Are American Business Interests Sociopathic?

[fascisthunter]

I have been finding sociopathy very interesting and after some research over the last couple years, I do think this illness is very much alive and thriving on Wall Street. Too often do I see business interests destroying life itself in this country, because the benefit to those invested outweigh humanity itself. Are we subjects to a sociopath Market Place? I think so...


Anyway, here is an interesting read on sociopaths I had come across some time ago:

Is Your Boss a Psychopath?
By: Alan DeutschmanWed Dec 19, 2007 at 7:55 AM

"Odds are you've run across one of these characters in your career. They're glib, charming, manipulative, deceitful, ruthless -- and very, very destructive. And there may be lots of them in America's corner offices. "

One of the most provocative ideas about business in this decade so far surfaced in a most unlikely place. The forum wasn't the Harvard Business School or one of those $4,000-a-head conferences where Silicon Valley's venture capitalists search for the next big thing. It was a convention of Canadian cops in the far-flung province of Newfoundland. The speaker, a 71-year-old professor emeritus from the University of British Columbia, remains virtually unknown in the business realm. But he's renowned in his own field: criminal psychology. Robert Hare is the creator of the Psychopathy Checklist. The 20-item personality evaluation has exerted enormous influence in its quarter-century history. It's the standard tool for making clinical diagnoses of psychopaths -- the 1% of the general population that isn't burdened by conscience. Psychopaths have a profound lack of empathy. They use other people callously and remorselessly for their own ends. They seduce victims with a hypnotic charm that masks their true nature as pathological liars, master con artists, and heartless manipulators. Easily bored, they crave constant stimulation, so they seek thrills from real-life "games" they can win -- and take pleasure from their power over other people.



http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/96/open_boss.html?page=0%2C1

[villager]

1. Yes.

Thanks for posting, btw...

[fascisthunter]

11. you're welcome

I think this topic should be talked about more.... too often is Wall Street and corporations given a pass, as if somehow they were all above humanity itself. Sure, corporations are amoral, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't have a bit of responsibility towards the very society they are supposed to be a part of. Making others rich is no excuse for destructive behavior and it has got to stop.

[bigmonkey]

13. Yes.

[StarfarerBill]

2. If you've not seen the documentary "The Corporation", I highly recommend it;

it makes a very good case for the sociopathy of Big Business.

[bridgit]

8. Yep, here from an antique entry in my journal the links still seem active - enjoy

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x65337

[fascisthunter]

10. yup... seen it

[Odin2005]

3. They are required to be sociopathic BY LAW.

[Billy Burnett]

4. Of course. All American Business Interests form a single united block.

:sarcasm:

[elehhhhna]

5. Amoral, regardless.

[treestar]

6. Are business people from other countries different?

Socially responsible and all that?

[DailyGrind51]

7. Rapacious self-interest is essential to narcississtic personality disorder.

[bridgit]

9. Adam Smith's greatest contribution - enabling the invisible hands of rapacious self-interest

Without popping a single jewel from the crown

[Vidar]

12. For the most part, yes.