I read a very insightful interview with Kurt Vonnegut Jr. a few weeks ago in which he made the case that our government and business leaders (one and the same in many cases these days) demonstrate the classic symptoms of Psychopathic Personality Disorder (PPD).
Citing the primary medical text definition of a PP, Vonnegut described an individual who is incapable of concern for others, or of concern for how the results of his decisions/actions might affect others.
PPs move to top levels of an organization because they are seen by others as decisive; when in fact, they don’t follow what we would consider a normal course of deliberation before initiating actions. In other words, they don’t care what happens, as long as they get what they want. Sound familiar?
These are the people who devise such impersonal terms as "collateral damage" to describe the death and destruction which result from their selfishness. The same people who seek to destroy and discredit viable "alternatives" in science, medicine, technology, etc.
This explains how executives at Enron, Global Crossing, et al, could totally destroy the companies they led - lining their pockets with hundreds of millions in the process - without the least bit of remorse or concern for damage caused to the lives of employees, retirees and investors. They don’t care, because - as PPs - they are incapable of caring. It’s just not in their basic mental program. (Who can say what the cause might be? Bad parenting? Too much TV violence? Effects of the pollution they help create?)
The average person, on the other hand, has the capacity to feel compassion and concern for others (known as conscience) and therefore must deliberate before making decisions that might have a negative impact on others. We aren’t seen as decisive, therefore we don’t move up the ladder to the top rungs.
Most of us could not launch an attack on a competitor/enemy - or even less on our own employees/stockholders/citizens - without considering possible negative outcomes and the effect on others.
Unfortunately, PPs don’t have that capacity, due to the nature of their mental illness. They concern themselves with outcomes only to the extent that they are personally affected.
When looked at from this perspective, apparently crazy actions taken by our government and business leaders are, in fact, just that: Crazy. Nevertheless, these people are totally functional in society - unlike psychotic personalities, who are out of touch with reality. PPs appear outwardly normal, which makes them all the more dangerous and difficult to stop.
If more people become aware of this disorder and how to recognize it, we might be able to avoid electing and promoting people to leadership positions who demonstrate the obvious symptoms of psychopathic personality disorder.
Unfortunately, most of us aren’t trained clinical psychologists. And if the firmly entrenched PPs actually felt threatened by this information, they would simply have their disorder written out of the texts! That’s typically how they handle any threat to their power and position; eliminate it.
So don’t hold your breath on this one. They’ve been at it a long time and don’t care who they step on to get what they want.
