Psychopaths can be drawn to power hierarchies. That surely includes government institutions. Though lobby groups are more likely to suffer such infiltration: as they involve licensed bad behaviour plus power without accountability.
There is also a reason why past societies tended to have character tests. To try and select out the morally disordered.
Agreed. I heard Helen Dale make a similar point in an interview about her time working in a political office. She said the lobbyists were by far the most psychopathic.
Interesting and thought-provoking essay, Harrison.
Once the ability to see how psychopathy is a thread running through the warp and woof of society's fabric has been obtained, it's no longer possible to "unsee" the behaviors employed by psychopaths.
As you point out, it is common for people to go to great lengths to redefine those behaviors and develop apologia for them.
Having observed the consequences of my own history of redefinition and apology for the psychopathic behavior of others, I cannot look askance at others for doing so.
We can see how this works, quite readily, in the everyday conduct of business. Take just one activity; dismissal of employees. One manager will justify retaining a psychopathic employee by focusing on that individual's metrics and simultaneously ignoring that employee's effect on the metrics of others, and of the psychopath's methodology employed in achieving those metrics.
And then, there is the retention of psychopathic managers. One manager dismisses employees with reluctance, and only after careful evaluation, part of which will be analysis of the individual's affect on the performance of others. This managerial type rightly views dismissal as a potential personal good for other employees, but views it only as a necessary duty. The psychopathic manager, on the other hand, enjoys dismissal for the distress it may bring, often delaying a necessary dismissal because the employee causes enjoyable distress to other workers while remaining employed by the organization.
Many business owners knowingly hire and retain psychopaths, thinking that they can control them and direct their conscienceless activities in furtherance of profit. These owners seldom conceptualize their psychopathic hires as such, but that's part of the way ordinary people deceive themselves on a daily basis.
Once seen, it cannot be unseen, only obscured. To think that politics is excluded from this dynamic, is delusional.
It took the dawning of plandemic 2020 and its psychological torture to freeze my gaze upon thine enemies and as 2022 draws to a close, I struggle with seeing all too clearly how global society and all its notions of success require bad deeds done dirt cheap.
Psychopathic behaviors are familiar to all, but are encountered situationally, which is why we tend to dismiss them; the narrow context enables sophistry and most people want to be charitable.
The lockdowns and murderous lies of the response to the Wuhan coronavirus presented a severe shock to the complacency that we all need for emotional stability. One cannot remain on 24/7/365 high-threat alert without being inundated by stressors.
The disruption caused by those stressors short-circuited any attempts at withdrawal into complacency. The result was what Fritz Perls referred to as a "gestalt," where innate pattern recognition created sudden epiphanies within a significant percentage of the population. We can view many of the coping mechanisms employed, such as masking, shaming and abuse of experimental gene-expression substances, within a framework of obsessive-compulsion, without going too far astray. Obsessive-compulsive behaviors are routines employed to obtain complacency; they are calming and soothing rituals, suboptimal and often harmful, but attempts toward adaptation to stressors nonetheless.
Harrison's essay highlights one of those epiphanies; recognition of techniques employed across multiple domains.
This article came at just the right time. Hubby is working from home for the rest of the year and needed to get some “training” done. Some of it was fairly innocuous, dealing with certain work software, etc. But the biggest section dealt solely with Anti-Harassment training. He found himself getting worked up over the first section early on; and curious, I asked him to show me the material. Once I started reading, I couldn’t stop. Not having worked in any kind of major corporation for many a decade, it was truly shocking to see the kind of thinking that is going on in this world, and how relentlessly they brainwash/manipulate the employees.
I cannot help but think that the people up at the corporate top, those running H.R. departments and DEI officers are psychopaths. It was glaringly obvious to me they are grooming all the underlings to deny reality and accept their new reality of racism and oppression and victimhood everywhere. To go along with that there were repeated calls for the whole “see something, say something” culture. You must never try to handle it on your own, but at the same time it called for one to feel obligated to insert yourself into anything you observe (even if not a participant); no “potential” illegal or hurtful actions can be ignored. The ultimate answer was to report whatever you thought was “problematic”. Literally a call to arms for all snitches and rats. Psychopathic manipulation at its finest. It’s causing us all to devour and attack one another, while the evil ones above the plebes no doubt sit back with pleasure and sneer and laugh at how gullible we are. All while self-replicating new batches of psychopaths-in-training.
My better half thought it was hysterical as the expletives flew from my mouth in a nonstop stream. And he has been subjected to a steady stream of this BS for decades now. Helps me understand how so many have literally been programmed to view the world in a very false way and believe whatever someone above you tells you as the only truth which can be held. It’s turned business into the perfect hunting ground for these predators.
Upon reflection I feel the need to ask, is it possible to make people psychopathic by constant brainwashing and psychological manipulation? Or is that a bridge too far? It sure looks like we are overrun with them at every level. Not that all psychopaths are equal. I guess like many fish they grow to the size of their tank.
"Upon reflection I feel the need to ask, is it possible to make people psychopathic by constant brainwashing and psychological manipulation? Or is that a bridge too far? It sure looks like we are overrun with them at every level. Not that all psychopaths are equal. I guess like many fish they grow to the size of their tank."
Technically no, but they can definitely act like it. Kind of like a kid with a bad friend who imitates his worst behaviors. If that happens, it's at least possible that they'll snap out of it at some point.
Then, at minimum, could one say NanaW is describing pawns (or future patsies)? And, I’m thinking about people in service to a psychopathic brain trust that does not (or may not) exist within her husband’s employer.
“Maybe it’s just me, but that sounds an awful lot like the work done by intelligence agencies and Big Tech.”
Zing ! Nice one, there are a bunch of PhD theses to be written there. And you once met a researcher who was adamant that there couldn’t be any psychopaths in the CIA. Well let’s consider that for a moment just using simple inductive reasoning.
I think it’s clear that a psychopath could be a very successful secret AGENT if not necessarily a controller.
It’s a documented fact that Western Intelligence agencies have used organized crime networks, American/Italian Mafia, Asian Triads, South American cartels and so on. Secret intelligence agencies and secret criminal societies are a natural partnership, they both operate in the same shadowy underworld, they do the same jobs, such as moving contraband, money and people covertly, creating false identities and shell companies, collecting and creating compromising material, and occasionally causing people to permanently disappear.
Those criminal organizations would seem to offer excellent job opportunities for psychopaths. They’re cool under pressure, can lie easily, adopt false personas convincingly and can carry out all sorts of objectionable tasks without qualms or hesitation.
Give a Mafioso a pistol and he’s an assassin, give him a camera and he’s a spy. It’s a versatile skill set. So why could such a psychopath not also be found working for a covert government agency ?
How close is an undercover cop to a criminal ? It would seem that they need at least a little dog’s blood in their veins to succeed. The guard dog, police dog and sheep dog are literally cousins to the wolf, that’s why they’re so effective.
All that remains to be seen is how high such a wolf could rise in the organization and that would depend on the organization itself. Weren’t the Mafia Dons once street level triggermen themselves ?
This is so nice to see a substack dedicated to ponerology, especially since I read Hare and 'Snakes in Suits' after reading this article that summarizes it quite well back in 2008.
Thank you for the response. I had some girlfriends who kind of led me down a bad path as a teenager. Makes sense. And I snapped out hard eventually. So reason for hope despite the parasitic psychopaths.
Somewhere I read that during caveman days, when someone was determined to be a psychopath, the group together would run them over a cliff. Sounds like the proper course to follow if the group wishes to avoid becoming a victim.
Nov 21, 2022·edited Nov 21, 2022Liked by Harrison Koehli
Wow! So, are our current politicians just completely self delusional and incapable of seeing the lies they have to tell themselves, or are they psychopaths?
Love Robert D. Hare - just now re-listening to "Without Conscience", sparking my interest to get into more psychopathy study after a long time looking at schizophrenia (although I feel I've only scratched the surface there too!).
Sounds like you've been studying psychopathy for many years - would that be right?
On and off, and more as a hobby. I certainly don't read everything out there - my interest isn't THAT deep, and it wouldn't leave much time for all the other things I'm interested in. But I try to keep up to date and at least re-familiarize myself with the field every few years or so.
"Their extreme narcissism was apparently mistaken for a “positive leadership trait,” and the murky morality and internal chaos typical of the mergers, acquisitions, and takeover environment seemed perfect for their type".
I was targeted by one such narcissist. My CEO fell for his lie, Result I was fired.
I am almost completely convinced psychopathology is a norm of the economic system and not an aberration. Not the most extreme, which is a norm of the Organization Man, but in a milder form of lying or misrepresenting. In a way I think it has to be this way to sell a product vs. the competitor selling a product. No employer rewards a salesperson for not meeting quota and no employer is overly concerned how quota is met. Bottom line is not social benifits but private gain. We admire clever tounged sharpies. I think back to the Confidence Man by Melville.
A human who subsumes their humanity to their employer. An individual who say in their life has no life except the company and has loyalty only to the company. Vance Packard I believe wrote the book with the title Organization Man
Interesting. Was watching a Japanese tv show recently where the main character was an older recently retired gentlemen and he was referred to by those who knew him as a “Company Man”. It did seem that before his retirement most of his adult life was dedicated to his role at the business he worked for. I got the impression that Japanese culture overall looked upon that type of person with approval.
I’m sure the many unseen players in high finance, businesses and government push for this to be the focus of all our lives. Live to work.
The novel takes place around 75 years after a nuclear holocaust in a post-apocalyptic world. A group known as “the organization” headed by the mysterious and fear-inducing Commander, is conquering the survivors. The organization operates by torturing and indoctrinating its members and those who come under its control.
I was somewhat expecting - but not, at the same time due to evolving information - that you might be leading up to analyzing SBF and his part in the FTX-Alameda fiasco. There’s definitely something off about that boy. Nonetheless, I appreciate you doing this Substack, Harrison; I’m learning much!
I was thinking more on your current topic of corporate psychopaths, whereas Crawford did a deep dive on his theory of what was going on with SBF and web of red yarn connecting him to some questionable individuals and organizations. It’s a long read! Cheers!
Psychopaths can be drawn to power hierarchies. That surely includes government institutions. Though lobby groups are more likely to suffer such infiltration: as they involve licensed bad behaviour plus power without accountability.
There is also a reason why past societies tended to have character tests. To try and select out the morally disordered.
Agreed. I heard Helen Dale make a similar point in an interview about her time working in a political office. She said the lobbyists were by far the most psychopathic.
As I periodically post on her Substack, we may have discussed the matter :)
Oh, cool! Didn't know that, Lorenzo. Speaking of which, I need to finish reading Kingdom of the Wicked.
A great two-volume novel of ideas.
Interesting and thought-provoking essay, Harrison.
Once the ability to see how psychopathy is a thread running through the warp and woof of society's fabric has been obtained, it's no longer possible to "unsee" the behaviors employed by psychopaths.
As you point out, it is common for people to go to great lengths to redefine those behaviors and develop apologia for them.
Having observed the consequences of my own history of redefinition and apology for the psychopathic behavior of others, I cannot look askance at others for doing so.
We can see how this works, quite readily, in the everyday conduct of business. Take just one activity; dismissal of employees. One manager will justify retaining a psychopathic employee by focusing on that individual's metrics and simultaneously ignoring that employee's effect on the metrics of others, and of the psychopath's methodology employed in achieving those metrics.
And then, there is the retention of psychopathic managers. One manager dismisses employees with reluctance, and only after careful evaluation, part of which will be analysis of the individual's affect on the performance of others. This managerial type rightly views dismissal as a potential personal good for other employees, but views it only as a necessary duty. The psychopathic manager, on the other hand, enjoys dismissal for the distress it may bring, often delaying a necessary dismissal because the employee causes enjoyable distress to other workers while remaining employed by the organization.
Many business owners knowingly hire and retain psychopaths, thinking that they can control them and direct their conscienceless activities in furtherance of profit. These owners seldom conceptualize their psychopathic hires as such, but that's part of the way ordinary people deceive themselves on a daily basis.
Once seen, it cannot be unseen, only obscured. To think that politics is excluded from this dynamic, is delusional.
Great stuff, Ted. Thank you for putting it so well and summarizing those business dynamics!
It took the dawning of plandemic 2020 and its psychological torture to freeze my gaze upon thine enemies and as 2022 draws to a close, I struggle with seeing all too clearly how global society and all its notions of success require bad deeds done dirt cheap.
I think you're in good company, aagabriel.
Psychopathic behaviors are familiar to all, but are encountered situationally, which is why we tend to dismiss them; the narrow context enables sophistry and most people want to be charitable.
The lockdowns and murderous lies of the response to the Wuhan coronavirus presented a severe shock to the complacency that we all need for emotional stability. One cannot remain on 24/7/365 high-threat alert without being inundated by stressors.
The disruption caused by those stressors short-circuited any attempts at withdrawal into complacency. The result was what Fritz Perls referred to as a "gestalt," where innate pattern recognition created sudden epiphanies within a significant percentage of the population. We can view many of the coping mechanisms employed, such as masking, shaming and abuse of experimental gene-expression substances, within a framework of obsessive-compulsion, without going too far astray. Obsessive-compulsive behaviors are routines employed to obtain complacency; they are calming and soothing rituals, suboptimal and often harmful, but attempts toward adaptation to stressors nonetheless.
Harrison's essay highlights one of those epiphanies; recognition of techniques employed across multiple domains.
This article came at just the right time. Hubby is working from home for the rest of the year and needed to get some “training” done. Some of it was fairly innocuous, dealing with certain work software, etc. But the biggest section dealt solely with Anti-Harassment training. He found himself getting worked up over the first section early on; and curious, I asked him to show me the material. Once I started reading, I couldn’t stop. Not having worked in any kind of major corporation for many a decade, it was truly shocking to see the kind of thinking that is going on in this world, and how relentlessly they brainwash/manipulate the employees.
I cannot help but think that the people up at the corporate top, those running H.R. departments and DEI officers are psychopaths. It was glaringly obvious to me they are grooming all the underlings to deny reality and accept their new reality of racism and oppression and victimhood everywhere. To go along with that there were repeated calls for the whole “see something, say something” culture. You must never try to handle it on your own, but at the same time it called for one to feel obligated to insert yourself into anything you observe (even if not a participant); no “potential” illegal or hurtful actions can be ignored. The ultimate answer was to report whatever you thought was “problematic”. Literally a call to arms for all snitches and rats. Psychopathic manipulation at its finest. It’s causing us all to devour and attack one another, while the evil ones above the plebes no doubt sit back with pleasure and sneer and laugh at how gullible we are. All while self-replicating new batches of psychopaths-in-training.
My better half thought it was hysterical as the expletives flew from my mouth in a nonstop stream. And he has been subjected to a steady stream of this BS for decades now. Helps me understand how so many have literally been programmed to view the world in a very false way and believe whatever someone above you tells you as the only truth which can be held. It’s turned business into the perfect hunting ground for these predators.
Upon reflection I feel the need to ask, is it possible to make people psychopathic by constant brainwashing and psychological manipulation? Or is that a bridge too far? It sure looks like we are overrun with them at every level. Not that all psychopaths are equal. I guess like many fish they grow to the size of their tank.
Thank you for the truly outstanding article.
"Upon reflection I feel the need to ask, is it possible to make people psychopathic by constant brainwashing and psychological manipulation? Or is that a bridge too far? It sure looks like we are overrun with them at every level. Not that all psychopaths are equal. I guess like many fish they grow to the size of their tank."
Technically no, but they can definitely act like it. Kind of like a kid with a bad friend who imitates his worst behaviors. If that happens, it's at least possible that they'll snap out of it at some point.
Then, at minimum, could one say NanaW is describing pawns (or future patsies)? And, I’m thinking about people in service to a psychopathic brain trust that does not (or may not) exist within her husband’s employer.
Yep, they could serve that role.
“Maybe it’s just me, but that sounds an awful lot like the work done by intelligence agencies and Big Tech.”
Zing ! Nice one, there are a bunch of PhD theses to be written there. And you once met a researcher who was adamant that there couldn’t be any psychopaths in the CIA. Well let’s consider that for a moment just using simple inductive reasoning.
I think it’s clear that a psychopath could be a very successful secret AGENT if not necessarily a controller.
It’s a documented fact that Western Intelligence agencies have used organized crime networks, American/Italian Mafia, Asian Triads, South American cartels and so on. Secret intelligence agencies and secret criminal societies are a natural partnership, they both operate in the same shadowy underworld, they do the same jobs, such as moving contraband, money and people covertly, creating false identities and shell companies, collecting and creating compromising material, and occasionally causing people to permanently disappear.
Those criminal organizations would seem to offer excellent job opportunities for psychopaths. They’re cool under pressure, can lie easily, adopt false personas convincingly and can carry out all sorts of objectionable tasks without qualms or hesitation.
Give a Mafioso a pistol and he’s an assassin, give him a camera and he’s a spy. It’s a versatile skill set. So why could such a psychopath not also be found working for a covert government agency ?
How close is an undercover cop to a criminal ? It would seem that they need at least a little dog’s blood in their veins to succeed. The guard dog, police dog and sheep dog are literally cousins to the wolf, that’s why they’re so effective.
All that remains to be seen is how high such a wolf could rise in the organization and that would depend on the organization itself. Weren’t the Mafia Dons once street level triggermen themselves ?
Exactly. And psychopaths may not make great analysts, either. But when it comes to field work, or "assets", that's a different story.
This is so nice to see a substack dedicated to ponerology, especially since I read Hare and 'Snakes in Suits' after reading this article that summarizes it quite well back in 2008.
https://dissidentvoice.org/2008/05/beware-the-psychopath-my-son/
As he points out, it explains why governments are full of psychopaths that have taken them over.
Especially the military and so called 'intelligence' agencies.
Thank you for the response. I had some girlfriends who kind of led me down a bad path as a teenager. Makes sense. And I snapped out hard eventually. So reason for hope despite the parasitic psychopaths.
I love your writing. Exhaustive detail like yours is required to really instil in us readers what dread and dross walks among us.
Thanks, aagabriel!
Somewhere I read that during caveman days, when someone was determined to be a psychopath, the group together would run them over a cliff. Sounds like the proper course to follow if the group wishes to avoid becoming a victim.
Yep, some northern tribes would push them off the ice.
Wow! So, are our current politicians just completely self delusional and incapable of seeing the lies they have to tell themselves, or are they psychopaths?
I think a little (or a lot) of both.
A pathologized pathway towards success is revealed once you realize its just human lives blocking the pathway.
Love Robert D. Hare - just now re-listening to "Without Conscience", sparking my interest to get into more psychopathy study after a long time looking at schizophrenia (although I feel I've only scratched the surface there too!).
Sounds like you've been studying psychopathy for many years - would that be right?
On and off, and more as a hobby. I certainly don't read everything out there - my interest isn't THAT deep, and it wouldn't leave much time for all the other things I'm interested in. But I try to keep up to date and at least re-familiarize myself with the field every few years or so.
Your phrase of "snakes in suits" reminds me of this book about snake oil missionaries in suits.
http://www.herinst.org/sbeder/Books/missionaries.html
Very interesting. Thanks for the link!
This is excellent. I also recommend Robert Sutton's book, "The No Asshole Rule."
Hadn't heard of that one. Thanks for the heads up!
"Their extreme narcissism was apparently mistaken for a “positive leadership trait,” and the murky morality and internal chaos typical of the mergers, acquisitions, and takeover environment seemed perfect for their type".
I was targeted by one such narcissist. My CEO fell for his lie, Result I was fired.
Sorry to hear that, Sunface Jack.
Seeing how the magic trick is done like this is useful. Educating as many people as possible on this even more so.
I am almost completely convinced psychopathology is a norm of the economic system and not an aberration. Not the most extreme, which is a norm of the Organization Man, but in a milder form of lying or misrepresenting. In a way I think it has to be this way to sell a product vs. the competitor selling a product. No employer rewards a salesperson for not meeting quota and no employer is overly concerned how quota is met. Bottom line is not social benifits but private gain. We admire clever tounged sharpies. I think back to the Confidence Man by Melville.
What / Who is the Organization man? Gave me chills when I realized where I first heard of "The Organization" being used in a similar context.
A human who subsumes their humanity to their employer. An individual who say in their life has no life except the company and has loyalty only to the company. Vance Packard I believe wrote the book with the title Organization Man
Interesting. Was watching a Japanese tv show recently where the main character was an older recently retired gentlemen and he was referred to by those who knew him as a “Company Man”. It did seem that before his retirement most of his adult life was dedicated to his role at the business he worked for. I got the impression that Japanese culture overall looked upon that type of person with approval.
I’m sure the many unseen players in high finance, businesses and government push for this to be the focus of all our lives. Live to work.
Now i wanna read it. There has to be inspiration drawn from Organization Man in writing Iron Gates.
*WARNING: not for the faint hearted*
https://rockwellreview.wordpress.com/2020/11/17/iron-gates-tempel-ov-blood/
The novel takes place around 75 years after a nuclear holocaust in a post-apocalyptic world. A group known as “the organization” headed by the mysterious and fear-inducing Commander, is conquering the survivors. The organization operates by torturing and indoctrinating its members and those who come under its control.
I was somewhat expecting - but not, at the same time due to evolving information - that you might be leading up to analyzing SBF and his part in the FTX-Alameda fiasco. There’s definitely something off about that boy. Nonetheless, I appreciate you doing this Substack, Harrison; I’m learning much!
Might still. Mathew Crawford did a deep dive here, but I haven't had time to delve deeply yet: https://roundingtheearth.substack.com/p/a-grand-unified-theory-of-the-ftx
I was thinking more on your current topic of corporate psychopaths, whereas Crawford did a deep dive on his theory of what was going on with SBF and web of red yarn connecting him to some questionable individuals and organizations. It’s a long read! Cheers!
I'm not quite sure what to think of SBF yet. He's definitely shady - not sure if he'd qualify as a psychopath though. There are some hints here, e.g. it does look like he's trying to place the blame elsewhere: https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23462333/sam-bankman-fried-ftx-cryptocurrency-effective-altruism-crypto-bahamas-philanthropy
Ronald Reagan was of course the "God"-father of the now time version of the collective psychosis that is now being dramatized all over the planet.
This reference describes his fragmented "character" and the applied politics that extended from it:
http://psychohistory.com/books/reagans-america
The Psychohistory website specializes in describing humankind's collective psychosis.