The blogger, Sir William, has a post ”˜What is evil? which employs what is a very common way of talking about psychopathy and evil.
Psychopaths do exist but they are not fully human: they are animals who lack one of the qualities which defines our species.
This is a very comforting explanation for those who have been on the receiving end of psychopathy. It seems to answer the question how could someone do something like that? Answer, because they’re not really a ”˜someone’. They’re actually and animal, not a human being.
How does this line of thinking account for evil committed by non-psychopaths?
When an ordinary person does bad things to another person they must, on some level, believe they are acting for a greater good, because to hurt without that excuse is insane. The greatest source of evil is not therefore crazy people, but sane people driven insane by a belief. Whether that belief turns out to be true or false is immaterial, it is the belief itself that causes us to act without empathy. Any time we cause pain in search of a greater good – for safety, for God, for profit – we have temporarily lost the one quality that defines us, and we cease to be fully human.
So, when a regular person commits an evil act they are actually insane and not fully human. But even our courts excuse crimes committed on grounds of insanity when a person doesn’t know the difference between right and wrong. It still leaves the vast majority of crimes and other evil acts are not of that nature. Each one of us knows very well when we do something wrong; we might rationalise it away, but deep down we know that we did it because we preferred doing the bad thing to doing the good thing.
I can’t go along with this animal/insane line of thinking. First, it does not accurately describe either human beings or animals! The fact is that human beings are capable of being evil (and good), animals are not. As Chesterton said: human beings are always the exception – we are always better than or worse than animals, never the same. Second, it is tantamount to saying there is no such thing as evil by full human beings.
The terrifying reality is that psychopaths are human beings and that we all commit evil because we want to and choose to, all of which is not to say that there’s no difference between the regular person and psychopath. It’s mind-bending and paradoxical, I know.
I must say that I agree with loux2 where it says: “for the pure evil sport or game of it”
My CRAZY would do the most unbelievable crimes to myself and other people and then laugh at how stupid they were. He was such a con man that when they investigators from the DA’s office would listen to his calls from the jail they were in awe of his manipulation. He would call 4 different women,manipulate each one of them and the rest of his family as well. The Da told me that he had been doing this job for many,many years and had never heard anyone as good as him. He would manipulate money from people, not just hundreds but thousands of dollars. From business people to drug dealers. He did not care. He never worried, he just continued on… they were the idiots that believed his lies. One time when he had beaten me pretty badly and publicly, when he got out of jail. This was his apology…
“I didn’t intend for it to go that far. I knew you did’nt want this to be happening but it was like a game and I got caught up in it. So, you can make up with me and it will be like it never happened or it will be total hate. Which do you want?”
So, his beating me in front of 20 people was a game to him. My crying,bleeding, and begging him to stop was a game. he made me stand in the middle of the road with people passing by and staring and if I had to move out of the road he would beat me again. All the while he was laughing hysterically. It was a game to him. A PURE EVIL ONE.
Seriously, that does not sound like an animal I have ever met. It sounds like satan’s spawn to me.
The arrogance of this CRAZY gets worse because after he had beaten me, he called the police on me and told them I would’nt leave him alone. When they arrived and seen the shape I was in they arrested him. He was truly shocked that he was going to jail. Does that sound like sanity? He told everyone how I had him arrested!! Tried to get other people to come and beat me up. Where is the logic in any of this?
loux2 is 100% correct “they are sick,twisted,evil freaks of nature!”
Dear Afliction,
I am so happy for you that your X is in jail, and that you had the support from the law enforcement. I know this is not in any way a “recompense” for all you suffered, but at least he is not attacking you OR anyone else while he is in jail.
Fortunately, jail is one place he will MEET HIS EQUALS and may not be quite so “uppity”—not that it will teach him anything, because it won’t. But in the meantime, YOU AND OTHERS out here are safe from him. God bless you my dear! You are a TRUE survivor, and a strong woman who can’t be beaten down.
Yes, the arrogance is amazing isn’t it? Unbelieveable to “normal” people.
This is kind of off subject, but I have to say that recently I had decided that I did’nt beleive in God. I kept thinking that I am in no way perfect but if there were a God. Where was he all those times that I asked for him to help me. Just recently I have remembered that when Crazy was arrested, the last day of his freedom. I was in the shower crying, not for me, but for him… and I remembered that I prayed to God and I told him that I just give the whole situation to him. I asked him to take control of it. Instead of what I wanted, but for HIS will to be done. The next time that I saw Crazy was at the bail hearing and the judge finally ordered no bail. I do beleive in miracles and until I really started thinking about it God had given me many signs, I just did’nt want to see them.
We are all survivors and strong people and no matter what you believe or who God is to you. I do beleive in miracles. I know that it is a miracle that I am alive. That my MR. CRAZY would’ve killed me. That I have God to thank.
I just needed to open my eyes.
Affliction,
I can totally relate to what you are saying about “belief in God.” My mother had convinced me when I was not much more than a toddler, that God was an angry “parent” who could read minds. I remember feeling as even a young child (5-6 maybe) that I feared God–since all this chaos came up, however, I view God differently now. I no longer feel that I must “please” my mother in order to be close to God, and that unlike a potentially misguided or selfish human parent, that God is a loivng presence in our lives if we will let Him be.
Just as like any good parent who would not say “yes” to a child asking for something the parent knew was harmful, I believe that God also tells us “NO” and will not “positively answer” our prayers, no matter how fervently we pray, if those requests are against our best interests. I believe also, that just as a child can be defiant to even the best and most kind hearted parents, we can defy God’s desire for our health and happiness by going upon our own way.
I can look back in life at the things I fervently prayed for with great sincerity. One laughable one comes to mind. When I was 8 or so I wanted a German shepherd dog so badly. My mother would not allow me to have such a dog (we already had a mutt) and I read a story about a boy who was BLIND and got a German Shepherd guide dog, so for months, I fervently prayed to God to make me go BLIND so I could get a German Shepherd guide dog. LOL I was the most sincere that can possibly be imagined. Of course, God did not strike me blind so I could get such a dog, and I was very disappointed in God because he didn’t.
But I think that even as adults we pray for things about as harmful because we WANT whatever it is, not seeing or knowing that the thing we want is harmful to us. I never prayed for God to let my son get out of Prison, only that God would do what was “best for everyone concerned.” I knew I couldn’t read my son’s mind and heart, and I wanted him out just as much as I wanted that German Shepherd dog, but I didn’t trust my own judgment to know what was BEST. I still don’t, and only pray that whatever is BEST, as He knows is best, is what will happen and that I CAN ACCEPT THAT I MAY NOT UNDERSTAND NOW, BUT TRUST THAT IT IS FOR THE BEST.
I have absolutely NO doubt that if I had not fled my home, that the TH-P would have killed me. To this day I can’t say what “little voice inside of me” told me that I NEEDED TO FLEE, to go where he could not find me, but if I hadn’t fled, he would have killed me, that I found out FOR SURE after he was arrested. That was the PLAN FROM THE BEGINNING was to have him control or kill me. When I found out that he was taking money from my mother, the control part wasn’t going to happen, so the only alternative for their plot to succeed was for me to die before my mother did.
I think all of us at one time or another (victims) have wished for or prayed for the relationship with our Ps to “get better” but that prayer or wish never really happened, and it is FOR OUR BEST INTEREST THAT IT DIDN’T, and that our Ps are OUT of our lives…though we still may mourn for what we wanted, I think most of the people here on the board now, see that no matter how “nice” they were to us at some times, ultimately they are EVIL and being with them, even seeing them, is counterproductive to our well being.
I called the parole board again today to see if I could get the results of the “parole screening” (the board looking over the Trojan Horse P’s folder—which contains the letter I wrote to them) I also had a wonderful conversation with a great woman named Donna at the victim’s assistance group—she gave me some information that I didn’t know. In my state the parole board reviews the inmate’s file, then decides if they will get a hearing before the board, and if so, when. The most recent event was the TH-P’s file review. I will be able to find out the results on Tuesday of next week. (another phone call to a number at the parole board itself that Donna gave me) and IF AND WHEN HE HAS A HEARING, I am allowed to be present, and speak for 15 minutes—he will NOT be there at the time I speak. I can also present another written document at the same time. He can be held incarcerated as long as until August 2010. Then there are still two years he will be under supervision, AND he will have to register his residence, etc. for the rest of his life as a sexual offender, so will not just be able to “disappear” easily. As a sexual offender, failure to register is a felony in my state, requiring at least a minimally of a 4 yr sentence. Even a “technical” failure to register and adhere to the LETTER OF THE LAW will get him arrested.
I am fortunate that my state is quite good about victim’s statements, especially in a case like this one. I was very pleased with the concern that Donna showed and allowing me to tell my “insane” story to her. I’m sure that it isn’t the first “insane story” she has heard, and many much worse I also am sure.
With any kind of luck, I may be able to see that he is locked up at least as long as the law will allow, August 2010. That’s another two years and who knows what will happen in the meantime. For now at least, I am safe from the TH-P. Thank you GOD!
Is it possible to be a sociopath or something of that nature, even if you’re aware of the General Populations moral standing? Even if you’re aware that by their rules and laws what you do is wrong, and that you will be punished for it. Or do sociopaths simply not even take those things into consideration?
DEar RemmyHun,
The answers to your questions are extremely complex. I think all the answers to those queistions are on this blog in the various articles. I suggest that you read the articles in the archinves and that you should find the answers you want.
Welcome…this is a good place, lots of knowledge and knowledge is power! Again, welcome!
Remmy: They don’t tend to learn through punishment. Ox-D is right about you finding a lot of insight by reading the archives here.
I actually think they get a thrill out of violating the morals, laws and expectations of others.
RemmyHun: My dealings with anti-social personalities is that they are the most fearful and insecure of human beings on our planet. Somehow since childhood their survival technique was to deny their emotions. How they got this in their mindsets is and has been the topic of debate. What are they thinking? Then they deny their insecurities and turn it into arrogance and control, looking down their noses at everyone who walks the planet. Because they refuse to acknowledge there is anything wrong with them, they continue their spiral down the abyss of non-existence entities of our world. They simply have no clue what it is to experience all of life’s beauty.
Peace.
Remmy – Everyone’s advice to read is great. You will find many answers, and much, much, much, helpful information. Read the articles, read the blogs, and then come back and tell us your story. It may take a while, but it is a treasure trove. I read and read and read for months before blogging. Not that you have to do that – there’s no “homework” here….but I can assure you that you will come out of the experience with many of your questions answered, and a great feeling of hope!
I’m a bit stuck really. Not because I am or have been the victim of such a person, but that I’ve pondered if I -am- such a person. It’s complicated, but in my light research I don’t think I fit the mold but rather am something inbetween. My above questions were in direct relation to myself.