The psychological switch

I’m sure that thousands of books have been written on the banality of evil. How can you have a Nazi concentration camp commandant just laugh around and be merry but the second he dons that uniform, he becomes a different person? No conscience, total focus on the job, and sadistic smarts. Uniforms are more than just clothes. They are almost magical, making you be a part of something bigger than you. Even before your victims see you, they hear your shoes hitting the sidewalk in the distance. They know you’re coming. They know what’s next. And sadists get off on it. They get off on playing mind games with their victims. Giving them false hope, like Mengele. Is it because these people truly believe in their ideology and don’t see their victims as fully human, denying them agency, or are they just sadists? Great minds have studied these issues in detail so I won’t dwell on that particular point now.

Russians drink a lot. Hardly a secret. They can be great conversationalists and I sometimes come across people who say, ”Come on, Russians are cool, they can’t be that bad, I partied with them like crazy, great people.” Yes. As individuals, Russians can be as we say in Polish duszą towarzystwa (loosely translates as the soul of the party). But there’s that switch in their minds, that follow order switch, just like with the Nazis. When given orders by their tsar or anyone they see as above them, they will stand up and shoot you in the head without thinking twice about it. They won’t question their order. The order is to be carried out. Yes, I know that’s how military works but I don’t believe every soldier would carry out any order, say, in the U.S. or Israel. In Russia and similar regimes, there’s no second-guessing or morality. That’s how it is. That’s how things are. Personal feelings and opinions on the matter are irrelevant. The Fuehrer/tsar/leader knows best, so carry out the order and shut up.

I wish I was being dramatic. I’m not. Sure, not all of them, but, dare I say, the majority. Whether it’s 80% or 95% is beside the point. I speak Russian, I was in Moscow to study Russian in 2008 at a prestigious institute. I know Russians can be fun but don’t let that blind you from who you’re dealing with. You’re dealing with people who are just like the Nazis. Look, if you came across Vladlen Tatarsky or Darya Dugina at some bar in Moscow, I’m sure you’d have a great time. But then, that same Dugina would sit in front of a laptop and write an article calling for burning alive of Ukrainian POWs like it was nothing. A reason to be proud of in their demented minds. Russians are all about pride, after all. People got burned alive? Does that make Russia proud? Da? Then mission accomplished. Darya’s proud of her accomplishments like a giddy little girl smiling at her demented daddy.

Moral considerations are irrelevant. That’s why I don’t buy all these, ”they won’t nukes” arguments. Seeing nukes on Russian TV instilling fear in their enemies would make so many Russians beam with pride. ”We used nukes, molodcy! Look at us!” Twisted? Sure. Welcome to the medieval mindset (actually, the Middle Ages got offended). I also think all this mutual destruction argument is overrated. A tactical nukes, likely even several, won’t end humanity. Radiation will be localized, as far as I understand it, so drop the whole MAD argument. Doesn’t work in a limited exchange and Russians know it. And they can always blow up dams and nuclear power plants. No need for nukes flying.

So yeah, that’s the switch, my friend. Russians have it, the Germans, I believe, still have it. There’s this comedy with Hitler coming back to modern Germany. A German woman prances around him like a little girl and keeps calling him my Fuehrer. Just a comedy, but that Fuehrer factor is still there, don’t kid yourselves. You only need to know how to get it out.

You know, it isn’t exactly the level of spycraft that spymasters at the Mossad would be proud of, but you can test it out. Just pretend you love authoritarianism, that you’re in awe of Russia, for example, or any other regime or group, and see their masks drop. Don’t be obvious about it, cause they’re going to know you’re manipulating them to drop their masks. Actually, some are so stupid they won’t have a clue, I’ve overestimated them, sorry.

Let’s face it –  should be obvious – there are those among us who love authoritarianism and love being controlled, even dominated, by a seemingly strong leader. Yes, including quite a few of us in the West. That’s why you get all these right-wingers, but also left-wingers, following nutjobs, clicking their heels, and saluting. It’s not just about the money. It excites them, too, being someone’s puppet. They secretly don’t want nations such as Russia to fail because they love that authoritarianism, or rather their vision of authoritarianism, while sitting comfortably on their behinds thousands of miles away in democratic countries. Yep. What else is new. I mean, dear Russia lovers, if you love Russia so much, at least learn to speak the language, for God’s sake.

I watched an American journalist run the gauntlet of Russian propagandists on mainstream Russian TV. He told them how deluded they were and one thing that Russians hate is the truth about them. Was it scripted by the Russian psychological operations? Probably. Still, the guy speaks decent Russian and he was right there in the lion’s den. Impressive, if real and not scripted.

Russia strongly condemns the pager explosions. Well, that’s a good example of imperial innocence, right there. Russia can do no wrong, as we know, but Russia reserves the right to condemn others. Psychopaths and narcissists are the same way. Never their fault. Psychopaths are extremely unlikely to apologize, for example. You can hear them say, ”I’m sorry you feel that way,” but ”I’m sorry”? Extremely unlikely. Don’t expect Russian propagandists to ever apologize for their actions if they are ever captured alive, that is. Not going to happen. We went through it after World War II. Same script, different ideology.

Do you think people who come across a jihadi, say, at a bar, aren’t going to think, ”Hey, what a cool guy!” The jihadi knows he’s going to heaven, so he drinks, and dances like there’s no tomorrow because, well, there’s no tomorrow for him. Not in this reality, anyway.

How about a serial killer? Same thing.

Just because someone is nice doesn’t mean a thing. Anyone can be nice and, in my experience, someone who’s always nice and has that joker-ish smile on his on her face all the time, well, you’d better run. It just isn’t normal. Someone always playing perfect, always uptight like there’s a stick up their behind, or always smiling for that matter, is a red flag.

We’re told everyone is about authenticity these days. Well, go ahead, then. Be authentic at work and you know what’s going to happen, eventually? Ask for an authentic raise? You’re likely going to get authentically fired. Maybe not on the spot, no no. You’ll be given hard tasks, you’ll be told that your performance isn’t that great and, at some point, you just might quit on your own. Voila. As we say in Polish: noga-dupa-brama (leg-kick in the butt-gate).

Sure, there are bosses who are going to nod and say, ”Well, I like your style,” but there aren’t that many of them. We’re not in an authentic society, far from it. Yes, commercials tell us to embrace our real selves but that’s just nonsense. We don’t want that. 99% of us don’t want that. We just want to look like we want that. If you want to be always honest and always authentic, then you’d better be independently wealthy is all I’m saying.

Is there a way out of this mess and to stay protected in this madness?

Kyrie Eleison, my friend.