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

about the state of our world and the possibility that there is

24

EDITOR’S PREFACE

some essential difference between such individuals as George

W. Bush and many so-called Neocons, and the rest of us.

Dr. Stout’s book has one of the longest explanations as to

why none of her examples resemble any actual persons that I

have ever read. And then, in a very early chapter, she describes

a “composite” case where the subject spent his childhood blow-

ing up frogs with fire-crackers. It is widely known that George

W. Bush did this, so one naturally wonders...

In any event, even without Dr. Stout’s work, at the time we

were studying the matter, we realized that what we were learn-

ing was very important to everyone because as the data was

assembled, we saw that the clues, the profiles, revealed that the

issues we were facing were faced by everyone at one time or

another, to one extent or another. We also began to realize that

the profiles that emerged also describe rather accurately many

individuals who seek positions of power in fields of authority,

most particularly politics and commerce. That’s really not so

surprising an idea, but it honestly hadn’t occurred to us until

we saw the patterns and recognized them in the behaviors of

numerous historical figures and, lately, including George W.

Bush and members of his administration.

Current day statistics tell us that there are more psychologi-

cally sick people than healthy ones. If you take a sampling of

individuals in any given field, you are likely to find that a sig-

nificant number of them display pathological symptoms to one

extent or another. Politics is no exception, and, by its very na-

ture, would tend to attract more of the pathological “dominator

types” than other fields. That is only logical, and we began to

realize that it was not only logical, it was horrifyingly accurate;

horrifying because pathology among people in power can have

disastrous effects on all of the people under the control of such

pathological individuals. And so, we decided to write about this

subject and publish it on the Internet.

As the material went up, letters from our readers began to

come in thanking us for putting a name to what was happening

to them in their personal lives as well as helping them to under-

stand what was happening in a world that seems to have gone

completely mad. We began to think that it was an epidemic,

and, in a certain sense, we were right. If an individual with a

POLITICAL PONEROLOGY

25

highly contagious illness works in a job that puts them in con-

tact with the public, an epidemic is the result. In the same way,

if an individual in a position of political power is a psychopath,

he or she can create an epidemic of psychopathology in people

who are not, essentially, psychopathic. Our ideas along this line

were soon to receive confirmation from an unexpected source:

Andrew !obaczewski, the author of the book you are about to

read. I received an email as follows:

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen.

I have got your Special Research Project on psychopathy

by my computer. You are doing a most important and valu-

able work for the future of nations.[…]

I am a very aged clinical psychologist. Forty years ago I

took part in a secret investigation of the real nature and psy-

chopathology of the macro-social phenomenon called “Com-

munism”. The other researchers were the scientists of the pre-

vious generation who are now passed away.

The profound study of the nature of psychopathy, which

played the essential and inspirational part in this macro-social

psychopathologic phenomenon, and distinguishing it from

other mental anomalies, appeared to be the necessary prepara-

tion for understanding the entire nature of the phenomenon.

The large part of the work, you are doing now, was done in

those times. …

I am able to provide you with a most valuable scientific

document, useful for your purposes. It is my book “Political

Ponerology – A science on the nature of evil adjusted for po-

litical purposes”. You may also find copy of this book in the

Library of Congress and in some university and public librar-

ies in the USA.

Be so kind and contact me so that I may mail a copy to

you.

Very truly yours!

Andrew M. !obaczewski

I promptly wrote a reply saying yes, I would very much like

to read his book. A couple of weeks later the manuscript ar-

rived in the mail.

26

EDITOR’S PREFACE

As I read, I realized that what I was holding in my hand was

essentially a chronicle of a descent into hell, transformation,

and triumphant return to the world with knowledge of that hell

that was priceless for the rest of us, particularly in this day and

time when it seems evident that a similar hell is enveloping the

planet. The risks that were taken by the group of scientists that

did the research on which this book is based are beyond the

comprehension of most of us.

Many of them were young, just starting in their careers