Pussification in America: Political Correctness is Gay

fanaskin_sl said:

Are psychopaths born that way or is it learned behavior?

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Are_psycho...arned_behavior

Psychopaths are born that way, From biological/genes passed down to them. A sociopath is made. Here is the difference:

http://healthyliving.msn.com/health-...-psychopaths-1

Many researchers now believe that the core defect in psychopathy?and what most distinguishes it from other antisocial behavior disorders?is what are called "callous/unemotional traits."

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For the purposes of this argument I'm referring to a psychopath as someone who displays a "lack of empathy, callousness and complete disregard for anything or anyone else other than one's selfish needs" (as defined in your second source). Nothing in that definition implies whether it's learned or instilled from birth.
But you know what, even if some people are naturally born psychopaths, it's something that can be controlledthroughlearned behavior, as also stated in your second source. Again, it's an example of society allowing us to overcome our instincts because we simply know better. So my point remains, we see "evil" behavior either because it is learned or because it has been allowed to flourish. In neither way is it inevitable or "human nature".

Gavinrad_sl said:

It's also possible that Tanoomba either received or remembered the wrong message. The actual message is that there is likely a disproportionately high percentage of sociopaths at the higher end of corporate america compared to the percentage of the general population, which is 4%. This being because corporate culture encourages and values the behaviors and mindsets that are generally common to sociopaths.

That being said, the idea that the discrepancy is so large as to say that 'the majority' of high end politicians and corporate executives are sociopaths is just profoundly ignorant.

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Don't be a contradictory bitch just for the sake of being a contradictory bitch. You're making the exact same point I am, then pulling a hissy fit because I'm pointing out that lying, corrupt scumbags are filling the positions we're reserving for lying, corrupt scumbags. The 1% are psychopaths. I don't have a citation, but you have to be a psychopath to exist within the 1%. There is no way you can stay part of the 1% otherwise. Now some of the 1% have kids, and in order for those kids to stay part of the club, you'd better believe they learn how to be psychopaths. I'm basing this on the fact that the actions taken by the 1% to ensure they maintain their power and privilege are objectively harmful to the rest of society, and they simply don't give a shit. As has been pointed out, the richest and most powerful people (the 1%) are actually only acting rationally, as it would be irrational for them not to make full use of every advantage given to them. But tuning out the negative effects these actions have on the environment, international relations, the rest of society, etc, etc, is psychopathic behavior.

Lleauaric_sl said:

I don't know if psychopath is the right word for it.... But there are certainly a lot of people in upper echelons of corporate America (and elsewhere) that have serious issues. People who put their jobs above all other things, above family, friends, a life. People who enjoy ruining other people, or don't care about cutting 50k jobs so they can get a richer dividend this quarter. People who knowingly hide harmful effects of their products, or people who exploit workers in 3rd world countries in slave like conditions, or profit from war, violence, ect. It goes on all the time, and that certainly doesn't mean ALL CEOs, but its common enough to make you scratch your head and wonder what the fuck is wrong with these people.

Business isn't exclusive to this though.. Pro Athletes, Actors, and pretty much all Politicians are fucked up in high numbers too.

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The way you're describing it, psychopath isexactlythe right word for it. It's just the fact that we generally associate the word with violent crazy people that makes it harder for some people to use the same label on corporate and political bigwigs, but a psychopath's a psychopath, any way you slice it.

Gavinrad_sl said:

Clean the sand out of your vagina you whiny faggot. I'm taking issue with your ridiculous claim that the 'grand majority' of high ranking politicians and CEOs have APD.

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Of course they do. That's how they became high-ranking politicians and CEOs.

Ever see "Roger & Me", Michael Moore's finest film?
CEO of General Motors Roger Smith basically destroyed the town of Flint, Michigan. This was a town whose entire livelihood was connected to General Motors. The company had been good to them and they were good to the company. When Smith decided to shut all the Flint factories down in order to exploit cheap foreign labor (when GM was already making record profits), tens of thousands of people lost their jobs. The town went tits-up, was voted the worst city in America and has yet to recover. I'm sure Roger Smith would use the exact same excuse all these assholes use: That his responsibility is to his shareholders; that he is financially obligated to do whatever is within his power to make sure they get the most return for their invested dollar (regardless of whatever other negative impact these choices have). This is fucking psychopathy, pure and simple. The fact that CEOs can get away with this (nay, that they areexpectedto do shit like this and aren't doing their jobs if they aren't) shows that:
A) This is learned psychopathy (if a CEO wasn't a psychopath before, he will be by the time he destroys thousands of lives for his shareholders).
B) The system forces us to create these psychopaths. To be an obscenely "successful" CEO, you have no choice but to be a psychopath. It is absolutely a requirement.

Now I don't know if it's possible to fix this clusterfuck of a system, but if we ever wanted to try the first thing we should do is change this ridiculous "first and only responsibility is to the shareholders" bullshit. SO MUCH DAMAGE has been done in the name of rewarding shareholders it would be funny if it weren't horrifically disgusting. Let's stop forcing people to be psychopaths so they can maybe start showing a little more responsibility, shall we? And maybe,maybewe might even start to entertain the notion that there are other ways to measure "success" than profits made.

I hear psychopaths lack the ability to properly edit the written word, especially paragraphs.

Wonder what Tanoombs's thoughts would have been had the CEO been a woman? Does he think the Yahoo bitch is a hypocrite for ending telecommuting while having a nursery in her office?

Gavinrad_sl said:

What the fuck.

No. You've basically made a verbose version of Fanaskin's mistaken claim that everyone who commits murder is a sociopath. You clearly don't have the slightest clue what the fuck you're talking about.

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Well, thanks for clearing it up then. Oh wait, you didn't clear up shit.
Do you disagree with the definition of psychopath as someone who suffers from "lack of empathy, callousness and complete disregard for anything or anyone else other than one's selfish needs"? When you're in a position where you've got enough power and influence to harm and destroy countless lives and you do so in order to gain more power and influence, you're a psychopath. In fact, it's very likely being a psychopath that got you into that position in the first place.
What's the issue here?

Gavinrad_sl said:

What you are repeatedly failing to understand is the difference between someone who chooses to do something immoral because of personal gain, and someone who doesn't view it as immoral in the first place. You're basically calling basic human nature sociopathy.

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We're not talking about stealing a towel from a hotel here, Gav. When you can destroy tens of thousands of lives and not give a shit as you suck caviar out of the assholes of high-end hookers, that's the very epitomy of psychopathy. If these guys were remotely "human", they would never be able to sleep another night in their lives.

Is it the definition of "psychopath" I'm using you have a problem with? This isn't brain cancer. You can damn well choose to be a psychopath and get away with it when you're rewarded with billions of dollars. I'm not calling basic human nature sociopathy. Human nature is to make use of advantages we are given, and some people have been able to snowball those advantages to such ridiculous proportions that psychopathy is the inevitable result.
Frankly, if your suggestion that these are just examples of people making immoral judgments for personal gain with the full knowledge that these judgments are immoral is accurate, it means the 1% are Bond-level supervillains. That sounds a lot more ridiculous to me than the suggestion that they are society-created psychopaths.