dig into what it means to be human, and the intersection of those Cluster B dark-tetrads, might be found in a debate between Carl Sagan and evolutionary biologist Ernst Mayr regarding the Fermi paradox. Mayr conceded the mathematical probability of life elsewhere in the cosmos, but also said it would most likely not have human-like intelligence. He even went so far as to say the evolutionary record suggests that 'human intelligence' will most likely prove to be a fatal mutation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuOKvuEWkWo
No one gets out of this room alive, but rather than end this comment with despair, will sign off with at least enough hope to enjoy the ride while it lasts, and to do that by helping ease the way for others.
Cheers from Japan
I think, if a system and citizenry is going to accept execution and sanctioned murder - in all its forms - we should be required to experience it. Maybe not via video but in person. Watching someone get shot; lethally injected; blown up; or aborted is traumatic for most people. Maybe it should be. Participating in that trauma can cause it to become common place. But not seeing it first hand keeps it in the realm of fantasy. As in not real. And when it’s not traumatic and not real, what motivation do we have to end it? I don’t know the answer to this dilemma but it appears to be a generic, human flaw. We kill and torture each other routinely. And we accept that universally as part of life. I don’t believe this aspect resides in just a handful of human, psychiatric pigeon holes. I think it’s part of the entire human expression. As in “normal.” Given that violence and power over others becomes so easily normalized it might reside in humans along with hair color and body shape. I don’t know but I don’t think it’s to be found only in figures of authority. I live in an extremely rural area and the expressions of violence out here aren’t much different from anything you speak to. The local authorities don’t stop it. Probably participate in it. And the community surrounds it and covers it up as if it were a treasured aspect of life itself. It’s the same in urban settings. I just don’t see this as an anomaly. Sadly.
I think video and movie "hero" characterizations have destroyed all healthy mirror effects of soul. People are living in *projected* minds, rather than physically sensing sensory feedback.
Mr. Sansone put it this way: "With war, people cheer the bombs dropping on civilians on the other side of the world as if the civilians being bombed did not have families and dreams, instead they are viewed as the equivalent of characters in a video game." [End quote]
Joseph is spot on here. The movie and selfie generations are characters *acting* in a sick video projection.
The Iran War is essentially over. The wait and sanctions, and oil work arounds have won it. Oil is traveling freely through the Straight. Your endless war sub-headline is deceptively false. And negotiations through strength is not authoritarianism.
False. We lost, that is fairly clear. The status of our military bases alone shows that. Trump has no leverage. Since the 911 false flag we have seen endless war.
Can’t wait for the Dems to take the house and senate!