Ignotas nulla curatio morbid – do not attempt to cure what you do not understand – is the opening theme in this study of evil. Political Ponerology is “a science on the nature of evil adjusted for political purposes.” The author, Andrzej Lobaczewski, describes himself as a Polish psychologist who — with many other colleagues — found meaning living through Nazism and then Communism by studying how evil happens and triumphs in a wider political and economic system.
Lobaczewski’s hypothesis is that a small percentage of humans are born psychopaths. He describes the research to back up that data that was destroyed and suppressed. Another minority percentage are of a nature to go along with psychopaths while the vast majority of people are essentially healthy. The majority who are healthy have a difficult time understanding that some people are not — they cannot fathom being a psychopath or acting like one.
Political Ponerology was sent to me by a subscriber intent on understanding why our governance structure is so embedded with organized crime – a phenomenon I sometimes refer to as “the Tapeworm.” I found it chock full of deeply useful insights that can inform organizing to shift our situation. For example, Lobaczewski discovered that dealing with psychopathic systems made healthy people neurotic. However, they could heal very quickly when he gave them a scientific framework for understanding what had happened and why. With a sound framework, they could start to differentiate who was healthy and who was not and to devise strategies to deal effectively with psychopaths in power. Rather than having their relations with all humans destroyed, they were able to discriminate between healthy and unhealthy and increase their immunity to the drain of unhealthy culture and systems.
I strongly recommend this book for anyone who is managing human or financial risk in this environment or is looking to create healthy change. Traditionally, the Tapeworm’s greatest advantage is that healthy people cannot fathom what they are up against and so, keep inviting the Tapeworm back into their intimate spaces. This book helps you understand why that will not work. It helps you understand why conspiracies of the healthy and ‘coming clean’ are essential.
Political Ponerology is a book to read slowly. Lobaczewski uses a lot of academic and long words. The insights are deep and rich — they require focus and concentration. And the point comes home again and again: Ignotas nulla curatio morbid — do not attempt to cure what you do not understand.
Political Ponerology is available from:
Red Pill Press
http://www.redpillpress.com/
