On Tyrants as Abortion Survivors

In this paper, an extension of an earlier paper (Sonne, 2002b), the author
advances the thesis that murderous sibling rivalry, one of the psychological and social consequences of the
threat of being aborted, is a major dynamic operative in “ethnic cleansing,” eugenic movements, racial, religious
and international conflict, mass murders, serial killings, and sometimes even in marital and parenting behavior.
Destructive acting out in a variety of social contexts is a universal phenomenon that has been operative
throughout the history of the human race for centuries, and it is still prominent today. To explain these behaviors
as derivative from abuse, conflicts of desire, or self-object distortions occurring during oedipal or pre-oedipal
stages of development leaves much to be desired, whereas explaining them as abortion survivor symptoms
derivative from trauma occurring during prenatal life is much more illuminating, and is applicable to a wider
range of social interactions. In particular, considering tyrannical murderous sibling rivalry as a dynamic in such
well known public figures as Adolph Hitler, Francisco Franco, Joseph Stalin, Benito Mussolini, Slobodan
Milosevic, Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden can be of great help in understanding the origin and
motivation of their destructive behaviors. The theme of tyrannical siblings is, “No one can have what I didn’t get,
what is rightfully mine that has been taken away from me. I will psychologically or physically destroy these
persons, and also anyone who gives or gave to them or supports them. Revenge is what I want more than
anything else, and this is more important to me than being loved or cared for. I hate others, but I also loathe
myself so much that if I die in seeking this, I will only have gratified my own wish for suicide.” KEY WORDS:
Tyrants, abortion survivors, prenatal psychic trauma, threat of being aborted, sibling rivalry, revenge, murder,
suicide, love, religion.