Personality Disorders, Evil and Choice

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.