By Joyce Alexander, RNP (retired)
The Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia wrecked a few days ago and early reports said that it had hit some rocks. Quickly though, reports came out that the captain, Francesco Schettino, had driven the ship closer than normal to those rocks on the way out of port in order to show off the ship to the residents. An article from the New York Times gives more details.
More bodies found on ship, as transcripts reveal rebuke to captain
Interviews from some of the over 4,020 passengers of the liner stated in news reports that it was “like the Titanic.”
Only shortly after the shipwreck it was determined that the captain had left the ship early on, and also that he had been seen drinking on the bridge with a young, attractive woman at the time of the crash, and that he had been drinking at dinner before the crash. This indicates to me that the man may have been drunk at the time he made the decision to go closer than was safe to the reef.
Rescue crews had reportedly told the captain to “go back to the ship” and at that time they were in command with the authority to demand that he return. He didn’t return and was subsequently branded a “coward,” as well as taken into custody by authorities for not doing his duty in the time of the wreck. I have a feeling this man’s professional life as a sailor is over, and that he will become an international pariah.
Videos taken showed the passengers lined up, going down the side of the overturned boat on one rope, like a line of ants going to a food source.
The captain finally came up with a story that he somehow believed would show that he was not at fault for leaving the ship early (excuse me if I laugh). He said he had “accidentally fallen into a lifeboat while trying to help rescue efforts.” This single statement, to me, branded the man a psychopath. Dr. Robert Hare said in his book, Without Conscience, that the psychopath’s brain doesn’t work like other brains when it comes to lies. They will tell a lie when there is evidence to show it is a lie right in front of them, they will tell a lie that is so unbelievable that no one would believe it, but they do not “get it” that their lie is totally unbelievable.
Of course a psychopath would also put his own well-being above those of his responsibility, such as the passengers, and would desert a sinking boat on the first available lifeboat. Capt. Schettino leaving first, by itself, would not brand someone a psychopath, when maybe they would only be a coward, or so terrorized that he became unglued and deserted the sinking ship. But being told to “get back on the ship!” and refusing to do so does seem to indicate that he was either totally unglued or had no concern for the passengers.
The other things that the captain did that were irresponsible, like drinking at dinner, and drinking at the time of the crash with the rocks, and steering the boat close to the rocks so that he could show off, all of those things might have just been a day of poor judgment, and would not necessarily make me brand someone with the term psychopath. But those things, in concert with the unbelievable lie, make me think that this man has not only no conscience, but that his brain is unable to distinguish a believable lie from one that is so unbelievable that only a psychopath would tell it.
I’m not sure that there is a lie that would be believable or that would not damn any captain who deserted his ship like Capt. Schettino did. However, a man who was not a psychopath, who had simply panicked and deserted his ship, who otherwise had a moral compass, would show some remorse for what he had done. He would at least show some shame at having failed in a pivotal moment in his life, in which he should have showed some courage and concern for the more than 4,000 lives in his charge.
I think that anyone can “fail” in a moment of horrible terror, in combat or accident. The overwhelming terror of something like a ship capsizing, the panic of the passengers, and possibly also the man being drunk, could account for him deserting the ship early and refusing to do his duty, or letting go of his responsibility. But the unbelievable lie is the one thing, that taken with all the others, that makes me think this man is truly a psychopath.
Here’s another article about the captain by a former commander of the U.S. Coast Guard on CNN.com:
me too strongawoman – you can call me conehead or butthead – dont matter to me – I am just me. I would rather be broad minded then a narrow minded penhead..
I agree with the big head thing. I know very wonderful people with big heads, great loving left-handed people, and so on. In my desperation to explain and confirm the spath I grasped at any and all similarities as further proof that I am the one that’s not crazy. Of course, I realize without a doubt that the ex is a classic textbook sociopath and the residual mind control IT had over me keeps me wondering if IT is normal and I’m the one with a disorder.
IT used to tell me I was bipolar and f-ed up in the head, but when I start to wonder if IT was on to something I would recall why IT said those things. It wad because I questioned IT about drugs, stealing, screwing anything with a pulse, damaging my material things, my reputation, the lies, threats, my God! How did I get so blind?!
Sixth sense is something I always had, but I seemed to put it away when challenged. I believe spaths can detect a sixth sense and aggressively suppress it in their victims.
But all that being said, the STARE, the stare is something totally unique to the spath. That is something I have never experienced in a person with a conscience. I’m not saying all spaths have the stare, but then again not all spaths are serial killers. That stare is a sure sign that someone is a psychopath, IMO.
P.s. I want to know about the dolphin stradegy, too!
Henry, have you forgiven me? I was calling that THING a meglamaniac, NOT you! I would never call you a bad name, you’re my co-parent of our children. LOL BTW one of our children that I thought was a girl, has now grown a green head and a curly tail feather 2 or 3 months after the other drakes turned green headed and curly tailed. Isn’t that a hoot? A transexual duck? LOL
ANNIE: Being raised to be SUBMISSIVE and being taught that WE are responsible for their moods is the perfect **PERFECT** training to be a VICTIM. It squashes our “6th sense” and it also squashes our self esteem and the Ps can sense this the same way a lion can pick out the ONE antelope in a heard of 1000 that has a sore foot that day. They pounce on the one who has a characteristic that will make them EASIER PREY. They are not going to attack the fleetest antelope in the herd, but the slowest.
I was the same way, Annie, I was taught that I was responsible for keeping the family’s dark secrets, I was responsible for every one else’s happiness and if I didn’t follow the “rules” I would be PUNISHED….my P son is the “golden child” that must be protected AT ALL COSTS NO MATTER WHAT HE DOES…even murder. I am the woman who must protect him, or be PUNISHED.
Strong woman, the size of a person’s head is pretty much the same on most of us, but because you are a small woman with a normal sized head it may appear “big” but probably isn’t any bigger than normal at all.
Ox I can never stay mad at you as hard as I try. Ok, I have my coupons clipped, taking my skillet shaped head to the grocery store..so dont call me names while I am gone…
Henry and Ox,
Honestly ….I can never get hats to fit. It’s huge lol
Strongwoman, BIG HEAD FOR LOTS OF BRAINS!
Oxy, I wish!
Not much common sense though ESP when it comes to spathy types.
We have a saying here……trouble with common sense is it’s not that common.
Strongwoman,
You are right “common sense” is NOT common, and I have trouble too with the spathy things, but WE ARE LEARNING and that is the big TAWANDA for us—knowledge IS POWER. We are taking back our power, and we are LEARNING TO SET BOUNDARIES.
I think that learning to set boundaries is and has been the biggest thing for me.
I often go back in my memory to the time I caught the woman who was living here on my farm FREE (in her motor home) and I CAUGHT HER STEALING something that she could have had for free if she had asked. I was SO UPSET and so AFRAID I WOULD MAKE HER FEEL BAD that I cried for 3 days. LOL Can you believe that?
I not only didn’t CONFRONT her I pretended it hadn’t happened.
Later, though, I asked her and her husband to leave here, and I took all the JUNK that they had brought here and stored in MY space where I had no storage room and couldn’t even get to my stuff that was there before they came, and put it in an off-farm building I owned and gave them a Key and told them that they could get their stuff there any time they wanted without coming on the farm which would have a LOCKED GATE….
I have “completely learned to set boundaries now, I think….and then I have another “learning” experience because I don’t do it, or don’t do it well for a while. LOL But I AM getting BETTER
“I think we need to be careful with the ’big head’ thing. Sounds like pseudoscience to me. Agree with Oxy that it’s the behaviours, not the physical features, that are important.”
That study was by a reputable and was not pseudoscientific. The following was a good explanation:
“A growing body of science is showing that facial configuration placement of the eyes, width of the cheekbones and so on provides clues to a person’s personality, including likelihood to be extroverted, conscientious and, now, trustworthy. While this analysis is not unfailing, it works slightly more often than not.”
As I said, these studies show correlation and are not 100% accurate.
BBE, “slightly more often than not” could mean 51% of the time. Not a good analysis. I do agree though that when I worked in a nursery we would have kids born that were what we called FLKs–funny looking kid. The brow would be too big, the hair line too close to the nose (small foreheard) the ears set low or at an odd angle, or other facial features that were “odd”—and sometimes upon checking this out, it would be found the kid had downs syndrome, hydrocephalic, or one of the tris-otomies (a genetic mutation of some kind but different from Downs) which would make the kid retarded or some other problem. Even children born without a brain (ancephalic) had an odd looking face that is pretty common among them and the size of the skull is very small but the size of the face is almost normal. So, yes, there ARE things that can indicate problematic genetics.
Can you quote the link to the study itself, rather than the article about it, so that we can read the STUDY ITSELF rather than an article about it. Sometimes the news reporter’s articles about a study are not quite what the study says.