When Evil Rules: A Reflection on the Present Administration

I was re-reading Simon Baron-Cohen on The Science of Evil; On Empathy and the Origins of Cruelty. His experimentation in psychology demonstrates that evil is essentially a failure of empathy. Empathy of course is a key factor of human consciousness. It is the ability to take on the feelings of the other as our own. Self-awareness is level one consciousness important for animal survival. But other-as self-awareness pushes consciousness to a whole new level.

The lack of empathy may be due to genetic or social factors or both. It may be a chosen way to avoid the freedom of responsibility. But who are we to judge? Except that low or negative empathy is the source of evil among humans and leads to the catastrophe of non-cooperation. (E.g. think poverty and climate change)

Baron-Cohen gives the therapist ways to spot the personality disorder. One of these disorders is narcissism. I quote:

“How to spot a Narcissist. People who are Zero-Negative Type N show five (or more) of the following:

· a grandiose sense of self-importance

· a preoccupation with fantasies of success and power, beauty, or ideal love.

· a belief that he is ‘special’ and should associate with people of high status

· a need for excessive admiration

· a sense of entitlement

· a style of exploiting others

· a complete lack of empathy

· an envy of others or a belief others are envious of him

· arrogant attitudes”

Now who does that remind you of? And this was written in 2011 — well before he was elected.

An even better one is antisocial personality disorder. “three or more of the following:

· failure to conform to social norms of lawfulness

· Deceitfulness — repeated lying, conning people for personal profit

· Impulsivity or failure to plan ahead

· Irritability and aggression

· Constant irresponsibility — failure to honor work commitments, financial obligations

· Lack of remorse — indifference to having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from someone.”