Editor’s Note:
Sociopaths are the villains we love to hate because it makes us feel better to think we’re not like them. Truth be told however, is that unless one makes the conscious choice to actually be a moral hero or heroine–and then takes steps to discipline the will for the task–we all remain a bit pathocratic when it comes to meeting our own needs; especially when righteous restraints are removed. Yup, that’s right, we’re all potential despots if not maniacs — to greater or lesser degrees — depending on the nurture and nature of our worldview according to environment, community, family and other thought comptrollers: such as teachers, parents, Drill Sargents, mentors, writers of thoughts, creeds, doctrines, laws, reports, myths, sermons, plays, operas, songs, poems, scripts and story books, essays like this, etc., etc.
There is however, a contingent of sub-humans who remain despotic in the middle of all restraints that otherwise intimidate most of us and keep us in ‘good-behavior’ mode. These folk comprise the core of a nearly pure strain of wickedness that cloaks all conspiracy with professional pretensions to the contrary. The following essay grants a frank discussion of the topic by a man of candor; something now gone out of fashion in America.
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SOCIOPATHY AND CONSPIRACY
Essay by Alfred Lehmberg
[Excerpts reprinted by permission in my book, Cain’s Creed, the Cult of Rome]
The sociopath may be defined as one who steals from, lies to, and cheats those around him while being unaffected by conscience and unhampered by responsibility for his or her egregious acts (Morris, 1988). He is someone we have reason to fear… the sociopath, a sufferer of an “antisocial personality disorder,” has no feelings for others, is selfish and aggressively compassionless — otherwise prone to irresponsible behavior and so is happily willing to exploit others for profit of all types (Wood, 1993). Here lies the spark, tender, and motive for a pervasive conspiracy…
The preceding definition includes every predator businessman, golf course doctor, slick mouthed evangelist, Fat-cat politician, impostor, cold fish prostitute, and Furman-like police officer alive on this planet (Coleman 1976)… In addition, one has to be certifiably SANE to be a true psychopath!… Sweetly charming while cunningly, mindfully and artfully uncaring — these predators might relieve you of your money, your dignity, your life, or your individuality. Sometimes, the victim, astonishingly (inexplicably!) still loves the sociopath when that sociopath has relieved them of their money and their self-respect (Morris, 1988). There are the ruthless Machiavellian types who rise to terrific power in business and the military (McConnell, 1980), and there are the women who coldly stand behind them. These become the fire brand political types like Huey Long, or they refine sociopathy politically offstage… like Nancy Reagan or Barbara Bush, perhaps or like Dick and Lynne Cheney.
Many of them are smart as the clichéd ‘whip’ and possess near genius or genius intelligences (McConnell, 1980). This compounds the problem with them, and adds a scary dimension because we don’t have a clue how many there really are (or where they really are!) as they make lucrative use of this criminal intelligence! Sociopaths can hide in plain sight!… so very few of them are getting in for professional help (Wood, 1993). Why would they? They’re as happy as proverbial clams as they are, above the law… Other characteristics include a complete and utterly unimaginable (for the majority) lack of guilt (Hallahan, 1994). This is the person who can perform the most bloodlessly god-awful and socially abusive criminal acts, and not only express guiltlessness, but ultimately blame the consequences of their act on the injured party!… These are the people who can put up a good front as they shine the victim on with attractive lies, half truths, and manipulations for their benefit… completely uncaring about the personal cost to the target victim inevitably incurred (Coleman 1976). Knowing that they are there with frequently easy regularity…provides greater potential for that, presently, too easily dismissed conspiracy we perceive in the shadows of our lives otherwise. How can we know, reader, given that the radius of those included in a sphere of sociopathy may be much bigger than we imagine — or the attendant conspiracies much grander than we thought? Conspiracy is, by definition, a criminal act, corrosive to society at large. The world is filled with an outguessed amount of passionately engaged and creative criminals… sociopaths, consumed and concerned only with the continuance of their diverse personal agendas and advantaged lives!
We do ourselves a disservice, it appears, to reflexively dismiss conspiracy (of any type or flavor to include the aforementioned) in the mistaken tradition that our society protects us from these legions of undiscovered and non-admitted monsters… We are not served by dismissing conspiracy, we ARE served by investigating it… The authoritarian admonitions of our institutional leadership do not convince us that they have our best interests at heart… Conspiracy lives, folks, it’s not in our mind. Conspiracy’s real. Just look, and you find.
References: Coleman, J. (1976). Abnormal Psychology and Modern Life. Dallas: Scott, Foresman and Company… Dolan, R. (2000). An Unclassified History: volume one 1941-1973, New York: Keyhole… Hallahan, D. & Kauffman, J. (1994). Exceptional Children. Boston: Allyn and Bacon… McConnell, J. (1980). Understanding Human Behavior, New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.
Editor’s Postscript: The most succinct but comprehensive professional article on Sociopathy I’ve come across is: Mealey, L. (1995). “The Sociobiology of Sociopathy: An Integrated Evolutionary Model.” Behavioral and Brain Sciences, # 18 (3): 523-599.26