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Evil rarely wears horns. More often, it wears a mask of kindness and speaks of good intentions. This lecture from Academy of Ideas draws on psychiatrist M. Scott Peck to expose the malignant narcissist. Where a healthy person feels guilt and makes amends, the malignant narcissist silences conscience through ceaseless self-deception and projects every fault onto scapegoats. That pattern now infects modern politics, where challenged leaders double down and blame everyone else. The best defense, it shows, is facing your own dark side — and telling the truth, the one weapon evil cannot bear.
Full Video Transcript
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Evil is not committed by people who feel uncertain about their righteousness,
who question their own motives, who worry about betraying themselves.
The evil in this world is committed by the spiritual fat cats, by the Pharisees of our own day,
the self-righteous who think they are without sin
because they are unwilling to suffer the discomfort of significant self-examination.
Most politicians proclaim themselves to be exemplars of virtue,
but many of them compulsively lie, engage in corruption, censor and demonize those who
disagree with them, and enact policies that destroy society. Are such politicians aware
of their hypocrisy? Do they truly believe in the morally righteous self-image they try to portray?
In this video, drawing from the insights of the American psychiatrist M. Scott Peck,
we explore the psychology of malignant narcissism in order to better understand the evil that has
infected modern politics. M. Scott Peck defines evil as that force, residing either inside or
outside of human beings, that seeks to kill life or liveliness, or as he continues,
evil is live spelt backward. Evil is in opposition to life. Specifically, it has to do with
unnecessary killing. Killing that is not required for biological survival. Evil is also that which
kills spirit there are various essential attributes of life particularly human life such
as sentience mobility awareness growth autonomy will it is possible to kill or attempt to kill
one of these attributes without actually destroying the body all of us are capable of
committing evil acts for as alexander solzhenitsyn noted the line dividing good and evil cuts through
the heart of every human being nonetheless two types of people are particularly prone to evil
actions psychopaths and malignant narcissists the psychopath’s potential for evil is well known
but it is the malignant narcissists who may be responsible for more of the world’s evil
as they outnumber the psychopaths and as peck writes in his book the people of the lie it would
be quite appropriate to classify evil people as constituting a specific variant of the narcissistic
personality disorder psychiatrists have begun to pay increasing attention to the phenomenon
of narcissism, but our understanding of the subject is still in its infancy.
The central characteristic of narcissism is an inflated sense of self. Narcissists are
overconfident and admire themselves to a degree that is not warranted by the reality of who they
are or what they have accomplished. The narcissist’s infatuation with a grandiose self-image
leads to self-absorption, reducing their capacity to empathize with the feelings and experiences
of other people. Narcissism exists on a continuum. Some of the milder forms of narcissism, such as
identifying with an idealized self-image one creates on social media, are unhealthy but
relatively benign. At the extreme end of the spectrum lies the pathology of malignant narcissism,
in which one identifies with an illusory self-image of moral purity, or as Peck explains,
Utterly dedicated to preserving their self-image of perfection, malignant narcissists are unceasingly
engaged in the effort to maintain the appearance of moral purity. While they seem to lack any
motivation to be good, they intensely desire to appear good. Their goodness is all on a level of
pretense. It is, in effect, a lie. This is why they are the people of the lie. Malignant narcissism
is a defensive phenomenon that is rooted in a deep fear of being inferior or inadequate
particularly in matters of morality due to childhood trauma growing up with hypercritical
or narcissistic parents or for other reasons of upbringing socialization or genetics the malignant
narcissist cannot acknowledge that like everyone else they make mistakes behave immorally and
possess a potential for evil that is rooted in human nature or as peck writes what is the cause
of this arrogant self-image of perfection, this particularly malignant type of narcissism.
Basically, it is fear. Malignant narcissists are continually frightened that they will come
face to face with their own evil. This terror is so chronic, so interwoven into the fabric of their
being, that they may not even feel it as such. And if they could, their omnipresent narcissism
will prohibit them from ever acknowledging it. When psychologically healthy people commit an
immoral or evil act, they acknowledge their wrongdoing, feel guilt and remorse, and attempt
to make amends by returning to the side of the good. Most of us, in other words, have a functioning
conscience which places moral constraints on our behavior. The conscience of the malignant
narcissist, in contrast, is forced into a state of dormancy by continual acts of self-deception.
As the malignant narcissist’s identity is anchored in a grandiose self-image of moral goodness,
When he morally falters, he resorts to rationalizations, confabulations, and other defense mechanisms to maintain a feeling of moral righteousness, thus bypassing the conscience and escaping feelings of guilt.
Because the malignant narcissist silences his conscience with ongoing self-deceptions, he can repeatedly lie and behave in ways that oppose life, yet still believe that he is on the side of good.
Or, as Peck explains further,
their failure to put themselves on trial, that their evil arises.
One of the main self-deceptive mechanisms which the malignant narcissist uses to avoid
awareness of his morally imperfect self is, paradoxically, the very mechanism that leads
him to commit some of his most evil acts.
This mechanism is scapegoating, which, as Peck notes, works through a mechanism psychiatrists
call projection.
The malignant narcissist unconsciously externalizes the emotions and motivations he cannot accept
in himself, attributing them to other people, and he then blames these targets for what
in reality are his own moral failings and wrongdoings.
A predominant characteristic of the behavior of malignant narcissists is scapegoating,
explains Peck.
Because in their hearts they consider themselves above reproach, they must lash out at anyone
who does reproach them.
Since they must deny their own badness, they must perceive others as bad.
They never think of themselves as evil.
On the other hand, they consequently see much evil in others.
Narcissistic scapegoating is on full display in the political world.
Many politicians today are so desperate to appear morally righteous that they categorically
refuse to consider the possibility that their policies, mandates, and social reforms are
the primary drivers of much that is wrong with society.
When presented with evidence of their catastrophic failures, or when other people challenge their
morally flawless self-image, political malignant narcissists double down on their policies
and heap the blame for society’s problems upon their favoured scapegoats, be it other
nations, political opponents, or individuals who merely happen to hold differing political
views.
Or as Peck explains, strangely enough, malignant narcissists are often destructive because
they are attempting to destroy evil.
The problem is that they misplace the locus of the evil.
Instead of destroying others, they should be destroying the sickness within themselves.
As life often threatens their self-image of perfection, malignant narcissists are often
busily engaged in hating and destroying that life, usually in the name of righteousness.
They sacrifice others to preserve their self-image of perfection.
They create for those under their dominion a miniature, sick society.
In observing the sick state of society, we may be tempted to impose the diagnosis of
malignant narcissism on any politician we disapprove of, but in so doing we run the
risk not only of a misdiagnosis, but worse, of mimicking the malignant narcissist’s
scapegoating behaviour.
Or as Peck reflects, Indeed, might I not be guilty of evil myself by so labelling others
who disagree with my opinions?
Might I not be misusing the concept of evil by facilely applying it to any and all who
oppose my judgment? To avoid misdiagnosing and scapegoating others, we need to become more
conscious of our dark side. For the more aware we are of our own moral failures and potential for
evil, the less likely we are to project our dark side onto others. Or as Jung writes,
many projections can ultimately be integrated back into the individual once he recognizes their
subjective origin. But by facing up to our dark side, we do more than withdraw our projections.
We also develop a sixth sense to detect the darkness which lurks behind the malignant
narcissist’s morally pure mask. For as the psychologist Marie-Louise von Franz observed,
If one knows about the evil possibilities within oneself, then one develops a kind of second sight
or capacity for getting a whiff of the same thing in other people. To go down into the depths of
one’s own evil enables one usually to develop the instinctual recognition of corresponding
surrounding elements in other people. With a heightened capacity to detect evil, we can
help others overcome their naivety regarding the reality of human evil. For the reason
malignant narcissists are able to gain popular support and persist in positions of political
power is because most people refuse to fathom the fact that someone who tries so hard to
appear good can in reality be morally corrupt. Most people, in other words, do not recognize
that evil has a tendency to cloak itself in the good.
Or as the psychologist Erich Fromm observed, the main fallacy which prevents people from
recognizing potential Hitlers before they have shown their true faces lies in the belief
that a thoroughly destructive and evil man must be a devil, and look his part, that he
must bear the sign of Cain so visibly that everyone can recognize his destructiveness
from afar.
Such devils exist, but they are rare.
more often the intensely destructive person will show a front of kindliness, he will speak
of his ideals and good intentions. Hence, as long as one believes that the evil man
wears horns, one will not discover an evil man. As more of us become aware of the political
evil that is dividing and destroying society, we should try, as much as possible, not to
let anger and hatred sully our attempts to be a force of good. Malignant narcissists
are easy to hate, but harboring hatred only nourishes their malevolence and makes us easy
targets of scapegoating. Hatred also harms us through the stress it generates in the
mind and body. Rather than stewing in hatred, we should focus our energies on spreading
the truth, as truth is one of the greatest weapons against evil, hence why Satan is often
referred to as the father of lies. We should call out the hypocrisy of the political malignant
narcissists. Expose their lies. Mock their overweening moral pride. And watch on as the
truth renders their behavior increasingly desperate, erratic, and eventually self-destructive.
Pride goeth before the fall. Or as M. Scott Peck concludes,
The evil hate the light. The light of goodness that shows them up. The light of scrutiny that
exposes them. The light of truth that penetrates their deception. Charlatans in the mainstream
media, the education system, politics, and the entertainment industry are using the power
of ideas to create obedient, misinformed, and confused individuals who are easily herded
into the chains of totalitarianism.
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Source: Academy of Ideas