Thanks Avigail for spreading so much truth and authenticity about Israel and the people who support its illegal and immoral actions. You are certainly a light that keeps me hopeful.
At this point I'm no longer interested in knowing why Trump and Netanyahu and others like them commit the horrendous crimes they commit or encourage. It's enough to call them thieves, murderers, and totalitarians and somehow rally the world of reasonable and responsible people to levy justice.
Why are these criminals even allowed to walk free? Why don't people shun them or even hurl abuse at them when they appear in public? Have we lost our souls doing the nothing that Solzhenitsyn lamented and warned us about while sitting in the camps, knowing that so much could have been saved with so little effort though at some risk to the few who acted? The Palestinians have acted, why don't we?
People in the West who do nothing at all have lost their souls, which is as bad as committing genocide itself. And those of us who have done some but surely not enough can only feel shame. This inaction is puzzling to me and that's the psychology I'd like to understand, not why monsters act as monsters.
I only talk about the pathology because so many people are confused by people like Trump. They need to understand what we are dealing with and the harm they do. I always ask people to focus on the crime that is being committed. But occasionally I feel that a bit of education is necessary. In the case of Trump it’s important to not put too much weight on what he says, etc. Thank you again for reading and commenting.
Speaking for myself, I think it’s really important to understand the pathological mindset operating here. I think we’re making lots of mistakes in how we’re trying to deal with him.
Ceasefire or no ceasefire; scam or no, we cannot allow Israel to escape the legal consequences of their war crimes. The Hind Rajab Foundation has, among other things, filed a case with the ICC against 1,000 Israeli soldiers for war crimes in Gaza.
They have taken further steps in recent days, and vacations are becoming a lot more difficult for IDF soldiers, worldwide. The Hind Rajab Foundation can use our help. Please join me in making a contribution.
You might find meaningful to watch the recent interviews that Glenn Greenwald did on his Rumble platform, and Ali Abunimah of the Electronic Intifada, did with the head of this organisation, Dyad Abou Jahjah. It was very informative.
Here's a petition calling for accountability for the arrest of Ali Abunimah in Switzerland:
Thank you so much Rob. The fact that you read my essays means a lot to me. THe PFC is the Prefrontal cortex. It should be clear in the essay but I might have missed something. Let me know. Hope you are going well. A.
I’m sure he does not understand the Constitution because he is so ignorant in general. But even if he does, he would only see it as an irritating obstacle. He is in the world to meet his own needs and the entire country of the US is now his playground. Before he might have had just his own company and from his POV the company has now grown to encompass the entire US. I think Americans are in serious trouble. I have always thought that Trump was bad for Americans but good for the rest of the world. He is not really interested in international politics, which means he will gradually diminish the toxic impact the US has had on the world. Trump wants to be the king of his own hill, and he is just like a child playing with his new toys, checking what the can do. If International affairs turn out to be too much of a bother, and too complicated, he will stick to the US. I can imagine the US military splitting at some point, and eventually turning against him. If you have seen the film ‘Civil War’ from last years, (with Kirsten Dunst), I think that there is quite a good chance that film was prophetic.
Thanks for this thoughtful analysis of NPD and how that affects what Trump does and says. Do such people have any conscious control over their behaviour? Or is it completely involuntary?
No they do not. They are not self aware and cannot regulate themselves. As I explained a key component in their brain is not properly developed and is not working. This cannot be fixed. As I have written before (see for example: https://avigail.substack.com/p/our-problem-is-not-the-psychopaths. The problem is not these people. They are predictable. The problem is that people keep giving them power. The real problem is with the rest of us. About 20% of our species are predators and I think this might have something to do with evolutionary biology. We have to accept that some people will not develop properly, but why do we give them power, influence, money?… This is what we need to ask ourselves and then do something about it.
Spot on as usual Avigail. Well said. The only positive about Trump is that, in his own weird, vile way, he is smoking out Western governments for their decades of duplicity. They knew all along what Isreal was all about but hide behind the 'two-state solution' nonsense. "Nowhere to run to baby, no where to hide"
Generally: how does one differentiate between: (a) criminal intent (which is the 'normal' motivation of a non-clinical person simply to gain power and riches, a professional crook, or a mafioso) and (b) a border-line (or fully clinical) personality, who happens to be in high office?
And on another level: it is abundantly clear that in today’s case it is not an issue of a crook/psycho (in the wrong position) but it’s the seemingly full collapse of our public institutions who can't eject them out - as this is by now a continuous reality and a "feature" of our societal structure and the way it functions as a unit for a very long time (intelligentsia, academia, business, finance, religion, education, medicine, spirituality, environmental, nutritional, addiction, family, etc – all are under attack of the Musks and the Zuckerbergs of the world)
The normal reaction of most of us is to say to themselves – this is simply too big, so I simply disengage from it and live in my own little bubble and try to maintain my sanity and that of my nearest and dearest. Aren’t we stuck in this situation for the last 20-30 years or so? If it is hopeless why not do just that?
There is a line from the film Beatriz at Dinner (2017) when the health worker (a therapist) addresses the billionaire (a property-tycoon) about all the harm he inflicts on so many souls and he replies to her: “why don’t you just go and watch a movie or something” … which is just what Trump is telling us today when he has plans about another seaside resort in the Middle East. What a colossal mess we are in.
Your terminology needs a wee bit of tweaking. Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is the historic name for one of the 11 personality disorders listed in the *DSM* (there is a good chance it will change to something more decriptive, like ‘emotional instability disorder’ or something like that in the next *DSM*).
The ‘big three’ PDs are the most visible to people, and include PPD, NPD and ASPD. BPD’s ‘supply’ is fusion with others, NPD’s supply is constant admiration, and psychopathy’s (ASPD) is control over others. It is well established in the research literature that people with PDs experience immense pleasure (not just relief), when they get their ‘supply’, and this is observable in every day life too. The damage they do to others is horrendous.
BPDs cannot be alone in the world, and it manifests in a profound fear of abandonment. They are extremely dangerous psychologically as are NPDs. Psychopaths can also be very dangerous physically in addition to the enormous psychological harm they inflict. I see the impact of people with PDs on others in my practice on a regular basis.
Anyone who is a criminal by intent, and who exploits or cheats their way to money/power/success *is* pathological. Healthy people will never do this, because their prefrontal cortex, which gives us our conscience and morality among other things, will tell them when they are doing wrong. No one who is healthy gets any pleasure from abusing others.
The problem is not that our public institutions cannot eject them out. The public actively chooses these people to hold positions of power at all levels of society. I write about this in some detail in some of my articles. It’s not their fault that they are what they are, it’s the fault of those who allow such damaged people to hold power, and who cover up for them even when their dirty deeds get exposed. We are also terrible at sticking up for victims. Our very institutions are populated with disordered people. I rely on science in my work and science, if done honestly, is incredible. But all human institutions are problematic, including scientific institutions, because so many people with PDs hold influential positions in them. They have an impact on how research money is allocated and what is or isn’t studied or investigated.
About 20% of the population are genetically predisposed from birth to not develop a functional prefrontal cortex—similar to autism or other types of neurodiversity. In other words 20% of humans are predators by definition—some more successful than others.
Many disordered people ‘only’ harm their children and relatives, while others with broader powers harm many more people.
The fact that the 80% keep putting such individuals in charge is our real problem. My pet theory is that in the past when we lived in caves and our existence was precarious, it did not benefit our survival to pick leaders who felt empathy towards the animals we were supposed to kill in order to survive. We are the descendants of those who survived better, probably because they picked leaders who lacked empathy and didn’t care about killing sentient creatures to eat, or the group in the next cave so their group could steal their food or other possessions.
I can see how we mindlessly continue to perpetuate our ancient patterns as a species. This is precisely what we change in psychotherapy at the individual level, and I see the results of this every day. I know what is possible for us, but we are a far cry as a species from what we can be. My intention in my writing is to educate people so that they are not fooled, are able to trust their instincts and ultimately not put up with or select the wrong people to positions of power and influence.
This may not be related but what is your general view of genetics and behaviour? I know of Robert Plomin... but to be honest I don't like the idea and it seems like a tendency to over-medicalize our choices and base it on genetics mainly. It is like we are all little robots whereby our behaviour is controlled by our genes. I think most professionals have gone that way. Is this the case?
Whatever genetic potential we are born with, how we ‘turn out’ depends entirely on the environment. The relatively new science of Epigenetics has already debased the idea that genes define us. They do not. They give us our potential but not our ‘final shape’. However, there are conditions people are born with that are genetic and PDs belong in that group. If a person’s genetics means that their toes do not develop properly, and the mother otherwise had a healthy pregnancy, did not drink or take any drugs, did not suffer violence or anything unusual and did not take any medication that could harm the baby, the baby’s toes will not develop as toes normally should.
All PDs have a genetic component that predisposes parts of the brain to not develop properly. If all children grew up in a safe, loving and integrating environments, then we might reduce some of the cases of PD, but I am sure a certain proportion will always remain. There are genetic variations in all species.
Humans are largely defined by the environment. Our brains are wired exclusively by the environment from the moment we are born. Anyone born with a healthy brain will create a neurological representation of everything that is in their environment. So you are absolutely correct. If we were predetermined there would be no point at all in my profession…
Perfect description of a narc. If you’ve ever came across one you’ll recognise them in this description.
They are very cruel people. It’s often said if you try to take down a narcissist you better dig two graves. From experience I can confirm this is how it goes. They will make it their ambition to ruin you and will recruit some flying monkeys to help them.
My advice to anyone near a narcissist is to run a mile and never look back.
Thank you for exposing this horrible personality disorder. People need to educate themselves in order to recognise them and steer clear of them.
Thanks again Avigail for sharing your insights and your experience. The subscriber comment is correct, although I think Trump sees the proposal as saving the Palestinians. I think that in our evolution a child who sits quietly in the back of the cave (so to speak) and is not “I, I, me, me,” will die. The late teenager who is the same, will also most likely die. There are times when the transition is hard for them. Some narcissists survive because the world is made comfortable around them. I read the comment of a lamenting mother who, after asking her first time voter son; “who did you vote for?”. The answer was “yeah, the felon guy”. Steve Bannon as everyone knows has stated that you “flood the zone with shit” but has also added that it has to be at muzzle velocity. We are in troubled times. Many media commentators in my county are excited about the proposal but damping of a man in a woman’s dress and high heals. (Not Barry Humphris). We seem to have an above average number of people happy with the Trump narcissism as long as it suits their politics.
Hi Peter, I know. I’m sorry to say but I couldn’t imagine living in the US now or ever. When it was time for me to leave Israel age 27 I never even contemplated going to the US. I spent a lot of time there as a flight attendant (In my twenties while I was a student I worked for an American airline that no longer exists, which was owned by a former Israeli man). I was raised to worship the US, and believe that it is all good and wonderful. Everything US was coveted. As a child I was so jealous of classmates who visited the US, and a particular school friend whose parents moved the family there. After spending enough time there, I knew it wasn’t for me, and started to question everything I believed about the US.
Those who voted for Trump and who continue to support him will live to see such chaos and deterioration. In Germany after the war, those who supported Hitler continued to miss him despite the fact that he was horrible to the German people as well.
Trump supporters will not change their minds. It is all to do with psychology. Poor integration in the brain, coupled with ignorance causes people to have (among other things) selective thinking and a wish for a ‘great leader’ who will ‘keep them safe’. People who support Trump are frightened and small. They have grown up on a diet of US triumphalism, and the belief that the US is ‘special’ and better and that it is the centre of the universe. I have always thought that if the US was one person they could easily be diagnosed with NPD. Trump is not the problem. He is a symptom. Narcissism is at the heart of the US, its social norms and its economics. There are also amazing things that came out of the US. For one, the science I use in my own work was developed in the US.
Decline is inevitable and without Trump it would only have been delayed. Maybe it is time for the good people in the US to do something to change their society. And the US is by no means alone either. It is just a subset of humanity. We are all in danger of regressing in our development.
I can see two forces competing with each other. Crazy, destructive politics is marching on but climate change is also marching on. One of the latest scientific alarm bells is about the AMOC. If the AMOC stops, the entire climate will shift with devastating implication for everyone. And the AMOC tipping point is only one of many. I’m just wondering which will catch up with us first, the climate or crazy politics… Such a pity. We have such extraordinary potential and look what we are doing.
I think we each have to have an impact where we are, and remember that if there is you and me, there are many others too. Change never comes form the mainstream. It’s always a minority that agitates and that eventually leads to change. The only difference between past changes and what we need now, is that so far we have just chipped away at problems while keeping the underlying structure intact. What we need is a comprehensive paradigm change. Look after yourself. You live in a dangerous country, and I think of you and everyone I know in the US, and hoping you will all be OK.
Thank you Avigail for this essay and providing many useful insights based on your expertise and experience. I would, however, like to make a few observations relating to the final paragraph. 1. “Israel cannot push millions of Palestinians into Egypt or Jordan without the US.” I have to take issue with your implication that Israel and the US combined are capable of pushing millions of Palestinians out of Gaza. This is clearly not the case. No one is capable of the mass displacement of the population of Gaza outside its borders. If this were possible, it would have been achieved long ago. Over 15 months of continuous war crimes—murder, destruction, torture, starvation and much more—neither the armed resistance nor the population were defeated or cowed into leaving their land. In contrast, the IDF ground forces were comprehensively defeated and shown to be incompetent, undisciplined and lacking any strategy. The ceasefire agreement was forced on Israel not by Trump but by the nonstop casualties sustained by the IDF and its inability to continue operating in Gaza. The US, I suppose, could attempt to bring in large numbers of marines and army special forces, but they would without doubt suffer a similar fate as the IDF ground forces, and they would be subject to much more intense scrutiny internationally. Let’s suppose for a moment that hypothetically the US military could defeat the Palestinian resistance in Gaza. Then what? The US military is going to herd Palestinians onto buses at gunpoint to be shipped to Egypt or Jordan or Israeli-occupied parts of Lebanon and Syria? Well, for starters, Jordan and Egypt won’t let them in, it would destabilise their regimes and potentially topple them. And I think that trying to displace two million people using buses into, say, southeastern Syria would take forty to fifty thousand buses, so even if you could force the people onto the buses it would still take several months. Or maybe you’d try to march them at gunpoint to Syria? A death march that would also take many weeks at the very least. But after witnessing the last 15 months, I think it is reasonable to conclude that the Palestinians in Gaza would rather die on their own land than be forced into another full-scale Nakba.
2. “The Palestinians can be pushed into the no-man’s land Israel has been creating in part of Syria and Lebanon.” Maybe this is Israel’s plan B, but as I have pointed out above, this is extremely unlikely to be feasible or practicable. And in this case you are implying that Israel is capable of achieving such an objective without US help. Let’s look at some of the evidence we have so far. Israel has already tried to force people into accepting mass displacement by using starvation and the complete destruction of healthcare and educational institutions. Did the Palestinians throw their hands in the air and say, “ok, you win, let us out of here”? Clearly not. In fact half a million people walked back to norther Gaza as soon as they were able to. What I am trying to say is that it is easy for Trump or Israel to talk about removing all the Palestinians from Gaza, but based on evidence this is not possible in practice. I agree that Israel is very dangerous and must be stopped. There is quite a bit of evidence that Israel has killed 400,000 Palestinians in Gaza in 15 months. But the only way to stop Israel is to cut off all its access to outside resources—financial, military, energy, data processing, imported labour, and imported capital goods. And that’s just for starters.
Thank you for taking another look in light of my feedback. As you’ve probably surmised, I’m more shocked that so many commentators have taken Trump’s criminal statements at face value than at what he said. Taking completely delusional fantasies at face value, and then unleashing tirades of outrage (this reaction seems all too common) does not seem like the most intelligent approach to me. It also angers me because I think it belittles the steadfastness of the people of Gaza, but that’s a slightly different tangent.
And that’s exactly why I think it’s not going to happen. I agree with you. There are over 6 million Palestinians between Gaza, the colonised WB and inside Israel. (See my previous essay). Israel would love to get rid of them all, but Israel is severely weakened now biting more than it could chew and you are right that even with US help it will not achieve its goal.
Tump performed an incredible service in his short-sighted statement about Gaza, because he exposed Israel. Anyone who still has any illusions about Israel’s intentions, shouldn’t anymore. But Israel is still dangerous, and the Palestinians will continue to suffer for as long as Israel is indulged.
In a perverse way, we have never been closer to a one-state solution than we are now… My heart breaks for the Palestinians, and I feel such disappointment about the way our species is going. But often things have to get to ridiculous extreme before change begins. Thank you for reading and for your important comment.
Thanks Avigail for spreading so much truth and authenticity about Israel and the people who support its illegal and immoral actions. You are certainly a light that keeps me hopeful.
At this point I'm no longer interested in knowing why Trump and Netanyahu and others like them commit the horrendous crimes they commit or encourage. It's enough to call them thieves, murderers, and totalitarians and somehow rally the world of reasonable and responsible people to levy justice.
Why are these criminals even allowed to walk free? Why don't people shun them or even hurl abuse at them when they appear in public? Have we lost our souls doing the nothing that Solzhenitsyn lamented and warned us about while sitting in the camps, knowing that so much could have been saved with so little effort though at some risk to the few who acted? The Palestinians have acted, why don't we?
People in the West who do nothing at all have lost their souls, which is as bad as committing genocide itself. And those of us who have done some but surely not enough can only feel shame. This inaction is puzzling to me and that's the psychology I'd like to understand, not why monsters act as monsters.
Thank you for your comment and you are absolutely right. I have written about this extensively. See for example: https://avigail.substack.com/p/our-problem-is-not-the-psychopaths, https://avigail.substack.com/p/we-need-to-focus-on-the-crime, or https://avigail.substack.com/p/we-live-in-an-unnecessary-nightmare
I only talk about the pathology because so many people are confused by people like Trump. They need to understand what we are dealing with and the harm they do. I always ask people to focus on the crime that is being committed. But occasionally I feel that a bit of education is necessary. In the case of Trump it’s important to not put too much weight on what he says, etc. Thank you again for reading and commenting.
Speaking for myself, I think it’s really important to understand the pathological mindset operating here. I think we’re making lots of mistakes in how we’re trying to deal with him.
Ceasefire or no ceasefire; scam or no, we cannot allow Israel to escape the legal consequences of their war crimes. The Hind Rajab Foundation has, among other things, filed a case with the ICC against 1,000 Israeli soldiers for war crimes in Gaza.
https://www.hindrajabfoundation.org/perpetrators/hind-rajab-foundation-files-historic-icc-complaint-against-1000-israeli-soldiers-for-war-crimes-in-gaza
They have taken further steps in recent days, and vacations are becoming a lot more difficult for IDF soldiers, worldwide. The Hind Rajab Foundation can use our help. Please join me in making a contribution.
https://buy.stripe.com/cN228hbY5g7jaM84gg
You might find meaningful to watch the recent interviews that Glenn Greenwald did on his Rumble platform, and Ali Abunimah of the Electronic Intifada, did with the head of this organisation, Dyad Abou Jahjah. It was very informative.
Here's a petition calling for accountability for the arrest of Ali Abunimah in Switzerland:
https://chng.it/8D4pkxPhWS
Please sign the petition and share widely.
Thanks Avigail. As always a Good One - inoculating against the crazy making. For the uninitiated what is a PFC?
Thank you so much Rob. The fact that you read my essays means a lot to me. THe PFC is the Prefrontal cortex. It should be clear in the essay but I might have missed something. Let me know. Hope you are going well. A.
I've thought he might be just as happy having a TV show again.
Like all people with PDs he is greedy. He wants more and he got it. For a narcissist being President is like winning the NPD jackpot…
Especially when you don’t understand the Constitution and think being President means being dictator of the world.
I’m sure he does not understand the Constitution because he is so ignorant in general. But even if he does, he would only see it as an irritating obstacle. He is in the world to meet his own needs and the entire country of the US is now his playground. Before he might have had just his own company and from his POV the company has now grown to encompass the entire US. I think Americans are in serious trouble. I have always thought that Trump was bad for Americans but good for the rest of the world. He is not really interested in international politics, which means he will gradually diminish the toxic impact the US has had on the world. Trump wants to be the king of his own hill, and he is just like a child playing with his new toys, checking what the can do. If International affairs turn out to be too much of a bother, and too complicated, he will stick to the US. I can imagine the US military splitting at some point, and eventually turning against him. If you have seen the film ‘Civil War’ from last years, (with Kirsten Dunst), I think that there is quite a good chance that film was prophetic.
Trump is already in clear breach of international law for just strongly suggesting it!
Thanks for this thoughtful analysis of NPD and how that affects what Trump does and says. Do such people have any conscious control over their behaviour? Or is it completely involuntary?
No they do not. They are not self aware and cannot regulate themselves. As I explained a key component in their brain is not properly developed and is not working. This cannot be fixed. As I have written before (see for example: https://avigail.substack.com/p/our-problem-is-not-the-psychopaths. The problem is not these people. They are predictable. The problem is that people keep giving them power. The real problem is with the rest of us. About 20% of our species are predators and I think this might have something to do with evolutionary biology. We have to accept that some people will not develop properly, but why do we give them power, influence, money?… This is what we need to ask ourselves and then do something about it.
Spot on as usual Avigail. Well said. The only positive about Trump is that, in his own weird, vile way, he is smoking out Western governments for their decades of duplicity. They knew all along what Isreal was all about but hide behind the 'two-state solution' nonsense. "Nowhere to run to baby, no where to hide"
Generally: how does one differentiate between: (a) criminal intent (which is the 'normal' motivation of a non-clinical person simply to gain power and riches, a professional crook, or a mafioso) and (b) a border-line (or fully clinical) personality, who happens to be in high office?
And on another level: it is abundantly clear that in today’s case it is not an issue of a crook/psycho (in the wrong position) but it’s the seemingly full collapse of our public institutions who can't eject them out - as this is by now a continuous reality and a "feature" of our societal structure and the way it functions as a unit for a very long time (intelligentsia, academia, business, finance, religion, education, medicine, spirituality, environmental, nutritional, addiction, family, etc – all are under attack of the Musks and the Zuckerbergs of the world)
The normal reaction of most of us is to say to themselves – this is simply too big, so I simply disengage from it and live in my own little bubble and try to maintain my sanity and that of my nearest and dearest. Aren’t we stuck in this situation for the last 20-30 years or so? If it is hopeless why not do just that?
There is a line from the film Beatriz at Dinner (2017) when the health worker (a therapist) addresses the billionaire (a property-tycoon) about all the harm he inflicts on so many souls and he replies to her: “why don’t you just go and watch a movie or something” … which is just what Trump is telling us today when he has plans about another seaside resort in the Middle East. What a colossal mess we are in.
Your terminology needs a wee bit of tweaking. Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is the historic name for one of the 11 personality disorders listed in the *DSM* (there is a good chance it will change to something more decriptive, like ‘emotional instability disorder’ or something like that in the next *DSM*).
The ‘big three’ PDs are the most visible to people, and include PPD, NPD and ASPD. BPD’s ‘supply’ is fusion with others, NPD’s supply is constant admiration, and psychopathy’s (ASPD) is control over others. It is well established in the research literature that people with PDs experience immense pleasure (not just relief), when they get their ‘supply’, and this is observable in every day life too. The damage they do to others is horrendous.
BPDs cannot be alone in the world, and it manifests in a profound fear of abandonment. They are extremely dangerous psychologically as are NPDs. Psychopaths can also be very dangerous physically in addition to the enormous psychological harm they inflict. I see the impact of people with PDs on others in my practice on a regular basis.
Anyone who is a criminal by intent, and who exploits or cheats their way to money/power/success *is* pathological. Healthy people will never do this, because their prefrontal cortex, which gives us our conscience and morality among other things, will tell them when they are doing wrong. No one who is healthy gets any pleasure from abusing others.
The problem is not that our public institutions cannot eject them out. The public actively chooses these people to hold positions of power at all levels of society. I write about this in some detail in some of my articles. It’s not their fault that they are what they are, it’s the fault of those who allow such damaged people to hold power, and who cover up for them even when their dirty deeds get exposed. We are also terrible at sticking up for victims. Our very institutions are populated with disordered people. I rely on science in my work and science, if done honestly, is incredible. But all human institutions are problematic, including scientific institutions, because so many people with PDs hold influential positions in them. They have an impact on how research money is allocated and what is or isn’t studied or investigated.
About 20% of the population are genetically predisposed from birth to not develop a functional prefrontal cortex—similar to autism or other types of neurodiversity. In other words 20% of humans are predators by definition—some more successful than others.
Many disordered people ‘only’ harm their children and relatives, while others with broader powers harm many more people.
The fact that the 80% keep putting such individuals in charge is our real problem. My pet theory is that in the past when we lived in caves and our existence was precarious, it did not benefit our survival to pick leaders who felt empathy towards the animals we were supposed to kill in order to survive. We are the descendants of those who survived better, probably because they picked leaders who lacked empathy and didn’t care about killing sentient creatures to eat, or the group in the next cave so their group could steal their food or other possessions.
I can see how we mindlessly continue to perpetuate our ancient patterns as a species. This is precisely what we change in psychotherapy at the individual level, and I see the results of this every day. I know what is possible for us, but we are a far cry as a species from what we can be. My intention in my writing is to educate people so that they are not fooled, are able to trust their instincts and ultimately not put up with or select the wrong people to positions of power and influence.
This may not be related but what is your general view of genetics and behaviour? I know of Robert Plomin... but to be honest I don't like the idea and it seems like a tendency to over-medicalize our choices and base it on genetics mainly. It is like we are all little robots whereby our behaviour is controlled by our genes. I think most professionals have gone that way. Is this the case?
Whatever genetic potential we are born with, how we ‘turn out’ depends entirely on the environment. The relatively new science of Epigenetics has already debased the idea that genes define us. They do not. They give us our potential but not our ‘final shape’. However, there are conditions people are born with that are genetic and PDs belong in that group. If a person’s genetics means that their toes do not develop properly, and the mother otherwise had a healthy pregnancy, did not drink or take any drugs, did not suffer violence or anything unusual and did not take any medication that could harm the baby, the baby’s toes will not develop as toes normally should.
All PDs have a genetic component that predisposes parts of the brain to not develop properly. If all children grew up in a safe, loving and integrating environments, then we might reduce some of the cases of PD, but I am sure a certain proportion will always remain. There are genetic variations in all species.
Humans are largely defined by the environment. Our brains are wired exclusively by the environment from the moment we are born. Anyone born with a healthy brain will create a neurological representation of everything that is in their environment. So you are absolutely correct. If we were predetermined there would be no point at all in my profession…
Perfect description of a narc. If you’ve ever came across one you’ll recognise them in this description.
They are very cruel people. It’s often said if you try to take down a narcissist you better dig two graves. From experience I can confirm this is how it goes. They will make it their ambition to ruin you and will recruit some flying monkeys to help them.
My advice to anyone near a narcissist is to run a mile and never look back.
Thank you for exposing this horrible personality disorder. People need to educate themselves in order to recognise them and steer clear of them.
Well said and thank you for reading and commenting.
Thanks again Avigail for sharing your insights and your experience. The subscriber comment is correct, although I think Trump sees the proposal as saving the Palestinians. I think that in our evolution a child who sits quietly in the back of the cave (so to speak) and is not “I, I, me, me,” will die. The late teenager who is the same, will also most likely die. There are times when the transition is hard for them. Some narcissists survive because the world is made comfortable around them. I read the comment of a lamenting mother who, after asking her first time voter son; “who did you vote for?”. The answer was “yeah, the felon guy”. Steve Bannon as everyone knows has stated that you “flood the zone with shit” but has also added that it has to be at muzzle velocity. We are in troubled times. Many media commentators in my county are excited about the proposal but damping of a man in a woman’s dress and high heals. (Not Barry Humphris). We seem to have an above average number of people happy with the Trump narcissism as long as it suits their politics.
Hi Peter, I know. I’m sorry to say but I couldn’t imagine living in the US now or ever. When it was time for me to leave Israel age 27 I never even contemplated going to the US. I spent a lot of time there as a flight attendant (In my twenties while I was a student I worked for an American airline that no longer exists, which was owned by a former Israeli man). I was raised to worship the US, and believe that it is all good and wonderful. Everything US was coveted. As a child I was so jealous of classmates who visited the US, and a particular school friend whose parents moved the family there. After spending enough time there, I knew it wasn’t for me, and started to question everything I believed about the US.
Those who voted for Trump and who continue to support him will live to see such chaos and deterioration. In Germany after the war, those who supported Hitler continued to miss him despite the fact that he was horrible to the German people as well.
Trump supporters will not change their minds. It is all to do with psychology. Poor integration in the brain, coupled with ignorance causes people to have (among other things) selective thinking and a wish for a ‘great leader’ who will ‘keep them safe’. People who support Trump are frightened and small. They have grown up on a diet of US triumphalism, and the belief that the US is ‘special’ and better and that it is the centre of the universe. I have always thought that if the US was one person they could easily be diagnosed with NPD. Trump is not the problem. He is a symptom. Narcissism is at the heart of the US, its social norms and its economics. There are also amazing things that came out of the US. For one, the science I use in my own work was developed in the US.
Decline is inevitable and without Trump it would only have been delayed. Maybe it is time for the good people in the US to do something to change their society. And the US is by no means alone either. It is just a subset of humanity. We are all in danger of regressing in our development.
I can see two forces competing with each other. Crazy, destructive politics is marching on but climate change is also marching on. One of the latest scientific alarm bells is about the AMOC. If the AMOC stops, the entire climate will shift with devastating implication for everyone. And the AMOC tipping point is only one of many. I’m just wondering which will catch up with us first, the climate or crazy politics… Such a pity. We have such extraordinary potential and look what we are doing.
I think we each have to have an impact where we are, and remember that if there is you and me, there are many others too. Change never comes form the mainstream. It’s always a minority that agitates and that eventually leads to change. The only difference between past changes and what we need now, is that so far we have just chipped away at problems while keeping the underlying structure intact. What we need is a comprehensive paradigm change. Look after yourself. You live in a dangerous country, and I think of you and everyone I know in the US, and hoping you will all be OK.
Peter, I made some changes to the end of the article to reflect your helpful feedback. I hope it reads better to you now, but let me know.
Thank you Avigail for this essay and providing many useful insights based on your expertise and experience. I would, however, like to make a few observations relating to the final paragraph. 1. “Israel cannot push millions of Palestinians into Egypt or Jordan without the US.” I have to take issue with your implication that Israel and the US combined are capable of pushing millions of Palestinians out of Gaza. This is clearly not the case. No one is capable of the mass displacement of the population of Gaza outside its borders. If this were possible, it would have been achieved long ago. Over 15 months of continuous war crimes—murder, destruction, torture, starvation and much more—neither the armed resistance nor the population were defeated or cowed into leaving their land. In contrast, the IDF ground forces were comprehensively defeated and shown to be incompetent, undisciplined and lacking any strategy. The ceasefire agreement was forced on Israel not by Trump but by the nonstop casualties sustained by the IDF and its inability to continue operating in Gaza. The US, I suppose, could attempt to bring in large numbers of marines and army special forces, but they would without doubt suffer a similar fate as the IDF ground forces, and they would be subject to much more intense scrutiny internationally. Let’s suppose for a moment that hypothetically the US military could defeat the Palestinian resistance in Gaza. Then what? The US military is going to herd Palestinians onto buses at gunpoint to be shipped to Egypt or Jordan or Israeli-occupied parts of Lebanon and Syria? Well, for starters, Jordan and Egypt won’t let them in, it would destabilise their regimes and potentially topple them. And I think that trying to displace two million people using buses into, say, southeastern Syria would take forty to fifty thousand buses, so even if you could force the people onto the buses it would still take several months. Or maybe you’d try to march them at gunpoint to Syria? A death march that would also take many weeks at the very least. But after witnessing the last 15 months, I think it is reasonable to conclude that the Palestinians in Gaza would rather die on their own land than be forced into another full-scale Nakba.
2. “The Palestinians can be pushed into the no-man’s land Israel has been creating in part of Syria and Lebanon.” Maybe this is Israel’s plan B, but as I have pointed out above, this is extremely unlikely to be feasible or practicable. And in this case you are implying that Israel is capable of achieving such an objective without US help. Let’s look at some of the evidence we have so far. Israel has already tried to force people into accepting mass displacement by using starvation and the complete destruction of healthcare and educational institutions. Did the Palestinians throw their hands in the air and say, “ok, you win, let us out of here”? Clearly not. In fact half a million people walked back to norther Gaza as soon as they were able to. What I am trying to say is that it is easy for Trump or Israel to talk about removing all the Palestinians from Gaza, but based on evidence this is not possible in practice. I agree that Israel is very dangerous and must be stopped. There is quite a bit of evidence that Israel has killed 400,000 Palestinians in Gaza in 15 months. But the only way to stop Israel is to cut off all its access to outside resources—financial, military, energy, data processing, imported labour, and imported capital goods. And that’s just for starters.
Stephen, I made some changes to the end of the article to reflect your helpful feedback. I hope it reads better to you now, but let me know.
Thank you for taking another look in light of my feedback. As you’ve probably surmised, I’m more shocked that so many commentators have taken Trump’s criminal statements at face value than at what he said. Taking completely delusional fantasies at face value, and then unleashing tirades of outrage (this reaction seems all too common) does not seem like the most intelligent approach to me. It also angers me because I think it belittles the steadfastness of the people of Gaza, but that’s a slightly different tangent.
And that’s exactly why I think it’s not going to happen. I agree with you. There are over 6 million Palestinians between Gaza, the colonised WB and inside Israel. (See my previous essay). Israel would love to get rid of them all, but Israel is severely weakened now biting more than it could chew and you are right that even with US help it will not achieve its goal.
Tump performed an incredible service in his short-sighted statement about Gaza, because he exposed Israel. Anyone who still has any illusions about Israel’s intentions, shouldn’t anymore. But Israel is still dangerous, and the Palestinians will continue to suffer for as long as Israel is indulged.
In a perverse way, we have never been closer to a one-state solution than we are now… My heart breaks for the Palestinians, and I feel such disappointment about the way our species is going. But often things have to get to ridiculous extreme before change begins. Thank you for reading and for your important comment.
Thank you for this piece and some piece of mind 🤍☮️
Interesting writing! We are in grave danger, currently Trump is surrounded by the most corrupt peoples in the world.