A Book of Unprecedented Relevance Today
Political Ponerology: A Science on The Nature of Evil adjusted for Political Purposes by Andrew M. Lobaczewski with commentary and additional quoted material by Laura Knight-Jadczyk - published in 2012.
It was March 2020... and the linked article above is where I first found a detailed exposition of Polish dissident and clinical psychologist - Andrzej's Łobaczewski's novel: Political Ponerology.
When I first found this article and subsequently became aware of the book's existence, it was like I was handed a secret tome which could allude to potentially so much in the present day. The story of it's creation and providence of originating from a bleak, dystopian Post World War 2 Poland enchanted me (especially since I have Polish heritage myself.)
Early into my experience of blockchain blogging, I explored some of my intimate historical connections with Poland & Communism
I was rapt at the discovery of Andrzej, his book and the concept that a scientific method for measure & analysis of pathological evil exists. And since it was March 2020, I needed to continue my foray into the root of humanity's psychological causes for the promulgation of pathological dystopianism. It felt like it was of dire importance for me, and the whole world, to understand what this book was written for.
Yet, I didn't read the book. As one does, one became waylaid because of the plandemic's intensity of psychological assault. I wasn't immune to it, not by any measure so I kind of forgot about the existence of this book.
From 2020 onwards, I did see and read the same book mentioned in more mainstream areas
- How Evil Caught the World - Eugenics is Back - by Amazing Polly - April 2021
- "EVIL'S NEXT MOVE: PONEROLOGY REVISITED" 8/11/22 - by Quite Frankly - August 2022
and these mentions reminded me to find a copy of Political Ponerology. Each time I was reminded, i'd search online for a printed copy and was upset to see the cheapest prices quoted around $80 AUD.
Soon enough even these copies disappeared and there were only several hundred dollar second hand copies up on amazon and ebay for resale. I really wanted to read a physical copy of this book (it's dense), so I set aside my desire for a copy.
Reissue
I'm writing this article because I have only managed to recently procure a printed copy. All thanks to it's reissue as an expanded 2022 edition, which is edited by Harrison Köhli whom I found and followed on twitter after searching "Ponerology."
It's a big book, kinda daunting but i'm committed to it. So far i'm still reading Harrison's fantastic introduction (sections of which you can read here, published in Postil Magazine, September 2021) and planning to ditch daily smart device addictions as a strategy for chipping away at this book on a daily basis.
I'll post more once I'm well underway towards finishing reading it 😎
Links and Resources
- Interesting to see a major medical society address "pathocracy" in 2021 - by Dr Steve Taylor (Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Leeds Beckett University, and Chair of the Transpersonal Psychology Section of the British Psychological Society)
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1476637.Political_Ponerology - 2006 Edition
- https://www.redpillpress.com/shop/political-ponerology-expanded/ - 2022 edition (foreword by Michael Rectenwald & edited by Harrison Köhli)
- The Science of Evil: A Personal Review of Political Ponerology - by Michael Rectenwald for The Mises Institute 2022
- Political Ponerology substack - by Harrison Köhli