By Bill Eddy
High conflict people (HCPs) have patterns of behavior that are highly dysfunctional and create conflicts, rather than resolving or reducing them. Most people know a few people like this. They are difficult in interpersonal relationships, so most people learn to avoid them or deal with them at arm’s length in their family, at work, or in their neighborhood. But when they go into politics, they can become much more troublesome and dangerous. How do they persuade others (especially voters) to give them such power?
Since HCP politicians don’t have much to offer in terms of problem-solving skills, leadership ability, or desire to serve others, they create an image of themselves as a hero. They are good at getting attention and creating drama, which sells on our modern high-emotion media. In order to get elected they take a different route from most politicians. They create a 3-point emotional message to sell themselves as a hero to voters and other politicians, which distracts everyone from their lack of skills and the reality of their destructive behavior. This is a worldwide phenomenon which appears to be increasing today.
Fantasy Crisis Triad
The message that they convey is that there is a terrible crisis, which is caused by an evil villain, which requires a superhero (the politician) to solve. This 3-part message is communicated emotionally, which means that it gets into your brain more unconsciously than logically. By quickly stringing these three parts together, we tend to absorb most or all of this triad without even thinking.
This works because we think differently in a crisis. We human beings tend to be independent-minded and dislike being told what to do. However, when there’s a crisis, we band together and follow the leader. Our brains tell us to stop analyzing and quickly shift to a fight, flight or freeze response, based on what the leader tells us to do. This works when there’s a fire, a school shooting, or a flood. You follow the leader. A hero!
When someone who looks important tells us that there’s a crisis, we tend to take it on faith, because there usually isn’t time to fully analyze the situation. High conflict politicians keep their language highly emotional so that their listeners and followers will keep reacting emotionally, rather than examining the underlying issues. Fear, anger, and resentment are easy to keep stoked if someone repeats their emotional message over and over again. The simpler the message, the more it gets through to your emotional brain. Your brain’s amygdala is designed to protect you from sudden danger and shift you into quick action (fight, flight, freeze) rather than slow analysis (gee, is this really a crisis?). High conflict politicians know how to hook your amygdala.
The Fantasy Crisis
The idea that there is a crisis becomes taken for granted when its linked with an evil villain and a superhero. The whole package seems frightening. There’s no discussion of whether its even true or not. The whole discussion shifts to the alleged hero and whether or not to take the action that he or she is demanding. Whether to follow the leader or not. Should we take this action or not take this action?
But its important to really analyze and discuss whether there is a crisis. If there’s not, and it’s just a high-conflict politician trying to get us to shut off our logical thinking, then we risk taking action that may create a real crisis. In today’s modern world, most political situations are not a crisis but rather a problem to solve that requires full understanding and full analysis of the best solutions. Our world is too interdependent to for us to blindly react to a fantasy crisis with extreme solutions. That’s how real crises are created.
None of this is to say that there aren’t serious problems today that need to be addressed. But they are not crises that require us to blindly follow the leader. No one person can fix today’s large problems. There is time for many people to think and to discuss rational solutions. Climate change, immigration, income inequality, automation, healthcare policy, terrorism, and so forth are problems to solve rather than crises that need us to stop thinking.
The Fantasy Villain
HCPs are preoccupied with blaming others—their Targets of Blame—instead of taking responsibility themselves. They tend to see problems as caused by one person acting badly, rather than by many complicated factors. Few modern problems are caused by one individual.
Yet pointing the finger at an evil villain has worked over and over again throughout history as a way to gather followers to fight the alleged villain. Most people are used to this concept as scapegoating. But when it’s tied to a crisis—even a fantasy crisis—people are more likely to accept the extreme statements made about such a person or group.
When picking such a fantasy villain (or Target of Blame), HCP politicians tend to consider the following criteria, as I describe in my new book Why We Elect Narcissists and Sociopaths—And How We Can Stop!
1. Somewhat familiar to voters
2. Relatively few in number
3. Easy to define in a word or two
4. Viewed as very powerful when they are really weak and a small part of the population
5. Already the target of some resentment
6. Resented because of their recent progress
Over the course of the last hundred years, such fantasy villains have been: Jews, Muslims, socialists, communists, capitalists, immigrants, peasant farmers, intellectuals, and many others. There is often no connection between these fantasy villains and real problems. So they have to be associated with a fantasy crisis to be seen as believable villains. This is why the Fantasy Crisis Triad is so powerful. Each part is a fantasy, but all put together they somehow become believable to a significant number of people. Fear and learned hatred of these fantasy villains has allowed thousands and millions of people worldwide to be ostracized or killed off by the most powerful high conflict politicians.
The Fantasy Hero
Last, but not least, is the hero. Without a fantasy crisis and a fantasy villain or group of villains, they appear to be clowns. No one would ever elect them. Yet by wrapping themselves in the Fantasy Crisis Triad, they are not only tolerated as leaders but worshipped as leaders. Because their messages are so emotional, they are able to form a highly-emotional relationship with their followers. They become infatuated with the high conflict politician and are willing to accept any statement, policy, or even a sudden change in policies. It’s not about logic or political beliefs. Those can easily be sacrificed for a beloved leader.
In addition, because of this emotional relationship with their followers, their followers will defend them against any criticism or even true revelation of bad behavior. Each attack by outsiders strengthens the relationship of the HCP politician with their insiders—their followers and voters. Since HCP politicians create an Us-against-Them emotional bond right from the start of their political careers, their followers are immunized against believing or caring about any negative news about their hero. This is particularly true of harmful information produced by journalists about the hero. That’s why journalists are so brutally treated in many countries in today’s world, either through bitter criticism by high conflict politicians, or even disappearance or murder in some countries.
Conclusion
The power of the Fantasy Crisis Triad is not in its misrepresentation of facts, but in its emotional appeal. High conflict politicians worldwide rely heavily on the emotions of fear, anger, and resentment toward their Targets of Blame (the fantasy villains), while professing love for their followers and expecting and getting love in return (for the fantasy hero). They communicate all three parts of their Fantasy Crisis Triad on an almost daily basis to their communities or nations, as emotions can be powerful but fleeting—in comparison to logic and consistent policies—so that they need constant repetition to keep the emotional relationship strong.
But we don’t have to sit by helplessly watching such extreme politicians manipulate their populations. The way to stop the power of a Fantasy Crisis Triad is through constant repetition of accurate information and repeating these three questions: Is this really a crisis? Is this really a villain? Is this really a hero?
Bill Eddy is a therapist, lawyer, co-founder of the High Conflict Institute and author of WHY WE ELECT NARCISSISTS AND SOCIOPATHS – AND HOW WE CAN STOP!
Image by Elias Sch. from Pixabay