Andrew Lobaczewski - Political Ponerology: A Science on the Nature of Evil Adjusted for Political Purposes

is documented by the history of those times.

When we contemplate the scope of the evil Stalin helped to

bring about, we should always take this most ponerogenic

characteropathy into account and attribute the proper portion of

the “blame” to it; unfortunately, it has not yet been sufficiently

studied. We have to consider many other pathologic deviations

as they played essential roles in this macrosocial phenomenon.

Disregarding the pathologic aspects of those occurrences and

limiting interpretation thereof by historiographic and moral

considerations opens the door to an activity of further ponero-

genic factors; such reasoning should be thus regarded as not

only scientifically insufficient but immoral as well.

~~~

Drug-induced characteropathies : During the last few dec-

ades, medicine has begun using a series of drugs with serious

side effects: they attack the nervous system, leaving permanent

damage behind. These generally discreet handicaps sometimes

give rise to personality changes which are often very harmful

socially. Streptomycin41 proved a very dangerous drug; as a

result, some countries have limited its use, whereas others have

taken it off the list of drugs whose use is permitted.

40 Svetlana Alliluieva - Twenty Letters to a Friend .

41 Streptomycin acts by inhibiting protein synthesis and damaging cell mem-

branes in susceptible microorganisms. Possible side effects include injury to

the kidneys and nerve damage that can result in dizziness and deafness. [Edi-

tor’s note.]

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PONEROLOGY

The cytostatic drugs42 used in treating neoplastic43 diseases

often attack the phylogenetically oldest brain tissue, the pri-

mary carrier of our instinctive substratum and basic feelings.44

Persons treated with such drugs progressively tend to lose their

emotional color and their ability to intuit a psychological situa-

tion. They retain their intellectual functions but become praise-

craving egocentrics, easily ruled by people who know how to

take advantage of this. They become indifferent to other peo-

ple’s feelings and the harm they are inflicting upon them; any

criticism of their own person or behavior is repaid with a

vengeance. Such a change of character in a person who until

recently enjoyed respect on the part of his environment or

community, which perseveres in human minds, becomes a

pathological phenomenon causing often tragic results.

Could this have been a factor in the case of the Shah of

Iran? Again, diagnosing dead people is problematic, and the

author lacks detailed data. However, this possibility should be

accepted as a probability. The genesis of that county’s present

42 Most drugs that are used to treat cancer kill the cancer cells. The word

cytotoxic means toxic to cells, or cell-killing. Chemotherapy is properly

called “cytotoxic therapy”. There are other treatments that do not kill cancer

cells. They work by stopping the cancer cells from multiplying. These treat-

ments are called “cytostatic”. The hormone therapies used to treat breast

cancer could be called cytostatic therapy. [Editor’s note.]

43 Neoplasia (literally: new growth) is abnormal, disorganized growth in a

tissue or organ, usually forming a distinct mass. Such a growth is called a

neoplasm, also known as a tumor. Neoplasia refers to both benign and malig-

nant growths, while “cancer” refers specifically to malignant neoplasia.

[Editor’s note.]

44 Chemo Head is the name given by cancer patients to one of the side-effects

of chemotherapy. It has been described as an inability to concentrate, reduced

memory, or finding it difficult to think clearly. This could be simply attrib-

uted to general fatigue, however it seems that there are some very specific

triggers and results. Some people get flustered by loud noises and activity

around them. Others find that they cannot find the right words to express

themselves. One patient described the feeling as “everything seems distant ...

it takes me a few seconds longer to think or answer questions. The mental

process slows down tremendously.” The symptoms are similar to those of

Attention Deficit Disorder. New research concludes “chemo head” continued

in up to 50% of survivors as long as 10 years following the end of systemic

chemotherapy treatment. [Editor’s note.]

POLITICAL PONEROLOGY

119

tragedy also doubtless contains pathological factors which play

ponerologically active roles.45

Results similar to the above in the psychological picture

may be caused by endogenous toxins46 or viruses. When, on

occasion, the mumps proceeds with a brain reaction, it leaves

in its wake a discrete pallor or dullness of feelings and a slight

decrease in mental efficiency. Similar phenomena are wit-

nessed after a difficult bout with diphtheria. Finally, polio at-

tacks the brain, more often the higher part of the anterior horns,

which was affected by the process. People with leg paresis

rarely manifest these effects, but those with paresis of the neck

and/or shoulders must count themselves lucky if they do not. In

addition to affective pallor, persons manifesting these effects

usually evidence naiveté and an inability to comprehend the

crux of a matter.

We rather doubt that President F.D. Roosevelt manifested

some of this latter features, since the polio virus which attacked

him when he was forty caused paresis to his legs. After over-

coming this, years of creative activity followed. However, it is

possible that his naive attitude toward Soviet policy during his

last term of office had a pathological component related to his

deteriorating health.

Character anomalies developing as a result of brain-tissue

damage behave like insidious ponerogenic factors. As a result

of the above-described features, especially the above-

mentioned naiveté and an inability to comprehend the crux of a

matter, their influence easily anchors in human minds, trauma-

tizing our psyches, impoverishing and deforming our thoughts

and feelings, and limiting individuals’ and societies’ ability to

45 Editor’s reminder that this book was written in 1985.

46 Current Western medical opinion states: Endogenous toxins include heavy

metals, pesticides, food additives, and industrial and household chemicals.

These can damage the liver and kidneys; they can also cross the blood-brain

barrier and damage brain cells. Workers exposed to high levels of inhaled

manganese showed concentrated levels in the basal ganglia, and exhibited

Parkinson’s-like syndrome. Observational studies have also shown increased

levels of aluminum, mercury, copper, and iron in the cerebral spinal fluid

(CSF) of Parkinson's patients. It is not fully determined whether these miner-

als found in the brain have any clinical significance. (Mitchell J. Ghen, D.O.,

Ph.D., and Maureen Melindrez, N.D.) [Editor’s note.]

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PONEROLOGY

use common sense and to read a psychological or moral situa-

tion accurately. This opens the door to the influence of other

pathological characters who most frequently carry some inher-

ited psychological deviations; they then push the charac-

teropathic individuals into the shadows and proceed with their

ponerogenic work. That is why various types of characteropa-

thy participate during the initial periods of the genesis of evil,

both on the macrosocial scale and on the individual scale of

human families.

An improved social system of the future should thus protect

individuals and societies by preventing persons with the above

deviations, or certain characteristics to be discussed below,

from any societal functions wherein the fate of other people

would depend upon their behavior. This of course applies pri-

marily to top governmental positions. Such questions should be

dealt with by an appropriate institution composed of people

with a reputation for wisdom and with medical and psychologi-

cal training.

The features of brain-tissue lesions and their character dis-

order results are much easier to detect than certain inherited

anomalies. Thus, stifling ponerogenic processes by removing

these factors from the process of the synthesis of evil is effec-

tive during the early phases of such genesis, and much easier in

practice.

Inherited Deviations

Science already protects societies from the results of some

physiological anomalies which are accompanied by certain

psychological weaknesses. The tragic role played by hereditary

hemophilia among European royalty is well known. Responsi-

ble people in countries where the system of monarchy still

survives, are anxious not to allow a carrier of such a gene to

become queen. Any society exercising so much concern over

individuals with blood-coagulation insufficiency or other seri-

ous and life-threatening pathology would protest if a man af-

flicted with such a condition were appointed to a high office

bearing responsibility for many people. This behavior model

should be extended to many pathologies, including inherited

psychological anomalies.

POLITICAL PONEROLOGY

121

Daltonists, men with an impaired ability to distinguish red

and green colors from grey, are now barred from professions in

which this could cause a catastrophe. We also know that this

anomaly is often accompanied by a decrease in esthetic experi-

ence, emotions, and the feeling of linkage to people who can

see colors normally. Industrial psychologists are thus cautious

whether such a person should be entrusted with work requiring

dependence upon an autonomic sense of responsibility, as

workers safety is contingent upon this sense.

It was discovered long ago that these two above-mentioned

anomalies – hemophilia and color blindness - are inherited by

means of a gene located in the X chromosome, and tracking

their transmission through many generations is not difficult.

Geneticists have similarly studied the inheritance of many

other features of human organisms, but they have paid scant

attention to the anomalies interesting us here. Many features of

human character have a hereditary bases in genes located in the

same X chromosome; although it is not a rule. Something simi-

lar could apply to the majority of the psychological anomalies

to be discussed below.

Significant progress has recently been made in cognition of

a series of chromosomal anomalies resulting from defective

division of the reproductive cells and their phenotypic psycho-

logical symptoms. This state of affairs enables us to initiate

studies on their ponerogenetic role and to introduce conclu-

sions which are theoretically valuable, something which is in

effect already being done. In practice, however, the majority of

chromosomal anomalies are not transferred to the next genera-

tion; furthermore, their carriers constitute a very small propor-

tion of the population at large, and their general intelligence is

lower than the social average, so their ponerological role is