TO BE REMEMBERED:
 The Purpose of Political Mass-Murder

Richard Koenigsberg

Which historical figure produced the most corpses?

ABSTRACT: The purpose of mass-murder is to be "remembered." Political mass-murderers have historians by the balls. They know what historians enjoy writing about. Historians fall for the bait. Mass-murders are "made men." They have been accepted into the club (or failing,  as Lenin put it, they  fall into the "dustbin of history"). 
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The observer effect in psychology, also known as the Hawthorne effect, refers to subjects in an experiment altering their behavior when they become aware that an experimenter is watching them.

The "Hawthorne effect" lies at the heart of the historical process, particularly when it comes to mass-murderers. Mass-murderers know where their bread is being buttered. They are acutely aware of historians and history books. They want to "go down in history" (or "go down on history"). 

The purpose of mass-murder is to be "remembered." Mass-murderers have historians by the balls. They know what historians like to write about. And historians fall for the bait. They document in great detail the deeds of mass-murderers. Mass-murders are "made men." They have been accepted into the club (and what is worse, as Lenin put it, than to fall into the "dustbin" of history). 

In contemporary times, there are films and videos. Michael Vlahos calls the "History Channel" the "Hitler Channel." And now that the archives are open, we're seeing more of Stalin. He too is becoming a "star." 

Hitler had a clear ideology. He killed for reasons. The Jew symbolized hatred of Germany; the infidel. Stalin seemed to enjoy killing for its own sake. He killed enemies, friends, whomever he felt like killing.

A paranoid schizophrenic, but rarely called that. Let's not let psychology enter the picture. No need to understand these men and why they felt compelled to do what they did.

In any case, of course, these men didn't act alone. Everything they did--they did in the name of their "countries." The country functions as a super-ego that allows anything. The terms "psychopath" or "war criminal" in relation to cases of mass-murder are laughable.

These men were honored and revered by their fellow-country-men-and-women. They did it all for their countries. They did it for love. Without a beloved mother country, mass-murder can't happen. Killing for the omnipotent mother (the mother of the man who killed JFK penned a book, A Mother in History).

"MADE IT MA, TOP OF THE WORLD."

But no one knows what a "country" is. The scholars deconstruct everything. But "countries" reign supreme. No one wishes to explore the question of why Nations have the Right to Kill.