On vigilante justice, spies, and psychopaths

I’ve come across an article here on the website about the novel, “The Goddess of Warsaw.” It’s a fictional story of Bina Blonski, a Jewish actress-turned-resistance fighter in the Warsaw Ghetto, and her transformation into Lena Browning, a Hollywood femme fatale with a secret past who uses her time off-screen to hunt Nazis and execute vigilante justice.

I like the title and the theme. One, I’m from Warsaw and any kind of a well-written Warsaw-themed book resonates with me. Two, I believe that, sometimes, vigilante justice is the only way. It’s not even that vigilantes are heroes. Vigilantes are pushed to seek justice. It isn’t their choice. And, as I always say, revenge is redemptive. You know the revenge and dig two graves saying, right? Well, use my modified saying. ”When seeking revenge, dig two graves: one grave for your enemy and one for your hatred of the enemy.” Then, your catharsis is complete. Your enemy is punished, gone, and won’t be living rent-free in your head, because that, my friend, is also a form of victory for your enemy. Case closed. As it should be.

I understand where the people who say that you can, indeed, should, talk to even your worst enemy are coming from. But these people clearly haven’t seen pure evil, or are unable to grasp what pure evil is like. I believe many of you reading my blog post are acutely aware of what pure evil is like. It doesn’t need to be a soldier with a gun, or a terrorist blowing himself up. Oh, no. It can be a psychopath at work who uses flying monkeys (puppetized people doing the psychopath’s bidding) to attack you, and spread malicious gossip about you; and remember, psychopaths are going to play the victim and accuse you of being the aggressor (sounds familiar?). These psychos often hide behind their flying monkeys, orchestrating attacks against you from behind the curtain (again, sounds familiar?). They also dehumanize their targets, and take away their agency (yep, sounds familiar).

It can be a regime functionary propagandist telling her audience Ukrainians must die, all the while smiling like one of those monsters from FROM TV series. Actually, and I rarely do this, but do watch FROM. The monsters there aren’t mere zombies, they are highly intelligent, scheming, psychopaths who enjoy torturing their victims, both mentally and physically. So now imagine trying to negotiate with them. Sure, the monsters can pretend and show good will to fool you into lowering your guard, only to rip you apart the next day.

That’s what negotiating and trying to fix psychopaths looks like.

You can’t reason with pure evil. You can’t negotiate with pure evil and expect any kind of a deal to last. That’s why, it’s my understanding at least, when a hostage negotiator finds out he’s dealing with a psychopath hostage taker, the protocol changes. Now, it’s logical to me. When you negotiate with someone who sees others/hostages as a tool – a literal tool, no different from a table, or a phone- who has little to no conscience and no regard for human life, other than their own, of course, then you must adjust and act accordingly. I know, I know, there are those who say that no one is beyond redemption. That even the worst criminal can be cured. Fixed.

Are you sure about that? I’m not so sure about that. Scratch that. Just naive nonsense.

Some say that, since there aren’t that many psychopaths, around 2-3% of the population, they aren’t that much of a problem. What nonsense. Even one psychopath can wreak havoc like you wouldn’t believe, and get 2-3% of them in any society and you’ve got a huge problem on your hands. Even up to 10% in some professions, apparently? My God, you’re staring at the viper’s nest of the worst kind.

Many Poles were spies for foreign powers. Why? Some thought they were serving Poland, some wanted revenge, some were forced into it, some wanted adventure, and some abandoned any hope of seeing independent Poland again and pledged allegiance to some other nation. Fact is, Polish spies were held in high regard by whoever they worked for. Suspended between nations, these spies had to think on their feet and be ruthless if need be. I believe there are many Polish spies, even today, who are deadly and extremely effective at their job. A tragic, turbulent, and colorful Polish history is, shall we say, uniquely suited for espionage.

I’m sure that behind many foreign-sounding names in the world of spies, and not only, there hides a Pole.

There were Polish women who seduced powerful foreign men if it meant advancing the Polish cause. Nothing was off-limits.

No wonder that Ernst Blofeld, a man in charge of a global terror group SPECTRE, and the arch-rival of James Bond, is Polish. How ironic that the father of the Russian security apparatus, Feliks Dzierżyński, was Polish.

Polish history has so much material, you can write a thousand more novels filled with so many twists and turns it’s going to make your head spin. The only question is getting someone talented to do it.