Today, in the United States, every back yard has a barbecue going. Most of these have the stars and strips flying as well. My email inbox is full of items with titles like “Remembering the Heroes who Fight to Save Our Freedom.”
The one I agree with is from Code Pink. They don’t glorify anything military but manage to have a humane attitude towards the people in “our” military and those outside it too:
On Memorial Day, we honor the memory of millions who have died due to war. The civilians and soldiers who have been bombed, or shot, or stepped on cluster bombs and landmines. All the families and friends who have lost people they love because of war, violence and aggression.
For the record, I don’t think our military is protecting our freedom. The little freedom left in this country is better protected by the ACLU. I don’t want to make this a soapbox. But there is so much psychic noise about this holiday that I must raise my voice a bit to keep sane.
I just read The Non-Combatant by Larry Banner. “A Vietnam veteran, Larry’s experiences were quite different than most of the stories that have been told about that disastrous war. His experiences in Saigon at the height of the war were often times amusing.” I was shocked to read that the big oil companies paid the Viet Cong to not bomb or attack their property. So the Viet Cong had oil money with which to purchase ammunition they used against our soldiers. I already knew everything was a farce but I was still deeply shocked by this information. A penny-antsy charity is called “terrorist” when it gives any money to a hostile organization in the Middle East, yet these mega corporate oil companies are paying the “enemy” big time and they have a free pass. Kind of makes the whole war a big farce. A show. But a show in which real people die. Fighting for our “freedom” or for a big reality show?
I went to the public schools as a child. I was taught a lot that I came to consider false. When Mai Lai occurred, I was genuinely shocked. I looked around the classroom at the boys there and tried to imagine them as the “monsters” I had been hearing about in the news, people who did things I had been taught to believe only the bad guys were capable of.
Not that I was super naive as a child. I had always seen through some things. I was a natural skeptic even about things that turned out to be true. For example, I was told that I lived in the biggest city in the world and we had the tallest skyscraper in the world. I thought, “I’ll bet everyone says that about their city.” But I was wrong. New York was the biggest city and the Empire State Building was the tallest. But this is the caution with which I approached everything adults told me. I could just smell the hypocrisy in the air. The story that gagged me the most was The Man Without a Country. Not only did they tell us this story in school, but they dramatized it on TV. Even as a small child, I noticed the disconnect between the boasts that we live in a country of free speech and the fact that someone should be punished so badly just for saying, “I wish I never heard of the United States again.” It was clearly an ejaculation of anger, not a long-considered position. And it was his speech, not a crime. Unless we have thought-crime in this country after all. Furthermore, pretending exile on a ship where he couldn’t even access a newspaper that wasn’t all cut up was in any way honoring his expressed wish. My hostility to American patriotism probably started at that point.
Since then, I have learned a lot, or rather unlearned many myths imparted to me by my “educators.” I learned that the country is run by the wealthy elite. I learned that foreign policy is in their interests. The wars we fight are not to protect our freedom. They are to maximize profits. I have read the book, Prairie Fire, written by the Weather Underground. Sure, I have embraced a gamut of different political ideologies. I was a Goldwater conservative, for goodness sake. But, having been all over the political map, I have decided the revolutionary anti-imperialist ideology is the most righteous. I also admit I am too selfish to have really devoted myself to that cause in a steady sustained manner. I don’t care enough about oppressed people in distant lands to really live that sacrificially. But I do admire those who do. Now, my biggest issue is saving Social Security which seems to be under constant threat. I want social justice but, most of all, I want to be able to enjoy my “golden years” in peace and comfort.
Still, I have a deep aversion to nationalism, at least the nationalism of my own country. It’s not that strange when I realize that many Germans have the same aversion having lived through the Third Reich. A beloved professor of German once said, “When I see a flag, I want to spit.” Well, I’m not trying to start World War III on the internet. Just setting the record straight.
A final thought. If we honor our servicemen (and women) so much, why are so many veterans still homeless. I find that truly shocking. When I was a child, the only homeless people were hard core alcoholics and we called them “bums,” not “homeless.” Now regular people are homeless and nobody seems to care. This doesn’t go along with the morality I was taught that our society stands for. As Judge Judy would say, “Baloney!”
Links
- These Should be the End Times for American Patriotism. by Sam Haselby, originally printed in Aeon Magazine. Now in Alternet
My mother used to utter the profundity (I automatically discount any words of wisdom from my own mother—as policy, you know) “I am afraid that behind people’s masks is another mask.” Like, WOW! That’s real deep, Mom. But, much as I hate to admit it, there is another mask or series of masks.
When I got to the place in the novel where Smerdyakov kills himself, I didn’t hesitate to go over the edge. An overdose of sleeping pills landed me in Bellevue. During the entire time, I was still playing the game. I don’t think anyone ever understood what I was doing. None of my shrinks ever caught on. I considered them actors in the play I wrote, starred in and directed. They played their parts well. I kept my secrets well, too. I’m revealing them now but don’t think for a moment I’m telling you everything. Behind this open, letting it all hang out and letting the chips fall where they may, is an intensely secretive Scorpio moon.
Writing by professionals. This includes the most important thinkers on the subject such as Hervey Cleckley and Robert Hare
Hervey Cleckley was a psychiatrist, a medical doctor who practiced psychiatry. Robert Hare is a psychologist, an expert on the mind who is not a medical doctor. He was greatly influenced by Dr. Cleckley in developing his own ideas which are now the cornerstone of modern man’s understanding of psychopathy. While fully accepted by his academic colleagues, who, indeed, consider his work to be the gold standard in the field, Dr. Hare has also written a lot that is accessible to the layman. His Without Conscience is widely read by layfolk. In addition, Hare has written for magazines and appeared in popular documentaries about psychopathy, notably, Psychopath Night, seen on UK’s Channel 4, and The Psychopath Next Door. In my Hare Mellowing? I discuss shifts I have seen in his attitude and opinion on psychopaths.
Abraham Gentry has written a manual for prisoners on how to avoid the diagnosis of psychopath. Parole boards deny parole to psychopaths. Lawyers for defendants have also raised objections to the prejudicial potential of such an assessment. In Abraham Gentry’s words, “Psychology is a soft science. I do not mean this as an insult to the field. But the simple fact is that people are very complicated. It is a ‘touchy feely’ field and different experts can come up with very different conclusions about the same thing.”
Many outspoken psychopaths have never been professionally diagnosed. The MRI brain scan and the PCL-R are not readily available to people who are not in the penal system and then the process is out of their control. Diagnosis is in the hands of an elite that dictates the terms in which we can even be accessed. Many don’t even want to bother with it. We know who we are and we can pretty accurately recognize each other as well. We certainly know the characteristics on the checklist. Do we really need an advanced degree in psychology to recognize these characteristics in ourselves and others? It’s almost become a casual parlor game to “diagnose” characters in movies and novels. It isn’t official but it is also pretty easy a lot of the time. “This one is a narc (narcissist). That one seems borderline.” I think our guesses are often on target. For example, 
Life is a game. At least to me it is. When I was 13 and I got myself into a nuthouse, I realized consciously I was playing a game and manipulating the shrinks to “put me there.” It was like magick. I was the director of a play and everyone else played hir assigned role. But I’m realizing recently how the games I’m currently engaged in play themselves. It’s all very interesting. If I didn’t have this detachment, I don’t know how I could endure my life.
Another game I only just realized I am playing is me getting all offended by people’s insults to psychopaths. There is a rich abundance of offensive behavior towards us as a group with which to play. I recently engaged a “victims-survivers” blog about how callously they discussed us. I mean, someone expressed glee at the suicide-death of her ex, a “sociopath.” I thought they were supposed to be the “nice” ones and we were the nasty ones who might enjoy the fact that someone killed hirself. But, if they can rejoice at someone else’s death, who are they to claim the high moral road? So I confronted them. Another participant actually went so far as to say, “Its not like rejoicing the death of a human. Who in the hell cares about the death of an sbuser?? CD much going in? If my ex psychopath died tomorrow I’d VOLUNTEER to DJ at the funeral!” Now I had copious grounds for offense. She said we aren’t human and she would DJ at the funeral of “her ex psychopath.” At the time, I thought I was genuinely offended but I realize now it was really fun to claim the moral high ground on them. It was only another game, a very gratifying one. They probably realized this before I did.
An episode of Law & Order: SVU called Game dealt with a guy who made a video game come to life by acting out one of the more outrageous behaviors from the game in the real world. This involved driving up on the sidewalk and deliberately hitting a pedestrian, then getting out of the car and beating her to death while taking her money. What I found interesting about this story was the way he reacted when he was convicted of his crime. Instead of showing any disappointment or consternation, he looked thrilled. It was clear that he was so immersed in 
his game-life, he was detached from the actual consequences to his own person. I could relate to his attitude. It rang a bell.
This is primarily a catalog of organizations who have designated us as their nemesis. I have long been aware of these groups/blogs/websites/organizations. I am fascinated at the amount of negativity they direct to my kind. Most will deny hating. Some clearly do. We will look at each one and evaluate their value to enlarging knowledge or promoting bigotry, as the case may be.
Babiakas Vice President and Robert Hare on the Board of Directors. They even have Mary Ellen O’Toole as consultant. They are tax exempt, charitable and non-profit. About psychopaths, they inform us, “Psychopathy is a serious syndrome of personality pathology. While most psychopaths are charming 
and charismatic on the surface, underneath they are manipulative, pathological liars, and irresponsible.” Robert Hare has recently distanced himself somewhat from that statement. He now questions the notion that psychopathy is a disorder. He also acknowledges the fact that it is a spectrum on which some people who fit the assessment of “psychopath” can even be fun friends. I like the air of professionalism displayed by this foundation. It doesn’t get over-emotional and pettily personal like some of them. The video was made in 2011. On the other hand, they also have some weirdos like Winifred Rule. Some of the gals on their Board of Directors look bothered in the extreme.
myriad problems. Although it only mentions psychopaths and sociopaths in the title, their opening page features borderline disorder but, if you click on the link, a larger window opens on which you can scroll to antisocial personality disorder. Beyond this, one can find the PCL-R. Interesting…
Psychopaths and Love
attention to them and helped resolve them rather than expose her publicly. But I couldn’t find such a way and she is, after all, responsible for her own mistakes.
posting in groups for psychopaths where she hawks her wares. Ms. Rule has written a book, Born to Destroy and she delivers lectures. She is also connected to a group already listed above, 
Peace deplores the recent tendency to redeem the image of psychopaths in the eyes of the general public. “These strange claims are on the rise as psychopathy awareness spreads. Some from self-proclaimed psychopaths, some from pop-scientists seeking a piece of the action, and some from perfectly well-intentioned people who are just hellbent on seeing the good in everyone.” “Self-proclaimed psychopaths?” Ah. People like me. That’s cool. I think it’s about time we spoke for ourselves. I’m tired of being talked about. But I don’t think it was very nice to call Dr. Kevin Dutton a “pop-scientist” although Peace never mentions names. In fact, even Dr. Robert Hare might now fall into this description since he said, “Psychopathy might not be so disordered and unnatural; it’s something that we can probably work with, help them take advantage of and shape in a way that’s pro-social and productive, good for the individual and society.”
He never mentioned Dutton’s book by name but it was clear what he had in mind when he wrote, “What about ‘wisdom’? Maybe I’m a spiritual nutjob, but I thought wisdom was about turning dark experiences into light, and discovering what it is we can offer to this world. I thought it took adversity & compassion to develop wisdom.” It is the very apparent cognitive dissonance in the title of his book that gives it it’s punch and challenges the reader to want to see how Dutton could have made such an audacious claim. I’m sure he is well aware of the seeming disconnect and was up to the challenge when he undertook to write it.
outsider’s perspective that enables us to see the society everyone else takes for granted with a rare understanding. Blogs written by psychopaths tend to be full of deep searching for philosophical answers that can lead one to ponder. I know we’re not the only outsiders and each kind provides it’s own perspective.
Even lepers are accepted now. No longer are they forced to ring a bell and shout, “Unclean.” Psychopaths are not all serial killers. The public needs to know that. We need the public to know it. If you don’t like us, OK. But recognize that we are not lepers. We might “walk among you” and you might not recognize us as psychopaths. We often “hide in plain sight” to protect ourselves from you. I have to admit it. I do not have much sympathy for these self-styled victims whose blogs abound on the internet these days. The thinkers you complain about are only trying to clear up the distortion your reactive demonizing is spreading.
People have said that psychopaths mellow with old age. Can it be that the “father of psychopathy,” Dr. Robert Hare is also mellowing with age?
However, in the video, 
Psychopaths may not suffer from a neurological disorder but instead the condition may be an evolutionary survival mechanism, according to the man who drew up the standardised test for the personality disorder.
While unpalatable to most people, he argues this method of reproduction means psychopathy should be considered a biological adaptation rather than a neurological disorder.
He could have been Kevin Dutton when he said,
objectively know right from wrong. In fact, the law presumes that psychopaths know right from wrong objectively which is why we are held responsible for crimes we commit. Knowing what is right and what is wrong can function as a guide just as effectively as a conscience. Not needing to beat oneself up with guilt feelings, really causes a psychopath to deserve more credit for doing right. A free choice is automatically a moral choice. But the fact that psychopaths can chose to do wrong scares people.” 
Every time a heinous crime is committed, people say, without thinking, “that psychopath.” Of course, that kind of knee-jerk reaction isn’t very popular with psychopaths. We know it takes more than bad behavior to make a psychopath (which is why the term “ASPD” can never be equated with psychopathy although many psychopaths have ASPD).
unafraid to speak the truth.
The number of autistic children is still rising. Children, who are developing normally, get the MMR shot and overnight lose the power of speech, can no longer walk properly. Autism isn’t only a brain disease. These children have excruciating intestinal problems. They suffer from diarrhea and constipation.
I started this blog with the observation that people just automatically attribute every heinous deed to psychopathy. Tina Taylor has a 
For those who don’t know, Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a television series. A movie by the same name preceded it. The movie was silly but the series was witty, intelligent and entertaining. I am writing about one character in the series, Angelus to look at some philosophical implications.
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