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Letter From A Psychopath

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Re: Letter From A Psychopath

#241

Post by steauengeglase »

psychosurvivor wrote: post #188
steauengeglase wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They aren't always charming and intelligent, sometimes they are repulsive and brutal. I'd say the big warning signs are cruelty, a repulsion of weakness while also finding it irresistible, rapidly changing tactics (sometimes within seconds) that shift between dominance and attempting to garner empathy that begin to appear shallow after the first few salvos, highly manipulative to ends that don't really matter, and al…

I agree, but I immediately avoid the one's that exhibit negative traits. The problematic ones for me are those that are charming and intelligent. I forgot about the rapidly changing tactics within seconds. That's really astonishing when you see it. I've never met a psychopathic woman. The couple crazy girlfriends I've had were borderline personalities, which I found even more difficult to deal with.

There are plenty of female psychopaths out there. The difference is that women are more socialized than men (hiding more obvious traits) and they seldom take the macho (sometimes violent) route to feed their egos.

Re: Letter From A Psychopath

#242

Post by cdash »

Arnor wrote: post #224
undoware wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So is being any sort of successful criminal. A pedophile, for example.

I still have no idea what you're trying to say. I don't have an abundance of trust for psychopaths, pedophiles, or crack dealers. I've worked very closely with psychopaths (one was also a pedophile) in an institutional setting in the past. I had to assume that every interaction was a manipulation. Even being extremely careful, it was easy to get caught from time to time particularly when I was understaffed (i.e. 1 st…

Everyone lies and manipulates you, not just psychopaths.

Re: Letter From A Psychopath

#243

Post by scotty79 »

tomstokes wrote: post #92

Perhaps the most fascinating part of this letter is observing people's reactions to it. In the letter, the author goes so far as to admit that s/he is and always will be a psychopath without a sense of guilt or remorse toward others and a keen ability to recognize and exploit weaknesses in others for his/her own gain. Judging by the comments here, the letter has done just that. One comment below notes that "Jeez, tha…

I haven't bought any of it. Guy seems to be just full of himself. Maybe it's just because I'm also a keen observer and bit psychopathic myself.

Nah. I'm kidding. I'm just generally distrustful of words and people that utter them.

Re: Letter From A Psychopath

#244

Post by PavlovsCat »

crimsonalucard wrote: post #144
PavlovsCat wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find it sad rather than fascinating, wish I could hug the guy. I know this isn't the time or the place, and that I could probably not help anyway. But still, every time I see a post of him with that greyed out font saying "move along, nothing to see here" gets me right in the feels. When some sports star or programmer with family dies from stupid or natural causes or commits suicide, we are upset. When someone is o…

http://www.damninteresting.com/the-unburdened-mind/ read it. I think people are taking this the wrong way. A psychopath is not someone who is suffering a heavy mental disability who you should hug and comfort. Whether the personality type is a disorder or an innate talent/ability is up for debate. A psychopath is a cold calculating personality type unburdened by empathy and certain emotions. These types of people are…

I'm not talking about psychopaths, I'm talking about the author of TempleOS and his posts here. And frankly, it was mostly a figure of speech. I wish the guy health and happiness, is all.

> Whether the personality type is a disorder or an innate talent/ability is up for debate.

Well, if it's the inability to feel empathy, remorse, and other things, shouldn't that be obvious? For me it's not a special talent of a dead person that they don't have to eat, or of Eliza that it's not really sentient. That lack in one area can lead to overcompensation in other areas still doesn't make it a special talent, it's just the expected result of practice. Everybody can be cold or calculating - to my understanding the the difference between that and a psychopath is the ability to NOT be cold and calculating. If being calculating is all that's on your palette, you get real good at it. This is my non-educated guess, anyway.

At any rate, you misread my comment, read it again, taking the post it's in reply to into account :)

Re: Letter From A Psychopath

#245

Post by kansface »

ak39 wrote: post #111
jgg wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, I'm laughing at all the people in this thread who think that this person in sincere (if they are actually a psychopath at all). People are a means to an end to a psychopath...

Fair enough, but to what end, in your mind, could this author be attempting to exploit our empathies for?

The entire article is an exercise in self aggrandizement. To me, it reads as if it were written by a 13 year old- the author basically has super powers, but only uses them for good of the world.

Re: Letter From A Psychopath

#246

Post by Arnor »

cdash wrote: post #242
Arnor wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still have no idea what you're trying to say. I don't have an abundance of trust for psychopaths, pedophiles, or crack dealers. I've worked very closely with psychopaths (one was also a pedophile) in an institutional setting in the past. I had to assume that every interaction was a manipulation. Even being extremely careful, it was easy to get caught from time to time particularly when I was understaffed (i.e. 1 st…

Everyone lies and manipulates you, not just psychopaths.

Very true. Still, when you are aware of a particular propensity for manipulation, it is prudent to tread carefully.

Re: Letter From A Psychopath

#247

Post by michaelt »

berntb wrote: post #210
michaelt wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, communities have subgroups. Even if someone is a net drag on the larger community, they could contribute to a subgroup. For example, a leader might be good for their country at the expense of the international community. Or a senator might be good for their state but bad for their country. Or an activist might be good for his community but bad for society at large. Such a person probably wouldn't be popularly s…

I was discussing the period when we humans evolved. Not so large groups then. Evolutionary pressure creating psychopaths from a group evolutionary basis seems unlikely (these generally need quite specific circumstances to work). (Your argument also miss that psychopaths manipulate and damage the direct environment around them most.)

Perhaps psychopathy is like being bald - no real advantages, perhaps a small disadvantage, but it doesn't disadvantage you enough to stop you having a few kids so the genes get passed on anyway.

Indeed, if psychopathy is a combination of traits ('feels no empathy' and 'good at faking empathy') perhaps the survivors had a combination of traits that helped them to survive, while those with one or the other failed to survive.

Re: Letter From A Psychopath

#248

Post by scott_s »

DanBC wrote: post #184
undoware wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate to logic-chop a civilian (i.e. someone who didn't waste their youth in an analytic philosophy department studying ethics) but here we go. If your position is that all convincing self-accounts by psychopaths are themselves only convincing because the psychopath is somehow 'tricking' you, then you can take that statement and s/psychopath/any group you care to name/ and you'd never know the difference. Don't beli…

> If your position is that all convincing self-accounts by psychopaths are themselves only convincing because the psychopath is somehow 'tricking' you, then you can take that statement and s/psychopath/any group you care to name/ and you'd never know the difference. Don't believe me? Try substituting various bogeymen of the twentieth century: crack dealers, pedophiles, etc. You see what I mean? It always works: You s…

Not just a convincing liar, but one with a propensity for manipulation and a lack of empathy. Because of that, I think tomstoke's analysis is unique to sociopaths/psychopaths, and you cannot simply insert any bogeyman.

Re: Letter From A Psychopath

#249

Post by throwaway83294 »

VladimirGolovin wrote: post #233
throwaway83294 wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For reasons I won't get into, after he was confronted, he did what I'd describe as "firing a warning shot", but in terms of social power. Basically it was his way of saying "Don't mess with me. I have influence and can destroy your life." Following that, I've been forced to take precautions in terms of carefully bringing friends into this knowledge, among other strategic preparations in case he "attacks" some day wit…

Everything you said above checks out, my experience with a psychopath was similar. > "Don't mess with me." I heard this exact phrase, he said it right to my face. I didn't think at that moment that I'm posing any threat. Perhaps the guy overestimated me.

I'm actually surprised it would be said directly to your face. Obviously psychopaths are different, but the person I knew was very smart and knew not to overextend their influence unless necessary, and was very careful not to self incriminate. Saying "don't mess with me" outright to someones face is risky, especially if it's overheard or recorded. My case was much more subtle, more of a "show of power" socially which nobody else would understand except me, given the recent confrontation.

To me, it's far more dangerous to confront someone who is a master manipulator and expert at knowing how to do so subtly and undetectably, versus someone who throws around angry threats. The latter is almost harmless, unless it's backed up by the former.

Re: Letter From A Psychopath

#250

Post by schrodinger »

crimsonalucard wrote: post #144
PavlovsCat wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find it sad rather than fascinating, wish I could hug the guy. I know this isn't the time or the place, and that I could probably not help anyway. But still, every time I see a post of him with that greyed out font saying "move along, nothing to see here" gets me right in the feels. When some sports star or programmer with family dies from stupid or natural causes or commits suicide, we are upset. When someone is o…

http://www.damninteresting.com/the-unburdened-mind/ read it. I think people are taking this the wrong way. A psychopath is not someone who is suffering a heavy mental disability who you should hug and comfort. Whether the personality type is a disorder or an innate talent/ability is up for debate. A psychopath is a cold calculating personality type unburdened by empathy and certain emotions. These types of people are…

I think this comment sub thread is talking about a different individual who is schizophrenic.
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