I write you this letter to explain
something to you. You have a serious personality disorder whose very symptoms,
paradoxically, may leave you unaware that you have it.
Or, you may be “aware” of your disorder in
an “intellectual” sense but consequent to your disorder, you lack appropriate
alarm and shame over its expression.
People who do not have your disorder, if
they were told they had it (and of its nature), would feel extremely unnerved
and shamed to hear this feedback.
You, on the other hand, neither feel nor
react with expected levels of uneasiness to learn of your disorder. Your reactions,
expressing either calm indifference, an attitude of smug superiority or,
alternatively, extreme irritation and indignation, add credence to the
diagnosis.
You were probably not “born” with this
disorder, but it’s also probable that you brought a biological tendency to it whose eventual emergence your upbringing probably encouraged or elicited.
Your disorder is called a number of
different names that can be confusing, among them sociopath, psychopath,
antisocial personality disorder, malignant narcissist, and more informal names.
Although there may be some useful distinctions between these terms, the
confusion they produce probably exceeds the usefulness of these distinctions.
More important are the common elements
between them which describe a similar phenomenon – a human being like yourself
who, while intellectually aware of common standards and laws of “right and
wrong,” nonetheless grossly, chronically violates the boundaries and integrity
of others with deficient remorse, deficient empathy, a deficient sense of
accountability and, typically, with an attitude of contempt, or indifference
towards the experiences and suffering of those you’ve violated.
You might recognize yourself in this
description, but you may not. If you do, as I’ve suggested, your recognition of
yourself as having this disorder will not produce an appropriate response.
But if you don’t recognize yourself from
this description it’s likely to be a function of more than just your denial.
Rather, your failure to see yourself, truly, as a sociopath probably reflects to an extent, an aforementioned feature of your disorder: I refer again to your
deficient empathy as a consequence of which you are actually incapable of
feeling more than superficial, transient concerns about, and remorse for your
hurtful impact on others.
It is possible that hurting others is a
primary goal but it’s also likely hurting others is a byproduct of your
primary aim (and lifelong pattern) of taking something from others that doesn’t
belong to you.
In other words, you may or may not intentionally seek to hurt others, but in either case your condition leaves you
depleted of normal, inhibiting levels of compassion, sympathy and empathy towards
others.
Your disorder has other essential features.
The reason you can take from people, steal from them – their property, possessions, money,
their dignity, sometimes their lives – and suffer so negligibly, if at all from your abuse of them, is that you do not respect them.
Your condition fundamentally leaves you
with a characterological disrespect of others.
You view the world as a competition ground
for gratification. People around you are thus players in this metaphorical
drama; players from whom your principle inclination is to take, cajole, exploit
and manipulate whatever it is that will leave you, not them, in a more
comfortable, satiated condition.
You feel that your gratification – your present
security, status, satisfaction and entertainment – takes precedence over
everyone else’s. Your gratification is simply more important than anything
else.
In your mind, you are entitled to the
gratification you seek – in whatever forms you presently seek it – even when it
costs others a great deal of pain towards which, as we’ve established, you
bring a disordered lack of empathy and concern. This is a very twisted notion –
specifically, the conviction that your gratification and its pursuit are
virtually your inalienable right – a notion that supports the rationalizing of
the chronic expression of your abusive, exploitative attitudes and behaviors
towards others.
Finally, this makes you, your organized Crime Ring, and any accomplice who carries-out your “assaults” a remorseless violator of
innocent people.
In an effort to put a stop to your destructive
acts and mitigate injury to others, I am willing to get you help for
your severe mental problems.
I have booked you an appointment at the
department of criminal psychology at UBC for a formal “diagnosis”, but as you
may or may not know, your disorder is notoriously unamenable to known “treatments."
A more viable option to protect others from your criminal behavior and escalating psychological violence is for you, and your partners in crime, to live out the rest of your miserable days in a cage.
I will continue to pursue every opportunity available to make sure this happens.
A more viable option to protect others from your criminal behavior and escalating psychological violence is for you, and your partners in crime, to live out the rest of your miserable days in a cage.
I will continue to pursue every opportunity available to make sure this happens.
