Much of my adult life has been spent trying to prevent bad things from happening to good people. It's part of my nature. However, everyone has a dark side. I know I do. When I worked as a cop, as Security Police at a military training base, and as a prison guard, I knew I had a lot in common with the bad guys I dealt with. Our minds ran on similar tracks. I just prefer to fight on the side that is helping people, not hurting people.
The main difference between good guys and bad guys is that bad guys lack impulse control or, in some cases, they just don't give a fuck. The psychological term we use for this type of person is "
sociopath".
Sociopaths see other people only as objects to be used. If a person can't, or won't, do anything for them, they are nothing. Think of sex. How many times have you seen somebody you thought was hot, and said or thought, "Goddamn, I just want to jump on him/her and screw them right now!" That is not just a figure of speech. At that moment you are listening to your animal instinct. You are the predator, and they are the prey.
The same exact phenomenon occurs when something makes us extremely angry, either at a particular person, or just at the world in general. You might say to the person, "I want to beat you to death!" If the anger doesn't have a particular person in mind, just frustration and anger about Society or Life, you feel the urge to destroy something, or hurt someone. ANYONE, just to vent your rage.
Most of us, realizing that acting upon these impulses is wrong, or at least, knowing we will most likely be caught and punished for those acts, do the right thing and refrain.
Those who truly do whatever they want, without regard for what others would think have allowed themselves to become animals that only look human. If they want something, they just take it. They are habitual criminals, thieves, rapists and serial killers.
I use the word evil for the deeds of sociopaths only because it is the word most people associate with such extremely anti-social acts; they shock most people who try to live within Society's expectations. I am not sure any deed is inherently "good" or "evil". In fact, I have long thought that perhaps sociopaths are intentionally designed to be different than normal humans, and exist to act as a natural predator to humankind. We do not, when we view it objectively, call it evil when a wolf attacks and kills a helpless deer. It does so merely because instinct tells it to, and to satisfy its hunger.
Asked how he felt about his victims, Gary Ridgeway, better known as The Green River Killer, said the following: "I didn't feel anything toward them. If I wanted sex, I raped them. If I was angry, I killed them." Asked why he went back to dead victims and had sex with them, his answer was. "It was a free date. Sex I didn't have to pay for."
Copyright October 19, 2009 by lonelywanderer2@xxanga.com
Comments (46)
He's missing out on the whole 'empathy' part of human nature there
Very well and succinctly written post.
25% of the population are sociopaths. That answers most of your questions, there, doesn't it?
That's sad. I hate men like that.
@Levanna - Sociopathy was pretty much the subject of this post; I had it in mind; I just didn't use the word. Kudos for picking up on that!
This is interesting :)
Wow, can you really copy write xanga entries..?
@Starring_Hobo89 - It's called intellectual property.
good stuff!
i agree
yeah, impulse control...I know that I can identify pretty deeply with some of that stuff, I mean, I feel the urge, but then something in me says "you don't really want to hurt someone" and I don't...but I turn it towards myself, because the urge is still there, and I don't know what to do with it.
So I turn it on myself.
A lot of the scumbags around here are dying. I've heard of 4 in the last 8 months - all between 40 and 50 years old. I'm a happy camper.
took lots of reading just to get to today's post.
Love the fish clock though.
@Justin_DeBin - Fish clock?
@Lady_Kelacy - Thank you!
@lonelywanderer2 - Fish bowl top down, fishy swiming around every minute with the little seaweed hands.
I always get the impression you were young...about mid 20's.
@HalfSane - Were it not for all of the safety implements society has built up over the years many more stupid people would be dead. The funny thing about it though is that it screws up darwin's theory when we keep these people alive. In a sense it hurts the entire human race.
I spend a lot of time and energy trying to keep bad things from happening to good people too. Impulse control is a problem for some of the "bad" ones but I have found that some who view other people as objects to be used also have simply never really experienced enough close bonds with others to even feel that they are part of the human race. Many of the X-cons I have helped to transition back into society seem to feel like they are not like other people and that they don't belong in this world. Some of them are highly intelligent people who just feel isolated from humanity. Even something as simple as a friendly hug is uncomfortable to them. I try to get them involved in volunteer work that forces them to get personal with others. Once they begin to get to know people they also begin to make the connection between their actions and other peoples pain. I think if as a society we could all open our eyes and deliberately make an effort reach out more to that "strange person" who is always alone and maybe socially inept we might avert some of the crimes that happen in todays world simply with friendship and love.
that quote from Ridgeway gives me chills, and I'm a serial killer buff.
ryc--"Law Abiding Citizen" was pretty fantastic, almost worth seeing again.
I think to be evil is as hard as to be angel. Ones can’t be evil if they have no stomach to do a bad cruel thing.
Like you~ have spent most of my time attempting to protect others~ including protecting myself. For the last 15 years~ I've done my best to keep our adopted children from the cruelty of their birth parents. Only to have the generational mental illness rage in the child ~ as well. To watch the child you were trying to protect~ hurt another child you were trying to protect~ is heart breaking. I have been tempted at times to question the effort.
But the effort is usually not about them~ as much as what is brought forth in me.
Ahh so true. It's easier to be angry at your enemies, it's much harder to love them.
Evil is the summation of virtues ignored.
Yes, anger|evil does seem to be easier; acting on impulse to satisfy some fleeting urge just seems 'natural' at the time of the strong, overwhelming emotions.
Learning to control those thoughts and impulses ( assuming one has the ability in the first place ) is like a constant work in progress.
I've done well for the most part--I don't 'wish anyone dead' ( and I am definitely not dangerously or violently impulsive to the extreme degrees that you have used as examples [That last quote is pretty horrific. *nod*] ), but I certainly do have moments where I think cruel what-ifs about people in my shortlived rage. I had far more of a problem with turning my anger inward, though, and taking it out on myself--which thankfully, I don't need to do anymore. So learning not to be needlessly angry toward other people wasn't my biggest hurdle. It was learning to not get angry with myself for misguided reasons.
lonely wanderer, I think you incorrectly assume that every time someone says, "I'd like to tap that," or "I'd like to punch you in the throat," they actually mean what they are saying. Most colloquialisms express emotion or feeling, which are not inherently evil.
The impulse itself is also not evil; it's natural. It is in our nature to want to procreate. It is in our nature to covet. It's in our nature to defend what we believe is ours. All animals do it.
As a prison guard, you can surely think of a time when it's acceptable to employ lethal force. As a xanga author, you would surely be express your feelings if someone lifted your copyrighted post? Does that make you evil?