FOUNDATION FOR THE STUDY OF POLITICAL PATHOLOGY

In response to Bloom’s suggestion that violence is a bonding mechanism because killing is exhilarating and addictive, I argue that humankind values war primarily as an opportunity to sacrifice for something greater than oneself. The violence of warfare is fundamentally masochistic. There is an object, one’s country, that makes violence meaningful and moral. Invoking Horace’s phrase, “It is sweet and honorable to die for one’s country,” I suggest that the sacrificial ideology is at the core of Western civilization.

There is always something in the name of which people die—something worshipped that justifies killing; it is always moral. For Hitler, it was Germany; for the Aztecs, the Sun God; for George W. Bush, freedom & democracy; for martyrs in the Middle East, Allah. Sacrifice is a mechanism that validates the entity for which the sacrifice is made. I explain the psychological mechanism: If you believe in something enough to sacrifice your life for it, the superordinate object you believe in must be real.

Richard A. Koenigsberg, PhD
Director, Foundation for the Study of Political Pathology

Click the image below to play the podcast. “What compels a group of soldiers to willingly run into a barrage of automatic weapons during World War I? How did the kamikaze pilots come to belief their actions were warranted? And what would happen if we completely abandoned the concept of nationalities? Blood, sacrifice and so much more are discussed in this week with special guest Richard A. Koenigsberg.” Richard A. Koenigsberg is director of the Foundation for the Study of Political Pathology and author of several books including Nations Have the Right to Kill: Hitler, the Holocaust and War and Hitler's Ideology. One of the most successful publicists of his generation, Howard Bloom represented Michael Jackson and many others. To order his recently-published A Case of the Sexual Cosmos: Everything You Know About Nature is Wrong, click here.

Richard Koenigsberg participated in a lively, wide-ranging discussion with Howard Bloom and Chad Dougatz on the “Howard Bloom Saves the Universe” podcast. Responding to Bloom’s suggestion that violence is a bonding mechanism because killing is exhilarating and addictive, Richard argued that humankind values war primarily as an opportunity to sacrifice for something greater than oneself.

The violence of warfare is fundamentally masochistic and self-destructive. There is an object, one’s nation, that makes violence meaningful and moral.

This has been true for millennia. Koenigsberg reminded listeners that for the most part, soldiers involved in killing during World War I did not see their victims: they were shooting machine guns and artillery shells and did not have close encounters with the deaths they caused. They were not motivated by visceral enjoyment of bloodshed.

Invoking Horace’s phrase, “It is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country,” Koenigsberg suggested that this sacrificial ideology lies at the core of Western civilization. However, he also finds non-Western examples of this ideology.

Supporting this hypothesis, Koenigsberg cited the ancient Aztec culture, for whom the goal of war was not simply to "win," but to acquire sacrificial victims. The Aztecs conducted “flower wars”—rituals with equal numbers of troops on both side—to fulfill a need to capture sacrificial victims to appease the gods.

This preoccupation with sacrifice was a contributing factor in the triumph of the Spanish conquistador, Hernán Cortés. His conquest of the Aztec empire grew out of the fact that the Aztecs were focused on procuring live sacrificial victims and transporting Spanish victims to the sacrificial block.

The compulsion to sacrifice Spanish victims consumed their energy and time, distracting the Aztecs from the task of “winning." Despite being hugely outnumbered, Cortez conquered the Aztec empire.

There is always something in the name of which people are dying—something that is worshipped that justifies killing. For Hitler, it was Germany; for the Aztecs, it was the Sun God; for George W. Bush, it was freedom & democracy; for martyrs in the Middle East, it is Allah.

Sacrifice is a bonding mechanism that validates the entity for which sacrifices are made. Koenigsberg explained the psychological mechanism: If you believe in something enough to sacrifice your life for it, the superordinate object you believe in must be real.

Koenigsberg explained how Japan’s 1905 victory in the Russo-Japanese War influenced European military strategists in World War I. They admired the Japanese soldiers’ spiritual willingness to sacrifice their lives. The purpose of war was not simply "winning," but willingness to die for the Emperor. The rallies Hitler conducted to generate a frenzy of nationalistic enthusiasm were not necessary in Japan.

In Hitler’s mind, Jews did not love Germany enough. Koenigsberg suggested that Hitler became one of the greatest sacrificers of all time in the name of resurrecting Germany’s greatness. He viewed Jews the way militant Islamists view Westerners, infidels who had to be destroyed.

Hitler used the metaphor of Jews as a bacteria or virus, a force causing the decomposition (Zerzetzung) of the nation. Hitler and Goebbels believed Jews were all powerful and would destroy Germany if Germany did not destroy the Jews first. Thus, Hitler did not attack the Soviet Union primarily with the objective of conquest. In his mind, he was acting defensively.

Dougatz argued that civilization is a “mandate.” But Koenigsberg noted that so-called “civilization” can be the source of horrific carnage, as in World War I. An idea can be psychotic even though an entire society embraces it.

Bloom asked, what are other ways that people can connect and relate to each other if we transcend sacrifice as a bonding mechanism? The Internet empowers us to create new ways of connecting. People have a psychological need to look to the center as something they strive to connect with. But each of us can create our own center rather than looking to the nation as the center and source of meaning.