The Polish researcher and psychologist Andrzej Łobaczewski described Benjamin Netanyahu without meeting him. Łobaczewski lived under Nazi occupation in Poland and then under the Communist dictatorship. In his book Political Ponerology, smuggled out of Poland in the 1980s, he sought to understand the rise of people with pathological personalities to positions of power, calling his work "ponerology" after the Greek word “
"Hamas is an idea." This is so insipid. Hagari exposed himself as a fool, and the fact that you are quoting him with approval is disappointing. These pigs slaughtered your brothers and sisters by the hundreds. This is not the time to think and talk about the subject, while pointing the finger at Bibi. He should resign, but not before firing all of the heads of the army and intelligence services. They all have replacements. Whoever is in charge, this is the time for total victory and crushing Hamas. You want to tell us that there will be cells of terrorists calling themselves Hamas after the war? Fine. And I tell you they will fear showing their faces if we act as we should. No more rockets. No more mortars. No more attack tunnels. No more Hamas terrorists. That's the goal. You think it should be something less?
Can I interpret the desire of Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin to destroy Nazism as pathology? Can I assume that they have a pathological obsession because they repeatedly expressed this idea?
And the destruction of Nazism cannot be considered a rational goal of war, because it was used as a slogan in their political actions?
And why do you call the actions, slogans, words of the politician (yes, he is a politician, and like all politicians he lies and manipulates, but he is no different from others in this) Netanyahu pathology and madness, while the actions of other politicians do not cause such emotions?
I am not trying to refute. I would just like specific examples of pathology and madness other than just phrases about pathology and madness. Unless the desire to destroy one of the most brutal terrorist organizations is pathology.
Thank you Victor, for your response. I think you will find that Netanyahu exhibits remarkable emotional shallowness. He is the first PM in memory who does not regularly visit the wounded, or make sure his government is represented at funerals. Granted, truth telling among politicians is a relatively rare commodity, but even among politicians he is a standout. Recall those two operators Sarkozy and Obama complaining that he is a liar, speaking frankly to each other in empathy because they were unaware that they were being picked up on a microphone. He has used racism (“the Arabs are rushing to the voting booths”) and corrupt practices to promote his interests. He is a demagogue. Those who work with him closest become his sworn enemies. Think of Yaalon, the former PM Bennet, Lieberman, Sa’ar, and so on. In that context, I suggest that his use of a vague term like “total victory” is a tool in his arsenal of deception rather than a real concrete goal. A real goal has real measurable characteristics. You will recall that the Allies did not speak of “total victory,” but of unconditional surrender, which entailed actions taken by the enemy that could be observed and verified, and acted upon. Netanyahu uses a meaningless slogan so that he will not have to outline plans for the day after. Outlining plans for the day after would bring down his government, but he doesn’t have the integrity to say so. Put another way, he is sending young people to fight and die daily, without having the decency to speak to them or their families with integrity. There is the pathology, the difference between how people with normal levels of empathy and emotional IQ understand the needs of leadership, and the way a manipulative pathological character like Netanyahu does it. For the record, the goal of the war should, in my view, be the complete military and political defeat of Hamas so that it can no longer fill a role in Palestinian politics. Netanyahu’s refusal to articulate that goal makes it all the more unlikely that we will attain it, which is yet another of his sins. I hope this clarifies.
Thank you for the excellent answer. Now your definitions have reasonable grounds.
All these are moral and ethical claims that the citizens of the country are obliged to make against him, and on the basis of which they should not give him a chance to remain in power in the next elections.
But in the previous elections he was no better, but still made it to power. And here we can make claims against him as a manipulator. But firstly, this is normal for a politician and they are all manipulators (Netanyahu a little more, others a little less), secondly, these are claims against everyone who succumbs to his manipulations. For example, I did not succumb and have not voted for him since 2015, but I have no reason or desire to repeat that he is a hypocrite, a manipulator and emotionally superficial. This is a road to nowhere. Those who go out and shout that Bibi is a criminal, guilty of everything that is bad, end up voting for those who lose to him every time. That is why he is a politician, not us. And if all efforts are spent not on removing him from politics, but on finding and supporting politicians who can defeat him, then we would have long forgotten who Netanyahu is. And as a prime minister, he does everything that another politician would do in his place. As a leader, he should do much more.
"Hamas is an idea." This is so insipid. Hagari exposed himself as a fool, and the fact that you are quoting him with approval is disappointing. These pigs slaughtered your brothers and sisters by the hundreds. This is not the time to think and talk about the subject, while pointing the finger at Bibi. He should resign, but not before firing all of the heads of the army and intelligence services. They all have replacements. Whoever is in charge, this is the time for total victory and crushing Hamas. You want to tell us that there will be cells of terrorists calling themselves Hamas after the war? Fine. And I tell you they will fear showing their faces if we act as we should. No more rockets. No more mortars. No more attack tunnels. No more Hamas terrorists. That's the goal. You think it should be something less?
Can I interpret the desire of Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin to destroy Nazism as pathology? Can I assume that they have a pathological obsession because they repeatedly expressed this idea?
And the destruction of Nazism cannot be considered a rational goal of war, because it was used as a slogan in their political actions?
And why do you call the actions, slogans, words of the politician (yes, he is a politician, and like all politicians he lies and manipulates, but he is no different from others in this) Netanyahu pathology and madness, while the actions of other politicians do not cause such emotions?
I am not trying to refute. I would just like specific examples of pathology and madness other than just phrases about pathology and madness. Unless the desire to destroy one of the most brutal terrorist organizations is pathology.
Thank you Victor, for your response. I think you will find that Netanyahu exhibits remarkable emotional shallowness. He is the first PM in memory who does not regularly visit the wounded, or make sure his government is represented at funerals. Granted, truth telling among politicians is a relatively rare commodity, but even among politicians he is a standout. Recall those two operators Sarkozy and Obama complaining that he is a liar, speaking frankly to each other in empathy because they were unaware that they were being picked up on a microphone. He has used racism (“the Arabs are rushing to the voting booths”) and corrupt practices to promote his interests. He is a demagogue. Those who work with him closest become his sworn enemies. Think of Yaalon, the former PM Bennet, Lieberman, Sa’ar, and so on. In that context, I suggest that his use of a vague term like “total victory” is a tool in his arsenal of deception rather than a real concrete goal. A real goal has real measurable characteristics. You will recall that the Allies did not speak of “total victory,” but of unconditional surrender, which entailed actions taken by the enemy that could be observed and verified, and acted upon. Netanyahu uses a meaningless slogan so that he will not have to outline plans for the day after. Outlining plans for the day after would bring down his government, but he doesn’t have the integrity to say so. Put another way, he is sending young people to fight and die daily, without having the decency to speak to them or their families with integrity. There is the pathology, the difference between how people with normal levels of empathy and emotional IQ understand the needs of leadership, and the way a manipulative pathological character like Netanyahu does it. For the record, the goal of the war should, in my view, be the complete military and political defeat of Hamas so that it can no longer fill a role in Palestinian politics. Netanyahu’s refusal to articulate that goal makes it all the more unlikely that we will attain it, which is yet another of his sins. I hope this clarifies.
Thank you for the excellent answer. Now your definitions have reasonable grounds.
All these are moral and ethical claims that the citizens of the country are obliged to make against him, and on the basis of which they should not give him a chance to remain in power in the next elections.
But in the previous elections he was no better, but still made it to power. And here we can make claims against him as a manipulator. But firstly, this is normal for a politician and they are all manipulators (Netanyahu a little more, others a little less), secondly, these are claims against everyone who succumbs to his manipulations. For example, I did not succumb and have not voted for him since 2015, but I have no reason or desire to repeat that he is a hypocrite, a manipulator and emotionally superficial. This is a road to nowhere. Those who go out and shout that Bibi is a criminal, guilty of everything that is bad, end up voting for those who lose to him every time. That is why he is a politician, not us. And if all efforts are spent not on removing him from politics, but on finding and supporting politicians who can defeat him, then we would have long forgotten who Netanyahu is. And as a prime minister, he does everything that another politician would do in his place. As a leader, he should do much more.
I agree with you.