“You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake.
You are the same decaying organic matter as everyone else,
and we are all part of the same compost pile.”
–Chuck Palahniuk, author and likely sociopath
No conscience, no guilt, no social barriers, no desire to conform – the ability to do absolute anything at all, no matter how heinous a deed it is, and feel absolutely no remorse. Sound like someone you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley? Or to meet ever at all? But the truth of the matter is, there are hundreds of thousands of these people – stone cold, remorseless sociopaths – who walk among us every day. The statistics say that approximately 4% of our population consists of them. So who are the sociopaths in your world?
After reading “The Sociopath Next Door,” by Dr. Martha Stout, I began my research for this book by trying to track down a few famous people who could perhaps fall under the label of having Antisocial Personality Disorder – not seeking to label, “box” or categorize them, but merely seeking to understand what goes on in their heads. You’ve already read the quote by Chuck Palahniuk above – he may or may not have Antisocial Personality Disorder, but the quote listed has a decidedly sociopathic flavor. I also delved into the lives of Ted Bundy, notorious serial killer, and Adolph Hitler.
What is behind those so crudely labeled as “sociopaths”? What symptoms must they possess before psychiatrists can diagnose them as victims of Antisocial Personality Disorder? There are seven key symptoms (or symptom groupings) that Dr. Stout lists, and five or more of them must be found consistently in a person in order for them to be diagnosable as having Antisocial Personality Disorder.
- Deliberate failure or refusal to conform to social “norms” or standards – i.e., consistent disregard of laws and authority.
- Consistent deceitfulness – intentional lying, manipulation of others, and use of falsehoods to control situations.
- Impulsivity, recklessness, or lack of planning ahead.
- Overt aggression, anger or irritability, sometimes resulting in physical fights.
- Dangerous lack of safety precautions for self or others – recklessness.
- Lack of responsibility (or care for responsibilities), resulting in failures of obligations or at work.
- Lack of remorse for harm done to self or others, often rationalized coldly or “shrugged off.” A lack of caring, empathy or conscience.
In an attempt to better understand the concepts presented by Dr. Stout, I began an in-depth search into known cases involving those diagnosed with APD. They were chilling, graphic and incredibly “cold-blooded.” But as I searched, shivered and checked over my shoulder, I stumbled across something interesting – a blog by someone who claimed to be proudly sociopathic. He calls himself simply ZKMsocio, and devotes some of his time to blogging as a way to “rid (himself) of excess filth.” I read through his blog with a mix of fearful fascination and chilled horror. His comments allowed an interesting glimpse into the APD mind. A peek into one of his article yielded this: “The thing about me is I'm a thinker. I analyze everything and everyone. What they say what they wear and most importantly- what they don't say. I analyze what I say and its affect on a person or situation. One thing constantly mentioned in my blog is my use of conscious manipulation in social situations. Using all sorts of excess emotion and the expert ability to subtly express them Empaths manipulate each other constantly. The only difference between me and everyone else is I have to use different a different strategy. Just 'winging it' doesn't fly when you don't have the natural ability.” He goes on to say “Everyone's just playing their role in this ****** movie we call life. All the actors are cheesy and melodramatic. But hey, at least it's entertaining, right? What part do I play you say? Why, the director of course.”
Dr. Stout has a very secular view on the subject she presents, but the concepts she presents are fascinating. I have tried to “react” to them through presenting real life cases I have found and studied. She proposes that sociopaths (so she classes them, and so for the moment will I) are expert manipulators. ZKMsocio seems to agree wholeheartedly with her conclusion, as do I. Dr. Stout further proposes that sociopaths are often driven by a desire to have power over and control others overtly as well as subtly. ZKMsocio agrees to this as well, saying: “Controlling people is the only thing that gets me up in the morning. Everything I do is moulded around that goal. My choice of career, friends, activities- everything. What other motivator could there be to do something?”
Basically, Dr. Stout seems to be spot in each concept or point that she makes. I realize that I have quoted ZKMsocio quite a bit in this brief paper, but it is incredibly rattling to read something in the stolid pages of “The Sociopath Next Door,” and at the end of it find real, living proofs of its truths in the world beside you. My hands are literally shaking and sweating as I type this, so shaken to the core am I by what I have found in the pages of ZKMsocio’s blog.
What do the concepts presented by the good Dr. Stout mean for our world? Not everything is as it seems, and there are some very dangerous people living alongside us. This disorder was caused by the Fall, and is only curable in Jesus Christ. Which leads me into a lot of questions about how sociopaths can be saved (does the Holy Spirit create a new conscience in them?), and why God allowed the disorder in the first place. This is not the best paper I have ever written, scholarly speaking, but there is more genuine feeling in it than I generally allow in a school paper. I am shaken, horrified, and downright afraid in strong part to what I have found in my research for this paper. You see, my uncle is a sociopath. This I knew already. And I don’t know how to reach out to him in the love of Christ without stepping into serious danger and trouble.
You asked for both feelings and thoughts in this paper. I provided both, perhaps to a stronger degree than desired. But this is a subject that matters strongly to me, and I hope you will understand.
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