Moonbattery.com is proud to have had among its readers Professor Barbara Oakley of Oakland University, whose recent paper (PDF) on pathological altruism shines academic light on malignant do-gooderism:
Zitat Pathological altruism can be conceived as behavior in which attempts to promote the welfare of another, or others, results instead in harm that an external observer would conclude was reasonably foreseeable. …
A working definition of a pathological altruist then might be a person who sincerely engages in what he or she intends to be altruistic acts but who (in a fashion that can be reasonably anticipated) harms the very person or group he or she is trying to help; or a person who, in the course of helping one person or group, inflicts reasonably foreseeable harm to others beyond the person or group being helped; or a person who in reasonably anticipatory way becomes a victim of his or her own altruistic actions.
James Taranto gives an obvious example:
ZitatUniversities altruistically established admissions standards that discriminated in favor of minorities, a policy that proved pathological because underqualified minority students struggled to succeed and even qualified ones face the stigma of being assumed to be “affirmative action” beneficiaries.
Any clear-minded person would see that promoting the unqualified based on their race hurts everyone; but bleeding heart moonbats drunk on their own deranged righteousness are anything but clear-minded.
Another obvious example is the War on Poverty. Since 1964, $15 trillion has been stolen from American citizens and flushed away in the name of eradicating poverty. The effects have been almost entirely negative, as an objective observer would expect. Obviously, by punishing people for working and rewarding them for not working, the welfare state limits wealth creation, and poverty is the absence of wealth.
But to the moonbat, the only thing that is obvious is how good they feel about themselves after confiscating other people’s money and lavishing it upon doe-eyed urchins. Even after intergenerational welfare dependence has destroyed whole cities, the liberal continues to inflict the same undeniably pernicious policies, not out of malice but altruism.
Leftist politicians elected by well-meaning but misguided liberal voters may also be motivated by pathological altruism — or their conscious objective may be pure evil. The results are indistinguishable.
"Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual." Thomas Jefferson
"If people can’t trust not only the executive branch but also don’t trust Congress, and don’t trust federal judges, to make sure that we’re abiding by the Constitution with due process and rule of law, then we’re going to have some problems here." - Barack Obama, June 7, 2013
ZitatAnother obvious example is the War on Poverty. Since 1964, $15 trillion has been stolen from American citizens and flushed away in the name of eradicating poverty. The effects have been almost entirely negative, as an objective observer would expect. Obviously, by punishing people for working and rewarding them for not working, the welfare state limits wealth creation, and poverty is the absence of wealth.
Zitat“I'll have those n*****s voting Democratic for the next 200 years. [Touting his underlying intentions for the "Great Society" programs, LBJ confided with two like-minded governors on Air Force One]”
As usual - their motives are crystal clear. At least to those who wish to see them.
RIGHT'S RIGHT 
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Mon Jun 17, 2013 3:25 pm
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