In my 40 years dealing with human beings, both in the civil and military arena, I had come across certain unique features of human conduct and behaviour. I formulated them as three LAWS of ABSURDITY. To me, they characterize the Extreme Negative Behaviour (ENB) of a normal human being. I had posted them some years back, too, but I feel it is relevant for all times, so I am re-posting it after refurbishing.
ENB is a mental posture of a normal human being, whereby, he tends to display negative responses in all sorts of situations. He might not be suffering from a psychic disorder. Do not also confuse with a schizophrenic personality. They are mentally sick people. I am talking about a Perfectly Normal Person (PNP) with no abnormalities. You will find such persons in your day to day dealings, who will announce their disagreement with you even before you have completed your argument or statement. These ‘Constant Nut Shakers' (CNS) have a perennial ‘NO’ on their lips if you suggest anything new to them. They become habitually negative. When the Negativity takes an extreme stand in their day to day conduct we refer to them as afflicted by ENB syndrome. Basically, this bulging club of people suffering from ENB Syndrome includes in its ranks government servants and professionals alike. There are no exceptions.
Having had dealt with thousands of human-beings over a career span of 40 years under different kind of situations, ranging from ‘death-defying missions’ through ‘Film Stars Nights’ to whimsical needs of ‘Hospitality Industry’, I have observed that ENB syndrome is more pronounced in an age group of people between 30-60 years of age. It is because of the auto-activation of ‘defence mechanism’ in the man suffering from ‘social and financial insecurity’. Ironically, this is the age group which is hyperactive in all spheres of human activity, at any given time. All of them might not be victim of ENB but bulk of them will display some tinges of ‘Negativism’ in their conduct.
While some amount of ‘Negative’ behaviour is not bad but its repetitive streak pushes man into the sphere of ABSURDITY. Generally, the man suffering from ‘ENB syndrome’ will be governed by the LAWS OF ABSURDITY. In my experiences of dealing with human beings, I have found there were THREE ‘Laws of Absurdity’ which characterize the general conduct of people under the spell of ENB Syndrome. These are: namely, Law of BIASED MIND, Law of PARANOID MIND and the Law of LOVE-FAILED MIND. I will briefly explain them in the paragraphs appended below.
‘THE LAW OF BIASED MIND’. They are prejudiced people who eat, drink, sleep and dream “HATE”. They are people with a mental disposition of, “I HATE EVIL BUT YOU ALONE ARE THE EVIL.” Their mind functions only one way----any other way, they come under ENB spell. They are UNI-DIRECTIONAL in their conduct. The moment they get into unfamiliar grounds they switch on their ENB button. The conduct and behaviour of our political parties and leaders, today can be described as such. They suffer from fixation of mind which guides them in their conduct. These people are always focused on their well set targets. They can be ordinary people or most powerful personas. Pakistani military leadership’s anti-India disposition is reflective of the biased mind which will never allow any peace in the subcontinent. Modern electronic ‘media rivalry’ is another example of prejudiced and biased people drum-beating their piety while exposing others. They have an agenda to pursue which they do relentlessly. All their noise on the ills of others is basically aimed at hiding their own weaknesses. These kinds of people can be talked out of their mental state if one shows empathy towards their cause. They ought to be persistently told as to how self-destructive their hate could be? They must be made to realize that their hate is more harmful to them than their intended target. If not handled properly and allowed to pursue their agenda with impunity they graduate into the second law of absurdity, which is Law of Paranoid Mind.
‘THE LAW OF PARANOID MIND’. They are mentally hardened and stiffened people who have a negative world view. Their excessive hatred galvanizes them into thinking that they alone were the indispensable tools of “goodness”. These are the people who think the world around them was terribly wrong and they have the charter to do something to bring order to it. They suffer from ‘self-righteousness’. They move around with the DROPPED SHUTTERS of mind. In fact, they are best described by Thomas Harris as people with mental dispositions as “I AM OK, YOU ARE NOT OK”. Despots, Dictators, Powerful-Men around the world might display this inclination and tendency. Hitler’s hatred of Jews or George Bush’s obsession with late Saddam Hussein and Ossama Bin Laden’s hatred of Americans are some of its finest examples. Initially, this impelled them into their infamous acts, later when they graduated into third law , it became their addiction. These people are inebriated with self acclaimed virtues of self- greatness and self-righteousness. They disdain dissidence and difference of opinion. Intolerance is their chief characteristic. Such people are murderers and killers at large. Fundamentalists, Religious-Terrorists, Militants and Radicals also fall under this category because they are regimented for a cause and desensitized of human compassion. To them it is always “Us versus They”. While ‘us’ denotes ‘Puritanism and Good’; ‘they’ stands for ‘Satan and Evil’. So, their simple analogy is EITHER YOU ARE WITH THEM OR YOU ARE AGAINST THEM. There is no third option. You got to deal with these people firmly and carefully. They need to be constantly bombarded with the view that the world ought to be seen without their tinted glasses. Squeeze out the sense of self-righteousness in them. The destructive tinge acquired by them, if not corrected, leads them into the third law of ‘Love Failed Mind’. This is the most dangerous state of a human mind.
‘THE LAW OF LOVE-FAILED MIND’. It states: “IF ‘SHE’ CAN NOT BE MINE, SHE CAN NOT BELONG TO ANY ONE ELSE, TOO. KILL THE DAMSEL”. This is a destructive mind at its best. It has no logic and it follows no logic other than the one to destroy the ‘object of desire’, it could not procure or acquire. To be very frank, they do not listen to logic and it is pointless engaging then in discussion. They are totally desensitised and dehumanised. While dealing with them---- EXPECT NO MERCY AND SHOW NO MERCY. Some of the hard core killers and terrorist leaders fall into this category. Pakistan’s Kashmir policy, since 1990, is the result of failed romanticism of the ‘unfinished agenda of 1947’. Talks or no talks, it will 'blow hot and cold' on Kashmir only to surprise uncouth Indian Leadership. In the wake of rising clout of MULLAHS and TALIBANS in Pakistan, India’s pipe dream of peace in the subcontinent is a distant far-cry because with the rise of the religious fanatics in Pakistan, the threat of a civil war there is highly on the cards. President ZARDARI is tottering on one leg since the end of his honey moon with NAWAZ SHARRIEF. He might collapse any day due to inherent imbalance in his posture.
You will thus see that ENB syndrome gradually leads a person to dangerous and diabolic actions. The acid test to identify them in the early stages is their failure to appreciate the ‘do-gooders’ of society. They can not praise anyone. In every “GOOD” they will find “UGLINESS”. In a lighter vein though, I find the leaders of two major national parties i.e. CONGRESS and BJP actually suffering from tinges of ENB. They just can not praise each other's good. So is true of MULAYAM SINGH YADAV and MAYAWATI. Now KARAT's Left has joined this "ENB Brigade" as is the case of MAMTA BANNERJEE of TNC. I won't find DMK & AIADMK in Chennai any different. Somehow they see all "red "in each others "blue". Such an irrationality and negativism can not allow INDIA to deal with TERRORISM effectively.
The people suffering from 'ENB Syndromme' will be virtually cribbing, crying and criticizing everything. It is easier to cure them in the initial stages. As soon a man shows negative trends, remedial measures must be initiated to guard him against falling prey to ENB. Once they pass on to "Second law of Absurdity", they become difficult to handle and endanger the society, both locally and globally. India suffers because of this syndromme afflicting its political leadership. What is your take?
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