ISIS, cults and alcoholism: why I’m an interventionist libertarian.
Cults are Usually Led by Addicts and are Capable of Great Atrocities. This Includes ISIS.
The more precise the generally recognized meaning of a word, the more useful it is. The physical sciences have done well in providing such meaning to words, while most social sciences have lagged far behind. When everyone ascribes different meanings to words, rational discourse is impossible and social progress is difficult.
“Cult” is one of those ill-defined words. The most useful part of the common definition is “excessive devotion directed at a particular figure or object.” I suggest that since the devotion to those figures is quasi-religious, such excess includes that directed at ideas. I would add that cult leaders are so venerated their minions are willing to engage in extreme acts without question if that is the leader’s wish.
This is true of both religious and political cults. Those often identified as religious cults include the Ku Klux Klan, David Koresh’s Branch Davidians, Jim Jones’ Peoples Temple and L. Ron Hubbard’s Scientology.* Such religious cults include those on both the perceived right and left wings of the political spectrum, but usually authoritarian on the Nolan Chart. Those perceived as political cultists also come from all sides. They include Ayn Rand, who while libertarian in her political beliefs demanded followers adhere to strict ideological purity without question, as well as Marlene Dixon, who headed up the socialist Democratic Workers Party.
Except for possibly Koresh, all of these cult leaders were well-known addicts. Many (if not most) of the top brass in the Klan were alcoholics, Jim Jones was an alcohol and amphetamine addict and Hubbard used a potpourri of drugs. Rand’s favorite was amphetamine and Dixon’s alcohol. David Koresh never knew his biological father which, because his father wasn’t dead, is near proof of alcoholism in one or both parents. His mother cohabitated with a violent drunk until he was 4 years old, when she placed him with her mother for three years. The creation of a cult seems to nearly always require addiction in the cult leader, or at least serious and un-treated codependency—living with and, therefore, being subject to psychological, emotional and often physical abuse by an alcohol or other-drug addict for an extended period.
Part of the commonly accepted definition is that cults are “relatively small.” When we eliminate this unnecessary size restriction, we allow the inclusion of large groups expressing excessive devotion and willing to engage in extreme acts. We can then include as cult leaders those who create a “cult of personality” as heads of state. These include North Korea’s rulers Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un, Josef Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Slobodan Milosevic, Saparmurat Niyazov, Che Guevara, Saddam Hussein, Yasser Arafat, Idi Amin and Mao Zedong. All were alcohol or other-drug addicts.** The fact that addiction can’t be proven in some cultish heads of state, including Hugo Chavez, Castro and Pol Pot, doesn’t mean it didn’t exist.
Based on this understanding, “cult” might include Muslims who argue that Mohamed would support radical jihadism, an especially vile form of terrorism.
On numerous occasions, I have pointed to the likelihood that terrorism is nearly always rooted in substance addiction. In my article on terrorism, I argue for addiction in Osama bin Laden. Yasser Arafat’s amphetamine addiction was the main topic in the very early TAR # 4. The role of amphetamines and other drugs in suicide bombers was discussed in TAR # 13, in which I concluded, “If I am right, Islamic terrorism is motivated by an addiction-driven need for domination and control, which is no different from that of the street thug or in-home terrorist.” I connected the dots between severe parental drug addiction or addiction in the jihadist before he or she converts to radical Islam in TAR # 24 (which, if you link to nothing else, is worth re-reading). The possible role of Khat in fueling terrorism is hypothesized in TAR # 53. The mindset of the granddaddy of all political terrorists, Karl Marx, is best explained by his obvious alcoholism, for which the case is made in the review of the month in TAR # 68. Finally, the brothers Tsarnaev—the Boston marathon bombers—are shown as likely addicts in TAR # 73.
The fact that terrorism is an indication of addiction in the cult leader doesn’t mean every minion is one. By no means were the 900 men, women and children who followed Jim Jones to Jonestown, Guyana and then committed suicide, all addicts. However, Jones was one, which gave him a need to control others, which helped him to sell dangerous ideas to those who were susceptible. These, no doubt, included many who were deeply affected by extremely abusive alcohol and other-drug addicts, as well as others who themselves were such addicts for periods of time.
On a different scale, not every German was an addict, but Adolf Hitler was. I doubt there were more than a relatively few barbiturate addicts among the Chinese, but Mao Zedong was one. Similarly, not every person in the territory now controlled by ISIS who wants to live under Sharia is an addict, but based on the fact that addiction can be proven in nearly every despot in recent history (and even many long ago, in whom addiction is much more difficult to prove), the self-proclaimed caliph of ISIS and cult leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is probably heavily using one or more substances addictively.
The behaviors of his minions include the hacking of limbs and beheading of innocents—whose heads are then put on display (the skeptical may wish to Google “ISIS beheadings”). They include stoning women to death for committing adultery. They include engaging in slave trade. And, they include using chemical weapons such as white phosphorus which, by burning from the inside out once the chemical enters the bloodstream, leads to a tortured death. While there is no direct evidence of addiction, the extreme violence, hatred and other behaviors suggest addiction in at least their leader.
Such barbarians would certainly be capable of mass murder on a much larger scale—they even proclaim that is their intention. Hitler would have launched nuclear warheads if he had the capability. Russian friends tell me Stalin, who had access to nukes before he died, didn’t launch them only because he didn’t have the means of delivery. Given the fact that followers are often reduced to non-thinking automatons or, as in the case of North Korea, families are threatened with certain death, they would certainly carry out an order to launch such weapons or, for lack of technological capability, smuggle them into the United States.
If there is a high likelihood an addicted despot—usually if not always, a cult leader—has access to weapons of mass destruction, such a leader and his followers need to be taken out. As pointed out in Drunks, Drugs and Debits, we cannot predict how destructive an alcohol or other-drug addict may become, or when. Recovering addicts admit they were, when using, capable of anything—which means, anything. If a cult gains access to WMD, there is little doubt it will use them. Recent articles have pointed to the presence of WMD in Iraq (albeit, older, less stable ones). If ISIS is able to access and use these weapons, do not doubt that many will die. In a world in which non-proliferation of WMD could become a pleasant memory, ISIS must be eliminated. Even otherwise non-interventionist libertarians—who believe the purpose of government is to protect us from thugs, foreign and domestic—should support this.
* After complaining about being paid a penny per word for his science fiction writing, Hubbard famously told a 1948 science fiction convention, “If a man really wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion.” He proved this after founding Scientology in 1952.
** While there is little mention anywhere of use of substances by most of these, I have seen what I consider adequate proof of addictive use by all of them.