'Political Poneronlogy': An intriguing yet ultimately disappointing read

I sought out Political Ponerology after seeing a mention in an article in Psychology Today. The author, a therapist who lived through the Nazi and Soviet occupations of Poland, argues that large-scale political evil is best understood as the result of pathological persons dominating the society of normal people. It’s an intriguing notion, but proof is lacking as is any real way of getting rid of these movements and regimes when they arise.
On top of that, this ebook edition was republished by a paranoid leftist who believes the September 2001 terrorist attacks in America were staged by the U.S. government. It is ironic to say the least that such a person would republish what is largely an analysis of Soviet-style Communism as a pathological system, and moreover the author himself explicitly discusses political paranoia as one of his pathological types! It also must be said that he expresses antisemitic views in three instances that I counted, which is hardly surprising in a Pole of his generation but is deeply disappointing and damaging in what is meant to be an analysis and “treatment plan” for political evil.

What Is Strength, and Who Is Strong?

Reflections is a stunning YA fantasy novel that will make you rethink everything you thought you knew about the hidden wellsprings of strength among those who feel they are victims at the mercy of a cruel world, and the hidden weaknesses of those who appear powerful and self-confident. It will also make you ponder the meaning of the current pop cultural obsessions with "superpowers"-in this novel, shapeshifting. The protagonist, a teenage girl named Rama, is an outsider, a member of a close, loving Indian family who run a restaurant in a small West Virginia town. As the novel opens, she is hiding a terrible secret: she was raped and is too terrified and ashamed to tell anybody. She is also contending with grief and fear as girls her age who are her friends and classmates are being murdered by a serial killer. Then she encounters a band of shapeshifters out in the forest, and everything will change for her.

Shapeshifting is of course a wonderful metaphor for the identity shifts that come with adolescence, and you will cheer Rama on every step of the way as she learns to change who she appears to be... and also learns who she really is.

Five "Phoboses"