In this piece we will explore more of chapter three of David Kupelian’s book, How Evil Works. Please find a link below where you can purchase the book from Amazon. Here are some of the highlights found within this chapter. This chapter embodies principles and truths that can be applied globally as a collective society and personally as a private individual.
The author points out that the mind of an individual who has been subject to excessive stress and cruelty can become confused and disorientated. The author calls this having their “brains scrambled” due to the overwhelming emotions that come with intense stress and cruelty. That confusion can take many different forms; including confusion about things we were previously very sure of or confident in. The mental, emotional, and relational disorientation a person would begin to feel can cause a breakdown in long held beliefs about right and wrong or a breakdown in previously cherished relationships. A prolonged siege of stress and cruelty changes a person on the inside, and that change will inevitability begin to be seen on the outside.
Israel and its leaders understood the psychology of war. Ariel Sharon, a former prime minister of Israel, made it known in his autobiography, titled Warrior that the nation’s Arab attackers who wanted to annihilate his beloved nation, had to be dealt with swiftly and severely, defeated and defeated badly in order to build in them a psychology of defeat that would cause them to develop the conviction that they would never win against Israel. Sharon understood, as we must understand, that “anything short of overwhelming, paralyzing, courage-destroying strength” comes across to terrorist and tyrants as contemptible weakness and encourages them to commit more mayhem.
Self-blame or self-hate is a powerful tool destructive people create and install in other people. Like the author notes in his example of the abused child who blames themselves believing if they are good enough the abuse will stop. Another example could be the abused wife, who believes likewise. Her husband will stop his cruelty if she is this way toward him or that way in dealing with him, attempting to “correct” all the things he finds wrong with her. Yet another example would be a country who believes that extreme political correctness will help them fly under the radar of extremist who might attack their homeland.
Dr. Kenneth Levin, a clinical instructor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and a Princeton-trained historian makes the following point in his book, The Oslo Syndrome: Delusions of a People under Siege. “Segments of populations under chronic siege commonly embrace the indictments of the besiegers, however bigoted and outrageous. They hope that by doing so and reforming accordingly they can assuage the hostility of their tormenters and win relief.”
Kupelian points out, Brits have embraced extreme “tolerance” when it comes to dealing with militant jihadist who came to be found in their mist, and to the jihadist this has registered as nothing more than weakness. As he expresses you cannot offer a timid smile to the bully to pacify him in hope that he want hurt you anymore – of course he will, if you tolerate it.
Fear of persecution is the driving force behind political correctness. In America and Europe that whole bend-over-backwards political correctness toward Islam is about appeasing someone we fear. The political correctness movement in general within our society, that silences the voices against all manner of evil and sin, is effective because of a fear of persecution. Yet, we are now finding that people are waking up to the extreme dangers of political correctness, and the reality of the price they have paid for keeping their mouths closed is beginning to set in.
The author claims that most of us are secretly intimidated by extreme Islam and living under that intimidation for years has warped our perspective about them, leading some people to believe they are misunderstood or not truly set on the evil they are set on. However, in the face of weakness as a nation or as a person evil will grow and flourish. Conflict intensifies when weakness is shown. Please understand weakness and biblical gentleness are two very different things. Weakness, according to the author, and I would agree, is actually fueling the growth of Islamofascism. Since 9/11 we, as a country, have gone from ‘We will get you.’ to extreme political correctness regarding Islam.
The author uses an example of a teenage boy with an explosive anger problem. The boy is out of control, a danger to himself and other people. The people around the boy try to be extra nice to him in order to keep him from getting angry, so they walk on eggshells around him. This only serve to enrage the boy more as his contempt for the people around him builds, because they are too weak to stand up to him. The people around the boy are well meaning, and they are trying to keep the peace, but they are not helping the boy learn to take responsibility and deal with his anger. In situations like this the aggressor will almost always just continue to be abusive. Being a doormat does not help the bully, and it certainly does not help you, it actually hurts you over time. Being a doormat also does not glorify God.
When someone makes us extremely upset and fearful of them, our behavior and attitude toward them will change, and change profoundly. This does not always just lead to resentment, with some people that upset and fear can psychologically flip to love and loyalty – strange but true – Stockholm syndrome. This psychological flip is sad and unfortunately disgustingly true. A distorted love and loyalty emerge out of a need for literal, mental, and emotional survival.
The corrosive impact of being under the siege of stress and cruelty can lead a person or a nation down a path called self-destruction.
Whether it is a group coming under siege from those who wish to spread terror throughout the globe or it is a single individual coming under siege from a lone person who wishes to terrorize them, terrorism must be dealt with swiftly and fully in order to ensure the overall wellbeing of our global society or the overall wellbeing of simple yourself. If we as a society allow ourselves or you as an individual allow yourself prolonged exposure to terroristic stress and cruelty we jeopardize our humanity as a whole or you jeopardize being able to function as the person God created you to be.
In the next posting we will complete chapter three of David Kupelian’s book, How Evil Works.
How Evil Works
Evil can be understood and overcome before it transforms our country entirely. Evil can be understood and overcome before it transforms someone you know or even you. Knowledge is power and without it we will perish. We need to be extremely knowledgeable when it comes to evil.
Hosea 4:6 (NKJV)
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Because you have rejected knowledge,
I also will reject you from being priest for Me;
Because you have forgotten the law of your God,
I also will forget your children.
The Marketing of Evil
Evil is sold in our society just as anything else might be sold, through marketing. Satan has marketed his product through those willing and those ignorant to his schemes. Through his craftiness he has turned the minds of even Believers to think that tolerance of his evil is some form of love. In so doing he has transformed to a large degree the once Devout Church and transformed our society to an enormous degree. He has not accomplished this without his workers however, the willing, the sold out for their own gain, and the ignorant masses following blindly behind the majority.
Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:
This blog will not be for the faint of heart or the easily offended. It will not be in any way politically correct. It will make every effort to share the truth in love, [Ephesians 4:11-16], to a decaying and dying society and church. I share what I share not to hurt, harm, or offend any person[s] or group; I do it because Christ’s Standard and Truth is not being represented by enough of His Followers, and I do it out of love. I love enough to tell His Truth.
Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV
11And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
God's Truth in Love 