Yes, and even how many psychologists, psychoanalysts and psychiatrists are afflicted with the very disease they claim to study?
How much do psychopaths influence society and affect life for the vast majority of good, decent people? How much do they affect the moral values of what we watch on TV or in cinema?
Many people are asking themselves this and similar questions, especially since the American election year 2000. When one enters the words “George W. Bush” and “psychopath” into a search engine on the Internet such as Google, it produces 511,000 citations—just in English—linking the two concepts, most of them written or spoken in dead earnest by concerned citizens.
But foreigners speak of the two in the same breath as well: 19,700 references in the German language, 30,800 in French and 52,500 in Spanish. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who in 2006 openly called Bush el diablo from the podium at the UN, must be getting some serious attention.
Normal humans oscillate, and must, between attending to their personal needs, desires and dreams and helping others. Usually the two instincts work hand in hand.
Humans are all in a sense bipolar, hence complicated. They are both individualistic—hence, creative, innovating and at times selfish—and altruistic, other-oriented, often ready literally to die to save their children and, if convinced or prodded, to perish for the survival of their nation or its freedoms. A significant minority, the history-makers among inert humankind, even choose to live and suffer for a noble cause—one that may lead to their personal imprisonment or death.
Psychopaths, however, solely look out for No. 1, and cannot do otherwise. They see society as a collection of walking human things that are potential tools, victims, and often both, born for their cruel enjoyment. Cult leaders are a classic example of gifted users.
A new vision of society is emerging from the research and firm conclusions of some of the world’s most distinguished and reputable neurologists, psychologists and psychiatrists. These are men and women of stellar scientific backgrounds that mass-produce Nobel prizes in science and medicine.
These unpleasing but truthful messengers are stating or corroborating one clear, simple finding:
Our culture has been taken over by literal psychopaths, and all who are not psychopaths are nevertheless living under their thumb, affected by them, perhaps influenced by their persistent lies, and suffering miseries through them that mankind would otherwise never experience. This is the message of the experts.
Whether we fight psychopaths or not, we are still on a psychological and moral urban battlefield, suffering wounds, deprivation, misery, despair and sometimes premature death in their world.
And that is just the good part. The bad part is the possibility of World War III, with millions of people turned into hate-zombies with devastating weapons of mass destruction at the command of rejoicing psychopaths.
CATEGORIES OF EVIL
In the United States, three different terms are used to categorize the radically selfish individual or “human monster”:
- Persons with “antisocial personality disorder” (APD),
- “Sociopaths” and, the scariest word of all,
- “Psychopaths,” of whom serial killers are a special subtype. APD is, as many in criminology agree, a somewhat “lazy” catchall phrase for general criminal attitudes and behavior. This is the term usually put in prisoner files.
The word “sociopath” is being used in several similar but truly confusing ways. For some experts, sociopath (from the Latin word for “soci”-ety and “pathy,” the Greek word related to disease) means the ruthless manipulators, whereas psychopaths are the violent beaters and killers. It is obvious that some infamous people in history have been both.
A few of these modern examples include, according to various experts: Josef Stalin, Mao Tse Tung, Pol Pot and Ariel Sharon.
Other experts use the word “sociopath” to mean those who are mis-raised to be vicious, whereas “psychopath” means those born vicious.
More and more, however, as is usual in science, one simple term wins out. “Psychopath” has been gaining currency since 1941 among the world’s most experienced clinicians to describe all incorrigible human monsters—however they got that way and whatever methods they use.
In any case, they prove to be, for decent society, an irresistible force and an immovable, incurable object. They are the fountainhead of human suffering that is human-caused, and aside from sickness, aging, death and natural disasters.
Religions have called such persons evil. Yet religions usually teach that almost anyone can be saved. The science of psychopathology says “no.” Not all can be “saved.” Their brains won’t permit it; they do not want it. But if you want to save them, they may find a way to exploit your compassion.
While one may speak of evil and evildoers, this is the category of a diseased force of nature—human parasites.
Most Americans assume that psychopaths are rare—serial killers and other felons. The stunning new revelation of the last 15 years is that as many as one in 25 Americans may be psychopathic. Probably, in view of their notorious traits—according to Martha Stout, Ph.D., a former 25-year veteran of Harvard Medical School and now a practicing psychotherapist—a much higher percentage of psychopaths haunt occupations that take advantage of the traits of the true psychopath listed earlier in this article.
Serial killers such as Jack the Ripper and Ted Bundy, and leaders such as Stalin and Pol Pot, are among history’s most famous psychopaths. The original, true Spanish tale from the 1600s of Don Juan reveals not the famous “lady’s man” but a murderous, raping, diabolically ingenious psychopath who also betrays his friends and sinks into hell. In the end the statue of a former adversary comes to life to punish him for his crimes.
“The original Spanish tale from the 1600s of Don Juan reveals, not the ‘lady’s man, but a murderous, raping, diabolically ingenious psychopath who betrays friends and sinks into hell.”
The Samson of the Jewish Old Testament, known to generations of Christian Sunday schoolchildren as a “Bible hero,” may have had psychopathic traits. The Talmud tells of his lies to his parents, his cruelty to animals, his torching of Philistine fields, his frequent brawls, and Samson’s unremitting bragging after killing “a thousand men.” It bears noting here that the Philistines are the ancestors of today’s Palestinians.
Actually, a psychopath is more capable of personally killing a thousand men than anyone else. The true berserkers (whence the phrase “to go berserk”) were Vikings who possibly were psychopathic. They guarded the Norwegian king and fought battles as unleashed “Dober-men.” Heedless of danger, their pre-battle preparation included working themselves into a bloodlust—berserker rage—by banging their helmets (with heads inside) with their own weapons, biting their shields, and howling. Once in a frenzy they would plow through both foe and friend, arms, legs and heads tumbling away like grass clippings. In battle they were said to be immune to pain (or even immune to weapons and fire). Even allies gave the berserkers wide berth. Fearing that their own homesteads and families might be targeted by the unchained “bear-shirts,” friendly Norsemen kept loved ones hidden away.
HOW DID PSYCHOPATHY BEGIN IN SOCIETY?
Not just individuals but entire castes and groups in society may manifest these characteristics. Psychopathy can be inherited, often through the mother. It can appear spontaneously as a birth defect. It can also be produced by brain diseases or injuries. These multiple factors can be seen as explaining the relatively high percentage of psychopaths that researchers now perceive in the population.
It has been speculated that the number of psychopaths overall has been increasing since the Age of Bronze, roughly 1000 B.C. in Europe, which was the beginning of a traumatic new era for the European peoples: the age of metal weapons, of warlords owning slaves forced to mine for copper and tin, and of professional soldiers. That was an innovation: men who killed other men for power, and not high-protein animals for food. Hunting by itself is an inborn male instinct that, in literally bringing home the bacon and the meat, brought essential proteins for the growth of larger brains, hence civilization.
Wars, for millennia, have always tended to kill off the decent and the volunteers and often spared the true instigators and also the defective. Warlords and kings have long been polygamous, sometimes having enormous numbers of offspring. It is reliably said that Genghis Khan raped 10,000 women. Genetic studies indicate that 10% of all continental North Asians are descended from him. One of Genghis’s memorable lines was: “Happiness is to kill the foe, ride his horses, watch his wife and daughters weep, and seize them to your bosom.”
In materialistic societies, ruthless businessmen, such as investment mogul Donald Trump, find the media fawning on them and gold-digging, beautiful and fecund women flocking to them.
How many a tycoon, after letting his first wife help him through medical or business school or the start of a career, dumps her at 45 for a younger “trophy wife” whom he can show off to his fellow magnates, and with her then spread his genes even further? Hollywood is said to be full of beauties with beasts.
One of the most important benefits of understanding the new finding of the prevalence of psychopaths in society is this:
whereas so-called conspiracy theories tend to appear to decent people as “off-the-wall,” now no more. The main objection to a conspiracy theory, especially one that posits the involvement of many evil people, is this: “I cannot imagine anyone doing such a thing. And it could never be a secret.” Wrong: psychopaths are numerous and they do know how to keep a secret and kill to maintain it.
Perhaps the struggle against the psychopaths marauding among us will be the ultimate battle for the human race.
Grasping the Nature of the Beast
Over 100 years ago, psychiatrists, psychologists, and criminologists were discussing what they called— groping for a scientific description—“moral imbeciles” or “the morally insane.” For thousands of years, religions have recognized the concept of “evil,” and of evildoers whom God and man must punish. Governments have recognized evil and evildoers in the citizenry, and either punished or promoted them. Now esteemed scientists in the mental health field have weighed in on the subject of people who are truly evil.(1)
The breakthrough has sped up in the last 15 years from well-meaning attempts at compassion and understanding to this grim recognition of personified evil.
The most recent bombshell in this direction was the bestselling The Sociopath Next Door (2005) from Martha Stout, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist who for 25 years was a faculty member of Harvard Medical School.
Stout uses the term “sociopath” to emphasize that almost all psychopaths are out in society. She has been widely reported on and interviewed for website and print publications.
Another powerful figure in the psychopaths-in-society movement is Robert D. Hare, Ph.D., a consultant for the FBI, the creator of the recognized “Hare Psychopathic Checklist” (the standard tool for diagnosing psychopathy), and author of the 1999 book for laypersons Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us.
One powerful weapon in the struggle to warn the public against psychopaths, in jail and out, has been the work of Adrian Raine, Ph.D., an Oxford graduate in psychology, a former prison psychologist in England, a professor of experimental psychology at the University of Southern California and author of the 1993 classic, The Psychopathology of Crime: Criminal Behavior As a Clinical Disorder. More than any written text before or since, his vivid colored brain scans comparing psychopaths with normal people make a powerful case that psychopaths are utterly unlike the other 96% of society. These brain scans show that when normal, altruistic people see something tragic, sad, pitiful or shocking, the red dye injected into their brains reveals a great deal of chemical activity in “compassion centers.” However, when psychopaths are shown horrifying images that appall others or even turn others sick to their stomachs, their brains, as revealed by the dye, stay blue as before, meaning cool and unactivated. They just really do not care.
Normal brain, with red areas showing feelings such as compassion
Psychopathic brain; the blue indicates no activity in compassion centers
This article indicates that psychopaths can switch compassion on, but usually, it is turned off:
From this article, a scientist (James Fallon, a neuroscientist and professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the University of California at Irvine) discovered a high degree of psychopathy in himself as compared to his own family:
In the 1980s a distinguished Polish psychologist with first-hand experience under Stalinism, and a long-time resident of the United States, Andrew M. Lobaczewski Ph.D., wrote his revolutionary Political Ponerology: A Science on The Nature of Evil Adjusted for Political Purposes (from the Greek poneros, evil, and logia study).(2)
He asserts that much of politics, bureaucracy, political philosophy—and thus the whole history of mankind—has been shaped by persons who today would diagnosed as clinical psychopaths.
Among his unique observations, Dr. Lobaczewski describes how, after the brutal Stalinization of his native Poland from 1948- 52, virtually every psychopath in his country “within two years” had emerged from the dregs of society, recognized himself as among friends in the new system, and become a bureaucrat or other servant of the Stalinist regime.
In effect, they all crawled out from under their rock. He emphasizes that this Stalino-psychopathic regime was as inept and “out of touch” as it was cruel, showing that many psychopaths are not brilliant and great mis-leaders of men, but often despised and shunned “scum.” What makes them similar is their desire to dominate, humiliate, prevaricate and cause suffering.(3)
The great foundational work for the modern professional study of psychopaths was the still-famous 1941 bestseller, The Mask of Sanity by Hervey Cleckley, M.D. (1903-84).
He graduated in 1924 from the University of Georgia with highest honors, and then from Oxford. With his subsequent M.D. from the University of Georgia Medical School (now “Medical College of Georgia”) he became a professor of psychiatry and neurology there and then chief of psychiatry/ neurology at University Hospital in Augusta in 1937. In 1956 Cleckley co-authored The Three Faces of Eve, the book that led to the famous 1957 film of the same name starring Joanne Woodward, illustrating Multiple Personality Disorder. A Fellow of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, Cleckley was acting psychiatrist in the trial of the psychopathic serial killer Ted Bundy of Florida.TED BUNDY
Charming, handsome and charismatic, Bundy would con his way into his at least thirty female victims’ confidence, lull them to his car, and beat them unconscious with a blunt object. After driving around with victims, sometimes for hours, continually assaulting them sexually — nearly all of them white and quite attractive — Bundy would strangle them to death with nylon stockings. In at least a dozen instances, he would hack the women’s heads off with a saw and keep them as trophies. He was a known necrophiliac (that is, he had sex with the corpses of his victims.)
In the following video, made just 15 hours before he was electrocuted by the State of Florida, Bundy is pensive. He says violent kinds of pornography were an obsession with him and with all the violent inmates he had gotten to know in prison, that it released “a separate entity” in himself that he felt had existed in him already, and that alcohol was the other factor that de-inhibited him before he actually committed his crimes. He directly blamed “what is in the media” for future murders of other women and girls after his execution.
He told Reverend Ted Dobson that after each crime he felt he had been “overwhelmed” and “possessed,” because at other times he was “an essentially normal person with good friends.” He said others viewed him as “an all-American boy,” as “okay,” and that “they had no clue.”
Bundy emphasizes how each thrill ebbed and then he needed a greater thrill, another and worse crime — a classic sign of a psychopath for him normal pleasures are insufficient.
It is interesting how Bundy seems to actually try to feel remorse, but his voice and face suggest he simply cannot. His sincere regrets are for himself as a prisoner facing death, or very cerebral regrets for society. I think he is enjoying being important one last time.
* * *
These five researchers, Cleckley, Lobaczewski, Raine, Hare and Stout, have forever lifted psychopathology out of the realm of speculation or what some cynically call “psychobabble” into the realm of science—the science of absolute evil.
ENDNOTES:
- A psychiatrist at Canada’s only “supermax” prison, in Ontario province, who observes and meets with the 100 vilest criminals in Canada (outside of Parliament) was asked: “Have you ever looked into an inmate’s eyes and seen evil, just pure evil?” He replied: “Yes, I would say I have—in layman’s language—seen pure evil.” Source: Philip R., Wheeler, founder, Learn for Living Foundation, Alexandria, Virginia.
- 2. A general edition for the public of this academic work, suitable for the educated layperson, was published in 2006 by Red Pill Press under the aegis of Laura Knight-Jadczyk (of www.sott.net and other websites), an American thinker who edited and introduced the English version.
- 3. A combat-decorated World War II and Korea hero, Michael Mata Jr., who once guarded generals Eisenhower and Patton in postwar Berlin, told this writer of the sadistic and Big Brotherish attitude in parts of the bureaucracy toward U.S. veterans. When Matas complained about a new resident of his Soldier’s Home, a sexual pervert who kept making unwanted advances on him, he was brought up before a staff hearing to be told that he was on “one year’s probation” for being “disruptive.” He learned through a Veterans Administration document that the VA had created—in its own star chamber procedure and unbeknownst to the individual veteran (hence without the possibility of appeal)—a bureaucratic, secret code number in each veteran’s file. This file indicated the bureaucracy’s secret internal classifications, or defamations: shirker, troublemaker, insane etc. In Mr. Mata’s case, “refused a promotion.” For years, when he would apply for a job with an employer, he was asked: Were you a U.S. veteran? After saying yes, he would suddenly get rejected and believes it was due to this secret code.
Examples of Psychopathy
A 2010 study from the University of Michigan found present-day college students to be 48 percent less empathetic than college students were in 1979, with the biggest dip – 61% – in the past 10 years. And the NIH tells us that narcissistic personality disorder is about three times higher in 20-somethings than in those who are over 65.
