World Net Daily ... China has its coronavirus; however, receiving far less attention is an ideological virus infecting the United States. It is "pathological altruism." Both are killers – the latter contributing to the death of our culture. Key to understanding this virus is how it begins and where it unintentionally ends.

 

The term "pathological altruism" first appeared in scientific literature in 1984, generating minimal impact. The title of a 2012 book used the term, again fostering little attention. Yet today this virus literally is killing our culture, based on negatively impacting our self-perception.

 

Pathological means results "caused or affected by a disease." Altruism means acting "to promote someone else's welfare, even at a risk or cost to ourselves." Simply stated, altruism is selflessness – a traditional value in many countries.

 

Taken together, these words – from the viewpoint of an outside observer – describe an illness taking selflessness to a self-deprecating extreme. It is "any behavior or personal tendency in which either the stated aim or implied motivation is to promote the welfare of another but, instead of overall beneficial outcomes, the altruism … has irrational and substantial negative consequences to … the self."

 

In a nutshell, pathological altruism is what happens when good intentions go awry. Its impact prevails today due to our adopting extreme political correctness. While accepting avoidance of certain expressions or actions tending to exclude, marginalize or insult others, we accept a transition that Star Trek's Mr. Spock would find "highly illogical."

 

Political correctness, as a means of stimulating awareness within a larger group for a smaller group's sensitivities, has good intentions. But we have allowed it to get out of hand in some cases. Effectively, it has evolved to the point where those who may unknowingly be victimizers, are subjected to tremendous guilt, obliviously then transitioning into a new victims' group themselves. Pathological altruism is the consequence of political correctness "gone wild."

 

An example of this occurred last August. Actress Rosanna Arquette, caught up in San Francisco 49er quarterback Colin Kaepernick's decision to disrespect the American flag by kneeling instead of standing for it, tweeted an image of herself, also kneeling in front of the flag. It was sent out with the words, "I will never stand for the flag again." Two days later, suffering guilt pangs symptomatic of pathological altruism, she tweeted, "I'm sorry I was born white and privileged. It disgusts me. And I feel so much shame."

 

This transition occurs as alleged victimizers are tagged as intolerant, sexist, racist, etc. An example of how extreme this has gone is reflected by the extent to which some of its advocates go to feed the feeling of white guilt. Take, for example, the claim that white milk is actually a racist symbol of white nationalism.

 

Those impacted by the pathological altruism virus seem unable to accept common logic: Experiencing guilt or shame for something over which one has no control, such as one's race, is absurd. Disconcerting is how easily influenced some people, like Arquette, are who, after being exposed to such extreme political correctness thinking, accordingly condemn themselves.

 

Pathological altruism also negatively impacts on free speech in the West. In Canada, for example, following the killing of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasam Soleimani, Canadians could not refer to him as a "terrorist" so as not to offend Muslims.

 

Pathological altruism impacts in other "highly illogical" ways. Signs reading "Black Lives Matter" or "Muslim Lives Matter" are acceptable, but those suggesting "All Lives Matter" – reflecting the intent of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to which we all subscribe – are not. Thus, specific smaller groups gain pedestal status.

 

Victim groups, seeking forcefully to impose their views upon all as the mainstream's view, rely on pathological altruistic reasoning to do so. The reasoning goes that their group, alone, is the true victim, so anyone outside of their group lacks similar entitlement and should, therefore, feel guilty. The success of ideology thus depends upon those outside the alleged victim group blindly agreeing to this assertion.

 

Pathological altruism is wreaking havoc in European democracies. In welcoming immigrants, it has caused countries like Sweden to tolerate their guests' behavior – behavior accepted in the guest's culture but not in Swedish culture. An influx of Muslims over the past several decades has given rise to rape crimes in which Swedish women are victimized. This has led to Sweden now being recognized as the "Rape Capital of the West." But, rather than initiating a sweeping crackdown on such offenses, Swiss police simply advise women not to go out alone at night. And, the Swedish media, in reporting rapes, refuse to describe Middle Eastern assailants as such, instead describing them simply as Swedes. Unbelievably, pathological altruism has transitioned the country from a culture of "all human rights matter" to one of "only Muslim male rights matter."

 

Pathological altruism negatively impacts the world of women's sports as well. In an effort to be all inclusive of transgender women who, in certain events such as weightlifting, have a biological advantage over their biological female competitors, we deny the latter the opportunity to compete on a level playing field.

 

As the U.S. and other democracies strive for inclusivity, they naively over-compensate by "pedestalizing" certain victim groups, doing so oblivious to the self-deprecating impact it has on Western culture. Pathological altruism clearly starts out as a sincere attempt to help others, but left unchecked, it can transition into something totally unintended. Those understanding this often seek to take advantage of it.

 

Pathological altruism is as divisive as it is rampant. China is more likely to find a cure for its virus before we even recognize we suffer from a self-inflicted ideological virus that threatens to destroy our culture.