Why are conscience-bound human beings so blind? And why are they so hesitant to defend themselves and the ideals and people they care about, from the minority of human beings who possess no conscience at all?
It has to do with the emotions and thought processes that occur in us when we are confronted with sociopathy. We are afraid, our sense of reality suffers. We think we are imagining things, that we are ourselves somehow responsible for the sociopath's behaviour.
Let us look at the formidable techniques used by the shameless to keep us in line.
We have an extremely hard time seeing that a person has no conscience, but a person who has no conscience can instantly recognize someone who is decent and trusting.
When a sociopath identifies someone as a good game piece, he studies that person. He makes it his business to know how that person can be manipulated and used, and how his chosen pawn can be flattered and charmed.
We are distracted from a person's actual behaviour when he represents himself as in some way benevolent, creative or insightful.
We try to judge a person's character by his appearance, but this book-by-the-cover strategy is ineffective. in the real world, bad guys do not look the way they are supposed to. On the contrary -
THEY LOOK LIKE US.
(Martha Stout. Sociopath Next Door. The Ruthless Versus the Rest of Us)
It has to do with the emotions and thought processes that occur in us when we are confronted with sociopathy. We are afraid, our sense of reality suffers. We think we are imagining things, that we are ourselves somehow responsible for the sociopath's behaviour.
Let us look at the formidable techniques used by the shameless to keep us in line.
- Charm - a primary characteristic of sociopathy.
We have an extremely hard time seeing that a person has no conscience, but a person who has no conscience can instantly recognize someone who is decent and trusting.
When a sociopath identifies someone as a good game piece, he studies that person. He makes it his business to know how that person can be manipulated and used, and how his chosen pawn can be flattered and charmed.
- Seduction - another very common sociopathic technique. For most people, sexual liaison involves an emotional tie, even if only fleetingly, and such ties are used by coldly remorseless to get what they want - allegiance, financial support, a sense of 'winning'...
- Acting skills. Since the scaffolding of a life without conscience is deception and illusion, intelligent sociopaths become proficient at acting. Visible signs of emotion at will become second nature to the cold-blooded. Crocodile tears are a sociopathic trademark.
We are distracted from a person's actual behaviour when he represents himself as in some way benevolent, creative or insightful.
We try to judge a person's character by his appearance, but this book-by-the-cover strategy is ineffective. in the real world, bad guys do not look the way they are supposed to. On the contrary -
THEY LOOK LIKE US.
(Martha Stout. Sociopath Next Door. The Ruthless Versus the Rest of Us)
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