Subnostr

🎙From Shadows to Light (links below)

My guest today on nostr:npub1ms9urcp4yctm00g0w45ydlgsaluddpf203d20cgnhqvlv97nlz8s3s6kln is Prof. Mattias Desmet, a Psychotherapist and a Professor of Clinical Psychology, and the best-selling author of “Psychology of Totalitarianism”.

This conversation peeks into the upcoming event of Desmet in Israel on Dec. 22nd 2024. We discuss the chaotic state of the world, and the importance of staying true to ethical principles amidst challenges.

We explore the difficulties of open dialogue in a polarized society, the role of propaganda, and the essence of totalitarianism and technocracy. Desmet stresses the need for sincere speech as a means to connect with others and resist the tyranny of the ego, ultimately aiming to foster a more humane society.

Paul 1y ago

Thank you for this interesting interview.

In my opinion I think Mattias is missing something fundamental in his book.

Matthias in his book says that :

“Other misconceptions are that the leaders are primarily driven by money (i.e., “follow the money” and “cui bono”) or sadistic pleasure (i.e., they have a psychopathic or perverted personality).”

I disagree with this . All totalitarian states (probably all states) are led by psychopaths . The point is that in order to reach their positions they have to be exceptionally good as disguising it. It is true that they justify their actions with ideology but that is just a tool for them. He misunderstands psychopathy ;very few of them are sadists ;it’s just that they have absolutely no conscience or concern for anyone other than themselves .Discussing totalitarianism without a full discussion of psycopathy is like discussing economics without reference to how money is created out of thin air when banks make loans.

This is discussed in this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Political-Ponerology-Science-Psychopathy-Totalitarianism/dp/1734907452

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Discussion

Efrat Fenigson 1y ago

Thx Paul. Super interesting, appreciate you sharing this. I’ll look deeper into it.

Paul 1y ago

From the foreword :

“ How did Communist ideologues manage to convince the

masses that they undertook their crimes for “the workers,” or “the

people,” or egalitarianism? But even more perplexing, how did the

ideologues convince themselves that their crimes were for the good of the common “man? Łobaczewski explains that totalitarian ideology operate on two levels; the terms of the original ideology are taken at face value by true believers, while the party insiders substitute secondary meanings for the same terms, and normal people are subjected to gaslighting. Only the cognoscenti, the psychopaths, know and understand the secondary meanings. They recognize that actions

purportedly undertaken on behalf of “the workers” translate into the

domination of the party and state on behalf of the psychopaths

themselves. The truth is the opposite of what the party insiders

claim to be the case, and they know it. Political Ponerology thus

explains the origin of “doublespeak,” which Orwell portrays so

well. Coincidentally, Łobaczewski finished Political Ponerology in

1984.”

Excerpt from

Political Ponerology: The Science of Evil, Psychopathy, and the Origins of Totalitarianism

Andrew Lobaczewski