What IS Wrong With Clinton (and those like him) (my title)

After reading threads about Clinton, and one of the posts, especially, "What is wrong with Clinton?" (which refers to his recent, disgraceful speech at Georgetown), it made me wonder, really, what is wrong with him, what created him and those like him, and why anyone admires him.

My input on "what's wrong with Clinton," those like him, and his "admirers," is for the purpose of enlightenment (myself included) and prevention (in ourselves and over those whom we have some control, i.e., our children).

I. Philosophically: In the Republic, Plato attributes Socrates as saying "in all of us, even in good men, there is a lawless wild-beast nature." But it is the tyrannical man who does not control this beast from within. Instead, he allows the beast to devour any remaining goodness, or "sense of shame," within him and, simultaneously, allows the basest part of himself to grow and control what and who he is. He progressively is taken over by this lawless nature and, ultimately, becomes enslaved to his vices. The tyrannical man's needs, according to Socrates, are "insatiable."

This type of person is the most "unjust and miserable" of all. They live in constant fear of betrayal, amongst others. He is superficial, "always . . . in a fury of passions and desires." It is worse with a tyrant in power, not only because those beneath him are subject to his whims, but also because he "is not master of himself." He has no temperance, patience, steadfastness, stability, or confidence, in himself or others. I would say this type of man has no kind of respectable characteristics nor anything good that would attract genuine loyalty.

His fear (loss of power, prestige, possessions) drives him to behave in ways dishonorable and despicable: he is "obliged to practice the greatest adulation and servility, and to be the flatterer of the vilest of mankind. He has desires which he is utterly unable to satisfy, and has more wants than anyone. . . ."

Because the tyrannical individual's desires and needs are neverending, the good originally within has become diminutive or non-existent. Greater power, therefore, makes him more corrupt and, consequently, he becomes "more jealous, more faithless, more unjust, more friendless, more impious, than he was at first." Socrates also said, according to Plato, that an unpunished tyrant is worse yet.

II. Psycho/Social: According to Elliot Aronson (The Social Animal), people are subject to "cognitive disonance: a state of tension that occurs whenever an individual simultaneously holds two cognitions (ideas, attitudes, beliefs, opinions) that are psychologically inconsistent." In other words, when you believe one thing but act in contradiction to your belief, you experience cognitive disonance. When this occurs, people seek to justify their "wrong" behaviors so that neither they nor others will think badly of them.

Aronson writes "people don't like to see or hear things that conflict with their deeply held beliefs or wishes." Deep-seated attitudes are hard to change because we distort what we hear/see to fit our beliefs. The stronger our beliefs, the greater the distortion. Truth is filtered through our biases. And it becomes our own form of truth, or what my professor called our own "fog." We do not question our strongly held beliefs, we seek to justify them. Examples of this type of filtering abound. Aronson cites one study performed on cigarette smokers. (Don't flame me, I smoke.) Smokers were told studies showed that cigarettes cause cancer. They didn't want to feel stupid for continuing to smoke, so smokers sought to justify their behavior by mentally discrediting the studies. By doing so, they justifyied their behavior but continued harming themselves.

This kind of justification process has been applied to other behavior, such as investments (i.e., emotional or financial). There is a direct correlation between the greater the investment, the greater the loyalty. Why? Because you want others to think you're smart. If you're smart, you would only invest in smart people. If you've made a "major investment" in a person, it's difficult to admit you made a "huge mistake" without feeling foolish (hence not smart). This would explain why some individuals stick by a "poor investment."

III. Spiritually: In the Bible, it says that when people repeatedly commits acts which they know in their hearts are wrong, they are given over by God to a depraved state of mind. (Therefore God gave them up to uncleaness through the lusts of their own hearts . . ., Rom. 1:24; God gave them up unto vile affections, Rom. 1:26; God gave them over to a reprobate mind, Rom. 1:28.)

I suppose you could say the more wrong you do, the more callous you become to doing wrong and the easier it becomes to continue in wrongdoing.

Based, generally, on the above, I have come to the conclusion that Clinton has been encouraged, from his youth, to allow his "wild-beast nature" to grow unchecked. He has not been held accountable for his actions. He proclaims himself a Christian and attends church, holding his Bible for the cameras, but not holding himself to the mirror of its truths. He has surrounded himself with people he could "buy," who, through their own cognitive dissonance, could not allow themselves to admit or perceive the truth of who or what he is (a shameful and base human being). His followers live in a fog, filtering out this truth, thereby, encouraging him and themselves to become more blinded to the truth and, he, more base. God is the judge of all. I do not proclaim to be God. But He also said, you shall know them by their fruits. We have the right to judge their behavior and actions to determine right from wrong. And wrong should be punished, not encouraged.

There are many men like Clinton, spoiled good ole boys. They are the bad boys, women love them. They are bad boys from birth. They are totally self absorbed. They do not get to be President of the United States. We all know some, and we all put up with the ones we know. Why? They are charming, mostly good looking, momma's boys. They have a vision and it is of them being adored and rich and invincable. This one made it to the top. Too bad, so sad.

The quote from Plato is particularly telling.

While I re-read Plato, Book IX, and that particular part of the book, I felt as if he was describing everything about Clinton. The nature of human beings remain constant; unfortunately, so do recurrences of tyrannical men.

...he is the ANTI-CHRIST...

Not true. At least according to some of the Nostradomus scholars. The 3rd A-C (Napolean, Hitler the first two) is supposed to be killed early (30 days?) in the conflict that the A-C starts. However, the downside is that the conflict is supposed to last a really, really long time. Can't recall the details.

Well, there may be a little truth to what you say, but I'm gaging my theory on x42's reaction the first few days after the attack - he actually went into the streets of New York and accosted anyone on the street who would listen and told them how he tried so many times to get OBL. If that action doesn't reek of guilt, I don't know what does.

He's the ANTI-CHRIST
The 3rd A-C (Napolean, Hitler the first two) is supposed to be killed early (30 days?) in the conflict that the A-C starts.

According to the Bible, the 3rd A-C is probably more accurately portrayed as Damien in Damien Omen, the movie. (Not everything in the movie, of course, is accurate.) He is supposed to rise up from a European country (the "little horn") and unite them. From my memory of what I read, he appears to be benevolent, disguising his evil. I believe he has powers, but they are not from God. The A-C fools the world about his plans for peace and everyone's welfare. Then conflict does break out. And, no, I don't believe he lives for very long, but I believe he's in place for longer than 30 days.

he actually went into the streets of New York and accosted anyone on the street who would listen and told them how he tried so many times to get OBL. If that action doesn't reek of guilt. . .

I didn't know Clinton did that. I did hear he walked the streets. There's another thread posted that Clinton knew where OBL was but didn't go after him.

I also heard a Congressman (Dana ?) on the Savage show saying he had contacts in Afghanistan (I think he was there as Ambassador or something, not sure) that knew where OBL was, it was a credible tip; he personally contacted the CIA (a couple years ago?), telling them the contact has credible info. of OBL's whereabouts, for the CIA to contact this individual. The congressman made another call to the CIA after a week of waiting; they were unresponsive. He finally went to Congressional Committee (Security?), which prompted a meeting with the CIA, FBI, and the Committee (this almost a month after his initial call to the CIA). Nothing happened. It was suggested by Savage, and the Congressman agreed, that Clinton put the kabosh on going after OBL. (Maybe Clinton can feel guilt.)

there have been a lot of good analysis on clinton's character, and as someone put it earlier in this thread, several psychologists could make a living studying him. another angle i would like to discuss is his liberal views, because i believe that

liberal+selfcentered = disaster.

i doubt that there is anything new here, but it probably is worth reviewing. going back 800 years in western culture, the aristocracy ran various states. no democracy. kings ruled, but they ruled with the help of the aristocracy. the aristocrats truly believed that they knew what was best for the people.

since that time, democracy has been given to the people, albeit slowly. people are no longer 'subject' to the king's rule, but rather are 'citizens' with the right of self rule. the aristicrats since this time have been trying to get the state to rule over people, mostly to foster their own agenda on 'citizens'. they have found that through the proper propaganda they can work somewhat effectively in a democracy. democracy, after all, does not guarantee freedom, it only guarantees that the people get the government that they select.

in short, because of his character flaws, because of our press and because some want to force their agendas on the majority, clinton became king and the democratic party became the aristocracy during the prior 8 years.

. . . because of our press and because some want to force their agendas on the majority, clinton became king and the democratic party became the aristocracy

The press, as you know, was protected originally so that they could be the watchdog and whistle-blower on government. (That no longer occurs on the alphabet channels, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN). The press has become another aristocracy, aiding and abetting the "criminals and crooks" who, more often than not are democrats, who run the democrat agenda, the ACLU, etc. My understanding of the democratic party of today: it no longer resembles what it stood for at inception; rather, it has become a machine (or aristocracy, as you put it) that runs over the citizens, forcing them to accept what the democrat higher-ups want: a socialistic/communistic empire.

. . .the term Democrat is now synonomous with Socialist/Marxist/Communist/etc.But try selling that to Greta Van Sustern,or anyone else at the alphbet soup news agencies.

I can hear Bush Sr. saying: "not gonna happen."

Very well thought out post there Nic. You have tried the doggone near impossible. Figgure out the demented mind of William Jefferson Clinton. You might try that link from Fraulein for the Narcissistic Personality Disorder because he is probably that and more. He has a very complex personality and a great deal of it is due to his upbringing and his not being held accountable for his actions. Heck, he still is not held accountable. I can almost bet he is rationalizing his disbarrment before the US Supreme Court as a bunch of folks out to get him rather than realizing that HE is HIS problem.

Biblically you are correct. In theological terms he is an unrepentent sinner and until he repents and gets that right with God, he will be tormented. You know and I know that the Bible he carried to church was just for show. We even know that one Easter Sunday he was photographed coming out of church and had his rendevouz with Monica that afternoon while Hillary and Chelsea were upstairs in the residence portion. The man is guiltless and a shame to the office which he held. Keep up the good work man!

thanks for the bump. Maybe i will learn how to do that.

"I have come to the conclusion that Clinton has been encouraged, from his youth, to allow his "wild-beast nature" to grow unchecked. He has not been held accountable for his actions. He proclaims himself a Christian and attends church, holding his Bible for the cameras, but not holding himself to the mirror of its truths. He has surrounded himself with people he could "buy," who, through their own cognitive dissonance, could not allow themselves to admit or perceive the truth of who or what he is (a shameful and base human being). His followers live in a fog, filtering out this truth, thereby, encouraging him and themselves to become more blinded to the truth and, he, more base. God is the judge of all. I do not proclaim to be God. But He also said, you shall know them by their fruits. We have the right to judge their behavior and actions to determine right from wrong. And wrong should be punished, not encouraged."

Wrong SHOULD Be Punished...MUD

BTW...RE-IMPEACH. CONVICT. DETHRONE.
DISBAR. DE-PENSION. DE-LEGITIMIZE.
INDICT. CONVICT. IMPRISON. DISCARD KEY.

"Bill Clinton is a bonafide psychopath."

Yep...and the Federal Department of Justice, the United States Congress, and the American People must go "ON-RECORD" for all the World to see how a REAL Democracy Punishes its SocioPathicTyrants!!

Sic Semper Tyrannis!!

FReegards...MUD

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.