Announcement: Ponerology Reading Workshop
Read the book, meet cool people, ask me questions
Like the blog but never read the book? Now’s your chance to remedy that situation!
I’m launching a new feature for paid subscribers: the Political Ponerology reading group. Every week, we will work our way through the book, chapter by chapter, until we’re done. All paid subscribers will receive an invitation to the Zoom meeting and access to the recorded sessions.
You will get to ask me questions about the book, I will get to ask you questions for your own insights, and by the end, if everything goes according to plan, our mutual understanding of ponerology will be expanded and enriched.
Can’t make it live? Post your questions in the comments section of the current reading-group post and I will answer them during the next meeting. You’ll be able to view the discussion when I post it here.
Since no day or time works for everyone, take the poll below so I can get an idea of which day of the week might work best.
The first meeting will be in the next week or two and will cover my introduction and the prefaces.
So, if you haven’t yet done so, please considering subscribing:
p.s. I recently appeared on Lee Smith’s Words That Matter. Epoch Times subscribers can watch it here.
Writer Harrison Koehli speaks with Lee Smith about a controversial book on psychopathy and politics that shows how mental illness is at the root of totalitarian regimes, like Mao’s China. Is a similar pathology afflicting our own elite?
Koehli discusses 2007 classic by Polish psychiatrist Andrew Łobaczewski
5:03 Łobaczewski saw connection between psychopathy and totalitarianism
10:13 Łobaczewski applied psychiatry to explain Soviet communism.
Psychopaths commonly hold power in totalitarian regimes
“Magnetic force” draws some toward a pathological elite
Despite talent to manipulate others, psychopaths have below average intelligence
Ideological groups becomes more pathological over time
Ideology influences institutions like universities, schools, and corporations.
40:05 Łobaczewski’s work illuminates current political landscape.
"Despite talent to manipulate others, psychopaths have below average intelligence."
This one has always been of interest to me. I always silently add "of those who've been caught." I wonder if the theory allows for the counterfactual: a highly intelligent predator that evades detection by metagaming the known techniques.
This should be a great help. "Political Ponerology" is by far the hardest book I ever read (well, still a couple chapters to go...). And I've read the Holy Bible cover-to-cover and "Das Kapital" all the way through.
Łobaczewski chose his words precisely. I'm not really that well-read, so the only comparison I have is Hegel. Precise choice of words not always easy to take in without re-reading. I would spend an hour on getting through just two pages of Political Ponerology.