by James Corbett corbettreport.com March 26, 2023 In Part 1 of this series on Dissent Into Madness, I recounted the sordid details of "The Weaponization of Psychology," noting how the psychiatric profession has been turned into an instrument for repressing and marginalizing political dissidents.
corbettreport.substack.com
Our (Mis-)Leaders Are Psychopaths
They are "remorseless predators who use charm, intimidation and, if necessary, impulsive and cold-blooded violence to attain their ends."
They "ruthlessly plow their way through life, leaving a broad trail of broken hearts, shattered expectations, and empty wallets."
They
have "no feelings of guilt or remorse no matter what [they] do, no limiting sense of concern for the well-being of strangers, friends, or even family members."
Am I talking about politicians? Technocrats? Billionaire "philanthrocapitalists"? Royalty? Captains of industry?
Of course I am. But I'm
also talking about psychopaths.
We all know what a psychopath is, or at least we think we do. They're chainsaw-wielding, crazed serial killers, like Leatherface from
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Or they're knife-wielding, crazed serial killers, like Buffalo Bill from
The Silence of the Lambs. Or they're acid-spraying-lapel-flower-wearing, crazed serial killers, like The Joker from
Batman.
But if that
is what we think of when we think of a psychopath, we find that once again we are the Hollywood predictive programmers' victims, constructing our understanding of reality not from actual, lived experience but from fictional characters dreamt up by writers and projected on a screen.
In the real world, psychopaths are a subset of the population who lack a conscience. The full implications of this strange mental condition are not apparent to the vast majority of us who
do possess a conscience and who assume that the inner life of most people is largely similar to our own.
In
The Sociopath Next Door, Dr. Martha Stout, a clinical psychologist who has devoted much of her career to the subject, demonstrates what the absence of a conscience really means by inviting her readers to participate in
this exercise:
So, how would your average politician score on this test? Let's see.
Egocentricity / grandiose sense of self-worth?
Check.
Pathological lying and deception?
Check.
Conning / lack of sincerity?
Check.
Lack of remorse or guilt?
Check.
Callous / lack of empathy?
Check.
Parasitic lifestyle?
Isn't that the definition of a
career politician?
Early behaviour problems?
Check. (<-Actually, this one is
straight from Stout's book . . . but her story of the young boy who uses his "Star-Spangled Banner" firecrackers in their skull-and-crossbones-emblazoned box to blow up frogs is just a "composite" case that isn't meant to represent anyone in particular, of course.)
I could go on, but you get the idea.