Sociopaths and Witch Hunts

While there are many people who deny the science of global warming, there are many more who support a far more errant direction in science. This is the direction of personality disorders.

According to the believers, some people (sociopaths) are evil and can only be evil regardless of how hard they work, what good they do and what work they do on themselves. This is of course in contradiction to most basic rationality. If people are responsible for what they are, then anyone can act rightfully; and if some people cannot act rightfully then people are not responsible for what they are.

This is a worthless mentality, useful only for conducting witch hunts. It masquerades as science while being completely irrational. If sociopaths can't change for the better, then they are not responsible for their behavior. And if they are responsible for their behavior, then they can change for the better.

What we see here is an introduction of the Orwellian concept of crimethink: That people can be made criminal by virtue of their personalities – meaning, by virtue of how they think. Supposedly they cannot change, and supposedly they can only be evil, whatever they choose to do with themselves. Not even the Communists have been able to come up with a more convincing racket.

Sociopaths get accused of lacking empathy; but it occurs to me that the science of personality disorders lacks empathy to a greater extent. It treats these people as monsters and as an abomination and fails to acknowledge anything positive that they do. Basically, it seeks to exterminate them. And that is a greater crime than anything perpetrated by any number of axe-wielding maniacs.

True empathy, and true reason, recognizes that anything with a brain is capable of righteous behavior; and on this matter religion is light years ahead of psychology. Religion acknowledges that we are all sinners, it also says that we have the capacity to choose for the better. And until psychology has the same realization, it will continue losing influence to religion.

Many of the people who howl about sociopaths think themselves to be nice people; but there is nothing nice about witch hunts and persecution campaigns. Treating people as irredeemably evil is only useful for gas chambers. If people are responsible for who they are, then anyone – including sociopaths – can be good people. And if some people cannot be good people, then people are not responsible for who they are.