tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post6403424750014452544..comments2023-09-29T06:58:20.125-07:00Comments on Badtux the Snarky Penguin: GriftopiaBadTuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345749557330760251noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-85324221469397172162011-01-28T22:34:24.876-08:002011-01-28T22:34:24.876-08:00You wonder why someone would choose to be a grifte...You wonder why someone would choose to be a grifter? Mrs. Bukko is currently reading a book titled <a href="http://www.ponerology.com/" rel="nofollow">"Political Ponerology"</a> that offers a psychological explanation -- sociopathy. (I haven't gotten into the book yet. I have to finish "Shock Doctrine" by Naomi Klein first.)<br /><br />"Ponerology" is a word that means "the study of evil." ("Poner" is Greek for "evil.") It's not about evil in a metaphysical or religious sense, but as it plays out in human behaviour.<br /><br />There is a minority of people who just have no feelings for other humans, no empathy. We call them sociopaths. They're good at manipulating people and conning them into doing the sociopaths' bidding. Easier to accomplish if you have no moral centre.<br /><br />The book lays out the ways that sociopaths infest organizations and turn their purpose 180 degrees opposite to what they once stood for. While it focuses on the governmental/political sphere, you could also expand the examples to the corporate sphere.<br /><br />The book was written by a group of Polish psychiatrists in the 1940s, about the same time Orwell was writing "1984." It was suppressed by the communists, and resurfaced after the Iron Curtain came down. The book we have was released in English in 2006, and is heavily footnoted by an American editor who uses it to explain how the Bush administration was "ponerized."<br /><br />From the excerpts the Mrs. has waved under my nose, it explains a lot about how human nature makes grifters. They ARE the lizard people, in the sense that cold-blooded reptiles have no sentiment. The snake doesn't bite you because it HATES you. You're just there. You're prey. No hard feelings, but you're still dead. Ditto for the grifters.Bukko Boomerangerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02424677168216647964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-19651337721844447652011-01-28T15:44:26.500-08:002011-01-28T15:44:26.500-08:00Wow! Have you been reading Marx?
. . . but the ...Wow! Have you been reading Marx?<br /><br /><i> . . . but the grifter class has conned its workers into thinking that they'll just be fired if . . . </i><br /><br />Actually, it far worse than that. The grifter class has conned its workers into thinking that the grifters have every right to their grift.<br /><br />It's what's the matter with Kansas, et.cet.<br /><br />Sigh,<br />JzBJazzbumpahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07337490817307473659noreply@blogger.com