Sociopaths among us

The culture war is not fundamentally between left and right, liberal and conservative, progressive and reactionary, tolerant and intolerant.
Fundamentally it has nothing to do with ideals, values or visions of the future. It’s a fight between decent people and sociopaths.

Jeremy Sherman

I have been perplexed for years how supposedly decent, good-hearted, moral, people – especially people who claim to be Christians – can vote for Donald J. Trump. Even one time. His intellectual, personal, and moral failings are not only plain to see, he broadcasts them loudly and proudly.

I have sadly come to realize that Trump supporters are NOT “decent people.” They have decided, consciously or not, to give up all of their religious, intellectual, and moral standards and take the lazy path. They have discarded any attempt to be consistent between their beliefs and their actions. They have abandoned their integrity. They have become shameless.

It is not easy to say this. I know and like many Trump voters as people. The personal, religious, and even economic, aspects of their lives are, in many cases, above reproach. Yet politically they have chosen to ignore, make excuses for, and sometimes even celebrate, cruel, ignorant, disgusting, hateful, cynical, and irrational behaviors and policies.

To be blunt. A true Christian simply cannot vote for Adolph Hitler and his Nazi party. Yet, in 1932, many “Christians” did.

History is now repeating itself.

What is a sociopath?

Sociopathy — a mental health condition in which a person consistently shows no regard for right and wrong and ignores the rights and feelings of others.

Mayo Clinic

Dr. Jeremy Sherman says that the difference between psychopaths and sociopaths is that psychopathology is neurological. Psychopaths are born deaf to empathy. But sociopaths are made. Sociopathy is not a rare psycho-physiological disorder. Sociopaths are simply people who learn to become shameless.

Shame holds us back. It makes certain behaviors unthinkable. Shamelessness is very liberating. It makes you feel perfectly free and invincible. This is especially true as you become shameless about your shamelessness. At that point, nothing makes you feel bad. Nothing makes you feel guilty.

Dr. Sherman points out that, “Learning to be absolutely shameless is easy.” Any direction one might pursue in life can be detoured onto the path of “motivated sociopathy.” One simply has to stop thinking rationally and just react selfishly in the moment. The trick, he says, is to “blurt out words as if you really mean them, without thinking about their meaning at all.”

Sociopaths depend on self-serving cliches to block thinking and to shut down any criticism. When they find cliches that work (ie. make them feel better, or make them more popular), they use them more frequently. These cliches cluster around some preferred ideology (it could be religious or political, left or right) and quickly become self-defining and self-reinforcing.

The only goal of this meaningless use of language is to make the sociopath feel like a “winner.” Once a person has given up rational thinking in favor of denial and intensely-held cliches, Dr. Sherman says their “conscience just atrophies.” They become amoral. There is practically no situation or circumstance, no set of facts or logical argument, that can make them back down, reconsider, or repent.

Eventually you become a proud, deaf shameless sociopath blurting whatever makes you feel invincible no matter what you do.

Jeremy Sherman

A tempting lifestyle

Sociopath literally means “socially-sick.” Motivated shameless sociopaths become blind to their own blindness. They see themselves as being “right, righteous, and heroic” at all times and in all places. They only use, and listen to, language that reinforces their own positive self-image. Once this happens, people find no reason to question or leave this lifestyle – at least as long as they can get away with it.

So how can we keep them from getting away with it? How can we make motivated sociopathy costly? How can we honorably shame the absolutely shameless? How can we humbly humble people who will say anything to avoid humility?

Jeremy Sherman

The opposite of Christianity

It should go without saying that shameless, ignorant, self-serving, narcissistic, behavior is non-Christian. It does not matter if one is humble, thoughtful, generous, and unselfish in every aspect of one’s life except politics. Integrity requires consistency in ALL areas of one’s life. If you are a MAGA Republican who claims to be a Christian, your integrity is compromised and you are in need of repentance.

To be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and still vote for the convicted criminal, Donald J. Trump, you must completely ignore and disregard the scriptures. The Book of Mormon warns us repeatedly against wicked men who use “vain and flattering words” to deceive the people in order to get “power and gain” for themselves. This message is not hidden or subtle.

But behold, if a man shall come among you and shall say: Do this, and there is no iniquity; do that and ye shall not suffer; yea, he will say: Walk after the pride of your own hearts; yea, walk after the pride of your eyes, and do whatsoever your heart desireth—and if a man shall come among you and say this, ye will receive him, and say that he is a prophet.

Yea, ye will lift him up, and ye will give unto him of your substance; ye will give unto him of your gold, and of your silver, and ye will clothe him with costly apparel; and because he speaketh flattering words unto you, and he saith that all is well, then ye will not find fault with him.

O ye wicked and ye perverse generation; ye hardened and ye stiffnecked people, how long will ye suppose that the Lord will suffer you? Yea, how long will ye suffer yourselves to be led by foolish and blind guides? Yea, how long will ye choose darkness rather than light?

Helaman 13:27-29

Healing yourself

The steps required for a sociopath to again become a “decent person” are:

• Humbly examine your choices and sincerely consider the possibility that you may be wrong,
• Seek other sources of information outside of your bubble,
• Stop speaking in familiar, comfortable, meaningless, cliches,
• Consider other people’s opinions and viewpoints as being just as valid as yours,
• Let go of grievance and anger,
• Learn to really listen to people,
• Stop worrying about your image,
• Learn to trust public institutions,
• Learn to feel and express gratitude,
• Realize that most issues are nuanced rather than black and white.

Interestingly, these steps are the same as the requirements of being a good Christian:

• Be humble,
• Seek truth,
• Watch your tongue,
• Love thy neighbors,
• Be of good cheer,
• Serve others,
• Avoid pride,
• Respect your elders,
• Pray often,
• Don’t judge.

Healing society

Dr. Sherman lists four steps to counteract sociopaths in our society:

• Don’t listen to them. They don’t care about the words they use so neither should we. Treating their ideas with respect (like you would a decent person) just enables their pathology.
• Expose their shallowness publicly. If you declare that “they will say and do anything to pretend they’re right and righteous, they will prove you correct.”
• Stand your ground. You do not need to prove anything to them. Just be a brave honest human “while they’re robotically playing God.”
• Don’t give them the power of judging you. “If they accuse you of violating some moral code (that they don’t care about), don’t deny it.” Show that their opinion means nothing to you.

Ultimately, the only cure to the current widespread Republican sociopathy in America is for them to undertake a sincere process of humble self-examination and repentance. I don’t expect this to happen anytime soon (though I have noticed a few LDS Republicans growing increasingly uncomfortable with Trump).

In the meantime, it is essential that decent people trust each other, stand firmly for the truth, resist the corruption of our political and social discourse, and VOTE THEM OUT!

It is our civic duty to make motivated sociopathy costly.

Jeremy Sherman

Source:
Jeremy E. Sherman, Ph.D., “Why the sociopaths are winning and the obvious thing we’re not doing about it,” AlterNet, October 7, 2023.