Psychopaths need approval. Pick any old psychopath off the street, rummage through their things, and you would find that someone somewhere gave a smidgeon of tacit approval to their abhorrent behavior. The Rodney Dangerfield of world-class psychopaths, old Adolph, sought and secured approval for every hideous thing he
did. He and his minions hid nothing; if you looked, it was there, in writing, no less.
Today, a clinical case is being made that we have in our midst a corporate/conglomerate psychopath, who's nonsensical blabbering head happens to be the president of the US of A. Calling the Straussian neocons clinical psychopaths may be a stretch for some, but, the wonderful thing about abnormal psychology is that you determine condition by behavior, not by implied intent (by their fruits you shall know them.). To pick but one example from many -- is it a well and healthy nation, a supposed adherent to Judeo/Christian principles, that would be arguing about acceptable levels of "torture"? Not debating the issue of torture itself, but making arguments about the “best” utilitarian use of cruelty in the context of the end justifying the means?
The following warning signs are based on observation but primarily research conducted by Robert Hare, Ph.D - the leading expert on the Psychopathic Personality.
Characteristics of a Psychopath
- need for stimulation & prone to boredom
- deceptive behavior & lying
- conning & manipulative
- little remorse or guilt
- shallow emotional response
- callous with a lack of empathy
- living off others or predatory attitude
- poor self-control
- early behavioral problems
- lack of realistic long term goals
- impulsive and irresponsible behavior
- blaming others for their actions
- varied criminal activity
Psychopaths have a built-in cloaking mechanism (sorry Klingons)that is the same aura associated with spousal abuse. That is, the people within the orb of the abuser/psychopath cannot believe (i.e., they deny) that their "choice" is inherently malefic, and will continue harming them until the psychopath is restrained and removed. This victim behavior is classified as "enabling". With psychopaths, one is either enabling them or restraining them. Ignoring the wife-beating/child-molesting behavior next-door simply provides an atmosphere of enabling.
If we were really honest with ourselves, we would take the German-in-the-30s questionnaire as it applies to our situation today. Before speaking up about pre-WWII Germans, we usually rush to the top of the moral high ground, shouting, "Can't happen here!!" When Time Magazine made Hitler their Man-of-the-Year, the Germans who were not completely preoccupied with eking out a living, believed the propaganda -- as did Americans at the time -- that "happy days are here again!"
Perhaps a first step in the dis-enabling process would be to honestly answer the question we all fiddle with when judging the average German in the 30s: "Would we have done anything . . . would we have taken a stand against state Fascism? Would we have stood up to the Nazis?"
