Sociopaths / Psychopaths

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It seems nobody wants to hear me talk about sociopaths. When I do, I'm often accused of being a broken record, or an attention whore, or a sociopath. It's true that over the last ten years I have become more and more focused on sociopaths. Like the little kid in the movie The Sixth Sense who admits to Bruce Willis "I see dead people" (and eventually we learn that Bruce is one of those dead people), well... I see sociopaths. I seem to encounter them far more frequently than their proportion in the human population might suggest (estimated around 2%). Bill Ryan is one. Atticus too. Richard, Ross, Uncle Zook, andywight, IceCold... in fact, many stand-out characters in the forum world are sociopaths. In my naivety upon entering the forum world in January 2011, I had no idea that this was going to be the case. I thought I was dealing with "enlightened" people. Every revelation to the contrary along the way was somewhat shocking to me. And, surprise surprise, those people I eventually discovered to be sociopaths rarely wanted me to talk about sociopaths. They called me a broken record, or an attention whore, or a sociopath. Discrediting any talk about sociopaths was their common cause. It's part of their psychology to remain camouflaged, to avoid exposure, and to maintain their convincing facade. Talking about sociopaths doesn't serve their agenda.

Good! I'm opposed to their agenda. I don't want to be deceived by them. I don't want to be manipulated by them. I don't want to be controlled by them. And I don't want others to be either.

So I'm not a very good sociopath.

Good!

So let's talk about sociopaths. It's more important than we realize. And we shouldn't be shy about naming names. Netanyahu is one. Bill Clinton too. Kissinger, Brzezinski, Rumsfeld, Bush, Obama, Hillary, Trump... in fact, many stand-out characters in the real world are sociopaths. And, surprise surprise, they don't want us talking about sociopaths. That's why it's more important than we realize.

And that's why we need to talk about it.

 

I pose the question: How many sociopaths are in this conversation?

(Beginning 1h11m25s)

 

Then I doubt it's a stretch to say you've been dealing with sociopaths.

When sociopaths get together for a little meeting (or a little theater), they typically don't invite any non-sociopaths, unless those non-sociopaths are unquestionably well-controlled.

But yes, that conversation is a "Clash of the Titans" among forum sociopaths. It's a classic, very educational, and worthy of study if you wish to better understand what sociopaths are like.

I would also add that understanding sociopaths is critical to understanding the human world. They lead us, they set policy, and they control our demise. That applies to the rocosm of the forums and the macrocosm of the international arena. And therein lies the problem humanity must eventually solve. Failure to solve it means slavery at best, extinction at worst.

 

Why?

Why do sociopaths succeed? Why do they climb the hierarchy and become our leaders? Why is Bill Clinton still a political player? Why isn't he in jail serving a life term? Why is Bill Ryan still lording over hundreds of faithful, long-term Avalon members? Why do the women stand in line to be his "sweetheart" when every one of them is used, abused, and discarded? Why is it the same with Bill Clinton, who is supposedly married to Hillary? Why does Atticus/Houdini mesmerize his followers with absurd tales of pencils up his nether regions?

There are reasons for these things. They are the same reasons con-artists and countless "suckers" find each other. There is an interplay of human psychology between predator and prey. The prime instrument used by the predators is deception. The prime instrument used by the prey is trust. And that's how the dance begins. We all know how it ends.

Or do we?

There is a website called psychopathfree.com full of people who have been "run through the mill", meaning ground up into tiny bits, by psychopaths (Note: psychopaths and sociopaths are essentially the same thing). There is no shortage of victims posting at that site, and they all have similar experiences. How is it that they didn't know how their "dance with the devil" would end?

The answer, of course, is that they didn't know they were dancing with the devil. They were tricked.

Sound familiar?

 

I have a friend I've known for maybe six years. He is well known and seems to know everyone in town, as he deals with a vast array of people one-on-one in his day job. At night, he also works as an entertainer and is quite good at it. He is amazingly well informed about esoteric and alternate knowledge, and that was the common ground that initially drew us together. He was single and lived alone with a dog, but maybe a year ago he came by my house and introduced me to his new steady girlfriend, a woman he had been friends with in high school 30 years ago. She was a very pleasant woman, and I remember thinking how lucky he was to have found her.

A few months later, I stopped at his house to visit, but he was not home from work yet. She was there and said he would be home soon, so I should stay and wait. We chatted, and she started telling me that she was having problems with him and didn't know what to do or who to turn to. Since I was one of the friends he respected the most, she decided to query me to see if I could give her some insight into his puzzling behavior. What I heard in the next half-hour was a complete shock! As she listed the problem behaviors, I couldn't help but remark for nearly every one "That's how a sociopath behaves." Behind closed doors, my friend was apparently a sociopath, and I had never had an inkling that he was one!

After that, I started observing him more carefully, and I heard more stories from his girlfriend. Everything continued to confirm that he was a sociopath. Eventually, they asked me to informally "counsel" them, and I did, hoping to save their relationship. But the conclusion based on what I heard was unavoidable -- they were mismatched. He was indeed a sociopath (though I didn't tell him that), and she was in an abusive relationship that she was finding increasingly intolerable. The final straw for her was when an argument got physical and he assaulted her. Though she was essentially "addicted" to him and felt she couldn't leave, she realized where the pattern was leading and finally understood she would end up either a slave or dead. For his part, he was afraid a police report for assault would put his work in jeopardy and impact his income. So I convinced them both that it would be to their mutual benefit to call it quits, and they both agreed.

He's still my friend, and there is rarely any sign of sociopathy in his dealings with me. But I know this is just "the mask" sociopaths use to fit into the world of normal people. If it hadn't been for his girlfriend being at wit's end, I might have never known his true character. As for the girlfriend, I learned she had a history of being attracted to charming, controlling, "explosive" men. She was coming out of a long marriage to the only calm, caring, and unabusive man she had ever known, which was now just too humdrum for her. It was sad, really, that each was crippled by things outside their control. The only good that came out of it was that I had a better understanding of the human condition. And, that both of them got out of a disastrous relationship, of course!

 

Illuminating! Thank you, Shadowself!

Before I explain why, let me say the following. I am not here to make friends, or to make enemies, though I will surely do both (if memory serves). I am not here to gain followers either. I am here to learn. I am here to share what I learn. And I am here to expose lies and uncover truths. I may not succeed at doing these things, but that is my fundamental purpose. When I first started in the forums 5 years ago, at Avalon, I was just a learner. What I quickly learned is that Avalon was not a gathering of enlightened people, but a den of vipers. (In reality, it's some of both.) One of the first things I witnessed in real time was a member who was correctly standing up for his right to free speech. Bill Ryan promptly banned him. The hypocrisy gnawed at me. I saw other examples of that same hypocrisy. Eventually I rebelled against it and tried to expose it. And Bill Ryan banned me, naturally.

The truth was with you, and Stephen essentially lied. "Followers" is the correct word. That's exactly what the 18 and many others were doing -- following. Stephen was like the Pied Piper, playing the music necessary to lead the rats wherever he desired. But Stephen described all the rats as his "friends". They weren't, not to him anyway. They were rats to him. They were objects to be manipulated, pieces on the game board, stepping stones to greater power and control for Stephen. By calling them "friends", Stephen was effectively using their own empathy against them. Normal people have a normal understanding of what friends are. Sociopaths know that and use it to their advantage. They play on your emotions. If they are starting to lose control of you, you will hear them say, "I thought we were friends." Your empathy makes you recall what you felt like when a friend betrayed you, and you project that onto the sociopath, imagining that they feel hurt. They don't feel hurt. It's just a ploy. They are manipulating you. That's the difference between sociopaths and non-sociopaths. It is the difference between deceptive and genuine.

That's not exactly right. I am still friendly with him, as I try to be with everyone, but he is not really my friend. I now know not to follow him. If he tries to lead me anywhere, my guard is up. With a real friend, my guard wouldn't be up. I would be open, genuine, and vulnerable. But to be that way with a sociopath is to be manipulated and controlled. It's inevitable, because that is the dyna between sociopaths and normal people when normal people are unaware.