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[Gerald]

A few miles from home today
I saw a new sign post
John Galt Road.
 

[royster]

From Serendipity.Li, here is a recent article that's bound to whack a hornets' nest or two. royster


    Psychopaths Among Us
            How their evil influence may be minimized (eventually)
                         By Peter Meyer
 
In February 2010 a reader (Mary in Penn Valley) of Richard K. Moore's mailing list wrote this to him:

How about addressing the issue of the sociopaths among us? There's lots of material on how sociopaths come to rule the world because they lie and because the one who tells the biggest lie in every situation of conflict/competition wins! If we could imagine a world without sociopaths, maybe we'd have all the answers right there.

And Richard replied:


There have always been sociopaths, and there always will be sociopaths. Just as there have always been saints, and teachers, and caregivers, and visionaries, and poets, etc. Human nature has not changed in many millennia and it won't change in the next many millennia. Every culture has the same percentage of infants who are potential sociopaths, but not every culture has the same percentage of adult sociopaths. If we want to "imagine a world" that is better than the one we know, then the place to look is at the range of cultures that have existed in the world, now and in the past.

I comment on this as follows:

Firstly I think it is too generous to describe these individuals as "sociopaths". They are psychopaths, in the sense of Andrew M. Lobaczewski: http://www.cassiopaea.org/cass/political_ponerology_lobaczewski.htm

Most people think of psychopaths as axe-wielding maniacs, but the characteristic of a psychopath is the absence of an ordinary sense of right and wrong, or in other words, the lack of a conscience. This enables them to manipulate and exploit other people without any qualms. But they look just like normal humans, so normal humans generally don't recognize them, and generally don't understand how psychopaths can think and act as they do.

See Beyond Insanity and Bush isn't a Moron, He's a Cunning Sociopath.

Psychopaths do immense harm to the rest of us by seeking and attaining positions of power and influence (for their own gratification), frequently within national governments, where they often influence policy and legislation.

I don't agree with Richard's view (if I understand him correctly) that we just have to accept that there are and always will be psychopaths among us, and that all we can do is to try to educate them. Education is not likely to be effective because this is a genetic condition.

I don't think that "imagining a world without psychopaths" will be effective. What's needed is a practical solution to the problem. Locking them up or killing them all is not practical. I can suggest a solution, although it will take ten years or more to take effect.

Since psychopaths have no conscience, this manifests itself in their behavior, although adult psychopaths are usually clever enough to conceal their nature from normal humans. But a 10-year-old child is not so sophisticated, so a perceptive clinical observation of 10-year-olds by trained psychologists could detect those who are psychopaths. They could then be labeled as such and prevented from ever attaining positions of power where they could do harm, particularly in government.

If George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Tony Blair, etc. — all of them obviously psychopathic — had been identified as psychopaths when they were children, and prevented from obtaining positions in government, then the world would not be in the state it is today.

But this solution is unlikely to be implemented in the foreseeable future because 'lacking a conscience' is not a category currently recognized in clinical psychology. That's because possessing a conscience means knowing right from wrong as regards behavior toward other people, and modern psychology, trying to emulate the natural sciences and to be 'objective', eschews 'value judgements'.

But objective actually means intersubjectively confirmable by competent observers, and the sort of behavior in 10-year-olds which would indicate a diagnosis of psychopathy could be confirmed by many trained observers, if looked for. But currently it is not.

So normal humans will continue to be harmed by the prevalence of psychopaths in influential positions in society, because of modern psychology's obsession with being 'value-neutral'.

http://www.serendipity.li/bush/detection_of_psychopaths.htm

[royster]

I'm not sure I'm in agreement with his approach, but it sure is food for thought.

[opetero]

Two ways to deal with sociopaths besides identifying them and formally keeping them from power as suggested above.

1) Teach everyone how to identify such traits and not fall prey to sociopaths. This is less formal than above but would have the same result. It would be very difficult if not impossible for sociopaths to gain positions of power and trust if the majority was aware of the person's nature.

2) Do away with positions of power so sociopaths would not be able to leverage themselves to where they can harm others. This would be much more difficult but is my preferred solution.

[royster]

Both are excellent suggestions, Peter. It's "education" but of a higher benefit. When the majority are made aware not only of the modus operendi sociopaths use, but the consequences of such agendas, it will be much easier to address the disease, and for some, even suggest forms of rehabilitation.

[opetero]

Both are excellent suggestions, Peter. It's "education" but of a higher benefit. When the majority are made aware not only of the modus operendi sociopaths use, but the consequences of such agendas, it will be much easier to address the disease, and for some, even suggest forms of rehabilitation.

It is important to understand that the number of born sociopaths is very small. Many more are created by their upbringing. Also once sociopaths gain power over others they force sociopathic behavior onto everyone. Such behavior becomes the only way to get ahead and eventually even to just survive.

If the few born sociopaths never gain positions of power then society itself will become much more healthy.

It is my opinion that in our society today virtually everyone exhibits substantial sociopathic attributes. This is amply demonstrated by how we let our leaders brutalize those outside our tribe. We mostly aren't directly involved in this destructive behavior but we all know evil is being done with our help. We bury our conscience so we can continue to survive within our society. That IS sociopathic behavior.

[royster]

Interesting you put it that way, as I was just pondering my own behavior.

There is no question (in my mind) I brought some sociopathic behavior traits with me from the ether, before I was born. I was then born into an extremely dysfunctional environment, which was (and still is) influenced by the NWO agenda. It's been years trying to weed it out, but it's the continued focus and trying that makes progress. I can certainly help in the 're-hab' department, and already do.

Crow once asked why I would share personal experiences, and while he never really wanted the answer, it is; that by sharing openly our experiences, others learn and grow. By sharing our mistakes, and the attendant learning from them, all might see themselves, and their own paths out. By being that honest, we keep ourselves in check.

[royster]

It is my spiritual understanding that we choose our experiences before birth, and these experiences can (and do) assist in healing from deficits we spiritually have. An abusive male may be reincarnated as a female who chooses abusive males as partners...this karmic retribution allows them to see the other side of their behavior, and its affects on others.

One thing conspicuously missing from prominent sociopaths is spiritual acceptance. This specific form of denial validates the belief system incorporated by socio and psychopaths. In fact, some are anti-spiritual, as can be seen in many nearby examples.

[royster]

Two ways to deal with sociopaths besides identifying them and formally keeping them from power as suggested above.

1) Teach everyone how to identify such traits and not fall prey to sociopaths. This is less formal than above but would have the same result. It would be very difficult if not impossible for sociopaths to gain positions of power and trust if the majority was aware of the person's nature.

2) Do away with positions of power so sociopaths would not be able to leverage themselves to where they can harm others. This would be much more difficult but is my preferred solution.

From another thread:

Even light is not immune to being impacted by outside forces. This is why we can't simply wish anything at all into existence.

The light field created by all living things, which probably includes everything we perceive and more, modulates all individual light fields. Ever notice how it is easier to manifest your desires when you are not around people that oppose such manifestations.

It boils down to no light field being free until all light fields are free. To manifest that everything must accept everything else without reservation. A good place to start is yourself. The less light fields that try to impinge on other light fields the closer we come to equilibrium for all.

I wouldn't even want to guess what "equilibrium" might be like. Reality might cease existing.

So is the bandwidth that sociopathy operates on this?

"There was another odd property of these compounds: each of the carcinogens reacted only to light at a specific frequency -- 380 nm (nanometres) in the ultra-violet range. Popp kept wondering why a cancer-causing substance would be a light scrambler. He began reading the scientific literature specifically about human biological reactions, and came across information about a phenomenon called 'photorepair'."

http://halfway.oceanfalls.org/index.php?topic=1804.msg26312#msg26312

[Lady Lilya]

I can imagine myself as having been an abusive man in a previous life.  But I don't know about that theory of yours, Roy.

It is very clear that babies are born with a lot of personality of their own.  But I am not sure if it is possible to say with certainty that any those traits are inherently unhealthy.  I think it is more likely that the same trait can be expressed either constructively or destructively depending on nurture more than nature. 

I am always saying how lucky it was for me that my parents' methods worked out so well with my personality, and how unfortunate for my sister that her upbringing was such a poor fit for her.  My kid is very much like his father, but my methods are very different from my mother-in-law's methods, and I can already see a big difference, where we've avoided some of Yaromir's "issues" developing in the kid. 

Roy, sometimes I do wonder if people's "misfortunes" are intentionally provided by the universe as an opportunity to learn a lesson.  As an example, I have a friend who is very much a "stay on the path, keep off the grass" sort of person.  She aims to be near the center of every bell curve.  She stresses about keeping her children "normal" too.  And then, it happened that one of her children is autistic.  He can't stay on the path.  He can't keep off the grass.  And so, here she has this opportunity to be forced out of her comfort zone, to be dragged into the grass and experience it.  She's been given a chance to choose between grieving for the path vs relishing in the grass. 

[Lady Lilya]

Speaking of sociopaths:
http://politicalwire.com/archives/2010/06/24/the_perfect_political_ad.html

[royster]

LADY LILYA:
sometimes I do wonder if people's "misfortunes" are intentionally provided by the universe as an opportunity to learn a lesson.

That's how I see it. We can choose which instruction we want to follow. We can take the road of abuse, or we can study abuse and learn to avoid it. It's all Free Will. How we respond to the signals is entirely up to us. Making bad choices then claiming "I'm a victim!" is the opposite of taking responsibility for mistakes. Smart people learn from mistakes, and adjust accordingly; that is 'progress'. Playing 'victim' is simple stagnation, and enough of it prompts further distress until an honest resolve is achieved. That's my experience and observation.

Excellent post, Leigh!

From "Our Daily Bread":

I will walk at liberty: for I seek my precepts
                                               (Psalm 19:45).

  John Ruskin recalled an incident from his early childhood that his mother had talked about many times.
  "One evening when I was in my nurse's arms," said Ruskin, "I wanted to touch the tea urn, which was boiling merrily. It was an early taste in bronzes, I suppose; but I was resolute about it. My mother bade me keep my fingers back; I insisted on putting them forward.
  "My nurse would take me away from the urn, but my mother said 'Let him touch it, nurse.' So I touched it - and that was my first lesson in the meaning of the word 'liberty'. It was the first piece of liberty I got, and the last which for sometime I asked for."

[Mugwort]

There's also the Israeli model: when you identify a sociopath, you kill him and claim you did it in self defence. If the police want to investigate, you promise to investigate yourself. Of course it helps if you have a pal who is boss of the world's current super-power.

[royster]

This in via e-mail:

Tom:  I don’t usually read George F. Will, as I already know what his approach is going to be, so why bother, but my eye caught a reference to the late demented Ayn Rand in his column in the NVD this morning.  I haven’t noticed it in the Post, although it must surely be there. 

This morning’s column cited a Tea Partier, named Ron Johnson, who said that Atlas Shrugged was his “foundational book.”   Rand Paul feels the same way.   Will had some further nonjudgmental comments about dear Ayn.   If you see it, it will be worthwhile.    Her influence lives on, and her attacks on civilization.   According to Will, 600,000 copies of Atlas Shrugged have been sold since Obama became president.  No wonder this nation is in such a mess. 

Although Rand extolled “reason” in a loud voice, those who admire her are like people with strong religious feelings, reason has no place in thinking about her pernicious whimsies.   It is just too comforting to think that it is all right to be mean, greedy, and selfish, and that you are a wonderful person anyway.

   
http://www.nvdaily.com/