From: ibshambat@gmail.com   
      
   I have heard many bad things said about people who are seen as narcissists,   
   sociopaths or alcoholics. I seek to contend with these beliefs.   
      
   According to the definition of the narcissistic disorder, the world in general   
   – and America in particular – owes most of what it has to its narcissists.   
   If it is narcissistic to want great success, or if it is narcissistic to have   
   lots of original    
   ideas, then just about everyone who's had great success – as well as most   
   people who've had original ideas – were narcissists. Which means that the   
   world owes most of what it has to its narcissists.   
      
   With sociopathic disorder, we see a very glaring irrationality. If people are   
   responsible for their actions then anyone – including a sociopath – can   
   act rightfully. And if some people are evil and can only be evil whatever they   
   do, however hard they    
   work, and whatever work they do on themselves, then people are not responsible   
   for their actions. Pick either one or the other. Both cannot be.   
      
   What we see with the concept of criminal personality is that people can be   
   made criminal by virtue of how they think. This introduces the Orwellian   
   concept of crimethink. Pursuant that concept, we see a totalitarianism being   
   created that is so absolute    
   that people are not allowed to be free from it even within the privacy of   
   their minds.   
      
   I have known any number of alcoholics. Some of them were bad people, and some   
   were not. I had a roommate who was an alcoholic, and he was a terrible person.   
   I had a girlfriend who was an alcoholic, and she was not a bad person at all.   
   All sorts of people    
   kept looking for all sorts of things to pick on about her character; but she   
   was far more benevolent – and far kinder – than most of these people.   
      
   I was never diagnosed as a sociopath; but I will take a stand against witch   
   hunts. Even if these people are nothing at all like me, they still deserve   
   protection from those who would commit witch hunts against them. In America   
   especially, people are    
   meant to be protected from people who would do such a thing; and if it takes a   
   Russian immigrant to remind them of that, then that is quite a sad state of   
   affairs.   
      
   Anyone can choose to act rightfully, whatever may or may not be wrong with   
   their brain. On this matter religion is light years ahead of psychology.   
   Religion states that any sinner can be redeemed; and this is the case also   
   with sociopaths, narcissists    
   and alcoholics.   
      
   In no way do I seek to do away with psychology. I do however seek to do away   
   with witch hunts. The recent hysteria about sociopaths is the worst one that   
   has been perpetrated in American history, and one that would make Joseph   
   McCarthy look like a saint.   
      
   Whatever is wrong with your brain, you still have the capacity of choice. And   
   anything with a capacity of choice is capable of rightful behavior. If your   
   heart fails to do the job for you, use your brain. Figure out how your actions   
   affect other people.    
   And then make an informed choice as to how you want to conduct yourself.   
      
   Being a “sociopath” or a “narcissist” does not have to be a death   
   sentence. Once again, anyone can choose to act rightfully, even the people who   
   have these disorders. For Americans in particular, it is complete hypocrisy to   
   persecute “   
   narcissists.” Once again, they owe to such people their nation's greatness.   
   And claiming that some people are evil and can only be evil whatever they do   
   militates againt the most basic rationality.   
      
   Are there sociopaths who do wrong things? Of course there are. But then there   
   are any number of perfectly normal people who do terrible things as well.   
   Spanish colonialists were for the most part normal people, and they did worse   
   things than even the    
   Nazis. And there are plenty of perfectly normal people now – Muslims,   
   Russians, what have you – that have been doing horrible things as well.   
      
   Evil is not a psychopathology. Evil is choice. Anyone can choose to be good or   
   evil. There are plenty of sociopaths who've never committed a crime. And there   
   are plenty of normal people who have done – and are doing – things that   
   are absolutely    
   terrible.   
      
   So no, the world's problems are not rooted in the actions of “narcissists”   
   or “sociopaths.” They are rooted in wrong choices that people make. Some   
   of these wrong choices are made by people with these supposed disorders, and   
   some of these wrong    
   choices are made by people who are perfectly normal. The source of evil is not   
   personality disorders. The source of evil is wrong choice.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)