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The Tragedy of Truth
It is a comforting thought that “the truth shall set you free.” It must be the slender reed that the remaining January 6 political prisoners hold on to.
And yet that statement is not a universal rule. No less than the estimable Victor Davis Hanson assures as that History Will Grind Out the Truth. But the pace at which truth is known and, most importantly, widely accepted and acted upon, is excruciatingly slow in too many circumstances. As Professor Hanson quotes Sextus Empiricus —
“The millstones of the gods grind late, but they grind fine.”
May they grind the perpetrators of evil to fine dust. And may they do so in real-time and not solely in memory after they have passed. So much wrongness is triumphing at the moment. That it may yet be defeated is cold comfort to the currently afflicted if that defeat comes too late for their personal relief.
Truth is a fine thing on a headstone. Exoneration of philosophy, belief, or actions is great — but a silenced tongue does not get to savor the “I told you so” moment. Even if not silenced, an aged tongue loses the fine taste buds required to fully enjoy that experience. The tragedy of truth is that timeliness is never guaranteed.
Published in General
For the last thirty years, I’ve seen the words “psychopath” and “sociopath” used to describe people who really weren’t either one. American life doesn’t produce the kind of monster that these words actually describe. These are personality disorders that are at the furthest end of the personality disorder continuum.
And I grew really weary of the terms when they were applied by the press and armchair psychologists to every successful Republican.
But as in all things I thought I knew for sure, I think I’ve been wrong to ignore the term and the concept. I think there may be an actual psychopath in the White House right now.
His willingness to cause suffering and his indifference to it is unprecedented in my lifetime. He has put people out of work, and he has raised heating oil and gas prices for the poor. He is raising taxes and inflation that really will see poor senior citizens eating dog food sooner rather than later.
Some people think he is senile. I don’t think he is. He was working hard to organize the Afghanistan troop withdrawal from June 2021. He orchestrated the whole thing. I think he wanted to humiliate GW. That’s all it was. He didn’t care who got hurt.
And now, it has been ten months since he has imprisoned people who were guilty of simple trespassing.
This is the same guy who has never apologized for destroying the reputation of the man who was driving the car that hit his first wife and child. The erratic way his first wife was driving has led some to believe that she was trying to get away from him by committing suicide. I’m not saying it’s true or not, but it’s plausible.
This is not senility. He has not changed in who he is. He is a diabolical psychopath: completely indifferent to the suffering of others or possibly enjoying it, as sadists do.
It is a frightening prospect to consider.
I agree that Biden is a psychopath. He has always been quick to lie and place the race card. He lied forever about the guy in the traffic accident with his first wife. However, I do think there is a method to the madness. The institutions must be destroyed and the people humiliated in preparation for the Communist takeover. Once you accept that is the objective and method, then all the actions make sense.
Embrace the power of “and”. To the extent he is not functioning, his puppet masters are exactly like him (except with more verbal and bowel continence).
I was just thinking about that too: his myriad codependents and enablers. They have to be as indifferent as he is.
Comey epitomizes the formal definition of sociopath to me. He is as cold as ice.
Maybe I have this all wrong. Maybe this personality type has always been out there, and it is our post-World War II trek toward socialism that has allowed them and encouraged them to become our leaders in the United States.
Socialists describe themselves as Salvation Army acolytes. Their followers buy their song and dance. But in fact, that’s not at all who they are in real life. See the Cultural Revolution and the Great Leap Forward. Communists reward those who are indifferent to human suffering.
Who could or would blame her?
I have been slow to use the words sociopath and psychopath, but started using them more about 2008. Psychopath is no longer an authorized diagnosis (wonder why) but even when it was one, it was differentiated mostly by being criminally sociopathic as opposed to merely socially sociopathic. But the roots of this psychological disorder go back to the 19th century when doctors were trying to understand those who had no apparent conscience that would be displayed by empathy or altruism.
Conscience can be inherent part of the individual personality, or can be taught by family and culture.
Psychopathy can be both internally motivated, as if by a deficiency of conscience, or can be taught by disincentivizing empathy and rewarding selfishness.
As the US population has drifted away from the Christian cultural norms, and been led to be disinclined to view life and the world through the Christian view (let alone aligning oneself with Christ and Christianity) I think many people have lost a functioning conscience, or at the very least the world has become more inclined to reward conscienceless behavior. And so we see more of it.
I have no idea what’s in the man’s head. All I know is he ran as the guy who was going to restore dignity to the office and solve problems.
He’s done neither.
He has risen above his level of incompetence. And we will be the worse if for it.
Biden is twisted and some medical psychological term may be used for him, but he’s not in charge. He has influence for sure, but he doesn’t know who is doing what. We don’t know what influence the Chinese have on him but we know they have the goods on his son and probably on him, so it’s not insignificant. So who is in charge? A bunch of people and as long as they get to spend the money first, they don’t even pay highly for inflation, get a big share of the loot and the opportunities, so it works. The giant digital companies are run by the people who are good at running their companies but don’t have a clue about running the country because nobody, no groups can run 320 million of the most diverse richest country in history. Unfortunately they don’t seem to know that and the same can be said of other groups, radicals, elected Democrats, bureaucrats. As long as inflation doesn’t explode they just get to rip off the country. The middle class, small business ( meaning really big but not mostly global) gradually lose, but only gradually until inflation destroys the economy and everyone has to rearrange and the groups at the top have to start fighting with each other.
Jordan Peterson’s insights are pertinent: As a teen he was attracted to socialism and got heavily involved in the Canadian New Democratic Party. But he discovered that nearly everyone in the Party was actually motivated not by compassion for the poor but rather by a hatred for the rich. Envy and resentment are guaranteed to create evil ideologies and evil regimes.
I believe this is true of the Democrats in power and those ascending to power (think AOC with her “tax the rich” $30K dress and her merry band of progressives). Ironically they both hate the rich, and embrace the power and manipulations that make themselves rich at the pain of their constituents. And after they accumulate that wealth, they still at least mouth the words of hating the rich, while further enhancing their own positions.
That indifference is key part of the ideology and functionality, (you could hardly call it success.)