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Is CEO-LDS Romney a Successful Psycopath?

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Message Gregory Paul

Romney's performance at the first domestic policy debate was quite the show. He casually lied and flip flopped like a skilled used cars salesman without batting an eye. The political shape shifter dropped his Tea Party, 47% persona in favor of his Massachusetts centrist governor pose. As Dana Milbank details in the 10/9 Washington Post, he did the same thing foreign policy wise down at the Virginia Military Institute. The guy has no shame. Really, he doesn't. Which is the point of this essay.

 

Of course all successful politicians have to fudge some things (the voters who constantly demand that politicians be consistent and honest regularly punish those naà ¯ve enough to actually do so). But candidate Etch-A-Sketch was so egregious that he left no objective doubt that he has little in the way of principles to ground him -- he says whatever he thinks will get him where he wants to go depending on the audience he is addressing. His saying whatever he wants to regardless of its truth is so easy and out of control that it risks being reckless -- at some point it could come to stick to him enough to help lose the election. But right now it is working out for Mitt. It is perversely impressive how he prevaricated in such a convincing manner that he persuaded a big majority, many Democrats included, that he had won the debate even though the distracted or whatever POTUS did a better job of maintaining a more principled contact with reality.

 

Few could pull off such a performance. And that was what it was, a theatrical performance. The reason few can do so is that most persons' brain circuitry and chemistry does not allow them to get away with it. When most folks lie they give off tells subtle or not so subtle that most others pick up on. It's called feeling guilty. Maybe not filled with deep remorse, but just guilty enough that the person cannot keep from showing the mental conflict to the outside world. But the Romney brain is clearly geared to cover it all up well enough to fool the majority.

 

There is a psychological term for a person who is sufficiently lacking in guilt to sell a false line in a convincing manner. Psychopath. There is a very nice article about it in this month's Scientific American, "The Wisdom of Psychopaths." It explains that your socially functional psychopath (i. e. uses persuasion rather than violence in a social setting to con or convince the target, it's the most common variety) are so charismatic, egotistical, confident, focused, and especially low on remorse that they can readily manipulate many others. And that often makes them very successful.     

 

And what class of successful persons are often psychopaths? Why business leaders. CEOs. Manipulating finances being especially attractive to the type. The kind of business in which lacking ruth and empathy to competitors and to those who may be adversely impacted by the pursuit of money is an advantage (click here).

 

And of course politicians. Most of all those aiming for high office. Striving to be president requires a huge ego and a certain amount of insanity -- its brutal getting there and the 24/7/365 jobs kind of sucks, but all the power and prestige is the reward.

 

(Another haven for psychopaths is medicine. Especially heroic surgery. It takes a lot to slice someone open with a knife and rummage around their innards. That's why some technically skilled doctors are lacking in empathy. Dr. House anyone?)

 

It is very plausible that high end financial CEO and POTUS aspiring Romney is socially functional psychopathic. Sure does explain his debate feat. And it is compatible with his religion. Many do not really get what Mormonism is about. It is not just that they wear magic underwear and think the revived Jesus came to the Americas to minister to a population of expatriate Jews. Or that our god is an exalted human who lives in the Kolob system with multiple wives and children, one of whom is Jesus. The biggest feature is that all properly believing Latter Day Saints of the male persuasion eventually become gods, each with their own planet to run in a never ending cycle. This is entirely unlike standard Christianity in which believing humans get to spend eternity slavishly worshipping the one supernatural God in existence. Mormon males become gods. Really, I'm not making this fantasy up, they are. Because the LDS cause is the most important on this planet many Mormon's feel free to lie for the cause when necessary. It's called lying for the church (not that this is exclusive to the sect). LDS doctrine is profoundly psychopathic. (Disclosure, my mother's side of the family was LDS going way back, you can read the tale of one of my ancestors Noah Thomas Guyman and his six wives at gatheringgardiners.blogspot.com/2010/03/noah-guyman-1819-1911.html -- but none of my grandparent's offspring has been observant).

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Gregory Paul is an independent researcher interested in informing the public about little known yet important aspects of the complex interactions between religion, secularism, culture, economics, politics and societal conditions. His scholarly work (more...)
 
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