Millions of sociopaths live among us. They do not have the ability to authentically love. They view people as objects to be used. This was the topic of my TEDx called, How to protect yourself from sociopaths. TED censored my speech.
After waiting for two years for TED to include my video on its website, I decided enough was enough. I just re-recorded my speech and posted it on Youtube, Rumble and Lovefraud. I invite you to watch it.
My speech in June 2022
TED, which is headquartered in New York and Vancouver, says its mission is to research and discover “ideas worth spreading.” TEDx speaking events are run by local organizations under licenses issued by TED.
I spoke at TEDx Roland Park, Maryland, on June 5, 2022. I was one of 10 speakers that day, and my speech was well-received.
Afterwards, videos of everyone’s speeches were sent to the main TED organization. Talks by the other nine speakers were posted on the TED website. Mine was not.
Why did TED censor?
Why did TED censor my talk? I don’t know.
Maybe they didn’t like my usage of the term “sociopath.” Many people use “sociopath” interchangeably with “antisocial personality disorder.” But as I explain in my talk, “sociopath” originally meant “anything deviated or pathological in social relations.”
Today “sociopath” doesn’t mean anything — it is no longer an official clinical diagnosis. So I use it as an umbrella term for the Cluster B personality disorders, including antisocial and narcissistic personality disorders, plus psychopathy.
Thinking TED officials might have questioned the accuracy of my statements, I provided them with a completely annotated script, with scientific citations for every point I made. See for yourself:
How to protect yourself from sociopaths, annotated script
Did they review it? Again, I don’t know. TED organizers never responded.
Please share my talk
I still believe my information about sociopaths is worth spreading. As I say in my speech, there may be 31 million adult sociopaths in the United States. They are everywhere, all around the world. To protect ourselves, we need to know how to spot them.
I’ve experienced being targeted by a sociopath and heard from thousands of other survivors. I know how damaging they are. That’s why I wanted to spread my message. If you can help by sharing my talk, I would appreciate it.
In fact, all survivors of sociopathic betrayal will appreciate it.
Three miserable Christmases with the sociopath, and how to heal from the memories
Joanie Bentz, B.S., M.ED, LBS, CCBP
What a wonderful talk you gave, Donna and I am glad to have seen it. You were poised and very clear as well–and I felt that this topic and especially your personal experience was perfect for a TED talk!!
Donna Andersen
Thank you Joanie!
sept4
I think TED is mostly intended for business audiences and in the business world there are a lot of sociopaths. Sadly in the business world the more sociopathic you are the higher you will climb and the more money you will make. So educating people about sociopaths would actually impede the success of these sociopathic business leaders. That’s probably why they censored you. The business world glorifies and protects sociopaths because they are good at making money.
Donna Andersen
Hi Sept4 – Thank you for your comment. I’m not sure I’d say that TED is mostly for a business audience. I’ve seen plenty of topics discussed that aren’t related to business.
Still, your comments about sociopaths in business are on point. I remember being at a conference with Dr. Paul Babiak. He wrote “Snakes in Suits” along with Dr. Robert Hare. Hare developed the Psychology Checklist Revised (PCL-R), which measures people’s levels of psychopathy. Babiak specializes in psychopathy in business organizations.
During one of the presentations, Babiak said business executives always asked him what scores on the PCL-R meant that the person would be cutthroat in business but wouldn’t steal from the company. In other words, companies were willing to put up with a certain amount of evil, but not so much evil that it would sink the company.
Of course, Enron and Worldcom were headed by men who appeared to have strong psychopathic traits. Both of those companies crashed and burned.
sept4
Hi Donna yes maybe what businesses are looking for are law abiding sociopaths. People with no empathy but who do stay within the law. Those types probably make the most money for the company.
Donna Andersen
Some business executives are like that. But others know that you can’t have someone in your company who is just a little bit evil. One guy wrote a book about this called “The No Asshole Rule.” I reviewed it years ago. The guy knew what he was talking about.
https://lovefraud.com/book-review-the-no-asshole-rule/