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Republicans as Sociopaths

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Perry Logan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-05-07 05:42 PM
Original message
Republicans as Sociopaths
Edited on Wed Dec-05-07 05:46 PM by Perry Logan
In the interests of knowing your enemy, I present a description of the "sociopathic personality." This explains why America has been screwed into the ground since the stolen election of 2000:

"By definition these people are at least temporarily very successful in society. They achieve their success by socially unacceptable means and at the expense of the community and its citizens. As Robertson et al pointed out in 1996 a number of entrepreneurs seem to have these characteristics.

These people tend to embrace a particular and often limited belief system to the exclusion of others. They have no doubts. Typically these belief systems have an internal logic. Actions based on the belief system often produces the desired and predicted outcomes. Their views do not stand up to criticism when alternative understandings are used. Views applicable to some activities in society may be given universal relevance and applied to activities where they are clearly inappropriate. These views or their application should not be acceptable to society but society frequently identifies uncritically with their logic and fails to challenge them.

Sociopathic individuals are extremely self-confidant, intelligent, charismatic and persuasive of others as well as themselves. They inspire those around them and create a dysfunctional culture, - often dizzy and disoriented by its success. Success is proof of the accuracy of any claim they make. Words and sometimes bizarre ideas become a substitute for reality. They surround themselves by supporters who worship them and believe they can do no wrong. These loyalties persist even when their world collapses around them. The community admires them. The system of justice seldom pursues them.

They have enormous drive and ambition but few qualms about how they accomplish their objectives. They are focussed. They deal with conflicting evidence, by selective perception, compartmentalising, rationalising, by attacking its credibility, or by demonising the messenger. They are more likely to develop patterns of thought which allow them to indulge in criminal activity or to disregard the interests of others. They can be very successful entrepreneurs.

They surround themselves with admirers. When a group identifies with dysfunctional ideas and adopts these patterns of thinking then they reinforce each other. Dissenters leave or are ostracised. A subculture or even a culture forms. When this culture is very successful, when there are adverse outcomes for individuals or for sections of society as a consequence of beliefs and actions, and when the culture is deaf to reason or facts then I call this process successful sociopathy. We have ready examples in apartheid and the holocaust. Once a successful culture is established it assumes an independent momentum and spreads rapidly. Its acquires a legitimacy and an unquestioned and self evident correctness, which few dare challenge. Nothing is as convincing as success.

The nature of these sociopaths make the empires which they create extremely fragile and vulnerable - a spectacular house of cards which at times comes tumbling down amidst revelations of misconduct.

When these people hold the floor they are persuasive but their ideas do not stand up to critical scrutiny or questioning. They talk only to the converted. They seldom engage in open debate or give press interviews where they are confronted by critics. They employ trained PR firms to present their point of view.
http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/sts/bmartin/dissent/documents/health/sociopathy.html

(Except for the "intelligent and charismatic" part, of course.)
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izquierdista Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-05-07 05:51 PM
Response to Original message
1. Don't you mean the election of 1980?
With a short hiatus in 1993 and '94?
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Bitwit1234 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-05-07 05:56 PM
Response to Original message
2. Did you miss the survey where this person said that republicans
were pyschotic..he said they gravitated to the republican party because that is what it stood for, or something like that. And that they were the type that would follow the leader off a cliff. Most of them had no leadership qualities.
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McCamy Taylor Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-05-07 06:35 PM
Response to Reply #2
6. Follow the leader off the cliff like this?
Edited on Wed Dec-05-07 06:36 PM by McCamy Taylor
"GOP Goose Step Rag" From Grand Theft Election Ohio

http://www.grandtheftelectionohio.com/Flash/GooseStepRag/GOPGooseStep.html

One man's Sociopath is another man Anointed by God. I think Mex Weber was right on the money when he said that the Puritans decided that the only way to determine whether a human soul was saved or damned was by its owners material success. In the US, that doctrine was perverted to a kind of "might proves that you are right (no matter how you got mighty)". King David could be God's chosen despite his sins because he was successful . Halliburton was never a criminal enterprise like Enron, because it was solvent (real statement by real GOP Congressman made on real TV news interview).

Much of the criminal activity which the Republican Party undertakes more or less openly, with the support of its base, it justifies by claiming Democratic vote fraud (dead people voting, double voting, homeless people voting) to justify voter suppression, a biased liberal media to justify Fox News and the FCC's bias, leftist federal judges to justify Bush's blatant disregard for the law. So, the Republicans are never guilty of doing anything illegal first. They are only leveling the playing field.

True sociopaths would not need moral justification.

On the other hand, some of the most successful Republican strategists like Rove clearly have sociopath traits.
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phantom power Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-05-07 06:15 PM
Response to Original message
3. The Sociopath Next Door
The author's statistics are disputed, but her claim was that as many as 4% of people are sociopaths. Putting aside what the number "really" is, I think the valuable insight was that most sociopaths are functioning members of society. They never engage in violent or criminal behavior. That may actually allow them to work greater mischief, as discussed in your post.
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StClone Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-05-07 06:19 PM
Response to Original message
4. They get the Combo deal
No expert here but to see them goggle up lies like Halloween goodies and the reality of truth invoking their wrath, it's easy to see they aren't right in the attic. John Dean's discussion on Authoritarianism in Conservatives Without Conscience is a must read to really come to grips with the Righties thought processes.
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MedleyMisty Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-05-07 06:33 PM
Response to Original message
5. Sounds like they're stuck at the first stage of moral development
http://www.cliftonunitarian.com/toddstalks/moraldevelopment.htm

Really, the more you research moral and intellectual and cognitive development, the more you see that Republicans tend to be the least developed members of the species and political struggle is really between people who for whatever reason (generally childhood abuse) never developed and people who've gotten to the higher levels of development.

The childhood abuse thing helps me feel a bit of pity for them. Not much, because it's hard to feel pity for people who are set on destroying the planet you live on, but a bit.
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Perry Logan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-07-07 06:57 AM
Response to Original message
7. No matter how much wingers screw up, they don't notice. It's like a piece of their brain is missing
Edited on Fri Dec-07-07 06:58 AM by Perry Logan
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