It helps to be a bit of a Fanatic Sociopath if you want to be a Leader

A fanatic is a person with an extreme and uncritical enthusiasm who displays very strict standards and little tolerance for contrary ideas or opinions. The fanatic therefore refuses to think further and consequently, there is no way to change course.

A passionate and dedicated humanist is someone who believes that man can bring about change through his own efforts and might be considered a fanatic with firm convictions but free of any psychopathic tendencies.   

a sociopath is a person with a psychopathic personality whose behavior is antisocial, often criminal, and who lacks a sense of moral responsibility or social conscience.
 

Its okay to be a fanatic, even a fanatic sociopath, if you live as a hermit in a forest because only the wind and the animals have to put up with what you do and what you have to say. And its okay to be a fanatic, and a bit silly if it is simply about something unimportant like rooting for your favorite sports team or reacting passionately to the latest dreamy teenage rock idol. This subject is a slippery slope because if we accept the definition that fanatics live with blinkers on and therefore cannot visualize any alternatives then there are categories of fanatics to consider because some are convinced that they know the absolute truth and have no patience with nonsense, and at the other extreme there are others who are simply blinded by their psychopathic obsession to take control irrespective of any underlying consequences. This essay, as the blog title implies, focuses on fanatical and often psychopathic behaviour in major national and international leadership roles Lets take a look here at some examples of these alternatives but first of all lets look at the unfortunate dumb fanatics.

• Just plain dumb fanatics. This group is generally poorly educated, lacks knowledge and typically driven by a single issue. They will support any leader of any stripe who will support their cause. Genghis Khan might be acceptable. These include Right to Bear Arms nuts who want to pack a gun wherever they might go, anti gays, racists, and many paranoids exhibiting extreme and irrational fear and distrust of others. They are seduced by the media that convinces these saps to reject all social entitlements, like for example, Universal Health Care and a decent Minimum Wage, that most civilized countries offer.  Addicted to talk radio and Fox News that feeds their confusion, paranoia and anger they act out of spite and harm themselves. These are life's losers who provide the support and cannon fodder for the fanatic sociopaths who posses power. Reference reading: The Legend of The Pied Piper of Hamelin.
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Fanatic Sociopaths with intelligence and driven by ego they seize power or gain it through public support. The list is endless on a World scale. Heading this category on any list for the last 100 years would certainly include Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Maggie Thatcher, Henry Kissinger, Pinochet and Dick Cheney who in their fanatical promotion and pursuit of their objectives caused, without remorse, the destruction and overthrow of nations  and the death of many thousands of people. 

Of late I feel compelled to add President Obama to this list of sociopaths. His ongoing personal role in ordering drone attacks, supplying weapons to jihad terrorist to destabilize the popularly elected Syrian Government knowing full well that it is causing the death of many innocent civilians, his condemnation of Bradley Manning, Edward Snowden and Julian Assange for publicly exposing this murderous truth are clearly signs of the behaviour of a sociopath.

Here is a chilling and devastating YouTube documentary that reinforces my claim that we are being led by sociopaths 

 Here is a rogues gallery of some who have caused the death of many thousands of innocent victims. 

PM Tony Blair of Britain who joined with President George Bush into a disastrous war under false pretenses with Iraq that caused the destruction of a nation and the death of a million people and the refugee flight of another 4 million.

Ton Blair

George Bush

Henry Kissinger

 Incredibly, Henry Kissinger—the man who rivals Pol Pot for the dubious honor of being the person responsible for the death of the largest number of innocent people in South East Asia (and far surpasses Pol Pot in criminality when one factors in Kissinger's various levels of responsibility for wholesale slaughter and repression in other parts of the world)—still wields significant power in the United States; but his role as eager facilitator of mass murder, totalitarian repression and other atrocities is never discussed in polite society.

Dick Cheney

And who can leave out Dick Cheney who as Bush's VP led the "Cake Walk" into Iraq and has been an ardent supporter of all other military interventions since then including the application of torture. His face wears a permanent sneer. His pals include the infamous Chicken Hawks who never had to face an enemy in battle but willingly caused the death of millions.

The Psychopaths - Chicken Hawks who knowingly have caused millions to die - Includes Rumsfeld, Bolton, Perle, Wolfowitz, Kagan, Zoellick,Schmitt

 General and Dictator of Chile, Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990). His years in power were marked by inflation, poverty and the ruthless repression of opposition leaders. Pinochet was also involved in Operation Condor, a co-operative effort on the part of several South American governments to do away with leftist opposition leaders, often by means of murder.

Augusto Pinochet

The Rettig Report found that at least 2,279 persons were conclusively murdered by the Chilean government for political reasons during Pinochet's regime, and the Valech Report found that at least 30,000 persons were tortured by the government for political reasons.




Fanatic Sociopaths with limited intelligence. This category  includes thousands who have gained some power mainly within a nation. Obvious prominent US examples would include George Bush, Victoria Nuland and her husband Robert Kagan, Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, and a host of Teabagging Politicians who out of spite and ignorance, and a total lack of concern for people, do great harm to populations, and are the corrupt paid servants of the 0.1% who posses great wealth. 

Every country seems to breed this mediocre level of  fanatic psychopathic leader who cares little about the human suffering they cause. Their leadership is supported by the 'just plain dumb fanatics'. 

  This is an example of a fanatic sociopath with limited intelligence (Mitch McConnell)  He operates from a blinkered commitment to revenge and spite and is clearly unconcerned about the human suffering he is causing. As a sociopath this might even be a source of pleasure to him.

 Mitch McConnell is the filibuster king, 
master of all that he and his minority minions can obstruct in his zeal to defeat the President. With the filibuster, he zealously bludgeons to death all bills passed by a majority in the House and supported by a majority in the Senate. What was intended to be a precision tool McConnell brandishes as a machine gun, murdering all majority-supported legislation in sight.  

Good Fanatics with high Intelligence
This is a worthy group who demonstrate courageous and wise leadership in human affairs. Franklin  D Roosevelt, Nelson Mandela, Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Malcolm X immediately come to mind, and no doubt you can add to this list. In their zeal they share a conviction that there cause is just and exhibit negligible tolerance for alternatives. In that sense that can be described as having a fanatical commitment. A better term might be to refer to them as passionate humanists but in a sense still fanatics committed and undeviating from their cause despite the knowledge that their actions may sacrifice many lives.

  
 Here are examples of great and highly intelligent fanatics

Conclusion: It takes an almost fanatical zeal and a massive ego that goes with it to rise to a leadership role where there is an opportunity to change the direction of nations. The evil fanatics have no qualms about corrupting the process for personal gain and causing death and destruction but the role more often than not requires that even the good leaders may face responsibility for undertakings that cause great human suffering in pursuit of their cause; for example, Abraham Lincoln's Civil War,  and Winston Churchill's bombing of Germany. In that sense leadership on this scale must accept personality traits that can be best described as Sociopathic.
So as the expression goes "If you can't accept the heat then stay out of the kitchen"

Readers critical comments

1. A fanatic according to my dictionary is “a person whose extreme zeal, piety, etc, goes beyond what is reasonable.”  If you care to be intellectually honest and objective about ‘fanatic’, you cannot cherry pick.  You didn’t include Julian Assange and Edward Snowden in your latest blog.  Because you may agree with a zealot or be pleased with the results of their zealotry, doesn’t make him/her any less of a fanatic.
2. Snowdon is not a fanatic. He is a witness to a crime. Telling on criminals is not fanaticism. Not his life's work. Assange is obsessed and has made it his life's work. 
   
   
   If Snowdon is a fanatic then anyone who reported a crime is a fanatic. To believe in the rule of law does not make one a fanatic. 

Augusto Pinochet

Pussy Riots and Western Hypocrisy

The Western response to the Pussy Riot conviction is a classic example of a superficially informed  public being easily manipulated to turn these punk women into heroines, to deny the government the right to set standards and laws, and to confirm Putin as a corrupt and much hated despot. The reality is that the US Government and particularly the Neo Cons are using this event to attack Putin and destabilize the government. Putin stands in the way of  US hegemony, NATO's missile shield and their ambitions in the Middle East. He also brought to a halt the rape of Russia during the Yeltsin period (that was ably assisted by Larry Sommers and others from the US). In short, Putin stands in the way of US intentions to dominate on the world stage.

The acts of this group in a public museum, a supermarket and then in a cathedral would be a criminal offense and punishable in any Western country. A conviction and some time served, long enough to discourage this kind of public behaviour seems reasonable. A year sounds like a sufficient deterrent and my guess is that when the dust settles, good behaviour, public pressure and the fact that one of them is a mom will see them released in that time frame.  Public standards are at stake here and the choice is whether any society has the obligation to draw a line somewhere or whether young punks can do as they please without punishment. The calls for leniency from leaders in the West is shear hypocrisy. Does anyone seriously believe that the invasion of a church, mosque or synagogue by punks uttering insults and obscenities and similar invasions of public space such as supermarkets and Moscow's Biological Museum to stage, video tape and photographing a group of about 20 participation in sexual intercourse would go unpunished in the United States and Western Europe?

They no doubt have a just cause in objecting to corruption in the Kremlin but they should surely accept that these public acts will result in arrest, punishment, public shock and outrage. An arrest ensures publicity and that is why they accept punishment.

Aside from their acts in the Cathedral here are some of the facts about these "nice girls" who are simply expressing their right to free speech.

1. Pussy Riot is not a "band" as Western media call it. It is an extremist group. They have held no concerts or recordings, they have never written a song. But yes, beginning in November 2011 they are planning to include some "music" in their defacing and attacks, so thus they are called a "band".

"Pussy Riot" is an outgrowth from the organization "Voina", which means War in Russian. They have open connections and financial assistance from the U.S. government-sponsored National Endowment for Democracy.

2. They openly admit that their acts are criminal. For example, aside from the "Holy shit, Holy shit" masked shouting in the church, Voina/Pussy Riot have also attacked "capitalist" McDonald's staff by throwing live cats at them, overturned police cars, once with a police officer inside, stolen a frozen chicken in a supermarket and inserted it in the vagina of one of the group's members, fire-bombed property with petrol bombs, staged and filmed full penetration sex acts in Moscow's Biological museum. Here is a video in French that includes a moderator's expression of disgust and presents clips from their acts. that shows their disgusting acts. One has to ask why during their tour in America interviewers like Colbert, Leno and others are treating them like sweet young girls. As for Google it presents an overwhelming avoidance of the facts. 

[link to plucer.livejournal.com] Such nice innocent girls.

And their big supporter who was recently arrested at one of their demonstrations is Gary Kasparov, the world renowned retired chess player who holds both American and Russian citizenship. In Russia his popular support is about 6%, about the same as the Pussy Riot.

In the real world, Kasparov is a clear de facto puppet of Western opposition to Putin. Back in 1991, he was awarded the “Keeper of the Flame” by the Century for Security Policy (an organization founded by Frank Gaffney Jr. of the Project for a New American Century), typically reserved for American neocon defense policy wonks, including Cheney, Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld, Perle, Gingrich and Caspar Weinberger. Kasparov is allegedly still connected with the organization. Also read Washington’s “Fifth Column” in Russia. 

Kasparov was recently an invitee to the secret Bilderberg meeting on June 12th in Virginia. The Bilderberg  Group meet once a year, in North American or European location, and attendance is limited to about 120 to 140 business and financial leaders from the world's largest corporations and leading politicians from Europe and America.  They discuss shared international concerns and set a foundation for future collaborations on objectives. Clinton, Merkle and Obama have attended past meetings.

  I'm sure the Pussy Riot are thrilled to have all this international support. Do they really know that they have  well organized extreme right wing elements in the US behind much of this publicity with the clear intention to topple Putin  and replace him with a leader more like Yeltsin who will accept US leadership and business as usual? 

In the meantime being a Pussy Riot is spreading worldwide. Here is one young women's comments.
“Initially there was desire, a very strong desire to become part of Pussy Riot. That was some sort of dream of mine. I didn’t even know how real it could be, how I could join those awesome girls and be close to them, then it all somehow happened. … It was so cool. It is just happiness. For me, it is just one big chunk of happiness to be a Pussy Riot girl.” 

Maybe a meeting for this profound girl could be arranged with Dick Cheney, Woolfowitz, Richard Perle or Hillary to discuss their shared dreams for Russia.

Postscript from Counter Punch: The Secret History of Pussy Riot