23/03/2024
Few words about rise of charismatic leaders , especially those with heightened narcissism and the tendency to conflate their selves with the nation as a geopolitical entity.
1. Societal situations arise that make a national group feel threatened. This threat can be intramural or extramural, economic or military, deserved or undeserved, and real or imaginary .
2. A leader with fierce pride, great oratorial skill , and mesmerizing charm appears on the scene.
3. He or she invokes the large group’s “ chosen trauma” ( a historical defeat or injustice or humiliation) and “ chosen glory” ( a nostalgic exaltation of the group’s past) , making the group members feel mistreated noble folk.
4. A “ time collapse” is caused by dramatic , repetitive , and hypnotizing oratory which makes what happened decades or centuries ago appear as if it is happening now .
5. Seized by powerful affects, the individuals constituting the group regress, lose their personal critical ability, and surrender judgment at the altar of the rejuvenated group cohesion; the leader becomes an idealized parent whose word is gospel.
6. “ Villain hunger “ ( an ordinary human trait) increases, “ propaganda addiction “ ( whereby one reads or listens to only those views that confirm one’s own) evolves, and the ground is set for “ messianic sa**sm “ ( morally justified violence) and “ ethnic cleansing” ( the idea that removal of a subgroup who is the recipient of projections, will purify the nation and spread peace all over it )
This is but a short summary of the complex perspectives on prejudice, ethnic conflict, group regression , and narcissistic leadership explicated in the writings of Freud, Volkan, Parens, Thomson, Young-Bruehl, and Beiser , to name a few of the prominent contributors to this realm.
: By Professor Salman Akhtar
