Have we created a societal order that disproportionately rewards psychopathy?
I was an idealistic young person at a conflict resolution symposium at The Hague in 2004 when I first heard about a think tank called the Project for the New American Century. The convener of the training program projected a screenshot of their ‘statement of principles’ for the 100 odd attendees while he discussed the signatories to this statement.
The statement decries the decline in American influence across the world due to feeble leadership, calls for an increase in military funding and for America to accept its responsibility in preserving an international order suitable to its interests. The statement ends with:
Such a Reaganite policy of military strength and moral clarity may not be fashionable today. But it is necessary if the United States is to build on the successes of this past century and to ensure our security and our greatness in the next.
The think tank was set up in 1997 and ten of the 25 signatories including Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld came to hold powerful positions in GW Bush’s government. By the time I learned about this statement the signatories were well on their way with the invasion of Iraq.
The symposium was intense to say the least. We had attendees who gave us first hand testimonies of their encounters with war from Serbia, Rwanda, Guatemala. The contrast of witnessing the fall out of war with such blatant war mongering stayed with me for years.
To my young pacifist mind the statement was clear evidence of well organised evil in our world. And what came more as a shock was how open the signatories were with their agenda and how clearly successful…
Since then I have a more nuanced view but I still can’t even begin to imagine being in place of people who believe in their greatness enough to knowingly cause so much destruction, pain and despair. This failure of imagination on my part also extends to political and corporate leaders who continue to make ridiculously short sighted decisions with regards to the natural world and the climate crisis. These are intelligent, educated, high achievers with children who regularly make decisions with massive repercussions for the planet despite protests and mounting evidence of crisis.
