Sociopaths, Pedophiles and Basic Reason

Some people in feminism – and in psychology – have been claiming that sociopaths and pedophiles are evil and can only be evil, and that they cannot change whatever they do.

This militates against basic rationality. If people are responsible for what they are, then anyone – including pedophiles and sociopaths – can choose to act rightfully; and if some people are incurably evil then people are not responsible for what they are. What we see here is an entirely worthless mentality, useful only for conducting witch hunts; and it is outrageous that people who claim to swear by science and rationality behave in such a completely irrational way.

I am neither a sociopath nor a pedophile; I am however someone who's gone into all sorts of directions in my life, some of them better than others. And I say with full certainty that anything that is capable of choice is capable of both rightful and wrongful behavior. Even if someone is born with a brain abnormality that results in a disconnect between two centers in the brain, he still has choice and will, and he can still be a good person if he chooses to put his mind to it. If the heart fails, use the mind; and if your heart lacks in empathy, use the mind to compensate.

Having been a good person at some points in my life and a bad person at others, I stand here to demonstrate that anyone can be a good person, whatever his brain condition happens to be. Choice trumps chemistry; and even if something is wrong with a person's brain he can still choose to make rightful decisions.

If a pedophile wants to be a pedophile, then he should be locked up. For others, there should be a way to help them get over these urges. As someone familiar with Buddhist practices, I am reminded of a meditation that they do in order to get over their sexuality altogether. Whenever they start feeling horny, they meditate on decomposing corpses; and over the time this deconditions their whole sexuality. If Buddhist monks can use this to do away with their whole sexuality, then surely pedophiles can use this to do away with their errant sexual urge for children.

With sociopaths, the solution is getting them to think about how their behavior affects the next person. Unless a person is downright evil, he will not be trying to hurt anyone; and if they know how they are hurting other people then many of them will stop these behaviors.

In all cases, choice makes it possible to act rightfully regardless of one's brain chemistry. And treatment of these disorders is done best by encouraging rightful choice.