Cal33
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Fri Jan-29-10 03:36 PM
Original message |
If Repub. congressmen make false statements to Obama, face to face, does it mean that they, |
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Edited on Fri Jan-29-10 03:40 PM by Cal33
themselves, believe what they are saying? I've known for a long time that sociopaths' definition of "truth" is what is beneficial for them, and "a lie" is whatever that's not beneficial for them or their cause. Whether something has actually happened or not doesn't make the slightest bit of difference to them.
They probably don't understand truth in the way we do. Otherwise, why would they repeat these stupidities to Pres. Obama, himself, and on TV? It only provided him with easy opportunities to refute their lies -- which only makes the Repubs. look absurd! Would they do that deliberately? I doubt it!
From our point of view, they probably don't know the difference between a truth and a lie -- except in the way they define them. Could that be a reason why we find them to be such liars? Maybe think think we are such liars!
Between 2% and 4% of the general population is sociopathic. Although they are found in all professions, the percentage is higher in certain ones -- like business executives and politicians -- neocons in particular.
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MineralMan
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Fri Jan-29-10 03:39 PM
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1. There is no question about there being sociopaths in |
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public office. I don't know the percentage, but many sociopaths are very convincing and personable. They smile at you while they're stealing your wallet. However, sociopaths know they are lying. They simply don't care, and will do it as long as the lie works.
Politics attracts more than its share of them.
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Cal33
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Fri Jan-29-10 03:46 PM
Response to Reply #1 |
4. Yes, in politics lies power, and in business lies money. This |
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is what attracts sociopaths: money and power over others. So there is a higher concentration of them in these areas.
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FarCenter
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Fri Jan-29-10 03:44 PM
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2. Whatever made you think that people always tell the truth or that lying is sociopathic? |
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Edited on Fri Jan-29-10 03:45 PM by FarCenter
Most peopole lie routinely, either to smooth social interactions or to gain some advantage.
In some jobs, like sales, it is quite normal. Politics is a lot like sales.
Besides, most politicians are lawyers...
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Cal33
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Fri Jan-29-10 03:54 PM
Response to Reply #2 |
7. I don't think people always tell the truth. But when they lie, |
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they know they are lying, and they don't feel comfortable about it. Their consdiences bother them. A sociopath has a defective conscience. Their consciences are not bothered.
By the way, this is what the "lie detector tests" are based on. It shows up on the electroencephalogram (EEG). Sociopaths can pass these tests with ease, because their consciences are not bothered. Of course, a person can be trained to lie and not to be bothered by it. That's why lie detector tests are not 100% fool-proof, although they are generally correct -- perhaps 95% of the time.
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FarCenter
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Fri Jan-29-10 04:01 PM
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9. The polygraph, to the extent that it works, works by measuring physiological stress |
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The cause of the stress is either the extra mental work of fabricating and speaking the lie or the fear of being caught in a lie.
I don't think it has anything to do with a subjects conscience.
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Cal33
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Fri Jan-29-10 04:27 PM
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14. There is also another, more recent, test using Magnetic |
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Resonance Imaging (MRI). Subjects are shown a movie involving cruelty, torture, etc. In the average person, the negative emotions (such as disgust, horror...) center of the brain becomes stimulated. More blood goes to that particular area. This shows up in the MRI as an enlargement of the arteries supplying that area of the brain.
In the sociopath (sociopaths have no empathy for people in trouble or pain) there is no such change in their MRI. On the other hand, if they are also sadists, the "pleasure center," which is located in a different part of the brain, becomes stimulated. And this also shows up in the MRI.
This test is also not fool-proof, as people can be trained to pass it.
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SlingBlade
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Fri Jan-29-10 03:44 PM
Response to Original message |
3. They get an "AttaBoy" From their Base. |
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That's what they get. In the meantime Democrats whine about it and talk about taking the high road while these fuckers rape the middle class with the help of the better behaved, Democrats.
Quite the trade-off, Huh.
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Cal33
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Fri Jan-29-10 04:00 PM
Response to Reply #3 |
8. You are right. I think Obama should have some mental |
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health professionals with expertise in sociopathy to counsel and advise him on undestanding and how to cope with sociopaths.
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RDANGELO
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Fri Jan-29-10 03:47 PM
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5. I think some of the politicians really do believe all the RW |
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talking points. You have Fox News watchers and Limbaugh listeners getting elected and making fools out of themselves. That's what happens when you run a party on tribalism and talking points.
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Cal33
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Fri Jan-29-10 04:02 PM
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10. Yes. No doubt about it. |
11 Bravo
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Fri Jan-29-10 03:51 PM
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6. It means that not only are they fucking liars, but they are brazen fucking liars. |
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Does this come as news to anyone?
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Cal33
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Fri Jan-29-10 04:09 PM
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12. No, no surprise. Another name for sociopathy is " Anti-Social |
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Personality Disorder." It is a mental disorder. Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Saddam Hussein ..... they all had it. I think sociopaths should never hold any high positions, whether in government or in private industry, because of the damage they can do. The higher the position, the greater the harm they can cause - including misery, suffering and deaths.
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anonymous171
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Fri Jan-29-10 04:05 PM
Response to Original message |
11. They aren't sociopathic. They are postmodern. |
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Edited on Fri Jan-29-10 04:05 PM by anonymous171
The GOP fully embraces the social construction of reality.
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boppers
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Fri Jan-29-10 04:12 PM
Response to Reply #11 |
13. muwaHAHAHAHHAHA *snarfle* |
Cal33
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Fri Jan-29-10 07:41 PM
Response to Reply #13 |
15. Yes. They're really funny, aren't they? |
boppers
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Fri Jan-29-10 07:49 PM
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16. Nah, I'd have gone with "self-deluded"... |
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But anonymous171 had a much more funny pomo/PC/academic way of saying "self deluded".
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depakid
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Fri Jan-29-10 07:52 PM
Response to Original message |
17. It means that they're Republicans who will say and do anything- what's new about that? |
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We're not talking about people who play by the rules here- all they care about is winning.
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