Sociopathy - Why Care About Society?

I have been asked, why would a sociopath care about the fate of the elderly, the disabled, or the homeless in our society. First I would suggest reading Epicurus, Anton LaVey, Sam Harris, and other reciprocal consequentialist philosophers.

Sociopaths are often perceived as predatory and dangerous, but that is what capitalism makes us. More specifically, it is what survival necessity in the absence of social emotion does to us, when we lack sufficient ethics and social awareness to guide our behavior. I propose that sociopathy is one of the most misunderstood and under diagnosed disorders in the world, because only trouble makers stand out, unless we choose to reveal ourselves, which we will probably never do in person unless we have something to gain.

Allow me to take a moment however to dispel the notion that sociopaths are necessarily antisocial. The terms are used overly broadly and interchangeably, but sociopathy means social sickness, and is defined by the lack of, or severely diminished capacity for, social emotions such as emotional empathy, guilt, compassion, pity, unselfish remorse, and so forth. In some cases it is caused by a dopamine and cortisol disorder, so expecting us to feel pity is like expecting a cripple to stand up and run, it is an unreasonable and impossible expectation. However this does not necessarily translate into antisocial behavior, people with antisocial personality disorder represent a subset of sociopaths, and may also include nonsociopaths, such as narcissists and even some people with Asperger's disorder.

But to answer the question, why would a sociopath be concerned with the well being of society or the people in it. Even if we disregard philosophical and institutional motivations, it is in our rational self interest to build a healthy, sustainable society. Even the most wealthy among us are atop a house of cards, subject to risks often beyond our awareness or control.

We are all going to grow old, and any one of us could be stricken disabled by a stroke or accident, or lose access to our resources by any number of unforeseeable circumstances. We have a vested interest in the health and harmony of our society, and in preserving a sustainable system in which we can grow old with dignity, even if we fall on hard times. While you are not likely to find many sociopaths unselfishly motivated to give to charity, most of us would support a symbiotic system in which our own future were insured.

Even the elites must be aware that they are not safe within the current system, though perhaps their pathological narcissism and delusions of omnipotence renders them impervious to such observations, yet at any time their house of cards could come crashing down.

Quote.
We do not so much need the help of our friends as the confidence of their help in need.

Epicurus

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Sociopathy
• Society
• Social
• Contract
• Health
• Sustainability
• Vested
• Interest
• Security
• Patience
• Reciprocity
• Without
• Empathy
• Empath
• Capitalism
• Socialism
• Economic
• Sickness
• Psychopathy
• Narcissistic
• Personality
• Disorder
• Narcissist
• Narcissism
• Sociopath
• Sociopathic
• Psychopath
• Psychopathic
• Immoral
• Amoral
• Moral
• Compass
• Psychology
• Psychiatry

[colecionar]

Do not forget the PR. I'm sure many billionaire philanthropists are well-hidden sociopaths.

[Laughingblades]

@colecionar Hehe probably.

[fonkymaster]

Wait, how would you even diagnose a disorder like this? Depression and ADHD are over diagnosed, and the way they find out if you are depressed is a short questionnaire. They base a chemical imbalance off how you answer questions. The last thing needed is a bunch of commercials trying to sell more pills to people who probably wont need them.

[Laughingblades]

@fonkymaster That would be bad, the industry is already incentivized to over diagnose to treat and institutionalize people, it's a trillion dollar industry. Intergroup bias and selective empathy could also make it easy to misdiagnose, and people are capable of all sorts of rationalizations, so just as a soldier can dehumanize an enemy a criminal may dehumanize a victim without being a sociopath. Since well adapted sociopaths are difficult to detect, it's the most obvious cases that stand out.

[fonkymaster]

@Laughingblades

So it seems as though mental disorders are out of our realm as of yet. Hell, I wnet to a free depression screening at school and when I read the questions, I realized how subjective and biased this can be. Granted, I probably am depressed, still, a lot of people have down thoughts in college. I would like to try a country that has a rational (as in, properly functioning) health care system to see how they do things different.

[Laughingblades]

@fonkymaster Free depression screenings, and so our mental health becomes increasingly a commodity to be manufactured bought and sold for the profit of others. I'm looking back towards Scandinavia for my retirement, Denmark and Sweden look good :3

[fonkymaster]

@Laughingblades

As am I, but Scnadanavian countries are expensive.

[JonahtheFigPucker]

@JonahtheFigPucker But the neatest thing about Autism Spectrum RESEARCH is that psychologists and educators have a "test group" with simplified and easier to read cognitive or expressive patterns that are more hidden in the larger population (neuro-typicals) I think the patterns of blocking stimuli, blocking expression or blacking perceptions are pretty common, it's just a matter of degree and those who have subtler versions of those patterns are more difficult to study.

[JonahtheFigPucker]

I don't know if I'm Aspergers or High Functioning Autism. When I was diagnosed Autistic Spectrum was just recently recognized, post-WW2. 20 years or so. They had just stopped treating Autism with LSD at the time. I've not been re-diagnosed or updated since 1977 when I was in High School, Texas is kinda backward about anything they consider "socialist". If they keep branding every good action of society as such they'll only end up frightening the most deeply ignorant and open the eyes of the rest