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OpEdNews Op Eds    H4'ed 11/13/12

Character flaws and circumstances in America's deadly warriors-in-chief

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Gary Brumback
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3. Narcissism.  One of the abnormal profiles recognized by the American Psychiatric Association is the "narcissistic personality disorder," which exhibits such characteristics as "a grandiose sense of self-importance, is interpersonally exploitative and lacks empathy." I think the hubris that pushes decisions to use military force is a corollary of narcissism. The "poster child" of hubris ought to be President Bush in his military attire standing on the aircraft carrier proclaiming "mission accomplished." When narcissism goes over the edge it becomes sociopathic, which exhibits such characteristics as "disregard of social norms, deceitfulness, and lack of remorse." Historian William Manson, author of The Psychodynamics of Culture, claims that President Clinton exemplifies narcissism and that President Bush has sociopathic tendencies (Bush allegedly firecracker bombed frogs as a youngster. [5] Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon ought to be case studies of this character flaw in its entirety.

 

4. Close-mindedness. One of the so-called "big five" personality traits is that of "openness." It's the least well understood of the five but it seems to reflect a person's mental ability for comprehensive and objective thinking and a keenness for a variety of experiences. Close-mindedness, narrow-mindedness, and myopia would seem to reflect the opposites. Consider President Lyndon Johnson, for instance. I think he was either an ignoramus about or downplayed the past history of Vietnam and didn't have the vaguest idea of how long the war against that country would last or what its consequences would be. And then there are the more recent presidents with their myopia over the long-term consequences of their military aggressions in the Greater Middle East.

 

Circumstances

 

All people deal in one way or another with circumstances, some of their own making. Circumstances usually involve temptations and pressures. I call those circumstances "badvantages" because they give advantages to bad behavior. U.S. presidents, like CEOs, are bombarded by them, most especially by occupying a seductive position, by presiding over the best or worst of times, by a warfare culture, by upside down incentives, by global enticements, and overall by the powerful corpocracy, the collusion between corporate interests and corruptible officials in all three branches of the government.

 

1. Seductive position. History is replete with characters seduced by the powerful positions they held. Power is readily available to be exploited and abused. The U.S. presidency is perhaps the most powerful militarily speaking and thus the most seductive position in the world militarily speaking.

 

2. Best or worse of times. The best of times, which stokes greed, tends to bring out the worst in human nature just as the worst of times, which stokes need, tends to do the same. Fortune 500 companies, for instance, tend to get into legal trouble more often when times are good. In the case of U.S. presidents, however, the worst of times is when they get more militaristic. With the arguable exception of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor (FDR is said to have deliberately provoked the attack), warriors-in-chief create the worst of times by creating enemies for the self-serving purposes of the industrial/military/political triumvirate. Nothing boosts its profits and power like having an enemy or two or three.

 

3. Warfare culture. The triumvirate is adept at creating and sustaining a culture in which continuous military interventions are accepted and expected. Besides relying on spreading lies (e.g., WMDs), half truths and propaganda through corporate-controlled mainstream media, on infiltration into the educational system at all levels, and on entertainment (e.g., war movies) the triumvirate has mastered the art of what we psychologists call "operant conditioning," continuously pairing a negative or less favorable item with a more favorable one until the former becomes more like the latter. That explains, for example, why basketball fans will without reservation watch a game played on an aircraft carrier.

 

4. Upside Down Incentives. CEOs and U.S. presidents are addicted to them. An upside down incentive, as you can probably guess, is one that rewards bad behavior and/or punishes good behavior. Never having to worry about being prosecuted as a war criminal by the International Criminal Court because it is an absolutely feckless entity and because the U.S. refuses to be a signatory member of it is the most egregious upside down incentive for a U.S. warrior-in-chief.  

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Gary Brumback Social Media Pages: Facebook page url on login Profile not filled in       Twitter page url on login Profile not filled in       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

Retired organizational psychologist.

Author of "911!", The Devil's Marriage: Break Up the Corpocracy or Leave Democracy in the Lur ch; America's Oldest Professions: Warring and Spying; and Corporate Reckoning Ahead.

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