by Bill Eddy
And the beauty of it is that Ailes’s viewers—the voters—are the protago-
nists, victims of socialist overlords, or rebels coming to take the government
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46 Part I: How Narcissists and Sociopaths Get Elected
back. The viewers, on their couches, are flattered as the most important
participants, the foot soldiers in Ailes’s army.83 (Emphasis added)
Other media, including the Times, have slowly focused more and more
on negative news, reinforcing the feeling that things are bad and getting
worse. Yet overall things in the world are better than ever according to
objective research:
The New York Times got steadily more morose from the early 1960s to the
early 1970s, lightened up a bit (but just a bit) in the 1980s and 1990s, and
then sank into a progressively worse mood in the first decade of the new
century. News outlets in the rest of the world, too, became gloomier and
gloomier from the late 1970s to the present day. . . .84
And here is a shocker: The world has made spectacular progress in every
single measure of human well- being. Here is the second shocker: Almost no
one knows about it.
Information about human progress, though absent from major news out-
lets and intellectual forums, is easy enough to find.85
As a result, many—perhaps most—Americans now routinely view pol-
itics as crisis- driven and a zero- sum game in which only one side wins and
the other side has to lose. As described earlier, many people have just one
news source, resulting in political messages with endless emotional repeti-
tion in isolation.
Always Adversarial Leadership
Over the past thousand years, kings (and queens) have been slowly replaced
by written rules and laws—from the Magna Carta of 1215 that limited a
king’s power86 to the United States Constitution of 1789 to the spread of
constitutional governments around the world. Thoughtful consideration of
written information has prevailed. In current times, collaboration and team-
work have become the primary methods of decision- making and managing
everyday life in our complex and interconnected world.
With this recent return to emotional face and voice media that shares
increasingly negative news to grab people’s attention and market share, we
are going backward a thousand years or more in our leadership approach—
especially national leadership worldwide—to the times of always adversarial
Wannabe Kings. Table 1 describes this shift.
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4: High- Emotion Media 47
TABLE 1: Political Leadership
ALWAYS ADVERSARIAL
MODERN COLLABORATION
(HEROES AND VILLAINS)
(TEAMWORK)
Foundation for society
The king, with his whims and edicts
The constitution, with its laws
and rules
Leaders chosen by
Brute force, emotional warfare,
Regular elections, policies and
inherited power
persuasion, leadership experience
Leaders need to be
Good at fighting
Good at collaborating
Top- down, dictatorial
Motivational, democratic
Communication by
Face and voice
Mostly writing
(Lots of emotion)
(Lots of information)
Decision- making by
Gut feelings
Research and analysis
Problems are caused by
Bad people
Multiple causes
(villains)
(sometimes bad behaviors)
Solutions are
Lock up or eliminate bad people .
Get people to change their behav-
Heroes will do it all for you .
ior . Punish bad behavior when
necessary .
All- or- nothing solutions
Inspiring leadership, activating
creativity and effort of others
Complex, interrelated solutions
Conclusion
The result of our high- emotion media is that voters have been primed to think
in terms of always adversarial drama—with crises, villains, and heroes—that
fits ancient times more than the present. In today’s world, this is a Fantasy
Crisis Triad. In the past, people would have laughed at leaders promoting
such fantasies, but over the past thirty years, the high- emotion media has
made this all possible again, as the next chapter explains.
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5
THE FANTASY CRISIS TRIAD
How do high- conflict narcissists and sociopaths—our HCP Wannabe
Kings—persuade so many people to vote for them given how dangerous
and deceptive they can be?
We have learned that they communicate primarily emotionally and that
the high- emotion media powerfully enhances their messages. But what do
they communicate that makes people give them so much power?
First, they start by convincing you that there is a terrible crisis. They may
believe it themselves or they may know that they’re making it up. Either way,
the HCP’s strategy is the same.
In a crisis, we think differently than we do when we are doing ordinary
problem- solving, because there’s no time to think. We just need to act. We
fight, flee, freeze, or follow!
Also, in a crisis, we usually have to work together. In order to work
together most efficiently, we need to have a leader—someone who can show
us the way and tell us what to do.
In a crisis, we are willing to give up our individuality—to shut down our
independent thinking—in order to save our skins. This is why every army
has a chain of command that must be strictly followed. So, in a crisis, we
follow the leader automatically. It’s part of our social DNA.
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50 Part I: How Narcissists and Sociopaths Get Elected
Stop Thinking
Here’s an example of how history’s most infamous HCP—Adolf Hitler—got the
German people to stop thinking and believe in a crisis that was actually a fantasy.
Edgar Mowrer, an American reporter in Germany in the 1930s, reported
the following conversation:
“Everybody in Germany knows that the Jews are our misfortune,” one of
the Nazis replied.
“But just how? Why?” Edgar persisted.
“There are too many of them. And then, Jews are not people like the rest
of us.”
“But in my country the proportion of Jews is much higher than in Ger-
many. But we lost no war, have not starved, not been betrayed to foreign-
ers; in short, have suffered none of the evils you attribute to the presence
of the Jews in Germany. How do you account for this?”
“We don’t account for it. We simply know it is true,” the Nazi replied.
“Is that logical, is that clear thinking?”
“Ach, thinking!” the exasperated Nazi replied. “We are sick of thinking.
Thinking gets you nowhere. The Fuhrer himself says true Nazis think with
their blood.”
And this lack of thinking was everywhere.87
Hitler created a fantasy crisis with a fantasy villain—Jews—and a fantasy
hero—himself.
Likewise, at Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration, Trump insisted
that America was facing “carnage” (which he didn’t define). Then he uttered a
classic Wannabe King line: “I alone can fix it.” (On hearing this, former Pres-
ident George W. Bush allegedly said aloud, “That was some weird s--t!”88)
Today’s real problems can rarely, if ever, be fixed by one person. That’s why
modern politicians and presidents need to have many skills including coop-
eration, complex problem- solving, leading, and inspiring the efforts of others.
They can’t just dominate others to solve problems in the real modern world.
Everything’s a Crisis
HCPs tend to see most crises—whether they are real or invented—in very
simple terms: someone or some group is the sole cause (the villain), and that
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5: The Fantasy Crisis Triad 51
person or group needs to be controlled, removed, or destroyed. That person
or group then becomes the Wannabe King’s Target of Blame. All of this is
part of the HCP’s all- or- nothing thinking and extreme behavior. For them,
problems don’t have nuances and complex parts. The enemy just needs to be
destroyed or defeated.
In ancient times, when the dangers included a pack of wolves or a boatful
of Viking invaders, this approach often worked. It was always an adversarial
world, even for us humans: kill or be killed, eat or be eaten. In addition to
having Targets of Blame just like modern- day HCPs, the ancient narcissistic
HCPs persuaded everyone that they were the greatest of leaders and that
everyone should follow them. The sociopathic HCPs conned people into
following them and ruthlessly fighting their real or supposed enemies. As a
result, they became the leaders of their villages and eventually kings of the
kingdoms.
To persuade people to follow them, Wannabe Kings employ what I call
the crisis triad:
●
There’s a terrifying crisis!
●
The cause is a hideous villain, who is totally evil and must be
destroyed.
●
We need to follow a wonderful hero, who will vanquish the villain
and solve the crisis quickly.
This crisis can be entirely real, totally manufactured by the Wannabe King,
or something in between.
High- conflict politicians seem to innately know this drama—and how
to use it—in their blood and bones. They have an instinctive talent for
declaring (or manufacturing) a crisis, defining a villain (or a group of
villains), and promoting themselves as the heroes everyone desperately
needs.
Although the crisis triad may have helped ancient adversarial leaders
deal with some genuine crises, today very few real crises require us to stop
thinking and simply and blindly follow one leader as we fight, flee, or freeze.
Today’s problems often require research, analysis, and many trained experts
calmly (as much as possible) working together.
Table 2 shows the difference between real crises, real problems to
solve, and pure fantasies. (See Part 2 for the stories behind many of these
fantasy “crises.”)
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52 Part I: How Narcissists and Sociopaths Get Elected
TABLE 2: Types of “Crises”
REAL CRISES
FANTASY “CRISIS”
PURE FANTASY “CRISIS”
(BUT REAL PROBLEM TO
(NOT EVEN A PROBLEM
SOLVE)
TO SOLVE)
Nature of
Tidal waves, fires,
Immigration policies, trade
Jews in Germany; kulaks in
problem?
sexual assault, active
agreements, tax policies,
Russia and Ukraine; Com-
shooter, etc .
environmental regulations,
munists in the US federal
drug addiction, etc .
government; “propaganda
of homosexuals” in modern
Russia; trade imbalance
with Canada and US
How should we
We don’t have time to We should spend the time
We should not waste any
respond?
think; we just fight,
to think, analyze, collaborate time, energy, or resources
flee, or freeze in place . with experts, and get many on these total fantasies .
points of view on solving
these problems .
Should we stop
Yes! Follow the leader Combined knowledge and
Don’t follow (or vote for)
thinking and
and the instructions
viewpoints are necessary;
any leaders or instruc-
blindly follow a
they give .
no one person is smart
tions based on these total
leader?
enough to solve these
fantasies .
modern problems .
Fantasy Villains
Unfortunately, over the past thirty years, many of our movies, news sources,
and political parties, in addition to our culture of blame in general, have
taught us that our problems—including some of our real problems—are
simply caused by evil villains. These villains might be specific individuals,
foreigners, people who think or look or talk or live differently than us, mem-
bers of the opposing political party, and so forth. With intense and frequent
emotional repetition, the media essentially advertises (for free) the Wan-
nabe King’s interpretation of events—their Fantasy Crisis Triad.
Fantasy Heroes
We’re also mistakenly taught that problems and crises are mostly solved by indi-
vidual heroes. We’re mildly interested in groups of people who work together
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5: The Fantasy Crisis Triad 53
heroically, such as a platoon of soldiers in battle or the first responders to a
natural disaster. But we’re especially awed by unique individual heroes—cer-
tain special human beings who are exceptionally powerful, insightful, strong,
or talented.
Don’t believe any of this promotion. You’re being set up to follow HCPs
and their simplistic all- or- nothing thinking. That’s where politicians, celeb-
rities, and newscasters often eagerly join in. They tell us who the villains and
heroes are—or, at least, who they should be. Usually they also tell us that
the problem and the solution are simple, because they don’t have much air
time to explain anything in detail. They then repeat and repeat and repeat
these simple problems, their equally simple solutions, and the names of the
clear- cut villains based on what they have been told by the HCP politicians
they interview.
These Wannabe Kings also continuously repeat that they are the heroes
everyone wants and needs—and the sole human beings with the ability to
vanquish the villains. Because of the reach and speed of mod
ern media, this
simple drama then ripples quickly around the nation and the world. Even
media outlets that recognize its bogus nature help spread it, because it’s
considered news to be repeated—simply because it comes from a dramatic
and compulsively verbal Wannabe King.
Over time, each Fantasy Crisis Triad feels more and more real. Eventu-
ally it takes hold, infecting us like a virus.
Two Responses to Human Problems
Our politicians regularly tell us how strong they are and how hard they will
fight for us, which is fine: strength, commitment, and perseverance are all
important. Often, they are precisely what we need.
Just as often, though, what we need instead—or in addition—are wisdom,
creativity, nimbleness, vision, an ability to analyze complex problems, and a
talent for building and maintaining alliances.
Although some problems can and should be solved by fighting and over-
coming an enemy, most of today’s problems can’t begin to be addressed until
people stop fighting. For our survival, we need to be able to think and act in
both ways. Indeed, our brains are wired to operate in both. But not both at
the same time.
Table 3 is a comparison of these two ways of addressing problems.
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54 Part I: How Narcissists and Sociopaths Get Elected
Table 3: Solving Real Human Problems
FLEXIBLE PROBLEM SOLVING
CRISIS REACTING
You approach the situation as a problem to solve
Your response can only be all or nothing—you fight,
or address .
flee, or freeze .
Your feelings are mild so you can concentrate .
The situation feels dire and extreme, whether it
actually is or not .
You understand the importance of analyzing the
You intuitively understand that survival lies in fast
problem .
action, not analysis .
You see the problem as potentially complex, involv- You see the problem as bad or evil people who
ing multiple aspects .
must be avoided or destroyed .
You recognize the larger context in which the prob- You deal with the problem in isolation from other lem appears and understand that any response
problems, issues, and contexts .
may have ripple effects and larger consequences .
You see compromise as normal, so you are flex-
You see compromise as weak, dangerous, and
ible and open to a wide range of solutions and
possibly life- threatening .