J.G. Ballard (1930 - 2009)

British writer J.G. Ballard died on Sunday 19 April 2009. Ballard, who had been diagnosed with prostrate cancer in June 2006, was 78 years old. Among his best-known novels are such as Crash, High-Rise, Empire of the Sun, and Super-Cannes.

Though usually cited as a science fiction writer (he was one of the vanguards of the "New Wave" of sci-fi coming into prominence in the 1960s with such celebrated magazines as New Worlds, which he also contributed), Ballard's main theme was the psychopathology of contemporary society. The writer inspired by French Surrealists of the early 20th century, Ballard's works usually were about the civilisation crumbling but also mutating into something else, creating its own beauty and serenity. His psycho-geographical landscapes were inhabitated by alienated but inquisitive characters obsessed by a combination of technology, celebrity cult, sex and violence; all of which they worshipped with a religious fervour and even some sort of strange dignity.

Crash (1973) is about a small cult of people sexually obsessed with becoming injured or even dying in car accidents, preferably featuring some celebrity figures such as Elizabeth Taylor. Concrete Island (1974) describes a modern-day Robinson Crusoe, who finds himself helplessly stranded on a traffic island in the abyss of a spaghetti junction, his pleas for help ignored by passing cars. As with film director Luis Buñuel, Ballard's works could often be seen as surreal satires of the "discreet charm of bourgeoisie", and High-Rise (1975) shows a group of people consisting of highly-paid professionals and inhabiting an ultra-modern tower block degenerate into a constant life of violent orgy. In The Unlimited Dream Company (1979) an aviator crashes his plane in a suburb town of the Thames Valley, becoming a sort of Messiah with supernatural powers in a tale which might be or not only a final fantasy of a dying man. Ballard's late quadrology Cocaine Nights (1996), Super-Cannes (2000) (these two being actually companion pieces, so similar they are in their themes), Millennium People (2003) and Kingdom Come (2006) also show these same upper-middle class people instigating absurd violence to alleviate the boredom and social friction in their tightly guarded resort communities, business parks and shopping malls.

In a perfect world, the Nobel Award for Literature would have been Ballard's, but science/speculative fiction has never really fitted the appetites of that venerable election committee, not to speak about the controversial nature of his works. It would perhaps be preposterous to call Ballard's works prophetical, but I'm quite sure in the years to come more and more resonance will be found with his works and how the world around us turns out to be. No, as it already is: Ballard's dystopias took place not in some far future or a faraway country, but here and now.

In popular culture, J.G. Ballard has been for years a hip name to throw around and his works have inspired countless other writers, film-makers, artists and musicians. Empire of The Sun, an autobiographical book on Ballard's childhood years in the Japanese-occupied Shanghai, was filmed by Steven Spielberg in 1987. The Crash film version by David Cronenberg (whose earlier works such as Videodrome had a definite Ballardian tone) stirred some controversy in 1996.

Daniel Miller, the founder of Mute Records, recorded in 1978 under the alias of The Normal 'Warm Leatherette', a song based on Ballard's Crash. The Normal's electronic contemporaries such as Gary Numan ('Down In The Park') and John Foxx (Metamatic) have read their Ballard, too. Joy Division's late frontman Ian Curtis took the name for one of their songs, 'The Atrocity Exhibition', from a short story collection of Ballard.


The Normal: 'Warm Leatherette' with film clips from Crash adaptation by David Cronenberg

Ballardian.com - a Website dedicated to all things J.G. Ballard

Obituaries & tributes:

BBC News

Feuilleton

Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish)

Michael Moorcock @ Ballardian

Salon (by Simon Reynolds)

Jante'd - More on Jante Law

Amadeus trailer (1984)

(Jante Law, Part 1)

Artists (painters, writers, film-makers, musicians, ahem, DJs...), the narcissistic and self-centred creatures they are, live in constant fear. That fear is of competition, that a new hero/heroine will come up; being more talented, more creative, more innovative, more outspoken; outsmarting and making obsolete our poor narcissist, who will find out s/he is only a derivative hack feeding off other people's ideas and creating nothing essentially new in the process. Therefore, it will become necessary to eliminate the new contenders, whatever it takes, put them to their real place in the pecking order.

One of the most well-known case histories of this process of the artistic rival's elimination is featured in Milos Forman's 1984 biopic Amadeus, which depicts the intrigues and plots of composer Antonio Salieri to get rid of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whose talent Salieri is fiercely envious and afraid of. (It's better not to get into any possible historical inaccuracies here, such as Tom Hulce's take of Mozart as a giggling punk rocker of his time -- the fabulist film-makers just want to tell as juicy story as possible to delight the viewers, not historians.)

Salieri's behaviour here is basically Jante Law in action, though usually its mechanisms are of more devious and invisible nature, much harder to detect. That is because there might not be found only one jealous Salieri to put spokes in the wheels but apparently a whole establishment (of rivalling artists and other cultural gatekeepers of the art world), as if designed to make our poor talent's life hard -- and this is also where conspiracy theories begin.

Is our artist only a paranoid imagining things, or is someone actually plotting to block his/her way, speaking bad things of him/her behind his/her back and generally making things difficult for him/her? Even worse than actual attacks on the artist's work and person or negative criticism might be the "conspiracy of silence", as if s/he was silenced to death by the lack of any feedback whatsoever.

Thus is born another martyr, another artist misunderstood by his/her peers, another victim of persecution syndrome. (Not to speak about other possible discriminating factors, depending on our artist's gender, nationality, race, sexual orientation, political views and so on: just open any art mag or culture pages of your morning paper for any desperate outcries and extra evidence.) Our artist was "Jante'd". Of course, there is no real way to know, but "being paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you". (Though personally, more than conspiracy theories, I always put more weight to just incompetence, people's laziness, prejudices and comfort-seeking nature that prevents them looking for any new viewpoints outside their small circles of acquaintances or "good old boys", comfort zones, current trends or "the tried and true".)

Naturally, it's possible our artist, that poor and sensitive spring daisy, may have only him/herself to blame, having just rubbed too many people the wrong way. Being a creative one doesn't always fit together with having a wholesome personality, being a nice, jovial bloke or lass, and many of them/us are -- let's face it -- just irritating twats with overblown egos.

We don't like obnoxious or boastful personalities, because it is as if they pose a threat to our own existence. Any self-hype makes us wary. We don't like forked tongues, slimy showbiz types, obvious fly-by-nights but most of all, we don't like people who blow their own horn too avidly: especially if they are potential rivals.

Or then, maybe our artist actually is talentless, despite his/her delusions to the contrary, so the Jante process of elimination only does a great service to the rest of the world.

The Jante Law

Aksel Sandemose, the inventor of Jante Law

Jante Law was developed by Danish-Norwegian writer Aksel Sandemose (1899 - 1965) in his novel En flyktning krysser sitt spor ("A fugitive crosses his tracks", 1933). There Sandemose describes life in an imaginary village called Jante, which is loosely based on his own home village.

Jante Law is basically an unwritten and strict code of conduct regulating all fields of life and guaranteeing not one individual will rise above the rest, under the threat of all sorts of social sanctions, common disapproval and so on. These hierarchies and "pecking orders" will take care that only those members who will agree to play along the rules will subsist, and those diverting from the path will be cast aside. Jante Law is considered especially a Scandinavian phenomenon, distinctive of relatively tiny, close-knit societies of "small village mentality", but also Australia, New Zealand and Canada are said to have something similar, called "Tall Poppy Syndrome".

Lately Jante Law came up in Finnish domestic discussion when it was claimed Panu Rajala, the author of Unio Mystica, a biography of the legendary Finnish writer Mika Waltari, lost the acclaimed Finlandia Prize only because the Prize Board members thought Mr. Rajala's "celebrity status" -- the author often featured on the pages of ladies' magazines and so on -- prevented the book in question having any real "literary merit" in the eyes of the Board and thus from receiving the Prize many thought Rajala's book deserved.

Other examples in Finnish cultural life are countless; just every time when it's a question of the artists' job opportunities, grants and common recognition, being the source of endless bitterness for those hapless individuals who consider themselves being discriminated by "the System" or even by "the Mafia" (i.e. the cultural gatekeepers such as critics, curators, publishers and so on).

The late Finnish artist Kalervo Palsa, known for his morbid and grotesque paintings and comics depicting sex and death, kept Jante Law as his motto sign on the wall.

Jante Law:

1. Don't think you are anything.
2. Don't think you are as good as us.
3. Don't think you are smarter than us.
4. Don't fancy yourself better than us.
5. Don't think you know more than us.
6. Don't think you are greater than us.
7. Don't think you are good for anything.
8. Don't laugh at us.
9. Don't think that anyone cares about you.
10. Don't think you can teach us anything.

Jante'd - More on Jante Law

We Are All Prost... Marketing Personalities

Erich Fromm interviewed by Mike Wallace, part 1 [2] [3]

Indie pop intellectual Momus on Erich Fromm's concept of "Marketing Personality" in his latest blog entry: "Notes on the Marketing Personality".

The Pop Group put it more bluntly: "We Are All Prostitutes".

Some Disparate Notes on 230908

Some notes on the events of 230908:

1) It's interesting how the comments on Kauhajoki shootings seem to be like an exact re-run of those related to the Jokela massacre last November. Like now, tabloids were having a field day, politicians were paying a lot of lip service; there were claims of tightening the gun laws, readers' letters to newspapers expressing a concern of the well-being of children and teenagers, taking care of your neighbours, and so on, but how much had eventually changed, after the media furore and the flames of candle vigils had vanished? Judging by Tuesday's outcome, not much.

2) At the Net café that I frequent I witness daily 10-year olds playing shoot-'em-up games and planning together strategies for virtual massacres. It would be pretty horrifying to listen to these kids casually negotiate a cold-blooded murder when having a rampage through the pixellated killing fields -- how to blow this guy's head with a shotgun, or maybe just use an assault rifle there -- if I didn't know it was just a game. Boys will be boys, you know. But I just wonder. What sort of values will these kids suck up when playing these harmless(?) games; what will become of them when they grow up? If things go well, when they grow up they will properly go through the whole process of socialization and will become responsible citizens, loving husbands and fathers, who understand the distinction between a game and reality. But what if things just don't go well?

3) Finland is a cold and bleak country. So it is with Finnish society. It's a national virtue to survive alone without any outside help and just bite the bullet (just talking metaphorically), and when you are on your own, you are on your own. We don't complain, we just suffer and die alone. (On the other hand and maybe paradoxically, individualism is traditionally frowned upon here: Jante's Law is our great Scandinavian tradition.) Totalitarian societies ever since Sparta of antiquity have always admired hardness and looked down on weakness. With today's societies always boasting such things as democracy and human rights (especially in comparison to their political and economic rivals), this "might is right" ethos has found new and refined forms. Bullying is alive and well at all stages of society, from school to workplaces to reality-TV. Even some of our greatest Presidents have gone down to history as bullies. A bullied person has no other options except to submit or to fight back. It's no use waiting to get some sympathy or an intervention, because none might be coming. Both shooters of 071107 and 230908, Pekka-Eric Auvinen and Matti Saari respectively, were reportedly victims of bullying. So were their Stateside predecessors of Columbine High and Virginia Tech, Finns always being great admirers and copycats of all things 'Merkin.

Oh No, Not Again

BBC

CNN

New York Times

Wikipedia

"Only Neurotics Will Survive The Future..."

"It is now obvious that only neurotics will survive the future. Only fragmented personalities will be able to withstand the fragmented world produced by our over-sophisticated technology. What we consider today as pathological thoughts and behaviours are actually evolutionary advances that allow people to cope with urban alienation and its barrage of movie/video icons, computerised surveillance systems and nuclear threats. In place of raw emotion and instinct, we are increasingly compelled to cultivate a repertoire of artificial responses, amending the noble savage with a neurasthenic itinerary that consists of obsession, introversion and paranoia."

- Joseph Lanz at RE/Search #8/9: J. G. Ballard (RE/Search Publications, 1984)

Veikko Ennala

Miltei kohdusta hautaan minua seurasivat kalvava alemmuuden ja kyvyttömyyden tunne, kaiken ja kaikkien epäily, raskasmielisyys, tuska- ja paniikkitilat ilman silmin näkyvää syytä ja epätoivoinen kurottelu rehellisyyteen. Kirjoitin ymmärtääkseni miten asiat olivat enkä miten niiden olisi pitänyt olla. Tämän takia minulla ei juuri ollut ystäviä.

("Almost from womb to tomb I was followed by the nagging feelings of inferiority and impotence, doubts of everything and everyone, heavy melancholy, states of pain and panic without any visible reason and the desperate reaching out for honesty. I wrote to understand how things were and not how they should have been. Because of this I had few friends.")

- Veikko Ennala in his self-penned obituary, 1991

Veikko Ennala (1922-1991) was the enfant terrible of Finnish journalism, whose specialty was stirring controversy with magazine articles and columns penned by him, often of autobiographical content; breaking all possible taboos concerning sex, death, suicide, religion, alcoholism and substance abuse, crime and the general social conditions of those living on the wrong side of the tracks. Now a long-time Ennala aficionado Tommi Liimatta (of the band Absoluuttinen Nollapiste fame and a writer in his own right) has collected from the late journalist's writings this anthology, spanning nearly half a century, called Lasteni isä on veljeni ja muita lehtikirjoituksia ("The father of my children is my brother and other magazine writings").

The 1960s was a remarkable turning point when over 300.000 Finns emigrated to Sweden after a better living, and even inside Finland population moved from countryside to its large towns as the country which had been up until now predominantly agrarian rapidly turned towards industrialisation. This served to emphasize all sorts of social frictions which became all the more visible now when the newly settled dwellers of towns often faced -- instead of the economical Eldorado with better living standards that they had been expecting -- urban alienation which replaced the cosy rural way of life they had been earlier on accustomed to: where the bonds between families, relatives and neighbours had been tight, and life went on relatively unchanged from one generation to another. In fact, the whole Finland had been up to the 60s one large village with strict and homogenous ways of thinking; the combination of Evangelical Lutheran religion and Fennomanic patriotism providing the tight moral framework for all citizens, from which any diversion was heavily frowned upon.

So, all this suddenly changed in the 60s; not to talk about the onslaught brought on by TV, media and all kinds of new cultural and social values. In the 1966 Parliamentary Election, the Left (Social Democrats and Communists) received a landslide victory and the Conservatives found themselves in the opposition (which lasted all the way to 1987). The young intelligentsia found themselves radicalised, which was reflected in all domestic cultural life. The overall global tumult of the decade has been well documented elsewhere, so suffice it to say that Finland wasn't left unaffected, though the era's socio-sexual-cultural revolution came to this country at least slightly delayed, filtered and customised to the local mentalities. However, this all was reflected by Finland's most sensationalist magazine, called Hymy ("Smile"), which was established already in 1959 by a budding publisher mogul and Hemingway-wannabe Urpo Lahtinen (1931-1994) and named after his then-wife, Hymy Lahtinen. It took over half a decade for Hymy magazine to gain momentum and reach its full throttle, but when Veikko Ennala -- who had already gained some journalistic notoriety -- joined its ranks in 1965, the time was ripe to shake things up in tepid Finnish culture.



By no means was Ennala alone responsible for Hymy's subsequent rapid ascent -- which reached its apex with the December 1968 issue, the total edition of 520.000 which was sold out, becoming the best-selling Finnish magazine of all time -- but he became to personify the magazine's journalistic agenda, which consisted of a combination of "human interest stories", accounts of all kinds of social and political injustices, celebrity interviews and naturally gossips, sensations and scandals. All sorts of illicit sex or unusual sexual behaviour, homosexuality (which those days was still a criminal offence) and perversions were in the special spotlight, often analysed in a pseudo-scientific way, and all articles naturally accompanied by revealing photographs, so that by the 70s Hymy could well be called a soft porn magazine, though one browsed through by all family, either in public or more or less in shameful secrecy.

Accounts of both physical and mental illnesses and their countless appearances filled the pages of Hymy. Crime and the asocial lives of alcoholics, drug users and addicts were covered; also the primitive and severe conditions under which inmates had to live in correctional institutes and the poor people in countryside. The abuses of religious revivalist movements were exposed, even though also paranormal phenomena and ghost stories had their place on the pages, when all things mystical enjoyed some new-found interest in the Aquarian climate of the 60s. In other words, nothing human (or inhuman) was alien to Hymy magazine; everything that whetted the imaginations of star-struck sensation seekers and potential Peeping Tom types was covered.

Though America had "Gonzo" writers like Hunter S. Thompson and "New Journalism" represented by Tom Wolfe (in the style of his Stateside "counterpart", Ennala also liked to dress dandy-like; like Wolfe, favouring posh white suits), perhaps somehow distantly related to Ennala's style, it's hard to imagine that a character like Veikko Ennala would have been produced by any other culture, with that specific Finnish combination of Arctic hysteria, melancholia, mania and depression finding all their expressions in his work full of angst and lust. The workaholic Ennala estimated that as a writer he had produced approximately 30.000 - 50.000 sheets of A4 size during his life. Despite that, he was also a stylistic perfectionist, who advised that every text has to be written over at least for six times. His style is peppered all over with literary and poetry quotes; apparently the cultured Ennala was not exactly one of your typical gutter press hacks, and might as well have taken a successful career in "fine literature" (he actually also published some novels and short stories), but why he chose scandal press instead, must have been a question of some very complicated circumstances and perhaps just a personal tendency as a social misfit to go against the grain.

Admittedly, Ennala's style can be at times corny and downright soppy when he attempts with poetic turns of phrase to paint a picture of the hard fates of his long-suffering subjects but only ends up with voyeuristic saccharine melodrama, which makes him look look a pretentious hypocrite, albeit one who knows his world literature; just like "Olli Meri", a caricature of Ennala the late film director Risto Jarva depicted in his 1972 Kun taivas putoaa ("When the Heavens Fall..."), a tragicomical satire of yellow press, especially based on Hymy magazine.

The Ennala articles in this book are collected not only from the pages Hymy but also men's magazines published under the umbrella of Lehtimiehet, Urpo Lahtinen's company, such as Nyrkkiposti, VIP, Ratto, Jallu and Kalle. From the 1950s are Ennala's articles for Apu magazine where he worked with another legend of Finnish journalism, Matti Jämsä (1929-1988), known for his daring death-defying escapades which he reported for the magazine. (Ennala got kicked out of Apu after a scandal of getting sexually involved with a 15-year old girl.) The earliest Ennala stories are from the 1940s when he worked during the Continuation War as an official war correspondent for the Information Department of the Headquarters. However, Ennala's ambitions to become the next great war writer à la Erich Maria Remarque were hindered by the censorship of high brass, who were annoyed by the realism of Ennala's combat report, unworthy as any spirit-raising propaganda, for the esteemed Suomen Kuvalehti magazine. Famous writer Olavi Paavolainen, Ennala's superior officer at the Information Dept., called young Ennala his "literarily gifted problem child". After the war Ennala also had his own column at the local newspaper of Valkeakoski, writing as "Veli-Pekka". His last articles Ennala wrote in the 80s and just before his death in 1991 for the crime magazine Alibi.

The texts here are not in chronological order but the editor Liimatta has arranged them into such thematic categories as Ennala's life, reportages, religion and church, sexuality, little man and society, alcohol and drugs, prisons and mental health, paranormal and mysticism, celebrities, columns by Veli-Pekka for Valkeakosken Sanomat, and more Ennala's life.



Some examples of Veikko Ennala's texts found from the pages of this book:

Ennala reported in sardonic tones a characteristically bacchanalic Midsummer celebration on the Yyteri Beach near the town of Pori, known for its seaside dunes and camping site. Finnish youth drunk out of their minds, I witnessed this same Midsummer inferno of Yyteri myself decades after Ennala, to notice Finns still stick to their beloved paganistic Juhannus traditions of drinking, fighting, knifing each other and drowning.

Ennala was supposed to test some LSD and write a story, but gladly his editor prevented this, being aware of the writer's tendency to heavy melancholy and depression. Instead, a young graphic artist of Hymy took the substance, Ennala and the editor monitoring the proceedings and the former writing a story, not forgetting to duly repeat the LSD horror stories the late-60s media was full of.

Ennala was constantly annoyed by his reputation as a lecherous old man, an "emperor of porn", for which his children got bullied at school, but only added petrol himself to the flames with his articles such as "How To Seduce A Woman", and his infamous condom test for which he announced for a female willing to do the test with him (and found one). However, among tons of angry letters, Ennala also received from the more liberal-minded readers praise for his candid articles about sexuality and willingness to write about some of those subject matters which had been so far taboo in the puritanist Finnish culture.

There is something of a reckless exhibitionism about the way Ennala opened to all people through his writings his personal life, drunken binges with their violent hangovers, problems with his health and marriage, though all accounts were spiced with loads of sardonic self-irony and morbid humour. There's a detailed report of his ulcers for which he was hospitalised in 1974, the surgical operation that followed and his convalescence; also his later -- and terminal -- lung cancer was duly reported by Ennala. It's always embarrassing to follow people who wash their dirty laundry in public, and Ennala -- the indisputable master of this -- is no exception with "Death of My Marriage", his bitter Strindbergian account of the failure of his marriage and the reasons leading to it. (Subsequently, the ex-wife committed suicide some years later, Ennala also writing another infamous article not included in this collection.)

One theme that followed Ennala all through his career was his constant preoccupation with all things concerning death, afterlife and the existence of God, which he pondered on and on, though considered a blasphemer by religious bigots who kept bombing the writer with letters he claimed were often surprisingly obscene: another proof to Ennala of these people's basic sexual frustrations. Despite being a thorn by the side of fanatics, revivalists and self-made "prophets" and their eschatological claims of the imminent apocalypse and such things as glossolalia ("speaking in tongues") which he openly ridiculed, Ennala was an iconoclast who kept thinking about spiritual matters thoroughly and endlessly, who couldn't exactly decide if he was a believer (of sorts), an agnostic or an atheist.

Though it's not known if Ennala was familiar with the works of English visionary poet/artist William Blake, his own motto might well have been borrowed from Blake who wrote in his Proverbs of Hell that: "Prisons are built with stones of Law, Brothels with bricks of Religion". Veikko Ennala's attitudes about religion seem to stem from his childhood with his tyrannical teacher father (and occasional substitute priest) who regularly beat his wife and young Veikko into submission. (Somehow, these accounts make me think of those experiences depicted in his autobiographical Laterna Magica by film director Ingmar Bergman about his own strict priest father.) Veikko's religious faith was tried by father's cruel sadism and additionally, finding out about a "whoremonger priest" of his own parish, who had been found abusing young servant maids. Gladly father also had a vast library of world literature and Veikko nourished himself with the works of Edgar Allan Poe and Th. Hoffman (who also influenced Ennala's own short stories, the first of them published in a magazine when he was 11), Anatole France, André Gide, Alphons Daudet and Gustave Flaubert.

The book is concluded by Ennala's self-penned obituary that was published in Alibi #11/1991. Despite his shortcomings, Ennala was a unique character in Finnish journalism, and his passing at the age of 68 feels now like him having left us just too early. Even though the appreciation he was looking for during his lifetime seems to have been mostly posthumous: as one proof this excellent book.

Kiss Me, Deadly

(Click here if you can't see this film trailer of Kiss Me, Deadly.)

The controversial American crime writer Mickey Spillane just died this week. Known for his extreme right-wing opinions and the violence, nihilism and misogynism of his books, the very persona of Spillane paints a bleak picture of the post-World War II American psychopathology. Though I've never read any of his books (and probably never will until I shall ever become even more cynical, jaded and vengeful than I already am), I've found Robert Aldrich's aptly hard-boiled 1955 adaptation Kiss Me, Deadly one of my favourite pieces of film noir. Reflecting the 1950s Zeitgeist of atomic paranoia and anti-Communism, and with its suitably apocalyptic climax when the nuclear(?) Pandora's box will finally be opened, this nihilistic journey of Spillane's sadistic and truly dislikeable anti-hero detective character Mike Hammer (played by Ralph Meeker) reveals something really fundamental about the mindset of this era. Va-va-voom!

There's hardly a more suitable director for this one than Robert Aldrich (1918-1983), known for his controversial films often verging on nihilism; the star-studded war movie Dirty Dozen (1967) probably the most famous of them. Aldrich's films are often about a group of tough, masculine men trying to survive in a harsh, violent environment but he also directed melodramatic (though not less cynical) psychodramas featuring women in such works as Whatever Happened To Baby Jane? (1962), Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) or The Killing of Sister George (1968).

Back to Mike Hammer, a totally different Spillane adaptation is Richard T. Heffron's I, The Jury from 1982, with slick Armand Assante as Mike Hammer and one-time Bond girl Barbara Carrera as the female protagonist. In my teenage video nasty years I actually found this one quite entertaining with all its fast-paced gory action and sordid sex scenes (the plot involves a sex clinic with prostitute-like characters offering an interesting form of "therapy"). But then, the film was scripted by Hollywood's bad boy Larry Cohen, known for such cult shockers as It's Alive, with some social agenda full of satirical picks on consumerism and corporate values, so Cohen probably well understood the garish sleaziness hiding behind Spillanean gung-ho patriotic worldview. I haven't seen this film for years, though, so I can't really assess any of its worth now.



(Click here if you can't see this clip.)

Incidentally, the apocalyptic destruction scene at the final climax of Kiss Me, Deadly (with its ghastly screaming sounds) makes me somehow think of the infamous slow-motion ending of Michelangelo Antonioni's Zabriskie Point (1970) where Daria Halprin's character imagines the destruction of a luxury villa, being simultaneously the symbolic demolition of the American bourgeois way of life, with all the exploding fridges and flying Wonderbread packages. While Pink Floyd's 'Come In Number 51 Your Time Is Up' (a reworking of their 'Careful With That Axe, Eugene') plays in the background -- what a beautiful scene: one of my all-time favourites, absolutely. (Too bad the film itself is considered one of Antonioni's worst.) -- Anyway, I wonder if the makers of Koyaanisqatsi ever saw this one?

Other Mickey Spillane-related video clips @ YouTube + some with keywords 'Mike Hammer'

Juri on Spillane:

1 | 2 | 3

Charlie Manson's Philosophy of Fear

Let it be made clear that I'm not a Mansonite myself but one quote allegedly from him has really haunted me for years:

One aspect of Manson's philosophy especially puzzled me: his strange attitude toward fear. He not only preached that fear was beautiful, he often told the Family that they should live in a constant state of fear. What did he mean by that? [ ... ]

To Charlie fear was the same thing as awareness [ ... ] The more fear you have, the more awareness, hence the more love. When you're really afraid, you come to "Now". And when you are at Now, you are totally conscious.

Manson claimed that children were more aware than adults, because they were naturally afraid. But animals were even more aware than people, he said, because they always live at Now. The coyote was the most aware creature there was, Manson maintained, because he was completely paranoid. Being frightened of everything he missed nothing.

- Vincent Bugliosi: Helter Skelter, p. 320

Mr. Sleazeball

Have you ever met Mr. Sleazeball? Well, I have. Now, before we start, there are many sorts of Mr. Sleazeballs in existence. I want to talk here about the sort of Mr. Sleazeball you can often find on any creative field of life (show business, if you want). This branch of Mr. Sleazeballs usually works as a sort of impresario: a manager, promotor, agent; generally Mr. Wheeling-and-Dealing whose business is to "connect people".

He may not actually be a greasy, fat, cigar-chomping middle-aged man, but that's usually the mental image he creates of himself. Even though the first impression of him is that he is a charmer, a sort of person who can talk your pants off. He will pat your back, he will flatter you, he will tell you how much he admires your work. In other words, he will strike you as an extremely nice guy. But beware! The troubles are just beginning.

After you have been duly enchanted by Mr. Sleazeball's charms and been promised the world, the moon and the stars, now follows the part of you signing the contract. Either metaphorically or literally. (Of course there are cases where this persuasion has not been that friendly, as in "making you an offer you can't refuse", but this is not exactly our concern here, though with Mr. Sleazeball this is more than likely to happen later on.) You are now officially under Mr. Sleazeball's influence.

Little by little, you start to smell a rat. Gradually you will find out that Mr. Sleazeball turns out to be not a such nice guy after all. You will find out Mr. Sleazeball is just a bullshit machine with no substance to his words. There are various ways he can fuck you over or rip you off with. He will break all his promises to you. He will treat you like dirt. He will be hell to be around with. When he's drunk, his hellish side will be revealed in all its ugliness: he will try to pick fight with everyone and constantly harasses women (Mr. Sleazeball himself just thinks he's the natural centre of party and a bundle of joy and fun for everyone). When it's time to receive your payment for your work, Mr. Sleazeball will be nowhere to be seen.

In other words, Mr. Sleazeball will turn out to be just your regular every-day psychopath, a guy from hell; mad, bad and dangerous to know; someone best to be avoided. Unfortunately, there was no way for you to know this in the beginning; otherwise you would have just run like hell on your first encounter with Mr. Sleazeball. Now you are wiser by experience, also sadder; with a little less trust for people.

Without Conscience

Dr. Robert D. Hare, considered one of the world's foremost experts in the area of psychopathy, is a professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia. His book Without Conscience is now translated also in Finnish.

The pioneer of the research of psychopathy was Dr. Hervey Cleckley who released in 1941 a book called The Mask of Sanity: An Attempt to Clarify Some Issues About the So-Called Psychopathic Personality. Later on, Dr. Robert D. Hare came up with his Psychopathology Checklist to assess the main characteristics of psychopathic behaviour.

The psychopathic (or sociopathic) syndrome consists of many different symptoms. In every-day use of this term people normally consider psychopaths as dangerous and hardened criminals they have learned to know from media, but reality is far more complex. A psychopath has a good self-esteem, he is self-centered and dominating. A psychopath can be a person with short attention span, of impulsive and unpredictable behaviour; with no real emotional ties to other people, a parasite taking from others but never giving anything back. He feels no empathy nor love; neither guilt, remorse or shame. A psychopath may be great in pretending these emotions, but not able to really feel them.

Psychopathy is characterised as a narcissistic personality disorder. Narcissism and psychopathy are not exactly the same thing, even though they are close to each other. Robert D. Hare says that what is common to a narcissist and psychopath is that they both love themselves, but only a psychopath takes advantage of other people.

Hare emphasizes that there are psychopaths in any communities and social classes. He estimates there are two per cent of them in populace. Psychopaths are often those well off in society; great manipulators with fluent verbal output and charming appearance. A psychopath loves power and considers himself intelligent and bright, but mostly only has an average IQ.

What is problematic considering his environment is that it is really hard to recognize a psychotic there. These modern times favour those values that are characteristic for psychopaths: selfishness, greed, superficial human relations and elbow tactics.

Excerpt from Hervey Cleckley's The Mask of Sanity

Antisocial Personality, Sociopathy, and Psychopathy

See also:

Psychopathological Cult Leaders

The Right Man And The Fear Of Losing Face

These excerpts are from Colin Wilson's A Criminal History Of Mankind (1984).

Here Wilson discusses the interesting psychological concept of the "Right Man", which might in other uses also be called the "Dominant Male" or the "Alpha Male", though we are, of course, speaking here about the negative extremes in behaviour of this human type, not just ordinary dominance or leadership.

The "Right Men" can be domestic household tyrants terrorizing their families but they can be found in all fields of life: in business, politics, art, culture. Everyone must have encountered one: a dominating boss, school headmaster or teacher, army officer, father, son, boyfriend, bully.

Essential here is that the "Right Man" must always have his way and is afraid of losing face above all ("How dare you talk to me this way?"): anything that might be an indication of his infallibility or erroneous ways, something that he can never admit.

And if things don't exactly go his way, he may scare people into submission by breaking into outbursts of rage or downright violence. He may demand absolute faithfulness from his woman but "play around" himself, since as a God-like "Right Man" this is his divine prerogative (he thinks). Colin Wilson also points out that there are "Right Women" too, so this is not exclusively male behaviour.


"The notion of 'losing face' suggests an interesting alternative line of thought. It is obviously connected, for example, with the cruelty of Himmler and Stalin when their absolute authority was questioned. They were both men with a touchy sense of self-esteem, so that their response to any suspected insult was vindictive rage. Another characteristic of both men was a conviction they they were always right, and a total inability to admit that they might ever be wrong."

"Himmlers and Stalins are, fortunately, rare; but the type is surprisingly common. The credit for recognising this goes to A.E. Van Vogt who is also the author of a number of brilliant psychological studies. Van Vogt's concept of the 'Right Man' or 'violent man' is so important to the understanding of criminality that it deserves to be considered at length..."

[...]

"In 1954, Van Vogt began work on a war novel called The Violent Man, which was set in a Chinese prison camp. The commandant of the camp is one of those savagely authoritarian figures who would instantly, and without hesitation, order the execution of anyone who challenges his authority. Van Vogt was creating the type from observation of men like Hitler and Stalin. And, as he thought about the murderous behaviour of the commandant, he found himself wondering: 'What could motivate a man like that?' Why is it that some men believe that anyone who contradicts them is either dishonest or downright wicked? Do they really believe, in their heart of hearts, that they are gods who are incapable of being fallible? If so are, are they in some sense insane, like a man who thinks he is Julius Caesar?"

"Looking around for examples, it struck Van Vogt that male authoritarian behaviour is far too commonplace to be regarded as insanity. [...] [For example,] marriage seems to bring out the 'authoritarian' personality in many males, according to Van Vogt's observation."

[...]

"... 'the violent man' or the 'Right Man' [...] is a man driven by a manic need for self-esteem -- to feel he is a 'somebody'. He is obsessed by the question of 'losing face', so will never, under any circumstances, admit that he might be in the wrong."

[...]

"Equally interesting is the wild, insane jealousy. Most of us are subject to jealousy, since the notion that someone we care about prefers someone else is an assault on our amour propre. But the Right Man, whose self-esteem is like a constantly festering sore spot, fliers into a frenzy at the thought, and becomes capable of murder."

"Van Vogt points out that the Right Man is an 'idealist' -- that is, he lives in his own mental world and does his best to ignore aspects of reality that conflict with it. Like the Communists' rewriting of history, reality can always be 'adjusted' later to fit his glorified picture of himself. In his mental world, women are delightful, adoring, faithful creatures who wait patiently for the right man -- in both senses of the word -- before they surrender their virginity. He is living in a world of adolescent fantasy. No doubt there was something gentle and submissive about the nurse that made her seem the ideal person to bolster his self-esteem, the permanent wife and mother who is waiting in a clean apron when he get back from a weekend with mistress..."

"Perhaps Van Vogt's most intriguing insight into the Right Man was his discovery that he can be destroyed if 'the worm turns' -- that is, if his wife or some dependant leaves him. Under such circumstances, he may beg and plead, promising to behave better in the future. If that fails, there may be alcoholism, drug addiction, even suicide. She has kicked out the foundations of his sandcastle. For when a Right Man finds a woman who seems submissive and admiring, it deepens his self-confidence, fills him with a sense of his own worth. (We can see the mechanism in operation with Ian Brady and Myra Hindley.) No matter how badly he treats her, he has to keep on believing that, in the last analysis, she recognises him as the most remarkable man she will ever meet. She is the guarantee of his 'primacy', his uniqueness; now it doesn't matter what the rest of the world thinks. He may desert her and his children; that only proves how 'strong' he is, how indifferent to the usual sentimentality. But if she deserts him, he has been pushed back to square one: the helpless child in a hostile universe. 'Most violent men are failures', says Van Vogt; so to desert them is to hand them over to their own worst suspicions about themselves. It is this recognition that leads Van Vogt to write: 'Realise that most Right Men deserve some sympathy, for they are struggling with an unbelievable inner horror; however, if they give way to the impulse to hit or choke, they are losing the battle, are on the the way to the ultimate disaster... of their subjective universe of self-justification."

"And what happens when the Right Man is not a failure, when his 'uniqueness' is acknowledged by the world? Oddly enough, it makes little or no difference. His problem is lack of emotional control and a deep-seated sense of inferiority; so success cannot reach the parts of the mind that are the root of the problem."

[...]

"The Right Man hates losing face; if he suspects that his threats are not being taken seriously, he is capable of carrying them out, purely for the sake of appearances."

"Van Vogt makes the basic observation that the central characteristic of the Right Man is the 'decision to be out of control, in some particular area'. We all have to learn self-control to deal with the real world and other people. But with some particular person -- a mother, a wife, a child -- we may decide that this effort is not necessary and allow ourselves to explode. But -- and here we come to the very heart of the matter -- this decision creates, so to speak, a permanent weakpoint in the boiler, the point at which it always bursts."

[...]

"He feels he [is] justified in exploding, like an angry god. [...] he feels he is inflicting just punishment."

"What is so interesting here is the way the Right Man's violent emotion reinforces his sense of being justified, and his sense of justification increases his rage. He is locked into a kind of vicious spiral, and he cannot escape until he has spent his fury. [...] The Right Man feels that his rage is a storm that has to be allowed to blow itself out, no matter what damage it causes. But this also means that he is the slave of an impulse he cannot control; his property, even the lives of those that he loves, are at the mercy of his emotions. This is part of the 'unbelievable inner horror' that Van Vogt talks about."

[...]

"This is 'magical thinking' -- allowing a desire or emotion to convince you of something your reason tells you to be untrue. [...] Magical thinking provides a key to the Right Man."

"What causes 'right mannishness'? Van Vogt suggest that it is because the world has always been dominated by males."

[...]

"But then, this explanation implies that there is no such thing as a Right Woman -- in fact, Van Vogt says as much. This is untrue." [...] the central characteristic of the Right Woman is the same as that of the Right Man: that she is convinced that having her own way is a law of nature, and that anyone who opposes this deserves the harshest possible treatment. It is the god (or goddess) syndrome."

[...]

"... the one thingthat becomes obvious in all cases of Right Men is that their attacks are not somehow inevitable'; some of their worst misdemeanours are carefully planned and calculated, and determinedly carried out. The Right Man does these things because he thinks they will help him to achieve his own way, which is what interests him."

"And this in turn makes it plain that the Right Man problem is a problem of highly dominant people. Dominance is a subject of enormous interest to biologists and zoologists because the percentage of dominant animals -- or human beings -- seems to be amazingly constant. [...] biological studies have confirmed [... that ...] for some odd reason, precisely five per cent -- one in twenty -- of any animal group are dominant -- have leadership qualities."

[...]

"The 'average' member of the dominant five per cent sees no reason why he should not be rich and famous too. He experiences anger and frustration at his lack of 'primacy', and is willing to consider unorthodox methods of elbowing his way to the fore. This clearly explains a great deal about the rising levels of crime and violence in our society."

[...]

"We can also see how large numbers of these dominant individuals develop into 'Right Men'. In every school with five hundred pupils there are about twnety-five dominant ones struggling for primacy. Some of these have natural advantages: they are good athletes, good scholars, good debaters. (And there are, of course plenty of non-dominant pupils who are gifted enough to carry away some of the prizes.) Inevitably, a percentage of the dominant pupils have no particular talent or gift; some may be downright stupid. How is such a person to satisfy his urge to primacy? He will, inevitably, choose to express his dominance in any ways that are possible. If he has good looks or charm, he may be satisfied with the admiration of female pupils. If he has some specific talent which is not regarded as important by his schoolmasters -- a good ear for music, a natural gift of observation, a vivid imagination -- he may become a lonely 'outsider', living in his own private world. (Such individuals may develop into Schuberts, Darwins, Balzacs.) But it is just as likely that he will try to take short-cuts to prominence and become a bully, a cheat or a delinquent."

"The main problem of these ungifted 'outsiders' is that they are bound to feel that the world has treated them unfairly. And the normal human reaction to a sense of unfairness is an upsurge of self-pity. Self-pity and the sense of injustice make them vulnerable and unstable. And we have only to observe such people to see that they are usually their own worst enemies. Their moods alternate between aggressiveness and sulkiness, both of which alienate those who might otherwise be glad to help them. If they possess some degree of charm or intelligence, they may succeed in making themselves acceptable to other people; but sooner or later the resentment and self-pity break through, and lead to mistrust and rejection."

"The very essence of their problem is the question of self-discipline. Dominant human beings are more impatient than others, because they have more vital energy. Impatience leads them to look for short-cuts. [...] Civilisation, as Freud pointed out, demands self-discipline on the part of its members. No one can be licenced to threaten people with carving knives."

[...]

"When the Right Man explodes into violence, all the energy is wasted. Worse still, it destroys the banks of the canal. So in permitting himself free expression of his negative emotions he is indulging in a process of slow but sure self-erosion -- the emotional counterpart of physical incontinence. Without proper 'drainage', his inner being turns into a kind of swamp or sewage farm. This is why most of the violent men of history, from Alexander the Great to Stalin, have ended up as psychotics. Without the power to control their negative emotions, they become incapable of any state of sustained well-being."


See also:
Colin Wilson interview, August 2005

Charisma And Passive Aggressiveness

Ignatius Loyola once said: "Everyone's friend is no one's friend".

I know a person who's a perfectly pleasant nice guy.

People like him because he's great in "lobbying": knows how to talk nice to people, knows how to be charming; for example, by dropping little humorous remarks during a conversation that leave you almost enchanted; and giving an impression that he really cares about you and is always willing to be of help and assistance to you. Nevertheless, I've noticed this person can be very negative under his pleasant surface; this is indicated, for example, how he can suddenly snap at you by saying something sarcastic, which makes you totally surprised and embarrassed.

These off-hand remarks make you think there's a lot of negativity hidden beneath those ongoing niceties. There's also a certain tendency to passive aggressiveness in this person, I'd say. He never insults or attacks you directly, but you can always "read between the lines" that he somehow disapproves you. There's never a direct answer "No" from him, but a sense of hesitation and reluctance always reeking out. "Sweet outside, bitter inside" is almost the sense you might get from this person.

Is there some sort of basic inner uncertainty in people like these that they try to compensate with this behaviour of trying to please everyone? Is their deep inner bitterness a result of their unconscious desire to rebel against their assumed roles as nice guys or girls, who feel they're always supposed to help and assist, to resolve conflicts of the others, and generally please everyone -- and that way trying to gain people's acceptance?

I often wonder what "charisma" in people consists of. Does there exist in some people a certain "God-given" gift of gab and inner radiance; or is it just more an innate skill to speak your way around the people, to convince and persuade, perhaps combined with good looks and excellent social skills? Because a "charismatic" person can be totally empty inside.

They can charm the masses, but if you have a chance to talk with them face-to-face, they might collapse like an empty balloon which has no hot air left. This sort of outer brilliance and inner void typifies a narcissistic person. One example of this sort of "charisma" in history is Hitler, a man who was able to hypnotize the masses but was a totally unremarkable petty-bourgeois mediocrity behind all that pomp and circumstance.

The Exotica Of Extreme Japan

Japan intrigues me in all its extremity and its certain cultural manifestations, which can seem totally strange and weird for a Western observer.

I emphasize I don't want to fall into any Euro-centric, xenophobic or even racistic prejudices here. "White man's burden" type of colonialistic thinking is always typified by its morbid fascination with anything reeking of "exoticism", "alien", "other" -- which can sometimes make "healthy" (or "scientific") interest in foreign cultures seem problematic or at least ambivalent.

Think of, for example, the Western interest in Eastern religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Zen, etc.) which started with the 19th century Theosophists, continued with C.G. Jung and found its modern expression in the 1950s with American Beat Generation writers; or any phenomenon of "tribal" culture found from the so called Third World countries or the outskirts of "our" civilization: the "new primitivism" and its fascination with Native American cultures both in North and South America, the 1950s "Tiki" fad of Hawaiian/Polynesian origin, fashionable Maori tattoos of New Zealand, the all-encompassing New Age mysticism combining Hopi Indian beliefs to Sufism and Tibetan Buddhism; even the whole genre of "World Music", just to mention some examples.

Of course, as mentioned, it can get very difficult to discern the faddish interest in anything "exotic" from the genuine interest and sympathy for foreign cultures, and it's not really my task to find out which is which actually. Perhaps one can find here certain traces of Rousseau's 18th century "Back to Nature" thinking, but personally I'm more interested now in the hybrids of so called primitive or traditional cultures with our technological, modern way of life. Therefore Japan.

It's fascinating how in Japanese culture one can find Western influences that have mutated into something totally different and new, when it finds its expression in Japanese milieu and its characteristic and traditional way of thinking, code of conduct and mentality, which can appear as peculiar to us Westerners. I understand that Japanese tradition emphasizes heavily group pressure and conformity which can seem totally opposite to Western ideas of individualism and "personal freedom".

Could it be that certain expressions of contemporary Japanese culture are then some sort of "safety valves" to let off this steam: that mental pressure which is created by a strongly conforming culture? Thus, for example the often extremely violent/sexual content of manga comics or Japanese film could be expression of this psychopathology which can't be outvented in any other way in society which emphasizes a strict code of conduct, honour and conformity. And therefore these explicit and even antisocial, often unaccepted forms of expression act, in fact, as a preserving factor in society?

Of Psychopathological Cult Leaders

What makes one person to have "charisma" and the other person not? Why will some people gather blind followers around them? And what about the dark side of these charming manipulators? I have known some people like these myself. I try not to be like these people, but sometimes there's a grim suspicion...

From http://www.fwselijah.com/psychopa.htm:

1. Glibness/Superficial charm

Glibness is a hallmark of psychopaths. They are able to use language effortlessly to beguile, confuse, and convince. They are captivating storytellers. They exude self-confidence and are able to spin a web that intrigues others and pulls them into the psychopath's life. Most of all, they are persuasive. Frequently they have the capacity to destroy their critics verbally or disarm them emotionally.

2. Manipulative and Conning

Cult leaders do not recognize the individuality or rights of others, which makes all self-serving behaviors permissible. The hallmark of the psychopath is the psychopathic maneuver; which is essentially interpersonal manipulation "based on charm. The manipulator appears to be helpful, charming, even ingratiating or seductive, but is covertly hostile, domineering....[The victim] is perceived as an aggressor, competitor, or merely as an instrument to be used....The manipulation inevitably becomes the end-all and is no longer qualified by the reality principle." In other words, there are no checks on the psychopath's behavior--anything goes. The Psychopath divides the world into suckers, sinners, and himself. He discharges powerful feelings of terror and rage by dominating and humiliating his victims. He is particularly successful when, through an overlay of charm, he makes an ally of his victim--a process sometimes described as emotional vampirism or emotional terrorism. Examples of this type of manipulation are plentiful in the literature of Jonestown and other cultic groups. It is especially prevalent in the one-on-one cultic relationship, where there is direct involvement with the manipulator.

3. Grandiose Sense of Self

The cult leader enjoys tremendous feelings of entitlement. He believes everything is owed to him as a right. Preoccupied with his own fantasies, he must always be the center of attention. He presents himself as the "Ultimate One" enlightened, a vehicle of God, a genius, the leader of humankind, and sometimes even the most humble of humble. He has an insatiable need for adulation and attendance. His grandiosity may also be a defense against inner emptiness, depression, and a sense of insignificance. Paranoia often accompanies the grandiosity, reinforcing the isolation of the group and the need for protection against a perceived hostile environment. In this way, he creates an us-versus-them mentality.

4. Pathological Lying

Psychopaths lie coolly and easily, even when it is obvious they are being untruthful. It is almost impossible for them to be consistently truthful about either a major or minor issue. They lie for no apparent reason, even when it would seem easier and safer to tell the truth. This is sometimes called "crazy lying." Confronting their lies may provoke an unpredictably incense rage or simply a Buddha-like smile.

Another form of lying common among cult leaders is known as pseudologica fantastica, an extension of pathological lying. Leaders tend to create a complex belief system, often about their own powers and abilities, in which they themselves sometimes get caught up. "It is often difficult to determine whether the lies are an actual delusional distortion of reality or are expressed with the conscious or unconscious intent to deceive. These manipulators are rarely original thinkers. Plagiarists and thieves, they seldom credit the true originators of ideas, often co-opting authorship. They are extremely convincing, forceful in the expression of their views, and talented at passing lie detector tests. For them, objective truth does not exist. The only "truth" is whatever will best achieve the outcome that meets their needs. This type of opportunism is very difficult to understand for those who are not psychopaths. For this reason, followers are more apt to invent or go along with all kinds of explanations and rationales for apparent inconsistencies in behavior "I know my guru must have had a good reason for doing this." "He did it because he loves me even though it hurts."

5. Lack of Remorse, Shame, or Guilt

At the core of the psychopath is a deep-seated rage which is split off (i.e, psychologically separated from the rest of the self) and repressed. Some researchers theorize that this is caused by feeling abandoned in infancy or early childhood. Whatever the emotional or psychological source, psychopaths see those around them as objects, targets, or opportunities, not as people. They do not have friends, they have victims and accomplices-and the latter frequently end as victims. For psychopaths, the ends always justify the means. Thus there is no place for feelings of remorse, shame, or guilt. Cult leaders feel justified in all their actions since they consider themselves the ultimate moral arbiter. Nothing gets in their way.

6. Shallow Emotions

While they may display outbursts of emotion, more often than not they are putting on a calculated response to obtain a certain result. They rarely reveal a range of emotions, and what is seen is superficial at best, pretended at worst. Positive feelings of warmth, joy, love, and compassion are more feigned than experienced. They are unmoved by things that would upset the normal person, while outraged by insignificant matters. They are bystanders to the emotional life of others, perhaps envious and scornful of feelings they cannot have or understand. In the end, psychopaths are cold, with shallow emotions, living in a dark world of their own.

Hiding behind the "mask of sanity," the cult leader exposes feelings only insofar as they serve an ulterior motive. He can witness or order acts of utter brutality without experiencing a shred of emotion. He casts himself in a role of total control, which he plays to the hilt. What is most promised in cults--peace, joy, enlightenment, love, and security are goals that are forever out of reach of the leader, and thus also the followers. Since the leader is not genuine, neither are his promises

7. Incapacity for Love

As the "living embodiment of God's love," the leader is tragically flawed in being unable to either give or receive love. Love substitutes are given instead. A typical example might be the guru's claim that his illness or misfortune (otherwise inconsistent with his enlightened state) is caused by the depth of his compassion for his followers, whereby he takes on their negative karma. Not only are devotees supposed to accept this as proof of his love but also are expected to feel guilt for their failings! It becomes impossible for members to disprove this claim once they have accepted the beliefs of the group.

The leader's tremendous need to be loved is accompanyied by an equally strong disbelief in the love offered him by his followers; hence, the often unspeakably cruel and harsh testing of his devotees. Unconditional surrender is an absolute requirement. In one cult, for example, the mother of two small children was made to tell them nightly that she loved her leader more than them. Later, as a test of her devotion, she was asked to give up custody of her children in order to be allowed to stay with her leader. The guru's love is never tested; it must be accepted at face value.

8. Need for Stimulation

Thrill-seeking behaviors, often skirting the letter or spirit of the law, are common among psychopaths. Such behavior is sometimes justified as preparation for martyrdom "I know I don't have long to live; therefore my time on this earth must be lived to the fullest." "Surely even I am entitled to have fun or sin a little." This type of behavior becomes more frequent as the leader deteriorates emotionally and psychologically--a common occurrence.

Cult leaders live on the edge, constantly testing the beliefs of their followers, often with increasingly bizarre behaviors, punishments, and rules. Other mechanisms of stimulation come in the form of unexpected, seemingly spontaneous outbursts, which usually take the form of verbal abuse and sometimes physical punishment. The psychopath has a cool indifference to things around him, yet his icy coldness can quicky turn into rage, vented on those around him.

9. Callousness/lack of empathy

Psychopaths readily take advantage of others, expressing utter contempt for anyone else's feelings. Someone in distress is not important to them. Although intelligent, perceptive, and quite good at sizing people up, they make no real connections with others. They use their "people skills" to exploit, abuse, and wield power.

Psychopaths are unable to empathize with the pain of their victims. Meanwhile, part of the victims' denial system is the inability to believe that someone they love so much could consciously and callously hurt them. It therefore becomes easier to rationalize the leader's behavior as necessary for the general or individual "good." The alternative for the devotee would be to face the sudden and overwhelming awareness of being victimized, deceived, used. Such a realization would wound the person's deepest sense of self, so as a means of self-protection the person denies the abuse. When and if the devotee becomes aware of the exploitation, it feels as though a tremendous evil has been done, a spiritual rape.

10. Poor Behavioral Controls/Impulsive Nature

Like small children, many psychopaths have difficulty regulating their emotions. Adults who have temper tantrums are frightening to be around. Rage and abuse, alternating with token expressions of love and approval, produce an addictive cycle for both abuser and abused, as well as create a sense of hopelessness in the latter. This dynamic has also been recognized in relation to domestic abuse and the battering of women. The cult leader acts out with some regularity--often privately, sometimes publicly--usually to the embarrassment and dismay of his followers and other observers. He may act out sexually, aggressively, or criminally, frequently with rage. Who could possibly control someone who believes himself to be all-powerful, all-knowing, and entitled to every wish, someone who has no sense of personal boundaries, no concern for the impact on those around him? Generally this aberrant behavior is a well-kept secret, known only to a few disciples. The others only see perfection. These tendencies are related to the psychopath's need for stimulation and inability to tolerate frustration, anxiety, and depression. Often a leader's inconsistent behavior needs to be rationalized by either the leader or the follower in order to maintain internal consistency. It is often regarded as divinely inspired and further separates the empowered from the powerless.

11. Early Behavior Problems/juvenile delinquency

Psychopaths frequently have a history of behavioral and academic difficulties. They often "get by" academically, conning other students and teachers. Encounters with juvenile authorities are frequent. Equally prevalent are difficulties in peer relationships and developing and keeping friends, marked control problems, and other aberrant behaviors such as stealing, fire setting, and cruelty to others.

12. Irresponsibility/Unreliability

Not concerned about the consequences of their behavior, psychopaths leave behind them the wreckage of others' lives and dreams. They may be totally oblivious or indifferent to the devastation they inflict on others, something which they regard as neither their problem nor their responsibility.

Psychopaths rarely accept blame for their failures or mistakes. Scape goating is common, blaming followers, those outside the group, a member's family, the government, Satan--anyone and everyone but the leader. The blaming may follow a ritualized procedure such as a trial, "hot seat" denunciation, or public confession (either one-on-one or in front of the group). Blame is a powerful reinforcer of passivity and obedience, producing guilt, shame, terror, and conformity in the followers.

13. Promiscuous Sexual behavior/infidelity

Promiscuity, child sexual abuse, polygamy, rape, and sexual acting out of all sorts are frequently practiced by cult leaders. Conversely, there is often stringent sexual control of the followers through such tactics as enforced celibacy, arranged marriages, forced breakups and divorces, removal of children from their parents, forced abortions or mandated births. For psychopaths, sex is primarily a control and power issue.

Along with this behavior comes vast irresponsibility not only for the followers' emotions but also for their lives. In one cult, for example, multiple sexual relations were encouraged even while one of the top leaders was known to be HIV positive. This kind of negligence toward others is not uncommon in the psychopath's world.

Marital fidelity is rare in the psychopath's life. There are usually countless reports of extramarital affairs and sexual predation upon adult and child members of both sexes. The sexual behavior of the leader may be kept hidden from all but the inner circle or may be part of accepted group sexual practices. In any case, due to the power imbalance between leader and followers, sexual contact is never truly consensual and is likely to have damaging consequences for the follower.

14. Lack of realistic life plan/parasitic lifestyle

The psychopath tends to move around a lot, making countless efforts at "starting over while seeking out Fertile new ground to exploit. One day he may appear as a rock musician, the next a messiah; one day a used car salesman, the next the founder of a mass self-transformation program; one day a college professor, the next the new "Lenin" bringing revolution to America.

The flip side of this erratic life planning is the all-encompassing promise for the future that the cult leader makes to his followers. Many groups claim as their goal world domination or salvation at the Apocalypse. The leader is the first to proclaim the utopian nature of the group, which is usually simply another justification for irrational behavior and stringent controls.

The leader's sense of entitlement is often demonstrated by the contrast between his luxurious lifestyle and the impoverishment of his followers. Most cult leaders arc supported by gifts and donations from their followers, who may be pressured to turn over much of their income and worldly possessions to the group. Slavery, enforced prostitution, and a variety of illegal acts for the benefit of the leader are common in a cult milieu. This type of exploitation aptly demonstrates Lifton's third point of idealization from below and exploitation from above.

Psychopaths also tend to be preoccupied with their own health while remaining totally indifferent to the suffering of others. They may complain of being "burned out" due to the burden of "caring for" their followers, sometimes stating they do not have long to live, instilling fear and guilt in their devotees and encouraging further servitude. they are highly sensitive to their own pain and tend to be hypochondriacs, which often conflicts with their public image of superhuman self-control and healing abilities.

According to them, the illnesses they don't get are due to their powers, while the ones they do get are caused by their "compassion" in taking on their disciples' karma or solving the group's problems. This of course is another guru trick.

15. Criminal or entrepreneurial versatility

Cult leaders change their image and that of the group as needed to avoid prosecution and litigation, to increase income, and to recruit a range of members. Cult leaders have an innate ability to attract followers who have the skills and connections that the leaders lack. The longevity of the group is dependent on the willingness of leadership to adapt as needed and preserve the group. Frequently, when illegal or immoral activities are exposed to the public, the cult leader will relocate, sometimes taking followers with him. He will keep a low profile, only to resurface later with a new name, a new front group, and perhaps a new twist on the scam.


See also:

Without Conscience