Malignant Sadism

 

Recently, Linda and  I saw the movie  "A Time to Kill"  and it was based on a novel  by John Grisham.  Also, a May 22, 2022 article in the New York Times  " Why It Matters That Russia Is Fascist was also relevant to today's disquisition. Sadism,narcissism, group narcissism and Fascism are topics.

In the movie, two 20-year-olds were driving down a road in Mississippi, drinking and hollering. They came upon a 10-year-old black girl returning home with groceries in hand. One of the boys made a comment alleging that if she could crawl, then she's appropriate. The boys proceeded to rape her; urinate on her; hang her from a tree, but the tree limb broke, so they threw beer cans at her body tearing flesh to the bone, and then dumped her body from a 30 foot high bridge into the shoreline. In the story, the girl lived. The boys were arrested and admitted the rape and  on their way to preliminary legal proceedings with the judge,the girl’s father shot and killed the two white boys. The lawyer commented that in this small southern town, a white jury would convict and the father would spend life in jail.The little girl's reproductive organs were damaged so she would never give birth. Her father's motive was simple. In thinking about this little girl, it was clear she was not considered human in the eyes of the two boys. They sadistically brutalized and humiliated her as if she was a throwaway. One would go to jail if one treated an animal in the same fashion. How might this treatment of another human being be explained?  Certainly their behavior was not part of the norm, but it still occurred. Malignant sadism was in full view by the boy’s brutal treatment. Their motive was to rid her without feeling one bit of guilt or shame. That's likely possible when the  objects are perceived as a dirty, nonhuman form.

Historically, on May 14, 1607, 104 English men and boys established the Jamestown settlement and it became the first long-term English settlement in North America. The settlement was originated and operated by the Virginia company.  These 104 were white Protestants , with a common language, a common social structure, common religious beliefs,common economic and political philosophy and with a common law. Moving to 1776, we know that in order to ratify the Constitution, each slave was considered 3/5 of a human or a non individual.  Slaves were the property of his master.  It's safe to say that the founding fathers were white Protestants with a common language, common wealthy economic and social structure, common religious beliefs, and a common understanding of English law .

Incorporating the malignant sadism in the movie to today's recent killing of Blacks skinned individuals, in Buffalo, by an 18-year-old, are as follows.  Sadism can be related to frustration and revenge. In that case, revenge is an attempt to fix an injury that has already been done. It's a magical psychological function of attempting to undo what has already happened.  Revenge is irrational and stupid, since it never restores and it only perpetuates man's craziness.  Gandhi had it right when he said, an eye for an eye only results in blindness.  It can be said that man too often acts as if he is blind.  So if one kills black's, what is the replacement principle ?  College, professional sports and the Summer Olympics are dominated by black skinned individuals. Whites are going to replace what? It's often the case that the shooter is impotent and crippled psychologically , that’s why he has a military weapon. One illusion is to restore oneself and that becomes taking revenge as in an eye for an eye.  With severe pathology, the focus for revenge becomes the sole motivation  as evidenced by large expenditures for weapon purchase and social media involvement.  Revenge becomes the dominant psychological aim. The dynamic behind revenge is based on psychic scarcity.  Likely in one’s history there’s mistrust, suspiciousness and a shattering of faith. The betrayal by friends, associates, peer groups, parents, teachers or others puts one at a distance from others. One begins to hate life. That hate of life is projected on the others who are perceived as evil by this paranoid individual.

On the other hand, in the case of the father who murdered the two sadistic white boys, we have more of a reactive sadistic characteristic. In this case, it was more about a defense of life, about freedom, about some form of dignity and justice. There was a realistic fear that the two white boys would not have received deserved punishment from a white jury.  It was a rational calculation to some extent that can be criticized morally as killing is never morally advocated.  However, one can argue that this killing was in the defense of life, of justice and those boys were guilty of  malignant sadism  and deserved to die. If an eye for an eye is justice, these boys should've been raped, urinated on, hung from a tree, had beer bottles thrown at their body and dumped from a 30 foot high bridge.  The Bible says thou shall not kill, but an eye for an eye?

Using an assault rifle on a defenseless human being is the definition of malignant sadism. The bullets have no mercy. They tear the flesh to pieces.  That weapon was not meant for hunting as it would destroy the prey. It's only used for killing and destroying. Sadism can be characterized as a drive to have complete and absolute control over a living being. It's a complete mastery and its drive is to make another helpless, defenseless and to humiliate . Make him suffer without the person being able to defend himself.  It's complete domination and transforms the victim into something inanimate which is a negation of life. A citizen using an assault rifle on a human being does not perceive that other as human. It was a  complete disregard for human life and malignant sadism.. It was a projection of hate that often comes back to that individual becoming suicidal and dying at the hands of self or another.

Sadistic tendencies lead  to a character of narcissism. We began life  narcissistic which is necessary for survival. Developmentally, there is a progression from a state of primary to a state of secondary narcissism that occurs within the first five years of life that's highly affected based upon the importance of interpersonal interactions. The result of these interactions leads to a blending of three main tendencies. Optimally, under exceptional nurturing influences results in behaviors characterized by an attitude of giving, care ,respect and the ability to love which is associated with positive self-esteem . One extreme tendency becomes giving” unconditional love" as in the likes of Mother Teresa , Gandhi, Eleanor Roosevelt and Albert Schweitzer. They were able to love  thy enemy as oneself and walk the walk regarding the Golden Rule. One can love another if they are able to love, care and respect themselves . A second  tendency results in a tendency to be moving against another as in taking, dominating, exploiting, sadism , aggression and violence which are associated with low self-esteem. An extreme  would be  the likes of Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer and 18 year old  mass shooters with assault weapons.These individuals are unable to care and respect self, let alone love self. These individuals hate life and appear to love death and project hate and death onto others and their behavior  can be called malignant sadism. The third tendency would be moving away from another as in isolation, withdrawal with an extreme of being a hermit.  It's not uncommon for these young 18-year-old shooters to be characterized by being “a lone wolf type.”  They are not popular and on the contrary, are seen as weird,strange, spooky without face-to-face friends. They likely engage in anonymous social media interactions.At the extreme level, these violent types have an abnormal diseased narcissism.  When using an assault weapon, the bullet has a tremendous and devastating impact on the human body, tearing it to shreds. It was designed to kill the enemy in wartime. Use against the civilian suggests an extraordinary amount of malignant sadism, and unconscionable hate against another human.  It's as if the other was non-human. An enemy that one hates can become that nonentity.  With diseased narcissism, there was a distortion of rational judgment-from beautiful to ugly, good to bad etc. That  prejudice and bias becomes prevalent and the norm.  In the movie , she crawls, so she can be mounted.”In other words, if the narcissist was diseased, reality gets transformed and becomes a fictionalized illusion.

Individuals who have a tendency for a diseased narcissism are often found to be insecure, dependent as well as being affected negatively educationally, economically, socially and/or  interpersonally.  This sense of weakness is often unconscious and there's a tendency to compensate.  One way to compensate is to identify with a group that appears to be powerful. It's magical. It allows that individual to become powerful as the group, especially with group consensus or a great number of people being part of that group. That group narcissism can become satisfying.  Going to a superior group in that way elevates that person. It's like an infusion and compensates for one's feelings of being inferior. So, I am somebody now because I belong to the most admirable group in the world. I belong to this white powerful group. This group has a common language, a common religious belief, a common political goal with the powerful leader. My group is the best. Everyone else is evil.  Evil can be defined as having different skin color, different religious beliefs, different political agendas and different economic interests.  In my group,we love our country, we love flags and we love God.  The other group is evil. They are satanic and must be eliminated.  We believe in the true God.  They are misguided and we have to demonstrate our power and superiority in every way.  Anyone that is different does not belong and deserves to be punished.Really!

With group narcissism, we find a leader that was able to speak to the group's insecurities by demonstrating power, righteousness, sureness and being in control. For example, Hitler used to have rallies late at night knowing that his followers were then more likely to be more receptive to his propaganda. Also, the leader can use a variety of means to justify his goals and it doesn't matter if that leader was of diseased narcissism,was a criminal or was insane. This is true because followers lack objectivity, rational judgment and are unable and are easily seduced by the projection of power by that mystical messanic leader.

Turning to the newspaper article, fascism was of Italian origin that Hitler followed. Incidentally, Hitler entered into an agreement with Russia regarding invading Poland, but later, Hitler changed his mind and took Poland for himself. The definition of fascism "A political philosophy movement or regime that exalts nation often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation and forcible suppression of opposition.

Let's go back to the founding of our white race Republic. Jamestown can be argued fits the definition of fascism directed solely by the Virginia company.  Our Constitution has a political philosophy that some have argued has three equal branches of government. However, we all know  the prize is to become president. We number and rank presidencies.  Donald was a dictatorial leader, he benefited himself economically,had more lackeys surrounding himself, had the Republican Senate in his pocket with millions of voters, Justice dept. for his personal lawyer, nominated 3 supreme court nationalists and other federal judges and  belittled opposition daily with social media coverage.

Putin is the leader as he invaded Ukraine and called Ukraine an artificial state with a Jewish president. Putin’s going to eliminate the Nazis by destroying Ukraine? There are no Nazis in Ukraine. Putin’s violence was compensatory to say the least. He’s impotent in his inability to restore self and Russia to its “glory.”  He was exhibiting malignant sadism in his drive for complete and absolute control over Ukraine. His aim was to humiliate Zielinski and make the entire country suffer. His weapons are able to maim and destroy.  It doesn’t matter that children, women and  the elderly were eliminated, destroyed, and humiliated. He demonstrated complete dominance over the helpless.  He's bombing, killing and wiping out Ukraine because they are  subhuman animals that Russians can kill and murder as they've done in Bucha, Mariupol, and other parts of Ukraine with all the mass graves with  malignant sadistic destruction. He invaded Ukraine because of its natural resources and its strategic port access. What country has NATO  ever invaded?  Yes, the enemy is Ukraine,Zelensky, NATO, capitalism, Biden,and the United States.Putin is a leader who can bring back and restore the imperial greatness of Russia through violence and destruction?

In essence, intellectually we have developed the most destructive weapons and we are about to eliminate mankind. Mentally and emotionally our development has left us in the state of  diseased narcissism with all its visible pathological symptoms.

Reference

Fromm, Erich.  The Heart of Man It's genius for good and evil.