Do psychopaths rule the world?

 

Jon Ronson “So the wars, the injustices, the exploitation, all of these things occur because of that tiny percent of the population up there who are mad in this certain way?” I asked. It sounded like the ripple effect of Petter Nordlund’s book, but on a giant scale.

“I think a lot of these things are initiated by them,” she said. “It’s a frightening and huge thought,” I said, “that the ninety-nine percent of us wandering around down here are having our lives pushed and pulled around by that psychopathic fraction up there.” “It is a large thought,” she said. “It is a thought people don’t have very often. Because we’re raised to believe that deep down everyone has a conscience.” (pp. 113-114, The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson)

• The Psychopath Test (shelflove.wordpress.com)
• Casual Reader – The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson (mrschristine.com)
• Imperialist Psychiatrists, Psychopathic Corporatists—But I Repeat Myself (madinamerica.com)
• Psychopaths are manipulators. (psychopathresistance.wordpress.com)
• Psychopaths (whsgossipgirl.wordpress.com)
• TED Weekends thinks you should rethink your sanity (ted.com)
• The complexities of the psychopath test: A Q&A with Jon Ronson (ted.com)

Psychopaths: Nature or Nurture?

Clinical psychopaths have physiological markers that can be seen in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and in lower resting heart rate, for example. It has not been determined with certainty if these aberrations are present at birth or if they are due to childhood environment or trauma. It does seem plausible that the outcome for a “born psychopath” is closely tied to “external” influences. In other words; the characteristics of each individual, and his path in life, are the result of an interaction between nature and nurture. If that truly is the case, isn’t it plausible that it is the childhood setting that determines if a child born with a psychopathic brain abnormality will become a high functioning ‘controlled’ psychopath or not? Perhaps psychopaths from ‘good’ homes are more likely to become politicians, corporate executives, lawyers, psychiatrists, and Wall Street operatives, while the psychopaths from ‘bad’ homes are more likely to take the positions as con artists, rapists, murderers, serial killers, and other criminals that have a high representation rate in prisons.

Sociopaths: Controlled and Uncontrolled (RobertLindsay.wordpress.com) Psychopaths are manipulators. (psychopathresistance.wordpress.com) The Invisible Psychopath—By The Time You Recognize Them It’s Too Late (totallyteas.wordpress.com) The Great Debate Over Nature Vs. Nurture in Psychology (psych.answers.com) Scandal After Scandal, Lie Upon Lie … What’s Going On? (ritholtz.com) What Does The Mind Of A Killer Look Like? (wnyc.org) Nature vs. Nurture (theotherwesmoorereader.wordpress.com) Psychopaths Caused the Financial Crisis (ritholtz.com)

Do your research!

Treating Antisocial Personality Disorder

Author Jack Pemment writes: “I feel sorry for any therapist who diagnoses a patient with Antisocial Personality Disorder…” Read the article

Related articles

• Understanding the Sociopath: Cause, Intention, Relationships (psychologytoday.com)
• Antisocial personality disorder: the hidden epidemic (oup.com)

No conscience = more options

Cloak of Conscience

“Truth and reason are of no value to narcissists and psychopaths. Their aim is to defeat, exploit, and dominate—and not get caught. Lacking a conscience, they are free to use any method that will give them the upper hand without any ethical inhibitions standing in their way. Abusive people don’t feel that they owe their victims, or anyone else, a reason for their behavior. By ignoring requests for an explanation, they enjoy the sense of power they get from denying their victim the most basic respect.”

Other articles

• The Invisible Psychopath—By The Time You Recognize Them It’s Too Late (scott-williams.ca)
  
• When a psychopath, narcissist, cluster-b, ASPD won’t leave. (lifebegins45.wordpress.com)
• Why psychopaths like to wear badges and uniforms (everydayredflags.wordpress.com)

A Game of Destroying People

A Game of Destroying People

“Psychopaths blame their victims for what happened
and consider the victims’ fate irrelevant.”

The mocking and controlling behavior of the psychopathic mind is motivated by a claim for submission. The submission brings them feelings of excitement consisting of a type of victory. They enjoy what they consider to be a game of destroying people. It’s amusing to them.

A Game of Destroying People

Psychopathy, that’s why.

When seeking justification for the behavior of a psychopath, we attempt to apply reason. But, when dealing with a psychopath, we must understand that psychopathy is the reason.

• The Criminal Culpability of Psychopaths (kolber.typepad.com)
• The Jobs With The Most Psychopaths (jobs.aol.com)

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Ted Bundy video montage

Handsome, cultured, intelligent, educated, republican…
Ted Bundy raped and killed more than 100 young women.

Related articles

• Ted Bundy (maleviolence.wordpress.com)
• Watch: Confessions of a Serial Killer (abcnews.go.com)
• Alaska killer Israel Keyes researched Ted Bundy (cbc.ca)

The Psychopathic Duo

Psychopaths dominate because most people are brainwashed to be victims. There occasionally are people with partial resistance. They are isolated and the psychopaths can easily discredit and remove them.

If two psychopaths are challenged by an intelligent person, they will cooperate, while the intelligent person won’t understand what’s going on. Even if the psychopaths don’t have an explicit agreement, they will always cooperate to ruin an intelligent person asking questions.

Psychopaths can always count on each other for cooperation, when an intelligent person starts asking dangerous questions. This creates a massive highly-coordinated evil conspiracy. Two psychopaths will always cooperate, when an intelligent person starts asking questions. Two psychopaths will always assist each other in their evil goals. They can count on their fellow psychopaths to return the favor later, even if there is no explicit quid pro quo agreement. In a very real sense, there’s a psychopath code of ethics.

Excerpt from: Two Kinds Of Psychopaths

• Another psychopathic dyad; raped and killed a little girl.
• How To Spot A Psychopath [Science] (jezebel.com)
• Psychopath Brain Study of the Day (geeks.thedailywh.at)
• Can You Tell Psychopaths Simply by the Words They Use? (neatorama.com)
• Why We Love Psychopaths (forbes.com)
• Is Lisbeth Salander a Psychopath? (psychologytoday.com)

“Make it your priority to spread the word.”

“Not only do psychopaths live among us, but also through our ignorance we have allowed them to rise to positions of almost absolute power over us. Widespread knowledge of the reality of psychopathy on this planet is the essential first step to securing our future and that of our children. Make it your priority to spread the word.”

 Harrison Koehli of Red Pill Press

The Psychopath—emotion and the brain

The ‘Almost Psychopaths’ Among Us

The ‘Almost Psychopaths’ Among Us

By Deborah Becker and Kathleen McNerney July 13, 2012 Most people think of psychopaths as those who commit horrible acts: brutal murders or enormous fraud. But maybe they’re not. Maybe they’re our neighbors, co-workers or family members who — while not exactly serial killers — might be what some are calling the “almost psychopath.”

Death By Psychopath

Harvard Medical School associate professor of psychiatry Ronald Schouten and former federal prosecutor and current criminal defense attorney James Silver spoke with WBUR’s Deborah Becker about their latest book “Almost a Psychopath: Do I (or Does Someone I Know) Have a Problem with Manipulation and Lack of Empathy?”

Read the article.

• Wonder What Psychopathic Killers and Politicians Have In Common? A Lot! (dvorak.org)
• Bosses urged to watch for workplace psychopaths (abc.net.au)
• Are You or Someone You Love An ‘Almost Psychopath’? (maureenabivinsphd.com)
• Eric Barker: Which Professions Have The Most Psychopaths? (huffingtonpost.com)

Identifying Different Psychopaths

Stonewalling or The Silent Treatment

Stonewallers, whether sociopaths or not, are seriously disturbed communicators. Their indifference to the stonewalled party’s experience, as noted, can be chilling. Their stonewalling often reflects character pathology, in which case they won’t change—they will always be stonewallers.

Read the article by Steve Becker, LCSW •Lovefraud.com

What is the single most powerful signifier of sociopathy?

 

by Steve Becker
http://powercommunicating.com/

The Single Most Powerful Signifier of Sociopathy/Psychopathy

How about, lack of empathy?
I don’t think so.
As an isolated factor, I don’t think lack of empathy best nails the sociopath.

Many millions of people, after all, lack empathy and aren’t sociopaths. Also, exactly what constitutes empathy is a subject of some disagreement. Some LoveFraud members, in fact, question whether sociopaths even lack empathy (some asserting, to the contrary, that the sociopaths they’ve known have used their capacity for empathy to exploit them).
But the biggest problem with lack of empathy is its weakness in explaining the single, truly best signifier of sociopathy—the characterological exploitiveness of the sociopath.
It is a high level of exploitiveness that most singularly exposes the sociopath.

Read the article!

…no matter the consequences

Victims of Psychopaths: True Stories

From DailyStrength.org: 

“Is he beyond a narcissist? Is he a sociopath or psychopath? Think we’re only talking about serial killers here? Psychopaths, sociopaths, and even narcissists come in every walk of life, every career level, and every socio-economic category. They are doctors, attorneys, ministers, students, and truck drivers. They are realtors, construction workers, and professors. They are your boss, your neighbor, your family member, and your lover or husband. You might even be with one now and not know.”

Victims of Psychopaths/Sociopaths

Read the victims’ personal accounts and notice the similarities between the psychopathic abusers that they describe!

Wall Street Psychopaths

Power, money and psychopaths

A well-respected Wall Street money manager posts an article explaining how pathological predators are ripping apart the economy and society.

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• In the mind of the psychopath (sciencedaily.com)
• Corporate Psychopaths Bad for Business (sott.net)
• Psychopaths Caused the Financial Crisis…
  And They Will Do It Again and Again Unless They Are Removed From Power
  (investmentwatchblog.com)
• The ‘Almost Psychopaths’ Among Us (wbur.org)
• Study: The odds are high that your boss really is a psychopath (holykaw.alltop.com)
• In the mind of the psychopath (talesfromthelou.wordpress.com)
• Almost Psychopaths in the Workplace (abookofhealing.com)

Love fraud

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Lovefraud Blog and Lovefraud.com

Wake up to the danger of sociopaths/psychopaths

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New blog posts

 •  Sociopaths/psychopaths as aliens

 •  With the Penn State report, a public understanding of unbelievable betrayal

 •  How to break a “culture of silence”—remove everyone

 •  Warning others: a moral obligation or crossing the line?

 •  Letters to Lovefraud: I provided her a road map to my life

 •  Red Flags of Love Fraud featured in Courier Post newspaper

 •  Signs of a psycho/sociopath in a chilling story from New York

Harrison Koehli: Spread information!

 

“Not only do psychopaths live among us, but also through our ignorance we have allowed them to rise to positions of almost absolute power over us. Widespread knowledge of the reality of psychopathy on this planet is the essential first step to securing our future and that of our children. Make it your priority to spread the word.”

Red Pill Press editor Harrison Koehli discusses the book Political Ponerology by Andrew Lobacewski. It is an audio file with descriptive titles added.

“This is an extraordinary book.”
Ilan Pappe, author of The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine

“Political Ponerology is fascinating, essential reading.”
Philip Zimbardo, author of The Lucifer Effect

The book is a look at psychopaths in political power. Political Ponerology is a study of the founders and supporters of oppressive political regimes. Lobaczewski’s approach analyzes the common factors that lead to the propagation of man’s inhumanity to man. Morality and humanism cannot long withstand the predations of this evil. Knowledge of its nature—and its insidious effect on both individuals and groups—is the only antidote.

 

Kill the messenger

Rosa says:

Isn’t it amazing how sociopaths can run around smearing people, telling insidious lies with impunity….THEN……when WE try to warn others (with the TRUTH) about possible danger of the socio, it’s “Kill the Messenger” time….and we are the “Messenger”.

What’s up with that?

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

Dear Rosa,

What you are describing is the standard abuser protocol called DARVO, an acronym for Deny, Attack, Reverse roles of Victim and Offender.

Your question and your righteous outrage are about psycho/sociopaths’ ability to harm others easily and repeatedly—with impunity—sometimes with devastating consequences for their victim. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the victim’s friends and family may withhold support or reject him/her at the worst of times because the abuser had the evil foresight to secure their sympathy and support, and at the same time, destroy the victim’s reputation and credibility.

The reason why pathological aggressors are so successful with this cunning scheme is quite simple: they are exceptionally skilled actors with a lifetime of practice in lying, manipulating, persuading, and deceiving. The psycho/sociopath will callously aim to crush his victim, unperturbed by ethical concerns. The victim’s options will be limited by his moral standards, and without the persuasive power of a psychopath, he may be unable to convince others of the truth of the matter.

Another reason why many of us are conned again and again is because we cannot fathom that an outwardly nice, intelligent, respectable person whom we may have expended exceptional kindness, trust, and generosity; would be capable of acting so atrociously. We find it hard to believe that there really are human beings who don’t have a conscience and we fail to see the patterns in our experiences that verify any ‘unpleasant’ facts that contradict or challenge our long held beliefs and attitudes.

Read about Denial and DARVO…

 

Public safety

Grandiosity

 

People affected with narcissism or psychopathy have a false belief in their own superiority and a sense of entitlement. An arrogant manner can be an indication of these tendencies.

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Taming the Psychopath

Reblogged from playing tame:

Recently, I noticed one of the "top searches" leading people to this site was a phrase, "psychopath taming." In response, I performed a similar search through Google, just to see what would come up.  Not surprisingly, the results contained very little of substance. I came across several books of fiction, at least one book purportedly being a true story of some psychopath or other who got better (often through the power of Jesus or other such nonsense), and other similar things.

Read more… 683 more words

A young “psychopath” shares his thoughts.

THE SMEAR CAMPAIGN—Trademark of a Sociopath

Sociopath a.k.a. Psychopath

When you are under libelous attack by a person who has deceived and defrauded you, there is a possibility that the person is a sociopath. Sociopaths have no heart, no conscience, and no remorse.

They will lie, cheat, and steal from you and then convincingly tell everyone that it is all your fault.

Read more…

The killer nerd

Randy Steven Kraft, Orange County’s most prolific serial killer, may have killed as many as 65 young men in Oregon, Michigan and California during a 13-year span that ended in 1983.

He was sentenced to die in 1989 after a trial that lasted nearly a year, but he is still on death row, appealing his convictions.

He was a meek looking computer programmer with a high IQ and a quiet suburban lifestyle who was convicted of killing 16 men.

His killing spree came to an end when he was caught with a dead Marine in his Toyota sedan on May 14, 1983.

A “score card” of Kraft’s kills was found in the trunk of his car. It had 65 names on it.

Related articles

• The Lethal Legacy of Randy Kraft
• Death row child killer found hanging in cell
• Killer of 3 Tries Not to Think About Murders
• 2 ‘Speed Freak Killer’ victims found, identified

A fox in the henhouse

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Individuals with psychopathic traits are often attracted to affinity groups—religious, atheist, political, or social groups of people who share common values, beliefs, or interests. The collective trust that members of these groups have in one another and their common belief system provides a perfect cover for the psychopathic person. A psychopathic individual can be highly skilled at accurately mimicking the group’s beliefs or values while in the presence of its members. As a result, trust is easily gained and his or her true motives or covert activities are less likely to be discovered.

An affinity group that has been victimized may have members who are unable to face the truth about the exploitative individual. Often, they will rationalize why he or she took advantage of the group, and continue to believe that the person is basically good at heart.

Unfortunately, it is common for the group to side with the psychopathic person if he or she has targeted an individual member to exploit, abuse, or ostracize. With well established respect from the group, skillful manipulation and deceit, and a careful choice of victim, the aggressor will turn the tables and convincingly paint the victim as the guilty party.

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Read more at:

Aftermath: Surviving Psychopathy Foundation

A NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION PROVIDING INFORMATION AND SUPPORT FOR VICTIMS OF PSYCHOPATHY

The psychopaths killed another American.

Are we brainwashed to admire psychopaths?

One phenomenon all ponerogenic groups and associations have in common is the fact that their members lose (or have already lost) the capacity to perceive pathological individuals as such, interpreting their behavior in fascinated, heroic, or melodramatic ways. Andrew Lobaczewski

See also:  Political Ponerology

$460 billion per year—the cost of psychopathy

Psychopaths are estimated to make up 1 percent* of the population but constitute roughly 15 to 25 percent of the offenders in prison and are responsible for a disproportionate number of brutal crimes and murders. A recent estimate by the neuroscientist Kent Kiehl placed the national cost of psychopathy at $460 billion a year — roughly 10 times the cost of depression — in part because psychopaths tend to be arrested repeatedly. The societal costs of nonviolent psychopaths may be even higher. Dr. Robert Hare, the co-author of “Snakes in Suits,” describes evidence of psychopathy among some financiers and business people; he suspects Bernie Madoff of falling into that category.

* Opinions about the percentage vary. 1% is the most moderate estimate.

Related articles

• Psychopaths Everywhere? (psychologytoday.com)
• Psychopathy is the greatest obstacle… (psychopathresistance.wordpress.com)
• Are humans becoming more or less psychopathic? (sentientdevelopments.com)
• Snakes in Suits (beatingthebullyboss.wordpress.com)
• The psychopath: Facts and research resources (drjezphillips.wordpress.com)

Psychopathic dominance

If most members of a group are honest and intelligent, then evil people will be identified and excluded. When most members have psychopathic traits, the honest and intelligent people are identified and excluded! In a psychopath-controlled environment, it’s the honest people who seem defective and deviant.

Related articles

• Psychopath “code of ethics” 
• How to Act Like a Psychopath without Really Trying [Excerpt]
• Vulnerabilities exploited by manipulators
• Psychopaths Rule The World.
• ‘Uhs’ and ‘Ums’: Among the Verbal Tics of Psychopaths
• Identifying Psychopaths

Stonewalling a.k.a. “the silent treatment”

	Abusers often use stonewalling as a tactic because it is a way to apply pressure that seemingly can’t be confronted because the abuser can claim that he is “not doing anything.”

Psychopathy is the greatest obstacle…

Psychopathy is “the greatest obstacle in development of personality and social groups”.  “The general inability to recognize the psychological type of such individuals [i.e. psychopaths] causes immense suffering, mass terror, violent oppression, genocide and the decay of civilization… As long as the suggestive [i.e. hypnotic, charming, “spellbinding”] power of the psychopaths is not confronted with facts and with moral and practical consequences of his doctrine, entire social groups may succumb to his demagogic appeal”. Kazimierz Dabrowski (1902–1980)

Related articles

• Beyond Insanity – Political Ponerology – Macrosocial Evil (powersthatbeat.wordpress.com)
• The Psychopath’s Poison Containers (phoenixsphere.com)
• Playing Games in Prison May Reveal Roots of Psychopathy (prweb.com)
• We are not the same. (psychopathresistance.wordpress.com)

They seem completely normal.

Individuals with this personality disorder are terrifyingly self-centered, remorseless, and unable to care about the feelings of others. Perhaps most frightening; they often seem completely normal to their unsuspecting targets.

Political Ponerology

Reflections on Political Ponerology

By Jose Gude for The Corbett Report
6 July, 2009

After reading the incredible book Political Ponerology: A science on the nature of evil adjusted for political purposes by Andrew Lobaczewski http://ponerology.com, I had a transcendental moment of realization (sort of a “Eureka!” moment). I have to conclude that ponerology and psychopathy are two significant concepts that best explain the sorry state of human affairs in this world which continue to negatively impact on our society, our lives, and our future. No, I don’t think it has anything to do with “greed” or even “moral weakness” (however you define it). It has to do with psychopathology and its influence on the nature of evil in society.

People in positions of power that systematically perpetuate evil behave as if they were a different human species; a ‘para-Homo sapiens,’ if you will. No matter how much good will there is in the world, there continues to be much war, suffering and injustice. It doesn’t seem to matter what plan, ideology, religion, or philosophy great minds come up with, nothing seems to improve our lot.

Read the rest of this article…