Narcissistic Ideas of Progress: Our Dystopian Future (with Ginger Coy) - Vaknin Transcripts

Vaknin Transcripts

Narcissistic Ideas of Progress: Our Dystopian Future (with Ginger Coy)

Summary

In this in-depth discussion, Sam Ving and Ginger Koy explore the pervasive influence of narcissism and psychopathy in global leadership, highlighting the inevitable self-destructive nature of such figures like Trump, and the broader clash between Renaissance and Enlightenment values shaping today's sociopolitical landscape. They argue that universal franchise democracy is flawed, advocating for a pragmatic acceptance of narcissism and victimhood as societal forces while warning of a potential shift towards autocracy and totalitarianism, with Islam emerging as a significant ideological influence. The conversation also critiques technological impacts on social isolation, the failure of the Enlightenment project, and emphasizes the need to confront harsh realities rather than rely on fantasies or simplistic moral judgments. Narcissistic Ideas.

Tags

it's, narcissism, narcissist, Narcissistic Ideas, People, Personality, Psychology, Reality, Renaissance, Sam Vaknin, Vaknin Summaries

June 28, 2024

Tip: click a paragraph to jump to the exact moment in the video. Narcissistic Ideas of Progress: Our Dystopian Future (with Ginger Coy)

00:00 No text okay I’m recording too I hope I’m recording
00:06 okay we hello name is shall we go all right so hello my name is ginger Koy I’m
00:13 the writer behind concerning narcissism on the platform substack you can find me at Ginger koi. substack do.com I write
00:20 about politics culture and proliferating cluster B Psychopathology and how it harms
00:26 civilization and this writing effort is largely inspired by the man of the hour and then some none other than Sam Ving
00:33 so Sam can you introduce yourself thank you I’m I’m an aage reader of your of your blog it’s a breath of fresh air because I think it’s it’s as as near as
00:45 close to objectivity as possible or neutrality um as possible it’s we all humans but okay so I’m I’m s I’m the author of several books in Psychology
00:57 International Affairs and so on so forth um former professor in some universities a current professor in other
01:03 universities the usual let’s delve into the topics I think they’re far more interesting than
01:09 me okay well great um so you probably saw Sam that yesterday uh the Colorado
01:15 Supreme Court ruled that Trump is disqualified from being on the primary ballot because he engaged in
01:22 Insurrection violating the 14th Amendment um and of course Trump has vowed that he will appeal to the Supreme
01:29 Court and you know short of his uh prohibition from being on the ballot you know America is potentially on the
01:35 precipice of autocracy with the election of trump in my estimation um so just
01:41 some other thoughts you know it’s Republicans it’s conservatives who are dismissive of the threats of trump that
01:49 he poses to the Constitution and you would think that they’d want to conserve the Constitution being conservatives um
01:55 and then also coming from the right is um the ultimate pardon the phrase um trump card that people seem to employ these days that if you have any criticism of
02:07 him whatsoever that you are suffering from Trump derangement syndrome or TDS a
02:13 term a phrase that I find tedious um because it’s condescending um that there’s no potential there there um you know you’ve mentioned also the escalating rhetoric it’s Hitler like um
02:26 the Vermin you know referring to Hitler and Jews basically um and then also uh
02:33 poison poison blood oh right immigrant the poisoning blood of America Trump recently quoted Putin that democracy is rotten um the j6 prisoners are now j6
02:47 hostages so uh you know he pledged to root out the Communist Marxist fascist
02:53 these are the Vermin um in our context the radical left thugs that live like Vermin within the confines of our country you know in and you’ve mentioned this book before too and I think it’s a great book Gavin debecker the gift of
03:04 fear he writes that rationalizing fear way is dangerous you know many people feel safe with Trump that he’s this
03:10 bully that can go up against the likes of dictators like like uh Putin um you
03:16 know you’ve you’ve talked about how narcissists are apex predators instinctive cognitive and reflexive so why are people’s instincts leading them astray that this narcissist Trump will protect them against dictators and not
03:27 hurt them personally what kind kind of grandiosity repetition compulsion what’s going on defense mechanism wise
03:35 No text Sam I think the problem is that those of us those of us who would like to believe
03:41 that these people have gone astray are not quite sure that they have the world is becoming more and more
03:49 predatory and Psychopathic uh when you look at the leadership ranks all over the world you
03:56 see Psychopaths and narcissists in charge Putin erogan I mean b ex formerly
04:02 Bono the current president of Argentine Argentine Argentina and so on so for
04:09 Netanyahu in Israel of course and Modi in India we are there has been a
04:16 narcissistic Psychopathic takeover of the elites and so it is true actually it’s
04:24 pretty realistic to say that we are faced with a world that is being molded and directed and guided by narcissists and Psychopaths and therefore we may be better off handing handing over power to a narcissist and a psychopath to cope
04:40 with them takes one to know one it takes one to defeat one that is not entirely IR Russian not
04:47 entirely IR Russian the thing is the missing piece is that narcissists and
04:54 Psychopaths always end badly and when they end badly everyone else is paying the price so for a while it might seem as if they are on a winning streak and implementing the right strategies and enhancing the survival
05:10 value of others and upholding the security and safety and so
05:17 so forth but it’s always Limited in time it may last four years it may last 40
05:23 years at the end of which everything falls apart narcissist in fly and
05:32 invariably end up being self-destructive and other destructive so that’s the problem had
05:39 naris has been a successful breed and the price was a suspension of personal autonomy the subversion of freedoms and so on so forth you could
05:53 you there there would have been an argument for this there would have been a recent argument to say okay I’m willing to sacrifice my freedom for the sake of my my safety or security that is
06:04 the deal that underlies China that is exactly the transaction
06:10 that’s a social contract that that has given rise to China not such a bad uh
06:17 outcome at this stage but now China has been taken over No text by a psychopathic narcissist Shin pin so in China going to pay the price
06:30 its economy is going to collapse internal strife civil unrest is going to disintegrate to the fringes and so on so
06:37 forth but China is going to pay the price not because people have sacrificed their freedoms China is going to pay the price because there’s a narcissist on in narcissist in in the position of
06:50 authority so Trump may be the right answer to the
06:57 likes of Putin and Netanyahu and Modi and erdogan and absolutely maybe better
07:03 equipped to deal with him and with Kamas he may well be but the problem is
07:10 he cannot persist in this he cannot he he’s bound to self sabotage he’s bound to self defeat and self- Destroy period That’s one prediction I’m 100% sure of
07:22 and we’ve seen it with the pandemic so that’s a that’s the issue I
07:28 personally think that you Universal franchise democracy is a seriously flawed and bad
07:35 idea and in this I have good company the founding fathers of the United States I think that Universal franchise
07:44 democracy definitely participatory democracy always degenerates into ocracy
07:52 mob Ru mobu always there’s no exception actually Hitler was elected
08:00 he was elected in a democracy one of the one of the most perfect democracies ever created the viar Constitution is the Democratic Constitution ever it’s far
08:12 more comprehensive than the United States Constitution far better written it gave
08:18 R to ad Hitler ocracy when you give decision making power to the people you end up with demagogues you
08:30 end up with autocrats because people are dumb and they’re
08:36 ignorant the overwhelming vast majority of people are essentially
08:42 illiterate and even if when they are literate they don’t possess the necessary intelligence quotient to
08:48 understand what they’re reading I’m sorry it’s Politically Incorrect to say people should not be entrusted with this now the founding fathers and prior to them the in the Age of
09:00 Enlightenment they never considered an Athenian or allegedly Athenian because it wasn’t true in Athens as well in Athens the Cradle of democracy the people who could vote were property owners and men not women not slaves not
09:19 employees so Universal franchise is a very very
09:25 very new invention and a subversion and distortion of all the democratic ideals
09:32 well into the end of the 19th century it’s a total invention that is
09:38 co coction and it is closely identified with what I call Renaissance movements
09:45 and where with your Indulgence I would like to make a distinction between Renaissance
09:51 movements and Enlightenment movements people think that the No text enlightenment was a direct continuation by other means of the Renaissance no the
10:03 enlightenment was a counter movement a Counter Reformation the
10:09 enlightenment was uh a retort a repost a rejection of of the
10:16 Renaissance the Renaissance has put men at the center so it was highly
10:23 narcissistic it put more and consequently it created totalitarianism
10:29 men of action makaveli’s Prince Jean
10:35 bodon others in the Renaissance they believed that the right
10:41 form of governance is totalitarian headed by a prince a prince should make an alliance
10:50 with a mob in Renaissance thinking a prince should make an alliance with a mob and rule this way
10:59 verting and undermining the aristocracy in the church that was the political
11:05 model of the Renaissance and the Renaissance was not a progressive movement let alone a liberal Mo the Renaissance was a throwback to the past
11:17 the Renaissance was highly traditionalist highly conservative they wanted to
11:24 recreate Greece and Rome they didn’t want to go further they didn’t want to advance they didn’t have a concept of progress they had a concept of a reactionary concept of forward to the
11:37 Past in this sense the Renaissance gave birth to Nazism to Fascism to Communism
11:47 to religious fun fundamentalism because the Renaissance was a project of improving Humanity improving Humanity
11:59 by reverting to Old values old works of art everything old
12:08 the old was good the new was bad in Renaissance the new was bad the old was
12:14 good so it’s very similar to to ad Hitler’s thinking let me read to you a
12:21 sentence from M com adol Hitler Adolf Hitler said the new age of
12:30 today is at work on a new human type men and women are to be healthier stronger
12:38 there is a new feeling of Life a new joy in life and Roger Griffin wrote this
12:44 about modernism modernism is a drive to formulate a new social order capable of
12:51 redeeming Humanity from the growing chaos and crisis resulting from modernity’s Devastation of TR traditional Securities modernity is distinct from
13:03 modernism modernity by threatening the cohesion of traditional culture and its capacity to absorb change modernity triggers an instinctive self-defensive
13:14 reflex to repair modernity by reasserting Eternal values and truths
13:20 that transcend the ephemerality of individual existence and from this perspective wrote Griffin in 2007 from
13:28 this perspective modernism is a radical reaction against modernity and this is
13:34 the Renaissance the enlightenment was an attempt to undo the Renaissance not a
13:42 continuation of the Renaissance because the enlightenment said no way none of this is true the enlight the enlightenment came up with a concept of personal autonomy of a social contract
13:55 of of liberal values of universal franchise unfortunately gradually of um
14:03 of the noble savage of um so there and ever since then ever since
14:10 the 18th century we are at War and we are at War right now even with Donald Trump we’re at war between Renaissance
14:19 philosophies Victor Orban Donald Trump these kind of people Nat these are
14:27 Putin these are Essence philosophies in order to progress we must revert to the
14:33 past the past has the solution the past is the key to our survival this is
14:39 Renaissance and Enlightenment philosophies and there is this enormous
14:45 conflict between Renaissance and Enlightenment this issue is has not been resolved since the 15th
14:52 century and this is where we are a thousand years from now historians
14:59 is going to look back and then going to say that the battle between Renaissance
15:06 values and Enlightenment values lasted a few hundred years well into the 21st
15:13 century and hasn’t been resolved yet where does postmodernism fit into No text this equation and how it relates to
15:26 narcissism postmodernism is an attempt to square the circle it’s an attempt to fuse
15:32 certain Renaissance values with most of enlightenments the enlightenment’s
15:40 values it puts men at the center in a self-indulgent way it renders men
15:49 entitled by virtue of his or her existence a man or a woman has rights and these rights generate commensurate
16:02 obligations in others she doesn’t have to do anything he doesn’t have to invest
16:08 anything all they have to do is exist be born and that second hundreds of Rights
16:16 crystallized and these rights impose obligations on society and on others that’s a
16:22 highly a highly Renaissance thing the Renaissance for example
16:30 um was very big on the gifted amateur on the the inessence believe
16:37 that a human being a single individual is a kind of Kingdom on its
16:46 own it’s is is a seat of perfection Seat of Wisdom everything emanates from the
16:55 individual Enlightenment didn’t think so the enlightenment said that everything
17:01 emanates from society the famous social contract so today we’re trying to square
17:09 the circle we say okay everything does emanate from the individual individuals have rights
17:17 generate commensurate obligations on the one hand but on the other hand
17:23 individuals should align themselves with collectives in order to to act on these
17:29 rights to render them actionable so it’s a kind of trying to square the
17:35 circle of course this the delegitimizes collectives because I if I am the source
17:42 of rights and I maintain agency and personal autonomy and self-efficacy and
17:48 so on then what is the collective it’s a parasitic structure the collective benefits from
17:55 me I don’t benefit from the collective the collective is leveraging my rights my endowments my gifts my skills and the collective prospers and thrives and
18:11 I what do I get out of it and this is of course Marxism this is exactly what Marx said
18:19 Mark said the means of production the worker the laborer the
18:25 proletariat they give everything to the collective the rich guy with his Factory but what do they get out of it so this
18:37 attempt to remain somehow Renaissance minded the
18:44 individual is the source of everything we don’t need God for example the individual is source of everything
18:50 Authority autonomy giftedness it’s all individual but individuals need to
18:57 collaborate and to cooperate in order to render their act their rights actionable and to obtain outcomes to become
19:05 self-efficacious this created enormous conflict between individual and Collective this is where we are right
19:11 now the reason we are undermining democracy the reason we are electing autocrats to power and so on so forth
19:18 and we have been doing it for well over 100 years now is because we feel abused
19:25 and exploited by collectives and we want to undo these collectives we want to destroy them we want to drain the swamp so this is
19:36 postmodernity the failed attempt to benefit from both worlds you have to
19:43 make a choice either your Renaissance or your Enlightenment you can’t be
19:50 both ever and the West at least attempts to
19:56 be both pretend that it pretends it’s both it it’s not
20:02 working it’s not working right so I’ve been comparing No text contrasting you know that we are Between Worlds postmodern and modern or rather vice versa and then you’re adding into this the Renaissance to started in the
20:19 15th century not no yeah yeah what is a victimhood movement a victimhood movement is when you claim that you as
20:26 an individual you were depr rived of your rights or somehow damaged by a
20:34 collective the the black lives movement don’t they don’t they don’t claim that specific
20:40 individuals have harmed them they say the police did it slave owners did it
20:47 collectives did it so victimhood movements are a malignant growth of this
20:54 conflict between Renaissance and Enlightenment why why the population think that autocracy is the
21:01 answer because it is a personality C an autocracy is a Renaissance Choice M’s Prince Jean Boden many others it’s a
21:14 re it’s a Renaissance Choice the Renaissance in the Renaissance we have the the emergence of Personality Cs and you can see for
21:26 example that the concept of author author of an art work emerged in the
21:35 Renaissance prior to the 13th century there were sculptures and paintings and almost no one knew who painted them and who sculpted them it was a collective effort so to speak it was usually
21:47 embedded in cathedrals and so on which were the which were multi Century
21:53 efforts there was no concept of auor an auor the concept of offer emerg in the
21:59 Renaissance As did the concept of a ruler an autocratic ruler and so on so forth the Bas sportas and it’s all emerged in the Renaissance
22:11 and so an autocrat dictator is a Renaissance type okay and
22:19 of course the Renaissance the Renaissance Drew this took this from Plato’s philosopher Kings which are essentially dict dictators the Romans didn’t see anything
22:31 wrong with dictators the the rulers of Rome some of the rulers of Rome were official
22:38 dictators they were the Senate gave them the title dictator there’s nothing wrong with
22:44 dictators according to you know even in the Roman Republic there was nothing wrong with
22:50 dictators so and we are still in this battle in this we’re still in this
22:56 battle So when you say the left you’re largely talking about or you when
23:02 when we used to say the LIF we were largely talking about Enlightenment values when you say the right you’re
23:08 talking about Renaissance essentially okay that’s good framing uh do you think you have to have No text a regressed narcissistic populace um to hold appeal for autocracy is this an
23:22 indication of how narcissistic we’ve become in a certain way that we are becoming the narcissist one at one sort
23:28 of an affinity with the dictator as a figure in America I I think both
23:34 narcissism and victimhood are inevitable outcomes of this clash between
23:41 Enlightenment and and Renaissance in especially the enlightenment part inevitable outcome because the
23:48 enlightenment set us up for failure the main tenant philosophical tenant of the Enlightenment was that we are rational
23:59 human beings are rational they’re rational agents and to this very day when you
24:05 study economics the the models in economics the mathematical models in
24:12 economics are based on the assumption that people make rational choices there’s one exception behavioral economics where they realize that most people are irrational but to this very
24:23 day the assumption is that there is such a thing as an average person or a typical person it’s an idealization that
24:31 allows us to do science and this person is rational but of course we are not
24:37 rational so Enlightenment sets us up for failure we keep failing these standards because we
24:43 are not rational and because we keep fa failing we self-
24:49 reject when you feel like a failure constantly you self- reject and to compensate for this
24:55 self-rejection you become narcissistic now your narcissism can be
25:01 one of two types you can be a narcissist as a victim victimhood is a form of
25:08 narcissism or you can be a narcissist such as Donald Trump and in your face
25:14 narcissist the Define antisocial narcissis but both types of narcissism
25:21 are compensatory because the enlightenment taught us that we should
25:27 be better than we are we could be better than we are so if we are not better than
25:33 we are it’s our fault it’s our failure we are imperfect because we made a
25:41 choice to be imperfect and so this is a horrible feeling and it’s a constant feeling even
25:48 today in the debates about racism and so on so forth you’re made to feel bad for your
25:54 shortcomings because it’s as if your shortcomings are choice is you could have been perfect if you choose to not be perfect something is wrong with you
26:05 and possibly you’re evil somehow it connects it harks back to religion maybe
26:11 you’re evil so this creates an external locus of control because Society
26:18 science they they Define for you who you should be you can’t decide for yourself
26:26 who you should be there is an ideal men the famous
26:32 Renaissance ideal men the enlightenment adopted this but then relocated the
26:40 locus shifted to society so while the Renaissance said you could be an ideal
26:46 man if you work on it if you acquire skills if you if you become an apprentice not to Donald Trump then you
26:54 could become perfect what the enlightenment said is you could become
27:00 Perfect by participating in social activities with like-minded people who are committed to the same agenda and ideology and of
27:11 course the bridge between Renaissance and and uh the enlightenment was
27:19 protestantism because protestantism ER emphasize the agency of
27:26 the believer you in protestantism in the original Protestants Lutheranism you did
27:32 not need a church you you were in direct connection with God you are the main you you were
27:40 the agent and if you were blessed by God you were successful you made money so
27:47 the Protestant work ethic is rich people are blessed by God so this created a bridge this created a bridge protestantism
27:58 between the the social locus of control
28:04 and the individual locus of control you could do both protestantism therefore was the first postmodern movement attempting to reconcile Renaissance values with Enlightenment values and
28:21 so this leads to narcisism because it’s inevitable that we’re going to fail we
28:27 are fa we’re imperfect creatures and so we are likely to be very angry at ourselves to feel like
28:33 failures to to castigate to self- criticized to reject ourselves to become self-defeating and self-destructive and
28:40 so on so forth I mentioned protestantism and today you could say
28:46 yeah well but religion doesn’t play the same role as it used to but that’s not true postmodernism is an absolutely
28:54 religious movement it has scientism it has
29:01 consumerism it has atheism it has growth the religion of
29:07 growth everything has to grow econom economies have to grow human beings have to grow these are religions these are
29:15 religions postmodernism is absolutely religious so you could you could generalize and say that religion is the
29:23 bridge between Renaissance values and enlightenment and that’s why religion is making a comeback in many ways because it’s the
29:34 only the only way to reconcile the two by handing over Power by disempowering
29:41 yourself and so if you are disempowered God is responsible you’re not then you know you’re not guilty
29:49 you’re not a failure it’s a way of it’s a cop out it’s a way of abdicating
29:58 No text and yet we are in this place of moral relativism a signature of postmodernism
30:04 so it seems as though you know we’re getting to a point where narcissism just is that we don’t have to moralize necessarily about it you know you you just had an excellent essay about real politic after Henry kenter’s death and
30:21 uh it was it was fascinating because you’re saying dispense with Enlightenment values that you we should give up on this liberal democracy
30:29 project um see what else did I want to say about
30:36 that when you have a counterfactual view of the human psychology MH and when you
30:44 reframe history and subject it to an ideology Enlightenment is an ideology MH
30:53 then inevitably it’s going to end badly it’s going to end badly moral relativism
30:59 is embedded in the enlightenment because the enlightenment is transactional the minute the minute you
31:08 are transactional it means that you can negotiate your morality so the enlightenment says everything is the outcome of a contract
31:19 people contract they create a social contract they create other types of contract scientific contract and so on but they
31:26 contract so if people negotiate and contract they can negotiate anything
31:33 including morality compare this to the Renaissance and compare this to the to
31:40 The Offspring of the Renaissance Romanticism naism fascism um communism Etc in these
31:49 Renaissance philosophies there is no negotiation of morality morality is fixed moral it is
31:59 morality is eternal morality can be traced back to ancient Greece and possibly
32:05 before morality is always there and always will be there there’s nothing to discuss nothing to negotiate no contract
32:13 to be made contract has been made if you’re a religious fundamentalist contract has been made by God if you are
32:19 not a religious fundamentalist contract has been made in ancient Greece but the contract has been made end of story in
32:27 Enlightenment is an open-ended process every generation can redefine everything
32:35 anything from gender roles to what constitutes a genocide everything is open in the
32:43 Enlightenment and that’s why we have this Counter Reformation or counter
32:49 revolutionary forces who are trying to revert to the Past make America great
32:56 again the emphasis is again they adopt values like Victor Oban
33:02 adopts values from the 19th century erogan read adopted
33:08 Islam uh Muslim fundamentalists go back all the way to Muhammad and we we mock them we deride
33:17 them we say they are primitive but what about what about the Supreme Court Justices who interpret the Constitution literally aren’t they the same like these Muslim fundamentalists of course they are so we give we hand over power
33:33 to Texs ancient Texs and we read read them literally we don’t dare to interpret them that’s what that’s what
33:41 Isis does and that’s what the Supreme Court does I see no difference here kinger was very concerned that radical Islam was going to dominate and No text take over the world it’s interesting to me that in America uh words like INF
33:58 fatata hijab burka uh cafea um Jihad fatwa Sharia law they’re all part of our vernacular now and just in recent years
34:09 um what do you what do you make of that do you agree with Islam is ascendant and that it’s a threat to our Western values I certainly don’t want to live under Sharia law for
34:21 instance Islam stands the best chance of becoming a global ideology
34:29 exactly because it’s not a religion it’s a philosophy and a philosophy that has a
34:37 religion as one of its components Islam is a way of life Islam is a culture Islam is a set of social
34:44 edicts there’s no contract there it’s all handed down you know from Muhammad the messenger and so on so forth and Islam is a synthesis of values from all other borrowed from all other abrahamic
35:02 religions with very powerful neoplatonic ideas so it incorporates actually
35:08 ancient Greece and so and it has Imperial an
35:14 imperial colonizing aspiration or manifestation or Dimension which renders it very compatible with Rome so
35:25 Islam actually is a compendium of all the
35:32 conservative traditional Renaissance ifsh philosophies it offers you the perfect
35:39 all-encompassing solution of going back to the past the idea of progress in the
35:46 enlightenment was linear we go from worse to better and from better to even better to the best it was totally linear the idea in Renaissance philosophies is
36:00 cyclical we build something it gets rotten it becomes dysfunctional so we
36:07 destroy it and we rebuild it according to ancient standards ancient beliefs
36:14 ancient values and this has to be done time and again and again because of human nature
36:20 which is corruptible so the Renaissance is cyclical the enlightenment is linear and in a world where there’s a
36:32 lot of uncertainty because of technological progress technological developments and and so on so forth
36:39 people tend to be cyclical rather than linear the linear goes to the unknown the cyclical reverts
36:47 to the known and if you were globally if all of us were to adopt a cyclical mindset
36:55 saying okay the experiment has failed largely how do we know the experiment has failed because we’re not
37:02 happy after all the main tenant of Enlightenment was human
37:09 happiness in all the writings of all the philosophers from from theout to Lo and
37:15 from Lo all the way to count the main thing was happiness human
37:22 happiness and this has been a mega failure absolute unmit mitigated
37:28 horrendous failure the enlightenment is possibly the worst project in human
37:34 history an unmitigated failure it led to the atomic bomb it led to
37:42 to unhappiness extreme unhappiness it led to huge rates of mental illness it’s
37:50 a total disaster disaster Zone Sam what about science for instance what is
37:57 science I know science what did science lead us to antibiotics theoretical science
38:04 vaccines theoretical science is irrelevant to us totally irrelevant to
38:11 us and practical science is actually technology you think there was not technology in the Middle Ages if you
38:17 think so you’re wrong poisa for example taught us that technology in the Middle
38:24 Ages was Superior to technology in the Renaissance technology is not a Hallmark of
38:31 civilization Barbarians at technology and we are barbarians with technology you’re you’re mentioning antibiotics it’s ironic that the vast majority of antibiotics have been discovered accidentally starting with Penicillin they were not the outcome of
38:49 any scientific Endeavor or Enterprise now what we’re doing today is not science it’s technology technology
38:56 is good everyone is technology is technology that’s the Israelis okay so speaking of it so is No text Israel the the Cradle you know of civilization yet again um it’s being burned down to the ground in the Middle East uh are we creating a a new
39:15 post-enlightenment civilization um yes I think I think the enlightenment project has failed I think the attempt to reconcile the Enlightenment with the Renaissance
39:26 values and philosophies has failed that’s what you call Post postmodernity the individual is the
39:32 source but embedded in a collective this doesn’t work it leads to victim narcissism and so on so that
39:40 failed and so I think we are about to discard the enlightenment pretty
39:47 completely in the geopolitical sphere we’re probably going to revert to real politic as it used to be called
39:54 Kissinger was a proponent but he was just the LA the latest in long line met and many others in the philos in the philosophical ideological
40:05 sphere I think we are going to become much more Renaissance we’re going to be much more conservative much more
40:11 traditionalist we are going to adhere to personality Cults with autocrats we’re
40:17 going to sacrifice freedoms liberal and Democratic and other we’re going to limit rise and so on so forth I think this process has just started Ro versus Wade is just a Harbinger I think it’s just starting and I do think and I very much
40:35 regret saying this don’t misunderstand I do think that the future is Muslim I’m pretty convinced of this because Islam offers the total
40:50 solution a total solution don’t forget that Islam between the 9th or even the 7th
41:00 century and the and the four in the 15th century that’s 800
41:06 years Islam was the engine of scientific innovation research and
41:12 studies Islam preserved uh gek All Greek knowledge the the Muslims translated a and many others Plato into
41:25 Arabic Islam was Islam was a dominant culture Islam ruled
41:31 parts of Europe definitely all the Middle East huge parts of Asia and so and so
41:38 forth Islam for 800 years did offer an alternative an alternative to
41:45 Christianity and for a while Islam prevailed not Christianity for a while until the 15th
41:52 century Islam prevailed I think we’re about to enter a second Muslim
41:58 age now what we are seeing now are the convulsions of the old order the anim as
42:06 the French call it we’re seeing the convulsions of the old order the judeo-christian order fighting back trying to survive somehow
42:17 in the face of the twin onslaught of Renaissance
42:23 philosophies and Islam this is a twin Onslaught what Islam fails to understand
42:31 yet but will shortly is that it can merge safely with
42:38 Renaissance philosophies and when it does it will dominate the world nothing
42:46 will stand in its way and to remind you renissance philosophy is a totalitarian personality cult gifted amateures narcissistic
42:58 and so on narcissism is a Renaissance phenomenon I mentioned the rise of the
43:04 author it’s a renissance phenomenon not an Enlightenment phenomenon the enlightenment was anti-
43:10 narcissistic victimhood is a Renaissance phenomenon because the
43:16 Renaissance was a victimhood movement it’s the church was the abuser and the
43:23 oppressor the aristocracy was the abuser and the oppressor the Renaissance was a victim classic
43:29 victimhood movement the enlightenment wasn’t the enlightenment empowered people Enlightenment said you know
43:35 you’re great you’re wonderful nothing can stand in your way if you just agree to collaborate no so the enlightment was
43:42 very optimistic very a bit that’s why the enlightenment believed that can guarantee happens the Vance was dark makavelli
43:51 mavi is the ultimate Renaissance Man Renaissance was dark Rena was stal
43:58 Stalin stalinesque kafes Renaissance believed that there are dark powers like the church and the
44:04 aristocracy are trying to undermine the order enslave
44:11 people uh Slaughter and and do worse things so the ressence was and today we
44:17 are going back there conspiracy theories are not Enlightenment they
44:25 Renaissance so nais sorry no go ahead finish that all these No text modern phenomena orance phenomena now Islam is just beginning to coopt and to
44:38 collaborate with some of these phenomena conspiracy theories for example Islam is coopting conspiracy
44:45 theory and so on and Israel is on the Forefront of the judeo-christian buw workk and it’s a Siege we’re under siege the West doesn’t
44:56 really realize it we under siege from without and we under siege from within
45:02 we under siege because mobs mobs or cles empowered by technology dumb
45:11 ignorant vicious mobs are now leveraging technology to
45:18 take over or cracy not democracy it’s nothing resembling democracy the founding fathers would have died a
45:25 second time had they witnessed Donald Trump and his and the 40 million who constitute his base you know so this is
45:34 a cracy mobu it’s much more similar it’s much Sim much more similar to let’s say Nazi Germany than to anything in the
45:41 history of the United States so there is an enemy from within there
45:47 is a a trojan horse there’s a fifth colum in the west that’s why Trump is
45:53 praising Putin that’s why Doan and Putin and Victor Oban from Hungary who is
46:01 supposedly a European Union country and Slovakia recently this this is that’s why all these people and shiin pin they all forming alliances across countries
46:14 across civilizations Huntington was wrong it’s not a clash of
46:20 civilization it’s a clash of ideologies that cross cut across civiliz ation you
46:28 could have you could have the prime minister of a European Union country the dictator of a Muslim
46:36 country and the murderous Thug that rules Russia and the dictator of China All
46:45 collaborating European Union Russia China and turkey all collaborating and
46:51 all collaborating why because it’s not a clash of civilization
46:57 it’s a clash of alternative models and of governance and human
47:04 happiness the Renaissance told you you could be happy as a narcissist you could
47:11 be happy as a victim you as a narcist I’m sorry you could be happy as as a as a subject of a
47:20 prince personality C you could be happy and the enlightenment told you you could
47:26 be happy if you regard yourself as as as a collaborator a cooperator with other people and the enlightenment failed
47:37 because it posed too high a bar people couldn’t reach the enlightenment couldn’t reach the the standard yeah May account for why our institutions are failing as well because No text they’re collectives uh so do you think the elites are inflicting Trump upon us I
47:56 mean is this payback or punishment for the terror that Elites may feel about the role of the internet I think the elites are waking
48:07 in their boots this is definitely a time of Revolution this is a pre-revolutionary
48:13 time there’s no question that it will end in Revolution of some kind Revolution revolutions nowadays are
48:21 not so much gory and bloody as they are legal the law is is co Ed by revolutions
48:28 to suppress you know certain groups and obtain certain outcomes but the elites are quaking yeah
48:36 because the disaffection and disenchantment and anger Rage of the masses has reached a boiling point and
48:43 ocracy is already upon us there’s one rule in ocracy the previous Elites pay the price
48:52 ocy ocres are anti- elitist the essance tried to say try to teach autocrats like mavi’s Prince the
49:04 inessence try to teach them don’t go against the M collaborate with the all
49:11 you know be swept by them up to power and Hitler did this but how many people
49:17 can do that not many Trump is doing this this takes it takes a certain a certain
49:23 ability to resonate certain ability to to be so empty so blank that you could become them all in this sense Donald Trump is an
49:37 emptiness he an absence so Hitler was the
49:43 same so they were able to resonate with the mob they were able to shape shift and become the
49:50 mob and I think that’s where where we’re going to anocracy and the and the elites
49:56 will pay a huge price a huge price legally at least financially maybe if not if not
50:07 worse yeah you’ve talked about the French Revolution in the past um can you address the Affinity between No text
50:14 the solic ism of narcissism and the technological age that we’re living through or in there’s a certain
50:20 resonance there it’s uh
50:27 uh technology very rarely
50:33 drives social change maybe the telegraph maybe the
50:40 car these were technologies that drove social change
50:46 um I can’t say that social media I I think most Technologies reflect social
50:52 change they kind of surf the wave of social change and so our current Technologies are solipsistic because people have chosen
51:03 to be automized people have rejected the Enlightenment and the core feature of the Enlightenment is the social contract working with others towards
51:14 common goals tolerating others somehow and so on people don’t want this anymore because they’re self-sufficient people don’t want to go back to work after the pandemic they want to work from home they want they don’t want to see their colleagues they want they don’t want to
51:31 so people want to be alone people want to be automized people want to be with their cats and Netflix not in disorder
51:38 and that’s it so we have uh a wave of atomization we have
51:45 this Choice loneliness is not a pandemic loneliness is not bad or horrible as the
51:53 Surgeon General is trying to convince us loneliness is is a choice and when you talk to Lonely
52:00 People most of them are actually very happy very content with their loneliness and they are terrified of the idea of introducing someone else into their lives the upheaval and the need to
52:12 compromise and the friction and the conflict they don’t want this who needs this sorry I mean I have everything
52:19 I need right here including sex you know who needs this so
52:26 this atomization is reflected in the technology technology renders us more and more and more
52:32 self-sufficient so that to allow us to atomize it will to avoid social contact
52:39 it will and this of course flies in the face of the Enlightenment and is exactly the ideal it’s exactly the ideal of the
52:51 renissance Leonardo da Vinci for example never socialized he was he was a loner
52:58 he worked alone he even decrypted his writings using mirror mirror images I
53:06 don’t know what he did not want people to read his notebooks ever he was a total
53:12 ler and and uh when you read the prince M’s prince it’s a loner he describes a
53:20 loner and so on so mobs are composed of
53:27 loners that’s the irony democracy real democracy requires
53:34 collaboration teamwork common goals the pursuit over decades or centuries or
53:41 generations of some Vision mobs are comprised 100% of
53:48 loners these loners come together to elect another loner and then they go back that’s why we have the concept of Flesh
54:00 mob it’s ephemeral it’s not a it’s not a constant structure it’s not a permanent
54:07 structure it shape shifts so technology just empowers us to do what we want to
54:13 do which is to never ever ever have to have to suffer or tolerate another human
54:19 being if possible this is what the world believe in yeah most people think of social No text media as being um narcissistic with selfies and whatnot um so leaving aside
54:31 social media for a moment I mean kind of the flip side of what you just argued do you think the advances in
54:38 technology will help to offset the worst of the uptick of narcissism and in this since that we could have an AI merger
54:45 with Quantum Computing for instance that’s more supercharged and would inform the philosophical underpinnings of our world this is your question reflects the fallacy
54:58 yeah that the technology shapes human consciousness and social trends with extremely few exceptions in
55:05 human history the invention of the will I’m not even sure about that maybe the telegraph maybe the car with extremely
55:13 few exceptions technology follows never leads so AI will be
55:19 shaped to uphold and support and butress and enhance and amplify
55:25 narcissism and Solitude and so on the users will shape the technology not the other way around and the users right now want to
55:36 be exclusionary not inclusive that’s another difference between linear progress linear progress is
55:44 inclusive in order to realize goals and so on so forth you have to include other
55:50 people the enlightenment has been is is an inclusive ideology
55:56 the Renaissance is an exclusionary ideology look at all the look at all the
56:02 daughters of the Renaissance religious fundamentalism excludes infidels Heretics Nazism excludes the Jews if etc etc communism excludes the
56:16 bisi these are exclusionary movements and we are now living in an
56:22 age of exclusion it’s a great way to describe victim victimhood is about
56:29 excluding a group of people who are then uh labeled
56:35 abusers but it’s an exclusionary thing narcissism is totally
56:41 exclusionary I am Godlike I am Superior I am Invincible I’m this I’m that and
56:47 you are inferior you’re excluded from my world because you’re not up to my level these are all exclusionary things therefore they cannot be reconciled with
56:59 with Enlightenment and these exclusionary things will continue to dictate technology in the future they will
57:05 dictate Quantum Computing they will dictate the parameters and specifications of artificial intelligence of the Multiverse and so on
57:12 so forth these the Technologies are derivative they’re not important at all
57:18 the F the constant focus on technology is a destruction is an attempt to divert attention from the real problems and the real problems are human relationships and the absolute absence
57:30 of human happiness these are the real problems this discontent civilization
57:36 and its discontents this is this is the real problem and we are not tackling it
57:42 because we’re diverted by by entertainment or by technology or by you
57:48 know these are who cares about technology focus on what we do with
57:54 technology why we invest this technology why we are going that way technologically focus on our choices and
58:01 our state of mind on our future and so on and this this we are not doing and I
58:07 think maybe maybe we’re not doing this because we are too afraid to look look ourselves
58:14 in the mirror too afraid to confront the truth and reality right now we live in a world of
58:23 totalitarian uh victimhood entitled entitlement movements everything is totalitarian
58:30 victimhood entitle entitlement movement everything the Republican Party the I
58:37 mean you name it everyone defines himself or herself as a victim consequently she or he is entitled and it leads to narcissism and
58:51 totalitarianism narcissism is totalitarian by definition the narcissist is a
58:57 dictator even in his own in in in the realm of his own family it’s a cult and
59:03 he’s the cult leader so when you when you render victim or the narcissism the organizing
59:10 principle of your life and your civilization you’re bound to end up with totalitarianism and autocracy not with
59:16 democracy democracy requires the recognition that everyone is equal to everyone everybody else which anoesis
59:22 would never countenance or accept
59:28 never and uh this entitled
59:34 victimhood which leads to narcissism and totalitarian it
59:40 undermines very important principles of civil civilization and organization for
59:47 example meritocracy it undermines meritocracy it undermines the right to
59:53 self-defense it undermines critical atavistic primitive values that
59:59 have been with us like forever we’re drifting away yeah sorry
60:06 Free Speech we are drifting away from from our Humanity what what constitutes humanity
60:13 is a set a set of beliefs and values and behaviors and traits and so on and we are drifting away from them because we are narcissistic because we’re
60:24 entitled and because we are because we are victims and so we demonize so-call
60:32 abusers we exclude exclude not collaborate and so on the rejection of
60:38 the Enlightenment when I when I suggested in my article to finally give up The Ghost and admit that the
60:44 enlightenment project has failed and resort to real politic in international Affairs and to limited democracy uh
60:56 Elite democracy rather than Universal franchise is because if we don’t we will
61:04 end up in Trump land and I hope not in Hitler land not in the fourth R I hope
61:10 I’m not sure at all the leader of the fourth R will be Muslim of course I am not sure that this is a an
61:21 outlandish proposition the only defense against this against this against this scenario the only defense is
61:33 to is to somehow accept
61:41 that victimhood and narcissism are the enemies and fight them back and fight them back not by not by electing the
61:54 narcissist to be a leader because we feel victimized and he accepts and
62:00 acknowledges our victim that’s not the way to fight back but I don’t think we have an
62:07 incentive to do this because victim would pays and narcissism pays these are positive adaptations if you’re a victim you get money you get
62:18 attention you get [Music] adulation you get pity you get
62:26 victimhood pays emotionally it pays psychologically it pays financially it pays legally I’m sorry but the me to
62:33 movement is a victimhood movement many women became rich on the back of the me to
62:39 movement not nice to say to a woman but it’s a fact it’s a self-enrichment movement
62:45 it’s a narcissistic movement environmentalism of course is a self-enrichment narcissistic Mook
62:51 completely scientism it it’s worse so there’s like if I if I were to if I
63:00 were to go to Donald Trump so hello Don you know I’m an expert on narcissism and
63:06 you’re malignant narcissist I can treat you I can I can help you not treat you I can help you why do you think I need
63:14 help I’m a multibillionaire I’m the former president of the United States I’m the future president of the United States why do you think I need help he
63:23 doesn’t we have created an incentive structure we
63:29 disincentivize um any alternative to narcissism and victim any alternative to
63:35 the individual as God Society is God in the enlightenment
63:42 the individual is God in the Renaissance and the bridge between the two is religion and the only religion I
63:50 see that can somehow emerge from all this messes is Islam
63:56 does that make me happy extremely not I speak Arabic P or the Arabs watching this
64:07 speak I I speak the Arabic of the Quran I read the Quran and the Hadith in in the original I know what I’m talking about Islam is a wonderful truly wonderful philosophy it’s a philosophy of submission and social organization and
64:24 so on so but it is open to
64:30 interpretation open to interpretation that renders it very dangerous so it doesn’t make me happy
64:37 but on the other hand I don’t see an alternative Christianity is already
64:43 compromised heavily by the enlightenment project that has failed and Christianity
64:50 consequently is about to fail is failing Judaism is never
64:57 B and we have Buddhism of course in in Asia but Islam is making
65:04 inrs I think that’s the shape of the world to come autocracies dictatorships
65:12 everywhere um entitled narcissistic
65:18 individuals victimhood as an organizing principle which leads to violence and
65:24 aggression and Islam is the main religion of the world the world
65:30 religion that’s what I see okay that sounds pretty bleak um
65:38 though I’m with you I I can see it so you’ve you’ve asserted that okay it’s just devil’s advocate for a moment maybe something a little brighter here you’ve asserted that we might not be smart
65:49 enough to understand how narcissism is not as bad or as evil as we want to
65:56 think it is I mean to engage in this kind of thinking would be splitting black and white thinking which would be narcissistic and adding to the problem
66:02 essentially if you consider it still a problem but I I really enjoyed your your lecture the other day your video on
66:10 um on in considering this you know is it evil or not so maybe you know you’ve
66:16 mentioned in a separate video like narcissism functions like a virus does that we don’t like it but maybe it has evolutionary ADV you know advantage or purpose that we’re not again not smart enough to understand exactly um and
66:29 you’ve said that we should intentionally expose ourselves to some level of narcissism to inoculate us from the worst of it so I you know again I don’t want to be polyana is about the state of play when it comes to narcissism but
66:40 lately I’ve been thinking about how to make peace with narcissists and narcissism and this era that we’re
66:47 living in that is narcissistic because otherwise it’s to demonize the narcissist and engage in splitting so
66:54 can you walk me through that a little bit more I don’t demonize U anything I don’t
67:02 demonize narcissism I don’t demonize dictatorships I don’t demonize I try not to demonize anything I am a
67:11 utilitarian I make I’m I engage in calculating it’s a calculus of the
67:17 greater good and what leads to it
67:23 utilitarians are immoral a immoral not immoral utilitarians are
67:29 immoral they contemplate murder as a as a public good you could
67:36 murder someone you could murder an individual if it saves a 100 for example in utilitarian Theory philosophical Theory it’s permissible to kill someone
67:47 if you were to save 10 people so they they they don’t have any they don’t impose any value judgments on anything and the this some utilitarian narcissism is an energy like every energy it can kill or
68:05 it can power things electricity can kill you and can power you this interview
68:12 so depends it’s not narcissism in itself it’s the use we make of
68:18 narcissism today we make use of narcissism in order
68:25 to subjugate other people to suppress them to elevate ourselves to cater to
68:33 our needs to promote our self interests and so on so it’s let’s say a
68:40 selfish variant of narcissism and if you’re about to stop me and ask is there any other of course
68:46 there are other variants of narcissism there is even something known as the prosocial or communal
68:53 narcissism so narcissism is an energy we need to accept that the future world
69:00 and when I say future is like 10 years not 100 the future world is going to be narcissistic entitled victimhood
69:08 oriented probably Muslim as I said but that’s the future world there’s nothing to be done about it we have entered a reenactment of the Renaissance lighten project is dead
69:22 where Al politic will rule in the geopolitical affairs and and self-sufficient solipsistic
69:28 narcissism will rule when it comes to interpersonal relationships when it comes to politics mobs will be uh recruited by autocrats
69:41 and dictators the way Hitler recruited his mob to accomplish outcomes that’s
69:47 the world we’re going to live in and and we need to accept this and I’ve been
69:53 saying the same about climate change climate change is going to happen period there is nothing we can do
70:02 about it end of story rather than spend all these billions of dollars on nonsense maybe we should begin to adapt to climate change
70:14 it’s not going away it’s not going to go away same with narcissism so we need to begin to regard
70:22 narcissism as a feature of life part of the structure and see how we can Channel it
70:30 redirect it to obtain outcomes which could be
70:37 perhaps accepted by a majority of of us not try to repress narcissist
70:46 demonize narcissist attack narcissis fight of they’re going to win they are
70:53 winning climate change is happening nothing we can do about it
70:59 it’s delusional so we need to learn how to live with them if you want a metaphor
71:06 narcissists are aliens with Superior technology Superior psychological
71:12 technology you better learn how to coexist with these aliens because they have Superior
71:18 technology or they will exterminate you so this is what we need to do we
71:25 it’s easy to manipulate an narcissis to become pro-social and communal if the
71:33 incentive structure is Right exposure celebrity Fame adulation and so they
71:40 children it’s easy to do this if you confront them if you argumentative and
71:47 critical and so on you provoke the worst of them the worst in them and they’re
71:53 going to become subversive and destructive
71:59 and instead you need to coopt their grandiosity and their entitlement and their lack of empathy you need to coopt it and use it for the greater
72:11 good this should be a project akin to the
72:17 enlightenment the third project let’s call it the third project we had the first project the Renaissance it led to Nazism and fascism not good we had the second project the
72:29 enlightenment it led to the atomic bomb it led to smartphones which I’m not sure
72:35 is a good thing it led to all kinds of things not good we failed there too
72:41 maybe it’s time for a third project harnessing narcissistic energy a third
72:47 project which could Bridge uh the Renaissance and the enlightenment socially harnessing in individual energy this individual energy is nism that we instead are demonizing this
73:04 group of people is stupid self-destructive counterproductive because narcissist
73:10 happen to be very creative they’re driven they’re ambitious they’re
73:17 entrepreneurial Elon Musk they are you know they
73:23 are they drive if you want to talk about progress you want to talk about inventions if you want to talk about technology it’s all driven by narcissism narcissist are in Show
73:35 Business in the media in science it’s all narcissism narcissism is a huge engine and what we’re trying to do we’re trying to dismantle it rather than put it to good use and that could be the
73:51 third project after the failure of the Renaissance the
73:58 enlightenment I believe you quoted Theodore Millan the other day talking about the spectrum of
74:04 narcissism narcissistic personality narcissistic style all the way to NPD um and he’s his postulation that we’re all a little bit narcissistic
74:16 anyway so to your point of embracing it it is what it is yeah it was actually
74:22 Lin Sperry uh Milan was quoting him let’s very we have narcisstic Style
74:28 versus narcissistic disorder the narcisstic style is much more common than the
74:34 disorder but this was before the the Advent and invention of modern
74:40 Technologies today I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to say that the majority of
74:46 population have a narcissistic stud I don’t think it will be exaggerated to say this and rather than fight the
74:54 inevitable let’s serve the Wave It’s a wave it’s energy it’s huge energy
75:00 nothing mobilizes a human being more than ultimate recognition and adoration
75:06 and adulation nothing even the healthiest most balanced and normal person wants to be recognized for his accomplishments wants to be applauded by his peers and colleagues wants to be promoted having accomplished things at
75:22 work these are all narcissistic defenses people don’t realize narcissism is healthy there is healthy narcissism and we all have narcissistic defenses and everyone needs narcissistic Supply not only narcissist the the misinformation online
75:40 distorts thinking about narcissism because these facts are not
75:46 recognized so I think it’s time to admit the facts
75:54 is always the most difficult phase most difficult phase is to admit the facts it’s time to admit the facts democracy
76:02 sucks Universal franchise democracy sucks it’s not a good organization or
76:08 governance principle it needs to be dispens with and we need to think of
76:14 Alternatives number two narcissism is bad only if you do not
76:20 harness it and channel it and redirect it it could be a force for good if you
76:26 do number three victimhood should be fought tooth and
76:32 nail we should no longer suffer or tolerate any victimhood
76:38 statements victimhood self-aggrandisement victim Hood movements have been hijacked by hijacked
76:44 by naris and Psychopaths they should be there should be a counterculture movement fighting off victims and victim
76:55 reparations for slavery go away what the hell is this
77:01 nonsense for example yes and we should be and we should be
77:08 able to say this openly and without fear and I’m referring to
77:14 academ and so on so I think if we follow these three principles will’ll be okay if you accept
77:22 the if you if you acknowledge the fact and then fearlessly they’re trying to
77:28 come up with Solutions usually survival is guaranteed however if we
77:34 don’t we are on the verge of a
77:40 cataclysm the likes of which I am very hard pressed to remember in history
77:46 perhaps with the exception of the fifth century Rome I’m very hardpressed to think of an
77:53 equivalent in history as to the moment we are standing in right now you see people say oh there
77:59 have been much worse periods in history I disagree this is by far the worst period
78:05 in history what do I mean in The 14th Century you had the black the black death the plague right onethird of population of Europe died Horrible no
78:17 question it was a bad period but everything else was intact people were dying true but they had families they had the
78:28 church they had the belief in God they had the aristocracy they had the feudal
78:34 system wages went up because of scarcity of Labor um everything everything remained
78:44 intact today what do we have we have no families we have no God we have no
78:51 communities we have no Society we have nothing we’re alone we’re drifting alone
79:01 molecules and so if you compare the 14th century to the 21st century I would
79:08 rather live in the 14th century with all the certainties and securities that existed then there was a
79:16 safety net psychological institutional safety net for people who were
79:23 suffering today you’re on your own you’re on your own if you suffer for example if you’re depressed or anxious you’re finished
79:34 you’re on your own you can be someone will give you a pill it’s not a
79:41 solution so the 21st century is even worse than the 20th century in the
79:50 1930s there was Hitler later there was Holocaust World War II 50 million people
79:56 died in Europe horrible I’m not denying this but people
80:02 have had everything else they had their friends they had their families they had the church they had the state they everything was intact today people don’t have friends
80:14 in 1980 a typical person in the United States had 10.1 friends best
80:22 friends today the number is 0.9 40 years
80:28 later 10 friends versus one friend maybe
80:35 41% 42% according to the latest Pew Center research 42% of people haven’t
80:42 had hasn’t haven’t had any contact with a friend in the week preceding the question year none whatsoever 63% of men and 34% of women have
80:56 resigned themselves to a life of a lifelong to lifelong singlehood the vast majority of them
81:04 haven’t had sex in the previous year they don’t want any contact with the other so it’s bad this atomization this disintegration
81:16 of social safet of society at large of Institutions there has never been
81:23 something like this in human history never ever not even the fall of Rome in
81:32 476 not even then nothing remotely to What’s happen happening to them we’re a drift a drift it’s the worst by far the
81:44 worst spirit in human history and we refuse to wake up we
81:51 instead we say we are victims that’s it they’re victims that’s it we rather than wake up and say okay let’s take stock of what exists what there is and somehow adopt to it we’re refusing
82:02 to
82:08 adopt okay as we’re prognosticating for the future um here but I just want to get back to Brass tax and circle back to
82:14 a question I asked you earlier about you know because again Trump is imminent
82:20 here and what to do on a practical level so you know what what kind of defense mechanisms are at play for people who refuse to acknowledge that Trump is a
82:31 narcissist I see minimization denial compartmentalization I mean I’m hearing people want to diagnose him with
82:37 Oppositional Defiant Disorder I guess psychopathy ADD ADHD anything but
82:46 narcissism Trump is triggering in People primitive infantile defense
82:52 mechanisms so he he triggers in people fantasy fantasy defense provides them
82:59 with a fantasy on alternative reality alternative facts yeah or at the same time for example he triggers in them splitting we are all
83:11 good everyone else is all bad verine or whatever so what he does he regresses
83:17 his base psychologically speaking he regresses his base to infancy infants do this infants split infants infants regress to
83:28 Fantasy he infantilizes his base the problem with this is that it’s
83:34 a very alluring proposition everyone wants to be a baby again everyone wants to have a second go at childhood a second chance second childhood you know everyone wants to go back to the womb where it was safe and
83:52 stable and and Trump is is offering this what is he saying in effect is you don’t
83:59 need to be responsible or accountable or make choices or I’m there I am a pat a
84:07 paternal figure a parental figure I’m there and you can be children now all
84:13 your lives you have had you’ve had to be adults you’ve had to work hard you had
84:20 and you failed as adults you failed you don’t have a job you’re uneducated
84:26 that’s his base yeah and so so you failed as adults here I’m giving you an opportunity to not be adults
84:34 anymore to be babies my babies yes as babies you can call
84:41 everybody else bad evil as babies you can live in fantasy as babies you can project you’re
84:49 actually weak you’re failures you’re losers but you can call everybody everyone else weak and failure and
84:56 loser so he legitimizes infantilization of his base and that’s
85:03 an irresistible proposition people fear most
85:09 Freedom what people fear most is freedom they need to choose
85:15 s it’s John Paul Salon people are terrified KIRO there
85:22 existentialist they taught us that angst the anxi the existential anxiety is because we have to make choices all the time we are responsible we are
85:33 accountable we have to pay the consequences for our actions and our
85:39 decisions we don’t want to do that it’s terrifying because we don’t know if our choices and decisions are right maybe
85:47 we’re making the wrong choices maybe our decisions are wrong and then we will have to pay a horrible price
85:55 so it’s very tempting to not have to make decision someone else will make the
86:02 decision for us and then if he’s wrong he will pay the price it’s displacement of the cost of
86:11 life it’s opting out of life in a way rejecting life and saying I’d rather be
86:18 in a fantastic space paracosm and so it’s not possible to
86:24 overcome Trump because in a world that is so terrible and I just spent the last few
86:31 minutes telling you that this is the worest century ever in human history in a world that is so terrible
86:39 fantasy is an appealing solution appealing appealing alternative it would be very difficult
86:46 to defeat Donald Trump Donal Trump is not reality based he is fantasy based and fantasies
86:53 are all-encompassing comforting it’s a form of self soothing Trump is like
87:02 food you consume Trump all the time by the way not only his supporters his antagonists his enemies
87:10 consume Trump all the time look at PBS PBS has more coverage of trump than
87:17 anyone else period Biden is like one tenth of trump in terms of
87:25 coverage because Trump triggers them somehow attracts their attention seduces
87:32 them tempts them in short what I’m trying to say is that Trump is having a love affair with his base because the love affair is exactly this love is a a
87:44 pathology a fantasy difference and how do you come between a love Between Two
87:50 Lovers how do you come Between Two Lovers if you try to talk to a lover and say listen the person you love is horrible she’s
87:56 evil she’s ugly he will never listen to you yes if you were a couple absolutely Romeo and Juliet here we are yeah so do
88:09 you think Trump represents like a linal figure that are we dwelling in this narcissistic era and then we’re going to move into a different era that you’ve been teasing out is he a gateway drug to something
88:22 else or is it we be in this state for some time Trump is not alone I don’t know why you single out Trump does well I wanted to talk about Trudeau too because per comments from our last yes
88:33 there are there are dozens not only Trudeau and not only Trump there are dozens of similar leaders all over the world it’s a the ones you just mentioned
88:39 or Bania yes it’s a leadership style it’s not Trump it’s a trump just conforms to the leadership style that is not the dominant leadership style which is narcissistic
88:50 autocon so I don’t think yes he’s going to pave the way to a
88:57 Hitler type he’s going to pave the way to a psychop narcissist usually pave the way to
89:03 psychopath so ultimately the world is going to be ruled by Psychopaths um but I think that’s a bit further down the road and it crucially depends on some developments so I I’m not quite sure about that
89:19 prediction uh depends for example whether some is going to come up with an
89:26 ideology that offers coexistence between morality and
89:32 narcism or between goal orientation of the collective and narcisism narcism is an engine of the collective or then people may settle down to a more benign
89:43 version but if they remain stuck with with narcissistic leaders and these narcissistic leaders are going to
89:49 self-destruct as I told you it’s inevitable they’re all going to do that
89:55 then at some point people are going to revert to to narciss to Psychopaths escalate people are going to escalate then say okay then we need someone who is an animal someone who’s immoral someone who’s crazy not Trump was saying I’m crazy you
90:13 know don’t play with me I’m crazy don’t test me I’m nuts
90:19 so he could be a harbinger of psychopathy to come
90:25 and on the other hand if an alternative will rise which will incorporate
90:31 narcissism and channel it so I don’t know yet I’m not optimistic I think
90:37 we’re heading toward towards the psychopathic age and not optimistic
90:44 conditions Sam we’re going on an hour and a half now uh is there anything else you would like to say in
90:51 closing well it is very very
90:59 pessimistic but I think what we fail to to I think we fail to what we fail to
91:06 grasp is the process of habituation someone born this
91:14 year will regard autocracy even dictatorship
91:20 narcissism victimhood a ruling religion perhaps Islam he would regard this as
91:28 normal she wouldn’t think there’s something OD or bad about it it’s
91:35 SL we have the vantage point I I much more than you we have the vantage point
91:41 of of the age of of History I can compare the 1960s to so but someone born
91:50 today would just feel great in the new environment it’s
91:56 habituated why did Communism fail because people were comparing communism to capitalism but had all the world been communist had the entire world been
92:10 USSR USSR would have would have lasted forever people in the
92:17 USSR were comparing themselves to the United States they listen to rock music they
92:24 saw smuggled movies they wanted consumer goods and the USSR was unable to provide
92:30 this so it fell apart but imagine that the entire world entire Globe was under
92:37 the under the control of BR the USSR leadership the poit war Bureau us would have never
92:45 F it’s a comparison the drives change Envy basically the drives change someone
92:53 born into a world of narcissistic Psychopathic
93:00 dictators with no concept of Human Rights or civil rights with entitlement based on
93:08 victimhood and empowered empowered by technology fueled by
93:14 technology this kind of young boy or young girl wouldn’t see anything a Miss they wouldn’t feel the
93:22 need to change exactly as digital natives nowadays can perceive a world without laptops and smartphon they just can’t
93:33 and they don’t understand how people interacted without social media it’s odd today the vast majority
93:39 of social interactions are digital people don’t meet face to face at all
93:46 MH so it’s CA it’s cause for optimism what we regard as intolerable and hard
93:54 difficult and own would be matter of matter of course and matter of fact people won’t feel bad won’t feel bad at
94:01 all they will find different venues other venues for happiness
94:07 so we know we would know that there are
94:13 alternatives but you know in 1984 something that people failed to me mention in all the critiques of this
94:21 masterpiece in 1984 there there are only two people who are
94:28 unhappy Winston and his girlfriend Julian only two in the entire book it’s never mentioned that someone else is unhappy yeah only these two he has someone collaborating with but that’s it
94:44 only these two and when he’s interrogated and so on so forth Brian I think the name of the
94:51 interrogator yes O’Brien O’Brien is’s trying to kind of persuade
94:57 him that happiness is an arbitrary Choice he says two and two a five all
95:04 you have to do is to say two and two a five and you’ll be happy and we’ll let you go and then what he does he sacrifices his girlfriend just go to her go to Julia she is the subversive she is the
95:18 de but the book is like I think 400 Pages or something and it’s not mentioned even
95:27 once that someone is unhappy them so lessen to to learn astute
95:33 observation Sam I do have one more question for you because you’ve mentioned um that China isn’t quite the
95:39 threat that we might be making it out to be the sentiment here in America there’s a lot about cultural
95:45 Marxism to do with wokeism um and this indoctrination of our education system
95:51 the Long March through the institution should should America regard China as a
95:58 threat America regarded the usar as a threat and then America regarded Japan as a threat I’m old enough to remember
96:05 now America regards China as a threat America is in need of threats America is always on the lookout for an external
96:13 enemy because this is the only engine of cohesion in a country that is made up of 187 ethnicities uh four recognized races and so your the United States is not a
96:26 homogeneous nation state it’s a it’s a it’s an abstract concept it’s an ID rayi
96:35 somehow and the glue that holds everything together very often is an external enemy so you demonize external
96:42 enemies you exaggerate their importance and so on now China is a formidable
96:48 formidable competitor in commercial markets which is good for you if you if
96:54 you know what’s good for you it’s good for you because it drives you to Innovation and so on so forth but China is PR digitation slight
97:05 of hand China is is a magician streak it is built on mountains of
97:11 credit which are then allocated to not prod nonproductive sectors and so on
97:18 China will come crashing down big time soon the way Japan did the way Japan did
97:25 but rest assured the United States will find another enemy United States is
97:31 history the United States is the country that has engaged in Warfare more than
97:37 any other country in the world in human history and that includes Nazi
97:43 Germany there has not been a year in United States history that it hasn’t gone to war with
97:49 some you’re very a very belligerent colle aggressive and violent which is why the United States is widely perceived as a
98:00 much bigger threat worldwide than China or even
98:06 Russia so it’s my answer I’m afraid any last thoughts on the war in
98:13 the Middle
98:19 East amas has nothing to do with the Palestinian cause of course Hamas is an
98:26 extension of Iran and its interests in the region that’s why the htis yemenite hes have joined in and militias in Iraq
98:34 and Syria Lebanon hisbah have joined inah has nothing to do with the with the
98:40 Palestinians hisbah is Shia and Palestinians are Sunni and so these are this is a war between Iran and Israel
98:48 fought via proxies exactly like Ukraine Ukraine is a war between the United the west and
98:55 Russia fought via proxies proxy is
99:01 Ukraine so this is a war between Iran and Israel Over Regional dominance who will dominate the region Israel was on
99:08 its way to to strike Peace Accords with very crucial players like Saudi Arabia and this I think alarmed Iran very
99:20 much so Hamas is not relevant hisbah is not relevant the H are not all these are not relevant ultimately the war has has to the ultimate stage of the
99:31 war has to be between Israel and Iran I’m not sure which form it will take it will be a military confrontation
99:39 but I’m not sure which form it will be ultimately these two are going to lock horns when all the Proxes
99:46 are uh pushed out of the way this this is the real war and that’s why the United States got itself involved with carriers and because it’s an Iranian
99:58 threat they’re using the Palestinians and the Shia Muslims they’re using others but it’s it’s an Iranian
100:06 thre and uh Iran now has teamed up with Russia
100:15 teamed up with China Iran has joined bricks economic uh and so Iran is
100:22 becoming part of the resistance axis against the West so this is also a war between West
100:30 and the emerging East I think the West is going to
100:36 win because I think China is on a paper Tigers we’ve seen that Russia is a paper
100:42 tiger they cannot defeat for Ukraine even China is AER even bigger paper tiger in my view it’s going to come
100:49 crashing big time soon so I think the West is going to win by
100:55 ultimately but in the meantime there could be very nasty episodes with Iran I don’t rule out a nuclear confrontation it’s it’s going to be bad before it gets
101:07 better damn what if what if Trump becomes our dictator and he joins the axis of Evil and leaves NATO with Iran
101:14 China and Russia I don’t think uh even if he does that I don’t think Trump is going
101:21 to abandon Israel um even if he does abandon NATO I don’t
101:28 think he going to abandon Israel and of course Iran is an arch enemy of of Donald Trump he has made it made it its
101:36 arch enemy and Israel is the is the long arm of the United States in the region
101:43 fighting off Iran’s proxies at this stage and Iran later so I don’t think there’s any risk to Iran Ukraine will
101:50 pay a heavy price should this happen it’s the worst thing that could happen to Ukraine a heavy price and then I think
101:57 real politic we would need to accept that Regional Powers have Regional spheres of
102:05 of interest and we would need to stay out of each other’s way to avoid new vietnams all the time and this is an invention of an American president the
102:16 Monro Doctrine Monro was the American president said that you know South
102:23 America is an American sphere of influence and they would not America would not allow any colonial power to
102:31 interfere we need to accept that Russia has its feere of influence which includes Ukraine always did
102:37 historically 100% we need to accept China as its sphere of influence we need to accept Israel as a regional power and
102:45 has its sphere of influence so does Iran we need to co we need we would need
102:51 to learn to coexist rather than coer it’s very humiliating to the United States because it has developed this
102:58 concept of exceptionalism and the policeman of the world so it would be very it would be a standown be very
103:04 humiliating in the United States but it’s healthy humiliation it leads to mental health right now the United
103:11 States is not acting as a mentally healthy person not globally and not domestically I think there’s a lot of healing to be done and then this is the world
103:22 Kissinger it and that’s why Kissinger was an extremely effective Secretary of State ultimately because he saw it he accepted it there are strong they’re
103:33 bullies and Thugs and strong people strong guys everywhere you don’t go around picking fights with every you
103:40 just accept this neighborhood belongs to this gang that’s it that’s real politic not might is
103:48 right on the very contrary I think don’t use might to enforce
103:56 right and let people solve their own problems don’t attempt to be it’s
104:02 patronizing it’s condescending just let them solve their own problems if they’re really unhappy with Putin believe me Putin will go and if they are unhappy with the with
104:13 the with the Theocratic regime in Iran it will go there hasn’t been a single
104:19 regime one not one that survived uh popular discontent andr and hatred
104:28 not one not ever in history so this self-appointed or self-
104:36 imputed righteous we know best and we are the policemen of the world
104:43 and is not helpful to the United States I mean trillions were wasted in in the in the deserts of Iraq and Afghanistan for what
104:57 well I like your positive sentiment that the West will prevail ultimately I think this particular military confrontation
105:03 yeah it because the other parties are Paper Tigers they’re making tiger noises but
105:10 they’re not they’re not real tigers not yet you need a tradition of capitalism to become a real tiger China doesn’t
105:17 have this China is imitating capitalism emulating it doesn’t have it it doesn’t really know the nut and ball
105:23 the me transmission mechanisms the you need a sense you need a feeling for
105:29 capitalism capitalism has been going on in the west since the 13th century and later on with the solv
105:36 Customs Union so govern is a long process protoc capitalism lasted almost 400 years so and China wants wants to
105:44 emulate all this in 50 years you can have the facad the poin the poin Village
105:50 of capitalism you can have Banks and real estate and shopping malls that’s not capitalism
105:56 capitalism is a state of mind and China doesn’t have this state of mind no way that’s why China’s capitalism will fail big time and it will crash horrendously with an impact on the
106:08 global economy and so but China is not yet a real adversary to the United
106:14 States most of his GDP is fictitious totally fictitious so it’s not yet in
106:21 100 years 200 years 300 years is maybe because he did used to rule the world Jah did used to be the Super Bowl much longer than the United States so yeah
106:32 but not now another few centuries maybe not now thank you Sam for this
106:39 thought-provoking discussion geopolitical Affairs narcissism and Technology Etc um if you all have
106:47 enjoyed this conversation please do subscribe at Ginger ky. sub.com
106:53 look forward to seeing you there and uh thank you all for listening thank you for having me take care Ginger and happy
106:59 happy Holidays happy New Year thank you you as well bye Sam

Summary Link:

https://vakninsummaries.com/825-2/

https://vakninsummaries.com/ (Full summaries of Sam Vaknin’s videos)

http://www.narcissistic-abuse.com/mediakit.html (My work in psychology: Media Kit and Press Room)

Bonus Consultations with Sam Vaknin or Lidija Rangelovska (or both) http://www.narcissistic-abuse.com/ctcounsel.html

http://www.youtube.com/samvaknin (Narcissists, Psychopaths, Abuse)

http://www.youtube.com/vakninmusings (World in Conflict and Transition)

http://www.narcissistic-abuse.com (Malignant Self-love: Narcissism Revisited)

http://www.narcissistic-abuse.com/cv.html (Biography and Resume)

Summary

In this in-depth discussion, Sam Ving and Ginger Koy explore the pervasive influence of narcissism and psychopathy in global leadership, highlighting the inevitable self-destructive nature of such figures like Trump, and the broader clash between Renaissance and Enlightenment values shaping today's sociopolitical landscape. They argue that universal franchise democracy is flawed, advocating for a pragmatic acceptance of narcissism and victimhood as societal forces while warning of a potential shift towards autocracy and totalitarianism, with Islam emerging as a significant ideological influence. The conversation also critiques technological impacts on social isolation, the failure of the Enlightenment project, and emphasizes the need to confront harsh realities rather than rely on fantasies or simplistic moral judgments. Narcissistic Ideas.

Tags

it's, narcissism, narcissist, Narcissistic Ideas, People, Personality, Psychology, Reality, Renaissance, Sam Vaknin, Vaknin Summaries

If you enjoyed this article, you might like the following:

Narcissist’s Sex: Competition, Degrading Porn

In this video, Sam Vaknin explores the concept of sex as a competitive and autoerotic act in the world of narcissists, emphasizing that narcissistic sex is driven by performance anxiety, entitlement, and an overwhelming focus on self-gratification. He explains that narcissists view their partners as objects for validation and competition

October 23, 2025

Horrible Families Raise Horrible Adults (with Familias Horribles)

In this insightful podcast discussion, Professor Sam Vaknin delves into the complexities of narcissism, distinguishing between healthy narcissism and pathological narcissism, which arises from early childhood abuse and dysfunctional family dynamics, primarily influenced by the mother. He explains the roles of siblings in narcissistic families, different narcissist types, and the

October 22, 2025

How Narcissist Collapses Furiously

The speaker discussed the multifaceted nature of narcissistic collapse, emphasizing it arises not only from deficient narcissistic supply but also from the rejection of the narcissist’s shared fantasy by others, leading to feelings of injustice, anger, and potential self-destructive behaviors. The collapse can manifest as externalized aggression or internalized depression,

October 21, 2025

Narcissist and Attention: It’s Complicated

In this video, the speaker explored the concept of attention, identifying three types: synoptic, targeted, and inclusive, with narcissists predominantly exhibiting a hyperfocused, targeted attention to secure narcissistic supply. The narcissist’s attention is narrowly constricted, disregarding any information irrelevant to maintaining their grandiose self-image, often resulting in an impaired ability

October 20, 2025

When Shame, Guilt, Remorse Drive Abuse (Alloplastic Defenses, Reaction Formation, Affect Matching)

The speaker discussed the complex role of shame, guilt, and remorse in abusive behaviors, particularly in individuals with personality disorders such as narcissistic, borderline, histrionic, and psychopathic types. While these emotions typically inhibit misconduct, in certain disordered personalities they paradoxically trigger externalized aggression through mechanisms like aloplastic defenses, effective matching,

October 19, 2025

Wikipedia: Narcissistic Cult, Cabal EXPOSED

The speaker critically analyzed Wikipedia, labeling it a large-scale narcissistic cult rather than a reliable encyclopedia, highlighting issues such as anonymity of editors, lack of gatekeeping, rampant misinformation, and editorial chaos. The discussion emphasized Wikipedia’s structural flaws, including its anti-elitist stance, editorial instability, copyright violations, and failure to uphold academic

October 18, 2025

Psychopathic Female in Your Life

The video is focused on the distinct characteristics of female psychopaths, who differ from male psychopaths by displaying impulsivity, emotional dysregulation, and complex interpersonal manipulation within a chaotic “crazymaking space.” Female psychopaths use charm, vulnerability, and covert tactics to exert power, control, and manipulate others, often creating a theater-like environment

October 17, 2025

(GERMAN) Do Social Media Trigger Narcissism? (Südwestrundfunk SWR.de)

In der Besprechung wurde das Thema der narzisstischen Auswirkungen sozialer Medien auf Jugendliche diskutiert, insbesondere wie Plattformen wie Instagram und TikTok Selbstbezogenheit und Isolation fördern. Psychologen betonten, dass die ständige Suche nach Aufmerksamkeit und Likes ein fragiles Selbstbild kaschiert und dass soziale Medien menschliche Nähe und reale Beziehungen gefährden. Es

October 17, 2025

Make Narcissist FEAR YOU: Abandonment Anxiety, Annihilation Dread (Twin Anxieties)

In this video, Sam Vaknin explains the narcissist’s fear of abandonment, highlighting the paradox where narcissists both dread abandonment by their idealized objects yet push others away during the devaluation phase due to their twin anxieties of abandonment and annihilation. He elaborates on how these anxieties influence narcissistic behavior and

October 16, 2025

Querying the Enemy: Hurt People Question Narcissism’s Aftermath (Q&A Skopje Seminar, 2025)

In the seminar, Professor Sam Vaknin discussed the dynamics of narcissistic families, explaining concepts like projective splitting, the roles of scapegoat and golden child, and the conditional nature of love in narcissistic relationships. He emphasized the difficulty in recognizing narcissists due to cognitive dissonance, the contagious nature of narcissism, and

October 15, 2025