Anyone who studies dictatorships from Franco to Stalin to Pol Pot knows that first they go for their enemies and then they come for the friends because they trust no one.
I agree that they are mentally ill in the sense of being out of touch with reality.
But at the same time, they are "mentally ill" in a way that makes their ideas attractive to a great many of their conspecifics. They are "mentally ill" in the manner of any other cult leader or autocrat.
Their "mental illness" turns them into extremely powerful and successful people.
It is an impressive (albeit disgusting) adaptation to the reality of the social world in which they live.
Perhaps the way to make their adaptation maladaptive is to examine ourselves and change the social world in which they live.
What I'm trying to say without saying it is that we need to make the lives of psychopaths extremely unpleasant and short. But doing so successfully will require us to take a hard look at what we value as a species and a society. Because right now, most of us just love those motherfuckers.
John Hummel
in reply to Alex Feldstein • • •tomgrzybow
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Adam Hunt
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Richard
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John Hummel
in reply to Alex Feldstein • • •You make an interesting point, @Richard.
I agree that they are mentally ill in the sense of being out of touch with reality.
But at the same time, they are "mentally ill" in a way that makes their ideas attractive to a great many of their conspecifics. They are "mentally ill" in the manner of any other cult leader or autocrat.
Their "mental illness" turns them into extremely powerful and successful people.
It is an impressive (albeit disgusting) adaptation to the reality of the social world in which they live.
Perhaps the way to make their adaptation maladaptive is to examine ourselves and change the social world in which they live.
What I'm trying to say without saying it is that we need to make the lives of psychopaths extremely unpleasant and short. But doing so successfully will require us to take a hard look at what we value as a species and a society. Because right now, most of us just love those motherfuckers.
Richard likes this.
Richard
in reply to Alex Feldstein • • •John Hummel likes this.
John Hummel
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Thomas McNicholas and Richard like this.
tomgrzybow
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Adam Hunt and Richard like this.