War Or Peace?

By Phillip W. Long M.D.

(Psychiatrist)
Paranoid Personality Disorder
 Three behaviors form the core of
Paranoid Personality Disorder:

 Mistrust of Friends
 Doubts the loyalty or trustworthiness
of friends or associates

 Bearing Grudges
 Bears grudges; seldom forgives
others’ mistakes

 Feeling Victimized
 Feels exploited or victimized; seldom
expresses gratitude

 Healthy people trust their friends, are

forgiving, and freely express praise and
gratitude.
Paranoid Leaders
 Historically, all of the world’s most
murderous leaders exhibited Paranoid
Personality Disorder

 Mistrust
 They promoted a culture of fear
in which no one was trusted

 Hatred
 They promoted hatred of a
common “enemy” to gain political
power

 Feeling Victimized
 They convinced their followers
that they were the “victims” of a
global conspiracy of evil

 These leaders established totalitarian

regimes which dealt ruthlessly with any of
their citizens that opposed them.
Paranoid Leaders
 They foster mistrust
 “Our country is now geared to an
arms economy bred in an artificially
induced psychosis of war hysteria
and an incessant propaganda of
fear.” (General Douglas MacArthur)

 They foster hatred

 “In order to rally people,
governments need enemies. They
want us to be afraid, to hate, so we
will rally behind them.” (Thich Nhat
Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk)

 They want you to feel victimized

 “Every war when it comes, or before it
comes, is represented not as a war
but as an act of self-defense
against a homicidal maniac.” (George
Orwell)
Paranoia Cycles Out Of Control
 Individuals with Paranoid
Personality Disorder become
trapped in a vicious cycle:

 Feeling victimized by an “enemy”

leads to …

 Wanting revenge against the

“enemy” which leads to …

• A preemptive attack against the

“enemy” which leads to …
• A defensive counter-attack from
the “enemy” which leads to …
• Feeling more victimized (which
further escalates this vicious cycle)
Paranoia Has Killed Millions
 Leaders with Paranoid
Personality Disorder eventually
destroy millions of innocent
civilians:

 Hitler brought about the Holocaust

which killed 6 million Jews and
millions of other innocent
minorities.

 Stalin brought about the death of

20-60 million people as a direct
result of his tyrannical rule.

 Mao Tse-Tung brought about the

death of more than 70 million
people – during peacetime.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder

 Three behaviors form the core of

Narcissistic Personality Disorder:

 Arrogance
 Is arrogant or proud; feels superior to
others

 Domineering Behavior
 Is domineering or dictatorial; has a
bossy way of ordering others around

 Greed
 Is selfishly greedy; wants to possess
much more than what he/she needs or
deserves

 Healthy people are humble, democratic,

and unselfish.
Narcissistic Leaders
 Historically, many tyrants exhibited
Narcissistic Personality Disorder:
 Arrogance
 They were very arrogant and
proud

 Domineering Behavior
 They were dictatorial and
autocratic

 Greed
 They monopolized their nation’s
power and wealth

 Usually they exhibit both Paranoid

and Narcissistic Personality
Disorder.
Narcissistic Leaders
Benito Mussolini (1883-1945)

 Arrogance
 “This is the epitaph I want on my
tomb: ‘Here lies one of the most
intelligent animals who ever
appeared on the face of the earth.’”
 Domineering Behavior
 “It is necessary to be very intelligent
in the work of repression. All
opposition journals have been
suppressed and all the anti-fascist
leaders dissolved.”
 Greed
 “Either the government will be given
to us or we shall seize it by marching
on Rome.”
Antisocial Personality Disorder
 Three behaviors form the core of
Antisocial Personality Disorder:

 Intolerance
 Is judgmental or prejudiced; doesn’t
respect the beliefs and practices of
others

 Irresponsibility or Dishonesty
 Doesn’t take responsibility for own
actions; is dishonest; lies, cheats, or
steals

 Manipulativeness
 Selfishly or unethically manipulates
others for his/her own advantage

 Healthy people are tolerant, responsible,

honest, and don’t unethically exploit
others.
Antisocial Leaders
 Historically, the most ruthless world
leaders had Antisocial Personality
Disorder:

 Intolerance
 They persecuted their minorities
and permitted genocides.

 Irresponsibility or Dishonesty
 They habitually lied to their
citizens as their friends looted
their nation’s wealth.

 Manipulativeness
 They constantly manipulated
others for their own unethical
advantage.
Antisocial Leaders
Adolf Hitler (1889-1945)
 Intolerance
 “I do not see why man should
not be just as cruel as nature.”
 “Humanitarianism is the
expression of stupidity and
cowardice.”
 Irresponsibility or Dishonesty
 “If you tell a big enough lie and
tell it frequently enough, it will be
believed.”
 Manipulativeness
 “I have not come into this world
to make men better, but to make
use of their weaknesses.”
Bad World Leaders
 Historically, the worst world leaders
had a combination of Paranoid +
Narcissistic + Antisocial
Personality Disorders.

 Their behavior exhibited:

 Mistrust
 Hatred
 Feeling constantly the “victim”

 Arrogance
 Dictatorial behavior
 Greed

 Intolerance
 Dishonesty
 Manipulativeness
Good World Leaders
 Good world leaders don’t have
Paranoid, Narcissistic or Antisocial
Personality Disorders.

 Thus the behavior of a good world

leader exhibits:

 Trust and consensus-building

 Forgiveness and reconciliation
 Intelligence that doesn’t simplistically
portray all problems as just “good vs.
evil”

 Treating other nations as equals

 Democratic decision-making
 Generosity in sharing resources

 Tolerance for different beliefs

 Honesty in government
 Ethical behavior (without manipulating
the weak)
Constant War
 Currently nations are squandering
our planet’s limited resources on
endless war.

 “The Department of Defense is the

behemoth...With an annual budget
larger than the gross domestic
product of Russia, it is an empire.”
(The 9/11 Commission Report)

 The $500 billion spent so far on the

war in Iraq could feed all of the
poor of Africa for decades.

 Many world leaders have obvious

personality disorders that prevent
them from finding non-military
solutions to the world’s problems.
Time Is Running Out
 Global warming is here, and it
could trigger a “melt down” of the
world’s global economy in our
lifetime due to:
 Increased drought
 Increased flooding
 Increased storms
 Decreased productivity of the
world’s ocean fisheries
 Destruction of coastal cities by
hurricanes and flooding

 Meanwhile, our world leaders

stumble towards World War III
There Is A Solution
 We must not follow leaders with
obvious Personality Disorders,
especially leaders that are:
 Paranoid
 Narcissistic
 Antisocial (i.e., sociopathic)

 The core feature of these severe

Personality Disorders is their
unethical behavior.

 Thus the solution to this problem is

to insist on ethical behavior from
our world leaders.
Ethical Behavior
 Ethical behavior is based on the “Golden
Rule” (that we should treat others the way
we want others to treat us) as proposed by:
 Ancient China: “What you do not want done
to yourself, do not do to others.” (Confucius
551 BC - 479 BC)

 Ancient Greece: “Do not do to others what

angers you if done to you by others.”
(Socrates 469 BC - 399 BC)

 Jewish Religion: “What is hateful to you, do

not to your fellow men.” (The Talmud)

 Hindu Religion: “This is the sum of duty: do

naught to others which if done to thee would
cause thee pain.” (The Mahabharata)

 Buddhist Religion: “Hurt not others with that

which pains yourself.” (Udana-Varga)

 Christianity: “Do to others what you would

have them do to you.” (Matthew 7:12)

 Islam: “No one of you is a believer until he

desires for his brother that which he desires
for himself.” (Hadith)
Ethics & Freedom
 Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)
 “Those who would deny freedom to
others deserve it not for themselves;
and, under a just God, cannot long
retain it.”

 “… all men are created free and

equal.”

 “I am for those means which will give

the greatest good to the greatest
number.”
Ethics & Nonviolence
 Mahatma Gandhi (1869 – 1948)
 “I object to violence because when it
appears to do good, the good is only
temporary; the evil it does is
permanent.”

 “What difference does it make to the

dead, the orphans and the
homeless, whether the mad
destruction is wrought under the
name of totalitarianism or the holy
name of liberty or democracy?”

 “An eye for eye only ends up making

the whole world blind.”
Ethics & Character
 Sir Winston Churchill (1874 – 1965)
 “All great things are simple, and many
can be expressed in single words:
freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy,
hope.”

 “We make a living by what we get, we

make a life by what we give. ”

 “The statesman who yields to war

fever must realize that once the
signal is given, he is no longer the
master of policy but the slave of
unforeseeable and uncontrollable
events.”
Ethics & Intelligence
 Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955)
 “I know not with what weapons World
War III will be fought, but World War
IV will be fought with sticks and
stones.”

 “The world is a dangerous place, not

because of those who do evil, but
because of those who look on and do
nothing.”

 “You cannot simultaneously prevent

and prepare for war.”

 “Unthinking respect for authority is

the greatest enemy of truth.”

 “Nothing will end war unless the

people themselves refuse to go to
war.”
Ethics & Disarmament
 Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890 – 1969)
 “Every gun that is made, every
warship launched, every rocket fired
signifies, in the final sense, a theft
from those who hunger and are not
fed, those who are cold and not
clothed. This world in arms is not
spending money alone. It is spending
the sweat of its laborers, the genius of
its scientists, the hopes of its children.
This is not a way of life at all in any true
sense. Under the cloud of threatening
war, it is humanity hanging from a cross
of iron.”

 “In the councils of government, we must

guard against the acquisition of
unwarranted influence, whether
sought or unsought, by the military-
industrial complex. The potential for
the disastrous rise of misplaced power
exists and will persist.”
Ethics & Peace
 John F. Kennedy (1917 – 1963)
 “Mankind must put an end to war or
war will put an end to mankind.”

 “The basic problems facing the world

today are not susceptible to a military
solution.”

 “Overwhelming nuclear strength

cannot stop a guerrilla war.”

 “Those who make peaceful revolution

impossible will make violent
revolution inevitable.”
Ethics & Brotherhood
 Rev. Martin Luther King (1929 –
1968)
 “We must learn to live together as
brothers or perish together as fools.”

 “Life's most urgent question is: What

are you doing for others?”

 “Man must evolve for all human

conflict a method which rejects
revenge, aggression and retaliation.
The foundation of such a method is
love.”

 “One who condones evils is just as

guilty as the one who perpetrates it.”
How Do They March Us To War?
 World leaders with severe
Personality Disorders are incapable
of maintaining a world of mutual trust
and respect. Instead, they create a
world of fear and hate.

 These leaders are:

 Paranoid: they tell us that we are the
victims of a global menace; hence
must go to war to fight on the side of
God/good vs. Satan/evil
 Narcissistic: they tell us that our way
of life is far superior to our enemies,
and that we should occupy their land
 Antisocial: they tell us that war, even
preemptive war, is unavoidable and
necessary
Is The War In Iraq Justified?
 President Jimmy Carter recently stated:
 “The preeminent criterion for a just war
is that it can only be waged as a last
resort, with all non-violent options
exhausted.”
 [Yet the US invaded Iraq] “… with our own
national security not directly threatened
and despite the overwhelming opposition of
most people and governments in the world”.

 “[In a just war] weapons used in war

must discriminate between combatants
and non-combatants.”
 “[Yet] a respected British medical journal,
Lancet, has reported that allied forces
(especially the air force) have killed a
hundred thousand Iraqi noncombatants.”

 “[In a just war] violence used in the war

must be proportional to the injury
suffered.”
 “[Yet] despite Saddam Hussein’s other
serious crimes, American efforts to tie Iraq
to the 9/11 terrorist attacks have been
unconvincing.”
Is The War In Iraq Justified?
President Jimmy Carter recently stated:
 “[In a just war] the attackers must have
legitimate authority sanctioned by the
society they profess to represent.”
 “[Yet] … our announced goals are now to
achieve regime change and to establish
a Pax Americana in the region [Iraq],
perhaps occupying the ethnically divided
country for as long as a decade. For these
objectives, we do not have international
authority.”

 “[In a just war] the peace to be established

must be a clear improvement over what
exists.”
 “[Yet] … an overwhelming majority of Arabs
did not believe that U.S. policy in Iraq was
motivated by the spread of democracy in
the region, and believed that the Middle
East had become less democratic after
the Iraq war and that Iraqis were worse
off than they had been before the
conflict.”
Is The War In Iraq Justified?
Recent research published in The
Lancet medical journal estimated that
about 655,000 people have died in
Iraq as a result of the 2003 invasion.

 The strength of the report is in its

scientifically sound methodology.

 It took a sample and then extrapolated

broad results from that sample. This is a
technique used in public opinion polling,
for example, in predicting election
results.

This civilian death toll is many times

worse than the civilian death toll under
Saddam Hussein’s brutal dictatorship.
Forgiveness Works
 The Marshall Plan Offered Forgiveness
 Immediately after World War II, Europe
teetered on the brink of a general economic
collapse. The US government’s Marshall
Plan (1947-53) saved Europe from
economic collapse by generously giving
$13.6 billion to rebuild the European
economy. Germany was forgiven and not
economically punished for starting WW II.
 The Marshall Plan aid was all economic, it
did not include military aid.
 No Forgiveness For Iraq
 The US military budget for the War in Iraq
now is more than $500 billion.
 Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, its economy
and cities have been in collapse.
 Life in Iraq is now hell for civilians, and it
appears that the US military prefers a civil
war rather than an armed insurgency
against the US occupation.
Which World Do You Want?