Incompetent, Sociopathic Con Men

[Bit_Happy]

What is the shelf life of a system that rewards confidence-gaming sociopaths rather than competence?

Let’s connect the dots of natural selection and the pathology of power.

In his 2012 book The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success, author Kevin Dutton described how the attributes of sociopathology are in a sense value-neutral: the sociopathological attributes that characterize a dangerous criminal may also characterize a cool, high-performing neurosurgeon.

As Dutton explains in his essay What Psychopaths Teach Us about How to Succeed (Scientific American):

    Psychopaths are fearless, confident, charismatic, ruthless and focused. Yet, contrary to popular belief, they are not necessarily violent. Far from its being an open-and-shut case–you’re either a psychopath or you’re not–there are, instead, inner and outer zones of the disorder: a bit like the fare zones on a subway map. There is a spectrum of psychopathy along which each of us has our place, with only a small minority of A-listers resident in the “inner city.”

While there is obviously a place for high-functioning sociopaths in professions which reward those characteristics, what about sociopaths who substitute deviousness and deception for competence? For some context, let’s turn to thePathology Of Power by Norman Cousins, published in 1988.

Cousins was particularly concerned with the National Security State, a.k.a. the military-industrial complex, which at that point in U.S. history was engaged in a Cold War with the Soviet Empire. Cousins described the pathology of power thusly:

    “Connected to the tendency of power to corrupt are yet other tendencies that emerge from the pages of the historians:1. The tendency of power to drive intelligence underground;
    2. The tendency of power to become a theology, admitting no other gods before it;
    3. The tendency of power to distort and damage the traditions and institutions it was designed to protect;
    4. The tendency of power to create a language of its own, making other forms of communication incoherent and irrelevant;
    5. The tendency of power to set the stage for its own use.

In broader terms, we might add: the tendency of power to manifest hubris, arrogance, bullying, deception and the substitution of rule by Elites for rule of law.

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2014/03/system-select-incompetent-sociopaths.html
Unless we change the incentives and disincentives, the system is doomed.


Are you concerned about the "quality" of our leaders?

 

[Spendulus]

What is the shelf life of a system that rewards confidence-gaming sociopaths rather than competence?

Let’s connect the dots of natural selection and the pathology of power.

In his 2012 book The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success, author Kevin Dutton described how the attributes of sociopathology are in a sense value-neutral: the sociopathological attributes that characterize a dangerous criminal may also characterize a cool, high-performing neurosurgeon.

As Dutton explains in his essay What Psychopaths Teach Us about How to Succeed (Scientific American):

    Psychopaths are fearless, confident, charismatic, ruthless and focused. Yet, contrary to popular belief, they are not necessarily violent. Far from its being an open-and-shut case–you’re either a psychopath or you’re not–there are, instead, inner and outer zones of the disorder: a bit like the fare zones on a subway map. There is a spectrum of psychopathy along which each of us has our place, with only a small minority of A-listers resident in the “inner city.”

While there is obviously a place for high-functioning sociopaths in professions which reward those characteristics, what about sociopaths who substitute deviousness and deception for competence? For some context, let’s turn to thePathology Of Power by Norman Cousins, published in 1988.

Cousins was particularly concerned with the National Security State, a.k.a. the military-industrial complex, which at that point in U.S. history was engaged in a Cold War with the Soviet Empire. Cousins described the pathology of power thusly:

    “Connected to the tendency of power to corrupt are yet other tendencies that emerge from the pages of the historians:1. The tendency of power to drive intelligence underground;
    2. The tendency of power to become a theology, admitting no other gods before it;
    3. The tendency of power to distort and damage the traditions and institutions it was designed to protect;
    4. The tendency of power to create a language of its own, making other forms of communication incoherent and irrelevant;
    5. The tendency of power to set the stage for its own use.

In broader terms, we might add: the tendency of power to manifest hubris, arrogance, bullying, deception and the substitution of rule by Elites for rule of law.

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2014/03/system-select-incompetent-sociopaths.html
Unless we change the incentives and disincentives, the system is doomed.


Are you concerned about the "quality" of our leaders?

 

I have to call total bullshit.  This describes a tailored selection of a small subset of attributes of a psychopath, such that then, certain conclusions are "true".  This is then conflagrated with "sociopath", again, the same logical errors are used.

At the end of this, any and everything desired to be "proven" can be "proven".

This is not science, but neither is it a wise look at the mechanics and motives underlying human behavior.

[Spendulus]

Are you concerned about the "quality" of our leaders?
I never used to really 'worry' about this, but after experiencing persecutions,
I do think about it sometimes. The rulers are the supreme power in their own countries.
They have powers to set you free, or to crucify you ( kind of like what Pilate said to Jesus Christ )
After being converted to believe in Jesus Christ, I started turning to the word of God
to try and find answers to alot of questions.
But which one of the scriptures is relevant for any particular question, I don't always know.
What we see when we look at the world, is somehow a WORLD UNDER GODS WRATH,
while at the same time, ITS GODS AMAZING GRACE to be saving sinners out of the midst of this sinful world,
during the ADMINISTRATION OF GRACE.
God is calling out the body of christ, from the midst of this sinful world.
But, there are many called, but few chosen.
Rather than being upset with the world(usually when it doesn't directly involve me, I find it easier then),
I have thought of just speaking the gospel of jesus christ, because it seems more peaceful.
Rather than waging war with God, reason with God, accept his free gift, His Son, Jesus Christ,
who died for your sins. Jesus paid the price that is owing and we are now free to live our lives,
so as unto God, with Jesus as our intercessor, and jesus pleads our case before God for us.
Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of God,
having been lifted up high above all the angels of heaven.

my noting that ... "At the end of this, any and everything desired to be "proven" can be "proven"...

is a CRITICISM of a logical fallacy, not an invitation to you to engage in it.

But my I suggest liberal use of words such as "thou", "brethren", "Whilst", and "leaven" as improvements in preechytalk? 

[zolace]

Psychopaths are fearless, confident, charismatic, ruthless and focused. Yet, contrary to popular belief, they are not necessarily violent. Far from its being an open-and-shut case–you’re either a psychopath or you’re not–there are, instead, inner and outer zones of the disorder: a bit like the fare zones on a subway map.