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

number of imaginary elements in our field of consciousness

and subject them to internal contemplation. The capacity of this

act of internal projection varies greatly from one person to

another, manifesting a statistical correlation with similar varie-

gation in the anatomical extent of such areas. The correlation

between this capacity and general intelligence is much lower.

As described by researchers (Luria et al.), the functions of

these areas, thought-process acceleration and coordination,

seem to result from this basic function.

Damage to this area occurred rather frequently: at or near

birth, especially for premature infants, and later in life as a

result of various causes. The number of such perinatal brain

tissue lesions has been significantly reduced due to improved

medical care for pregnant women and newborns. The spectacu-

lar ponerogenic role which results from character disorders

114

PONEROLOGY

caused by this can thus be considered somewhat characteristic

of past generations and primitive cultures.

Brain cortex damage in these areas selectively impairs the

above mentioned function without impairing memory, associa-

tive capacity, or, in particular, such instinct-based feelings and

functions as, for instance, the ability to intuit a psychological

situation. The general intelligence of an individual is thus not

greatly reduced. Children with such a defect are almost normal

students; difficulties emerge suddenly in upper grades and af-

fect principally these parts of the curriculum which place bur-

den on the above function.

The pathological character of such people, generally con-

taining a component of hysteria, develops through the years.

The non-damaged psychological functions become overdevel-

oped to compensate, which means that instinctive and affective

reactions predominate. Relatively vital people become belliger-

ent, risk-happy, and brutal in both word and deed.

Persons with an innate talent for intuiting psychological

situations tend to take advantage of this gift in an egotistical

and ruthless fashion. In the thought process of such people, a

short cut way develops which bypasses the handicapped func-

tion, thus leading from associations directly to words, deeds,

and decisions which are not subject to any dissuasion. Such

individuals interpret their talent for intuiting situations and

making split-second oversimplified decisions as a sign of their

superiority compared to normal people, who need to think for

long time, experiencing self-doubt and conflicting motivations.

The fate of such creatures does not deserve to be pondered

long.

Such “Stalinistic characters” traumatize and actively spell-

bind others, and their influence finds it exceptionally easy to

bypass the controls of common sense. A large proportion of

people tend to credit such individuals with special powers,

thereby succumbing to their egotistic beliefs. If a parent mani-

fests such a defect, no matter how minimal, all the children in

the family evidence anomalies in personality development.

The author studied an entire generation of older, educated,

people wherein the source of such influence was the eldest

sister who suffered perinatal damage of the frontal centers.

POLITICAL PONEROLOGY

115

From early childhood, her four younger brothers exposed to

and assimilated pathologically altered psychological material,

including their sister’s growing component of hysteria. They

retained well into their sixties the deformities of personality

and world view, as well as the hysterical features thus caused,

whose intensity diminished in proportion to the greater differ-

ence in age.

Subconscious selection of information made it impossible

for these men to apprehend any critical comments regarding

their sister’s character; also, any such comments were consid-

ered to be an offense to the family honor.

The brothers accepted as real their sister’s pathological de-

lusions and complaints about her “bad” husband (who was

actually a decent person) and her son, in whom she found a

scapegoat to avenge her failures. They thereby participated in a

world of vengeful emotions, considering their sister a com-

pletely normal person whom they were prepared to defend by

the most unsavory methods, if need be, against any suggestion

of her abnormality. They thought normal woman were insipid

and naive, good for nothing but sexual conquest. Not one

among the brothers ever created a healthy family or developed

even average wisdom of life.

The character development of these people also included

many other factors that were dependent upon the time and

place in which they were reared: the turn of the century, with a

patriotic Polish father and German mother who obeyed con-