On the Conscience of Psychopaths

 

This video goes into more depth, but I want to note their lede: psychopaths and narcissists do not do well on polygraph tests. This disproves the common claim that they have no conscience. Everyone does. They know perfectly well that they are lying or doing harm to others. Rather than not feeling guilt, they experience a high level of ambient guilt at all times. They are jumpy about it, and liable to explode in a tantrum or melt into self-pity if challenged. This is one reason why they are prone to alcoholism or drug use, and prone to complain of symptoms often diagnosed as “depression” or “chronic anxiety.” And then often put on SSRIs that, like alcohol, allow them to commit their crimes with greater alacrity.

This also explains something I have noticed for a long time, and been unable to really account for: you can commonly recognize a psychopath by smell. They stink; Mao Zedong famously did. This might have something to do with their corporeal self-love—they love the smell of themselves, and assume that others would too. So they do not shower or bathe as often as they might. But I’ve known narcissists who did shower and bathe, and still smelled. It might also be because they tend to sweat more than others, an anxiety response.

Another sign of narcissism or psychopathy, touched on in the video, is that they lack spontaneity. This too is anxiety; they must always guard their words. They tend therefore to seem robotic, their responses predictable, “NPC.” The unexpected or unfamiliar is to them threatening. As a result, narcissists and psychopaths lack a sense of humour, and rarely laugh in a natural way. This is also the source of the celebrated narcissistic smirk: their smiles are never sunny or spontaneous, but calculated.

The Greeks believed in the Erinyes, which would pursue malefactors to their death. Christians call it conscience. It is real.

The Vampires of China

 

These claims about the Chinese Communist Party are hard to credit. I have heard them from more than one source; but one source may be getting them from the other. They sound like enemy propaganda. On the other hand, we are discovering these days that most conspiracy theories are real.

It would explain the longevity of top Chinese leaders. It would explain why so many are dying now. And it would explain the Chinese zero Covid policy, which otherwise seemed mad. They kept it in place because the top leadership generally was immunocompromised due to multiple organ transplants, and so especially vulnerable to the virus.

If true, the CCP leaders have been killing young people in large numbers to give themselves a few years more of life. And not life of a high quality; life in extreme old age, with all of its frustrations, aches, and pains. Do they have no conscience? Having grown up in a Buddhist-influenced culture, do they have no fear of karma?

I suspect they do have a conscience, and do believe in karma. That is really the only explanation why they would go so far to extend their lives. They are desperate to eke out only a few more miserable years because they are aware of what they have already done, and know they face retribution after they die. It is typical psychopathic behaviour that, rather than take the easier and happier route of repentance or apology, they double down. As Himmler once explained, once they had started killing Jews, the Nazis dared not stop, for fear of retribution.

Elizabeth I, not at all the “good queen” she is often claimed to be, in her last years was terrified of falling asleep, because she feared she would not wake up. She would remain standing each night, to stay awake, until after perhaps fifteen hours in this position, she eventually collapsed. Her last words were supposedly “All my possessions for one moment of time.”

We ought not to envy such people. But we must also understand what they are.

Only the good die young.