Götterdämmerung Syndrome – “as death approaches, they [narcissists] do their best to destroy as much of the world as they can”.

I’ve just reached the half-way point of The Ministry For The Future and the passage in the image below stands out.

A quote from an article on the website Psychology Today called ‘How Narcissism and Leadership go Hand-in-Hand’ reads as follows.

“Not all leaders have narcissistic traits, of course, but it’s certainly common to find narcissistic tendencies in positions of power simply because of the benefits that leadership offers to narcissists.”

And get this from an article in The Conversation:

“2024 is going to be democracy’s biggest year ever. In a remarkable milestone in human history, over four billion people – more than half of the world’s population across more than 40 countries – will go to the polls.”

This is the year folks. I wonder how many people eligible to vote realise just how much power they put in other people’s hands with the outcome of an election and how much this matters in 2024 as global temperatures rise, biodiversity shrinks and the rich and privileged look to further fortify their accumulated wealth.

If we end up with leaders who suffer from this Syndrome then I dread to think how much more slippery the slope we are on will become….