“It’s no good just being a decent fellow; you’ve got to sell yourself in this world”. So said the careers master somewhere back in the mid sixties. Understandable, I suppose, but it didn’t go down well. Doesn’t exactly denigrate but puts things in their place. A hierarchy was established and ever since I’ve lived with an uneasy circumspection regarding a word that seems to suggest naïve denial of the competitive reality.
But on the weekend of 7th November this little word was brandished in triumph and all it implies applauded world wide. Integrity; reason; truth; compassion; decency apparently does matter to many. With a tangible sense of relief it feels as if we’re emerging from a brief darkness. The most influential office in the world is being returned to its rightful owners. The citizens are removing the oxygen mask – therapy for a destructive pathology.
Anyone with close experience of malignant narcissism or psychopathy will be only too familiar with the symptoms. The chaotic irrationality; victim blaming; gaslighting; mendacity; all imposed without conscience and all compounded by the failure of so many to see. The constant demands for validation; the sad little voice masquerading as victim; the bewildering capacity to pedal incoherent false narrative untroubled by evidence; all so uncannily recognisable.
There’s a very personal resonance in all of this, so exactly reflected in the abuse suffered by my friend and still so triggering. The traits are identical; predictable even down to the misappropriation of a justice system; recourse to a legal community populated by an infinitely adjustable morality suited to any occasion or pocket. There are no curbs; all are quite dispensable in the service of the damaged ego.
Driven on by gnawing insecurities and relieved of ethical restraint these individuals can prevail, with apparent success lending an ability to recruit enablers – a trump card in vindicating their dysfunctional reality. Look away from the ridiculous creature strutting insanities on that old grainy footage and see the swaggering uniforms that sought to profit from the mayhem and the serried ranks of goose-stepping conformists unwilling to challenge and don’t forget all those who simply choose not to see. There’s a comforting identity on offer to all – from acolyte to bystander – who will sustain and reward without question.
And there’s the problem. These disturbed characters thrive on a prosocial reluctance to call out the disorder. How often has the recent incumbent been characterised as an “unconventional politician”? But the motorist who creates mayhem by persistently driving under the influence and without regard for speed limits doesn’t escape censure as merely an “unconventional driver”. The dangerous driver may arrive sooner, maybe even with the passengers still intact but leaves a trail. Theirs is a self-serving and malign influence; no template for enduring coexistence.
The difficulty with so many stems from a bizarre charismatic appeal. It generates an emotional bond impervious to reasonable challenge. Behaviour which otherwise would earn astonished disbelief is endorsed, normalised. We become inured to dysfunction. The only defence is to try and see things as they are, to think the unthinkable and expect the unexpected. We must seek and cling to objective truths and maintain and reinforce robust and equitable institutions. One of which, incidentally, seems to be undergoing a test – in progress right now.
I’m certainly not well versed in the jargon or theory but representative democracy appears to have some vulnerabilities. In a sense it effects a formalised agreement to differ but is less kind to minorities. When consensus straddles a knife edge, authority lies open to the taking. “The nation has spoken”; so says the politician savouring a fractional margin as a mandate to impose on the other half. Popular representation is laudable but compromised when all complexities are reduced to a zero-sum binary. This is particularly the case when referenda seek to pre-empt rational analysis of any tedious detail. At this point you’re being sold on the packaging, which I think brings me back to the opening admonishment.
We’ve become too accustomed to superficial and beguiling hyperbole. Never mind the policies, we can come up with those later, it’s the campaign that matters; you’ve got to sell yourself. But by embracing the hype, by suspending thought, we risk squandering a priceless privilege. It exposes the vulnerabilities of the popular vote. It would only take the slightest majority to lose that privilege to tyranny. Perhaps the greatest danger is a false sense of security and complacent inertia. Without vigilance our democratic freedoms fall prey to those seeking traction for their affliction.
I have no political allegiance here but, speaking for myself and despite all of the above, this weekend seemed to reset the priorities. Whatever now ensues, the window’s been opened on a clear and extensive embrace of something more valued, more fundamental than frenetic posturing. I felt the reassurance spread far beyond the shores of the US. So maybe it’s not such a foolish belief, perhaps I needn’t excuse myself for believing in decency and placing it above profit, power and the hard sell.
Outing The Pathology 