15 Comments

Upon you recommendation I finished reading Cleckley's "The Mask of Sanity" a few weeks ago. It's a remarkable and insightful book, but clearly a product of it's time. Hervey Cleckley didn't have the advanced information tools of our era. He was still a very experienced and well read man of course. One piece that really struck me was his long distance historical diagnosis of Alcibiades as being a probable psychopath. Looking back over Thucydides it seems very plausible.

Profaning the Eleusinian Mysteries and desecrating the Hermai don't mean much to us today but those actions violated very deeply held social taboos. He would smack strangers in the street, apparently just for the thrill of it and always had a very plausible story to worm his way out of the consequences.

Then there's his actions in the Peloponnesian war. Defecting to the opposition is hardly unheard of but Alcibiades betrayed every single faction in that war including his own nation several times. He abused the trust of everyone he knew and yet people still took him back, again and again.

So there we have a probable psychopath, born with the advantages of intelligence, good looks and a rich family. Because his life became entangled in important historical events he was recorded for us to examine today.

I think the genetic argument from the perspective of evolutionary psychology is highly plausible. Looking at the case of Alcibiades again, that man was a total shit but women loved him, he probably left bastards all over the eastern Mediterranean. It's interesting to compare him to his old teacher Socrates, who I believe only had one wife and a single son. Socrates didn't manage to teach Alcibiades anything but he did teach Plato who in turn taught Aristotle who in turn taught Alexander the Great and many many more.

So in the eyes of evolution, who wins in the race between the psychopath and the philosopher ? Perhaps we can say that Alcibiades may have won genetically but Socrates won memetically.

Does that sound plausible ?

Expand full comment

Yep, sounds plausible to me. Gotta say I lol'd a bit when you called Alcibi a total shit.

Expand full comment

This story deserves to be told, and this subject deserves to be understood. Will enough take the time and focus their attention enough to make a difference in the world? That remains to be seen.

I was introduced to this subject when I was a young adult by my church, which I had just recently joined. For me it was a true revelation (and this was not a Christian church!). For the first time I had some understanding of why human violence and social tumult had existed so long without its causes being detected or handled. Hubbard even developed a therapy for such people, but I don't know to what extent it has been used. I am sure he tested it on someone. In my church, the reality of past lives and their role in resolving problems of personality is extremely important. This is a difficult intellectual leap for most people. It is not a total necessity for developing a way to protect society from psychopaths, but it has certainly helped my church deal with the problem.

This is a problem that exists everywhere and in every sector of society.

Expand full comment

This is immensely helpful in understanding the behaviour of the Prime Minister of our country, and his indifference to the willful suffering he has imposed on our population. Then there’s his skill at lying about pretty much everything, seemingly every time he opens his mouth. He epitomizes all the traits of a psychopath as outlined in this article.

Yes, Canada

Expand full comment

Wall Street is of course the leading edge vector of the Wetiko Disease or collective psychosis that now controls the planet.

The word Wetiko was first used by Jack Forbes in his truth-telling book Columbus and Other Cannibals - The Wetiko Disease of Exploitation, Imperialism and Terror.

The origins and nature of the Wetiko psychosis is also described in the book by Paul Levy titled

Wetiko - Healing the Mind-Virus That Plagues Our World

Expand full comment

Fantastic piece Harrison!

Years ago when I had a clinical practice there was a couple, he was a psychopath, she was being slowly dismembered (figuratively). He played with her like a cat does with a mouse, not inflicting anything fatal lest the game be prematurely halted. She thought he was exciting, interesting, dashing, terrifying, and addictive in the most destructive ways. Yes, she had her own attachment issues that compelled her to stay in the relationship, but he was the classic predatory, successful, totally charming life destroyer. She blamed herself for everything that was wrong with the relationship. He blamed her for everything wrong in the relationship.

As I started to introduce the idea of psychopathy to her, in private, they both left therapy - vanished. I wonder just how many more of her suicide attempts would finally put an end to her and would see him move onto another victim.

He was such a charming and successful guy! So much to aspire to... except the cold fascination he had for destroying those closest to him.

Expand full comment

Yep, spot on.

Him: "I'm going to abuse you and slowly destroy you and you are going to be addicted to me."

Her: "Oh, you are so cool, I love you so much."

Him: "Of course you do because deep down you hate yourself and have a death drive and that's what makes you the perfect toy for me."

Her: "Can we get married!?"

Expand full comment

Thanks, Daniel.

Expand full comment
Comment deleted
Nov 17, 2022
Comment deleted
Expand full comment

The potential of turning on one another, is one of Catherine Austin Fitts favorite scenarios. She often mentions the story of Gideon in the Bible. She has an incredible record of ahead of the curve accuracy on how events could unfold. Let's hope and pray she's right on this one.

Expand full comment

I don't know. Pathocrats tend to stick together to maintain the system. Doesn't mean there won't be personal vendettas and jockeying for power, though. Eventually there might be regime splits, though, in which case one faction will simply defeat the other faction. Question is what direction that goes in, i.e., whether either faction brings in the people, which will mitigate the pathology a bit.

Expand full comment

There's currently elite defection in the higher echelons. This is historically the reason for change in governments (per Neena Parvini's "The Populist Delusion", highly recommend). '

ne big elite defection is described in detail by Tom Luongo here: https://tomluongo.me/2022/10/06/31-trillion-dollar-question-can-fed-afford-pivot/ Turns out that some of the elite have figured out if you depopulate the planet and force global Communism it's going to be really difficult to get your yacht serviced and crewed, so they aren't down with Anal Shwab's "Great Reset".

Parvini has a 'stack BTW, his latest is a gem https://forbiddentexts.substack.com/p/59-theses

Expand full comment

Thanks for that interview with Dr. Clive Boddy. It was a great interview.

He mentioned something about psychopaths that reminded me of the Dunning-Kruger effect. How they always consider themselves far more competent than they are, which is just another one of their many self delusions.

Maybe the Dunning-Kruger effect is another telltale symptom or indicator of a psychopath?

Expand full comment

Interesting thought. Couldn't say for sure, but based on what I've read, I think it may be broader than that, and actually a function of IQ. So it may be that all (or most) psychopaths have it, but not all with D-K are psychopaths.

Expand full comment