The one human failing

12 07 11 - 00:48

Kouri, who's a vice president of the National Assn. of Chiefs of Police, has assembled traits such as superficial charm, an exaggerated sense of self-worth, glibness, lying, lack of remorse and manipulation of others.

These traits, Kouri points out in his analysis, are common to psychopathic serial killers.

But -- and here's the part that may spark some controversy and defensive discussion -- these traits are also common to American politicians. (Maybe you already suspected.)

Yup. Violent homicide aside, our elected officials often show many of the exact same character traits as criminal nut-jobs, who run from police but not for office. - L.A. Times

ten comments

Who is the narcissist, the guy writing or the politician? Jobobobo - 12-07-’11 03:05

You suck! You're just scared to use the world for your own ends. You'd rather sit on the sidelines and bitch instead of taking advantage of all the easy money and pussy flowing around. usuck - 12-07-’11 07:43

You think this wasn't true in Medieval times? Which type would you say Charlemagne was? non-psychopath (Email ) - 12-07-’11 08:16

"The really old school (read: medieval) view is that people either accept the divine order of life, or choose selfishly to make themselves come before it."

Doesn't say there wasn't psychopaths during medieval times anywhere in the article. You can either accept the Numinous nature of reality or take the hubris view that "reality is what we make of it" and such. Dave Can't Read - 12-07-’11 09:27

The point was, not only were there psychopaths during medieval times, but they were running the show then, just as now. Maybe even more so.

So if there really was an "old school view" valuing unselfishness, it was a method of control put in place by those in power who had no intention of following it, not a genuine ideal of the times. Reality is great. (Email ) - 12-07-’11 11:09

Okay so in past times some false aristocrats controlled people through things like Christianity to gain power. That's not the point. In past times the good of society was over the good of the individual. And even if it wasn't the point is we should put the good of society over the good of the individual. Reality is grate. - 12-07-’11 13:15

Fair enough, that tended to be the ideal. But Europe was in such flux in those times that it's hard to really pinpoint any one overarching philosophy that guided it, other than trying to gain as much power as possible, especially as regards politics.

And if you think that's what we should strive for now, I don't know if medieval Europe is the best model. Reality is complicated. (Email ) - 12-07-’11 13:39

shut the fuck up, Thrasymachus. @reality is great - 12-07-’11 21:18

Whether a pick-up artist or a criminal, he/she denies the world exists -- and uses it for his/her own ends.

is'nt that the same thing you're doing genius? Adrian McCoy - 14-07-’11 10:08

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