#10

Well after all that criticism of the BBC in the last post it's nice to focus on something positive, and that is the Radio 4 program about the arts 'Front Row' (7:15pm week days). Sounds snobby and elitist already doesn't? But it isn't, quite the opposite, and that's what I like about it -- it reviews everything from an opera to the latest Simpson's movie with the same importance, and the reviews are quite analytical and interesting -- there is such a variety of stuff they review. Arty, but not arty-farty.

I've noticed a change in ambulance chaser adverts lately. Now they not only depict gleeful claimants receiving their compensation cheques, and receiving luxury medical attention, after their undoubtedly successfull claim against their employer or council after stubbing their toe... but it appears they are also now trying to improve their image and appeal outside of their usual customer-base demographic of sociopaths and mercenaries by also showing some sort of corrective action that was taken by the sued party at the end of the ad, as a pithy one-liner epilog, and the inference is of course that they only put the problem right so that they do not get sued again, and that the litigation saved mucho more toe-stubbing suffering in the future. I suppose, actually this is sometimes true and civil litigation can sometimes act for the greater good even saving lives in some cases, but I still do find ambulance chaser ads a bit disturbing.

Sociopaths (people just out for what they can get who have no sincere concern for others' feelings or well being) must surely be a big winner of the new compensation culture, clocking-up huge increases everyones' insurance premiums with their bogus claims -- here the law is definitely working in their favor... this is very worrying because normally the law is the thing that protects us against sociopaths. Most of us need a bit of keeping in check by legal bounds, but a lot of the time we stop ourselves doing bad things that would hurt others because we don't like the thought of causing suffering, and if we do cause suffering we feel guilt which makes us all the more cautious in future. If we really have to do things that cause suffering we have to try and detach ourselves and not think about the situation, or try and see the people as just objects, but sociopaths don't need to do this, they already have that detachment from the feelings of their fellow man by default...infact they have to pretend to have concern for others when it suits them to be seen as compassionate. It is worrying to know that it is estimated that sociopaths make-up about one in 25 of the population. But as medical science progresses I'm sure researchers will, one day, invent a medical treatment that will give sociopaths the sympathy and even empathy that they lacked from birth. Perhaps some sort of 'wet-chip' brain implant. This will be a momentous time when a cure is found, not only because curing all sociopaths will drastically reduce crime levels, but also because it will be good for the former sociopaths because their lives will be enriched and they will have gained quite an important element in the whole 'being human' caper.

When a treatment is invented however it will be quite a problem finding all the sociopaths to treat. Because they are exactly the type of people who don't have a social conscience, and hence are extremely unlikely to come forward and volunteer for treatment for the greater good. They will also probably work-out that they will be putting themselves at a disadvantage by being cured, no longer will they be able to heartlessly manipulate other people for their own ends, they'll have to muddle through life like the rest of us.

Well I know one place where sociopaths can be located quite easily for treatment: the sales departments of double glazing manufacturers/fitters. You surely have to be a sociopath to cold call an old lady and then go to her home and pressurize her into signing a contract (as happened to someone I know recently)... and then on top of that, forge an entry in the company's phone log to bogusly show that the old lady made the first contact in order to get-round the 'cooling-off period' laws. These laws say that any contract signed away from the vendor's premises (usually your home) can be cancelled within seven days provided the vendor made the first contact. The fact that there is a special cooling-off period law highlights that this is a very very common problem and anyone who has watched a few consumer advice programmes on the telly will recognise at least part of the scenario... so I definitely think there is a rich source of sociopaths for treatment there.

I'm not trying to start a witch hunt here, I think we should basically carry on muddling through like we are now until a humane cure is found, but in the meanwhile we should carry-on tightening-up laws (like for the cooling-off period law), laws that apply to every-one. And just generally be more wary, for example: if your boss seems to be tormenting you and picking on you for no good reason then change your job as soon as possible, don't wait for him or her to find their conscience because if they are a sociopath then they just haven't got one to find... don't stay in the job long enough for them to sap your confidence making it difficult to find another job.

I think in meeting people, to form relationships, people should be very careful too, because if you fall in love with a sociopath it could ruin your whole life. If people were able not to get involved with sociopaths it would at least help natural selection reduce the numbers over future generations until a cure is found. I mean, I may well find myself being knocked-out of the gene pool for being shy, being socially inept, or whatever it is I'm doing wrong to still be single, so if it is going to happen to me why should it not happen to sociopaths who pose a real threat to peoples life and liberty? After all, the only harm I do is to put a bit of a dampener on the occasional party by not mingling sufficiently. Click here if you want to read an interesting article by Kiki Anniston about her experiences, it's written to help women avoid sociopathic men, and I'm sure some of it can be applied to either gender.

And click here for another interesting article on sociopaths by Martha Stout Ph.D.