Who knew that sociopaths could be screened and identified as early as childhood?
I did. And I'm not the only one that knows it. A few psychologists know it, as do a few lay-people interested in psychopathology, like David Freeman, Thomas Sheridan (check out this critique of Sheridan), John Lash, and others. That stands in sharp contrast to one particular group -- nearly every sociopath in a position of power and control knows it, too.
Quote:
Brain scans can be used to identify children who may be potential psychopaths, new research has shown.
Scientists have found that certain areas of a psychopath's brain showed a reduced activity in response to images of others in pain.
The regions affected are those known to play a role in empathy, the ability to relate to other people's feelings. -- source
This news release is not news. I've read about it before. Like "free energy", it is discovered again and again, and then quietly hushed up by the authorities. Why? Because most of the authorities are sociopaths, and they don't want the public they "serve" to know it.
_________________ It's not that we can't handle the truth. It's that they can't handle us if we know the truth.
Sat May 04, 2013 2:38 am
Chicodoodoo
Site Admin
Joined: Tue May 03, 2011 6:06 pm Posts: 11875
Re: Sociopaths -- who knew?
Here's another good summary of information about psychopaths/sociopaths.
Thanks to Canzirka for bringing this one to my attention.
_________________ It's not that we can't handle the truth. It's that they can't handle us if we know the truth.
Tue May 07, 2013 7:14 am
Chicodoodoo
Site Admin
Joined: Tue May 03, 2011 6:06 pm Posts: 11875
Re: Sociopaths -- who knew?
This interview of Stefan Verstappen is especially interesting for me as it provides good confirmation for many of the ideas and conclusions I have arrived at on my own through my interest in the sociopathic condition and how it affects all of us. My observation that our entire society has been molded into a reflection of sociopathic values is a primary point that Verstappen also makes in this video.
It's fascinating that the picture of the five U.S. presidents standing together is also a picture of five full-blown sociopaths, though many will find this idea to be offensive and unbelievable. I too am offended that such a thing (sociopaths in positions of power and control) happens with such regularity, and I can hardly believe that human society takes no real steps to prevent this from occurring.
Again, my thanks to Canzirka for bringing this to my attention.
_________________ It's not that we can't handle the truth. It's that they can't handle us if we know the truth.
My observation that our entire society has been molded into a reflection of sociopathic values is a primary point that Verstappen also makes in this video.
As much as I appreciate Verstappen's observations on sociopaths/psychopaths, I have a few disagreements with him.
He rejects the plan to identify psychopaths and then lock them up or kill them. I agree that whatever we do with them, they could turn it around on us, so incarcerating or killing them is not wise. So we just identify them and disqualify them from positions of power and control. So if some people are misidentified as psychopaths, the worst that happens is that they cannot hold positions of power and control. For most people, that is more of a blessing than a curse, which is one of the reasons we so easily cede positions of power and control to the sociopaths in the first place!
Verstappen says any tests would be subverted by the psychopaths in power. That is indeed a serious concern, so it's important that the tests be reliable, verifiable, repeatable, and not subject to corrupting influence. They should also be regularly administered to all, perhaps yearly.
Verstappen states that search and destroy won't work. I agree, it has to be search and redirect. Disqualifying psychopaths from certain positions is not destructive and still allows them plenty of constructive opportunities in life.
When Verstappen talks about dealing with psychopaths at the societal level by socially distancing ourselves from them, I do not believe this can work. It is much too passive and does not stop psychopaths from doing the damage they do. As a society, we cannot just turn our backs on them and expect to thrive. When we do this at the individual level, it appears to work because the psychopath just selects another victim. At the societal level, there is no other group to victimize other than us, the non-sociopaths.
He next mentions that we don't need a test, we just have to learn to recognize them. This too will not work because it plays right into the sociopaths' strength, which is deception and manipulation. They are amazing chameleons, fooling even the experts, as Verstappen has admitted, so how can we expect the public to learn how to recognize them? It's going to take an objective, fool-proof test that cannot be disputed, similar to testing blood-type. Some kind of automated brain scan might suffice.
Verstappen finally says we must isolate psychopaths and remove their access to the power. Yes, that's what I'm saying by "identify and disqualify". There must be a fail-safe procedure to identify the psychopath, and there must be some kind of force behind the enforcement of not allowing identified psychopaths into positions of power and control. That force has to be the consensus of the vast majority, meaning the non-sociopaths. If everyone is awakened to the problem, and the identification process is solid, and the testing result is visibly public, the disqualifying process should follow quite naturally. It is a wise form of discrimination, much like not allowing the visually impaired to drive.
So yes, waking the people up is the first critical step, but that alone is not sufficient. A self-correcting system to identify psychopaths has to be developed (one that can overcome the inevitable meddling coming from psychopaths), and there must be an accepted process that ensures regular testing of all humans and prevents psychopaths from holding any positions of power and control.
_________________ It's not that we can't handle the truth. It's that they can't handle us if we know the truth.
Wed May 08, 2013 3:09 am
magamud
Joined: Wed May 18, 2011 10:33 pm Posts: 4156
Re: Sociopaths -- who knew?
Power corrupts. One man can only have so much power. This is the key to limiting psychopathy. The system must design itself with this fundamental tenet. All men are created equal.
Our indoctrination has distorted this view and not until we find our moral compass, can this be self evident.
The system must design itself with this fundamental tenet. All men are created equal.
Yes, except that it is up to us to design the system. It won't design itself any more than it already has. Left to its own devices, the human system apparently always devolves into sociopathy, leading to rhythmic episodes of tyranny and destructive collapse.
What equality means is that there can be no hierarchy. Hierarchy is unbalanced. Nature's way is equilibrium. Every cell of your body has equal value. Each is seemingly insignificant, yet together they cooperate to create one of the most awesome organisms on the planet. Similarly, each human is insignificant, yet together they could cooperate to create one of the most awesome societies imaginable. But they don't cooperate. Instead they are deceived and manipulated by a cooperating minority of psychological deviants with a parasitic agenda. Until the majority starts cooperating and unseats the sociopaths, we will be doomed to repeat the "stand up and fall" cycle for all eternity. We will never walk. We will never go anywhere. We will stagnate in an infinite loop of dead-end failure.
Sociopathic rule inherently sabotages the potential of life, just as parasites inherently sabotage the integrity of any organism. Sociopaths are the parasites that sabotage human potential. They are out of control. That won't change until we change it.
_________________ It's not that we can't handle the truth. It's that they can't handle us if we know the truth.
In 1776, abolitionist Thomas Day responding to the hypocrisy in the Declaration wrote:
If there be an object truly ridiculous in nature, it is an American patriot, signing resolutions of independency with the one hand, and with the other brandishing a whip over his affrighted slaves.
I tip my hat to Thomas Day. It seems every age has its Chicodoodoo.
_________________ It's not that we can't handle the truth. It's that they can't handle us if we know the truth.
Wed May 08, 2013 5:46 pm
Chicodoodoo
Site Admin
Joined: Tue May 03, 2011 6:06 pm Posts: 11875
Re: Sociopaths -- who knew?
Here's more useful information about psychopaths/sociopaths from Thomas Sheridan.
Thanks again to Canzirka for sending me a link to the interview. A couple of things jumped out at me from the discussion with Sheridan.
1. Sociopaths practice the art of how to deceive without lying. That is exactly what propaganda is. Of course, they will resort to lying if backed into a corner.
2. Near the end of the interview, Sheridan says, "The system is the problem, not the human beings." There is a lot of truth to that statement, as the system has been corrupted to emulate sociopathic values. However, the root problem is the sociopaths who corrupt the system to feed their psychopathology, so ultimately we do have a problem with certain human beings, specifically the sociopaths.
_________________ It's not that we can't handle the truth. It's that they can't handle us if we know the truth.
Mon May 13, 2013 12:01 am
Mr.Un-Lightwork-Y
Joined: Thu Apr 19, 2012 2:04 am Posts: 303
Re: Sociopaths -- who knew?
Sociopathology is a choice and it runs on a continuum from really bad sociopath to garden variety a-hole sociopath (that's a very loose pararphrase )
Interesting article! I'm not convinced sociopathy is always a choice. A person that cannot feel empathy has very little choice about being a sociopath. Given how almost all humans react emotionally most of the time, can we say that a person can simply choose to ignore certain emotions, or even worse, choose to create emotions they cannot possibly feel? Try telling a meth addict that they can simply choose to quit using meth. There is indeed some truth to that statement, or is there? It reminds me of the psych experiment where a rat has electrodes implanted in the pleasure centers of its brain, which the rat can stimulate by pressing a lever in its cage. All the rat does from then on is push the lever until it dies of exhaustion. Was that behavior a choice?
The other thing that jumps out at me is the intensity of this woman concerning out-gaming the sociopath at their game. This focus on game-playing seemed very sociopathic to me. I often had the impression reading her words that I was listening to a sociopath.
Another red-flag was her claim that sociopaths can be cured. Some can be, I'm sure. Just as sociopaths can be created, they can also be uncreated. But sociopaths that are born, those that really can't feel empathy, are not going to be cured. Thinking that you can cure them, that your skills are so superior, that you can mind control an individual until you get the behavioral responses that you deem proper -- well, that too seems quite sociopathic. That's what the ruling sociopaths do to us all the time.
Great article, though. It demonstrates the importance of balance between certainty and uncertainty. The author, Virginia McClaughry, doesn't seem to have that balance. She likes to live in the certainty camp. And I couldn't help noticing that her style reminded me of GypsyWoman. Could it be her, under another alias?
_________________ It's not that we can't handle the truth. It's that they can't handle us if we know the truth.
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