Modern psychopathology is not confined to our leaders. Entire populations are infected. Collective Psychopathology can clearly be perceived in the West.
Collective psychopathology
In the democratic West we can only have militaristic leaders brandishing weapons of mass destruction if they are not condemned by the population at large. We permit them to brandish weapons of mass destruction, namely nuclear weapons; weapons that could virtually wipe out life on the planet. This implies that the mental dysfunction is not confined to the leaders but is prevalent in the population.
Richard Koenigsberg is a social psychologist who has been writing and lecturing for the past 40 years on the psychological sources of war and genocide. He is the author of four books, numerous papers and articles, and has lectured extensively throughout the United States. In an article on Collective Psychopathology he starts by reminding us that 'Well over two-hundred million people were killed in the Twentieth Century as a result of political violence generated by nations.... It seems as though the world lived through an epidemic, or malignant disease. Former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski states that the Twentieth Century was dominated by the "politics of organised insanity"'. In the article he shows how Hitler brought about the destruction of Germany , 'What occurred may be understood as a form of psychopathology played out upon the stage of society.' He points out that 'German soldiers did not rebel: they went like sheep to the slaughter.'
Koenigsberg suggests that '... Psychopathology is contained within the normal structures of society' and that civilisation has a 'tendency toward violent self-destruction'. As an example of collective psychopathology Koenigsberg cites the way the German people followed Hitler even after it was clear that victory was impossible. He points out that in the last four months of the war in 1945, nearly 500,000 German soldiers died each month. He says, 'This was probably the most concentrated incidence of mass-slaughter in the history of the human race.' Koenigsberg writes further , 'The ultimate behavioral enactment of the fantasy of masochistic submission is group death.'
In the twentieth century millions died in the Soviet Union under Stalin. Millions died in China under Mao. Millions died in Cambodia under Pol Pot, and millions died in Germany under Hitler. Could all this slaughter have happened if the people themselves had mounted a concerted resistance to their psychopathic leaders? Is there a parallel with our present failure to revolt against the species-threatening actions of our leaders who yield nuclear arsenals? Koenigsberg write, 'During the course of the Twentieth Century, political leaders created mass-movements that had the effect of persuading people to march to the cemetery.' In the twenty-first century the leaders of nine states have built the possibility of a nuclear Armageddon. We have let this happen. Should we not consider if this is an example of collective psychopathology?
The concept of collective psychopathology is intimately related to certain views about what is 'normal'. If a person kills another individual this is treated as a matter for prosecution. If thousands of people are killed in a war we accept this because it is 'normal' for people to be killed in a war. If most of the people killed in the war are civilians rather than combatants, well, that is 'normal' considering the power and mechanisation of modern weapons. If a person kills another this is considered a crime. If a politician starts a war resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands with no good effect as in the Iraq war this is considered a mistake, not a crime. It is 'normal' for mistakes to be made in such matters. After all a similar mistake was made in invading Afghanistan. No prosecutions pending. Is our acceptance as normal, grotesque acts committed by our leaders not more evidence of collective psychopathology?
There is currently a stand-off
between NATO (together with the EU and the US) and Russia. Both sides have
arsenals of weapons of mass destruction that have the destructive power to
wipe out most of the life on the planet several times over.
NATO has moved across Europe and now threatens to incorporate Ukraine. This
frightens Russia so much that it posits the possibility of a resulting nuclear
war. The West fears that Russia is preparing to invade Ukraine. In view of the
blatant nature of the provocation of the West and the willingness of Russia to
alarm the West further it is difficult to avoid the suspicion that a tendency
to violent self-destruction is at work here; that man's death wish as posited
by Freud is manifesting itself. If this is the case surely the first stage in
preventing disaster is to recognise the nature of what is happening.
Time is running out. We need to find our other drive, the one for self-preservation, and put it in the ascendancy. We will not achieve self-preservation by threatening each other with a nuclear holocaust.
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