Quote:
Originally Posted by alnorth
Yeah, actually they are. Every sociopath, true, real, honest to god sociopaths, are monsters who should be avoided. Most are not violent, because that would be a severe roadblock to their goals. (most people don't want to go to jail, unless you have a fascination with killing people, and THAT is what makes you happy)
I'm not talking about people who have less empathy than others, or people with asperger's who are just socially awkward. I'm talking zero empathy. If you are a sociopath, then that means you view life as one great big grand game to win where every living creature and person is either an opponent or a pawn to defeat or exploit in your pursuit of whatever makes you happy, without regard to anyone's feelings. Unless making someone unhappy would make it more difficult to get what you want.
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Actual sociopaths may have deeply ingrained traits that make it way easier for them to do things that hurt others, but they aren't "monsters." Monsters are not real. Generalizations like that not only hurt one's understanding of mental illness but deeply hurt the people suffering from them in their pursuit of effective treatment.
Your posts are by no means the least reasonable things that have been posted in this thread, or anything. I just think it's really important that people don't perpetuate the "monster" thing (turning treatable illnesses into a Force of Nature). Or the "every ____ is ____." The same mental illness can exhibit wildly diverse symptoms and intensity in different people.