Ponerology

Kelly O'Connell

Are mentally ill persons fated to ascend to power in socialist political movements? History proves this to be true. Yet, we must inquire further: Could a genuinely far left establishment be dominated by any type other than nut-cases, given the moral defects of Marxism?

The question, fortunately, answers itself. Granted, we see Lenin, Stalin and Mao as all quintessentially mad souls—quick to unleash violence on others. Yet today, many mental health practitioners and observant private persons see the only likely explanation of Barack’s hopelessly self-absorbed, superficial and harm-inducing personality as the result of a profound mental defect.

Ponerology is the study of institutionalized evil in high places. But is there such a thing as evil, or is what we call “evil” merely the lack of good in any particular situation? If evil exists, it seems to imply decision making which depends upon mankind’s freewill, misused. Whether any particular politician is evil, as opposed to merely clueless or lacking in the kind of training that fits one for the task, depends upon the details of each case. Here we examine the idea, and whether it applies to Barack Obama. The book is a study of what the editor calls:

Macro-social Evil: large scale evil that overtakes whole societies and nations, and has done so again and again since time immemorial. The history of mankind, when considered objectively, is a terrible thing.

I. What is Ponerology?

Ponerology, from the Greek rootponeros for “evil,” means the scientific study of evil as a disease, societal and political phenomenon. Andrzej M. Lobaczewski, a Polish psychiatrist, coined the term and wrote Political Ponerology (A Science on the Nature of Evil Adjusted for Political Purposes)as a study of the topic. Writes Lobaczewski,

Experience has taught the author that evil is similar to disease in nature, although possibly more complex and elusive to our understanding. Its genesis reveals many factors, pathological, especially psychopathological, in character, whose essence medicine and psychology have already studied… A comprehension of the essence and genesis of evil generally makes use of data from [biology, medicine, and psychology]. Philosophical reflection alone is insufficient.

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