If it can be seen or perceived, there may be a word for it; however, one might ask, if there isn’t a word for it, can it, will it, be perceived or seen?

This short and off-the-cuff note associates with the theme I had wanted for this blog, far more than secondary coverage of the war news: i.e., a fair look into conflict and political psychology.

From The Awesome Conversation (FTAC) –>

” . . . how could a society allow the radical to run any sort of political business ?” There may be a form of moral and psychological weakness buttressed by stress plus challenges to personal and cultural self-esteem. Basically, The People Who Are Vulnerable may find themselves in want of a champion, a father, a demigod who can save them from their misery and restore them to (guess what) their former glory!

One does not have to relive the Battle of the Ditch to appreciate this.

The restoration of Jerusalem and the Temple of Solomon might do.

Perhaps the (American) South WILL rise again.

Or a once sprawling Berlin — is it still sprawling? — could become the definitive capital of a civilized empire (http://www.historytoday.com/roger-moorhouse/germania-hitlers-dream-capital)

“Malignant narcissists” possessed of charisma and grand enthusiasm (or grandiose delusions — see this blog’s note on Facsimile Bipolar Political Sociopathy) are inherently manipulative and without internal brakes as regards others (who exist to serve them — and supply them with adoration and love in infinite “narcissistic supply”).

The dictator of the day, at least Egypt’s day, is Morsi, and the language technology in play, at least in part, serves a readily angered population, and they too lose their brakes and take license; however, any may be invited to overview the “career paths” of other autocrats, present and past, and note the dynamic similarities across ideologies and purposes. Not all are awful, but from the junta in Burma to Mugabe in Zimbabwe, they are all thugs and their power is the power of the mob boss or malignant feudal lord.

It’s possible that in a language culture or society infused with “black and white thinking” that observation of the character of the dictator may add only to prowess in back-and-forth mudslinging.  Nonetheless, the possession of a concept universal in intent — i.e., the appearance of the autocrat in a social process, from board room to cabinet, from China to Cameroon, apart from legacy in culture, language, political system, and religion — may find a place in the political chemistry of constituencies engaged in conflict, in want of a way to the end of it and, through suffering perhaps, amenable to the adoption of an updating and progressive outlook.

It helps to know who really cares about you.

Not every leader with backbone or the inheritance, even, of a kingdom will prove a dictator in the depths of their psychology, but some, unfortunately, will, and they will always lead their people toward confusion and ruin, for what they most prize is their own aggrandized image and the comfort it brings them surrounded by sycophants and a visible sea of adoring loyal subjects.

Additional Reference

Fathali M. Moghaddam

Wikipedia.  “Malignant Narcissism”.

Wikipedia.  “Narcissistic Supply”.

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