◆ SpookStack

a a oN the actions of the eneny 0 know what motivates “the @ is to be able to exercise contro] over it. To be surprised by the actions of another is to risk the loss of. contro) which contains the destructiveness | _he fears himself. He substantiates his own potency by manipulatively controlling others through his omniscient understanding of their actions * and Simul taneously avoids the Toss of control the surprise of an unexpected ° act might cause. An ordered universe is simultaneously safe and reassuring of his omnipotence. In the obsessive struggle to establish such order, reality is the first victim. Intolerant of ambiguity, Cinque and his cohorts distort, bend and break the real to conform to the simplistic conception with which they can deal. | Teko takes clear vicarious pleasure in feeding Cinque’s megalo- “maniacal delusion regarding the Zebra Operation. His black hero is made the more important by the delusion while at the same time he can excoriate himself as the white who is responsible for bis hero's persecution. The psychologic of this is impeccable. The greater one's guilt, the greater one's power, for only the responsible and the powerful need feel guilt. The {innocent are merely the hapless victims of the powerful. Patricia's commitment to the SLA needs constant reassurance and con- firmation at this juncture. She is at great pains to justify her acts as “ altruistically motivated and thus in her eyes as non-criminal. She has carefully examined the ‘bank photographs and sought reassurance that her “comrades weapons were not pointed at her. | | The ad hominem arguments employed by all of the members of the SLA . deserve special comment. It is to be expected that “those who deal heavily ‘in the coin of rationalization of unconscious impulses would accept academic distinctions among motivations for acts as defensible justifications for