I find that all these books are amazingly nuanced and compelling stories that are told with such simplicity. They also seem to focus on the human element of topics that could other wise be a story in their own (cooking, driving, .... psychopaths)
I flew through these. Any suggestions?
I’m interested in books about societal outsiders(including but not limited to psychopaths/sociopaths/the mentally ill) and the inner workings of their brain. I particularly enjoyed the chapter on Elliot Barker and his experiment involving LSD and The Capsule. I’d like to read something in a similar journalistic style.
This has been bothering me for ages now. Basically, it all came about when I realized that I don't believe in an objective right or wrong - and that's really not a big deal, it's nothing unique or odd, it's just a philosophical position. But then I started doing a lot of digging, and time and time and time again, whenever I take an online test I get at least 80% of being a psychopath. It can't be right. A year ago I remember crying for half an hour straight with my now ex because I was sad that I thought we were breaking up; and every now and then when I'm watching the news or something, I feel like I'm genuinely moved and I tear up a bit. I can definitely turn my emotions off (apart from rage) when it suits my purposes, or when it helps me get my own way - but how can I possibly be a psychopath? It really is a case of every test I take, it's always the same results - I'm a psycho. Is there something I'm missing here? I genuinely wouldn't actually care, but a lot of the traits of a psychopath are really, really things that I struggle with, things that really impact my life. But I'm sure psychopaths don't have empathy?
It was in class 9th grade we were talking about psychopaths. And this one girl chimes in and says “oh yeah I don’t remember the last time I felt guilty for something. That’s normal right?” Or something like that. And we were all pretty surprised. She continued “yeah I remember my parents would get mad at me and I’d just laugh.”
It was kinda surreal since I had classes with this girl since beginning of Middle school, even had a crush on her for a short while. It was 9th graders so everyone was just like “bruh, just don’t kill anyone pls.” And Nothing really came about from it. Fucking weird experience. Apparently that girl does mad drugs now so 🤷♂️. Psychopath still at large at my school lmao
Ex. Two sisters go to their mother’s funeral. One sister falls in love with a guy she meets there. The next day, she kills her sister. Why?
Answer: to meet that guy again
People who desire societal collapse are genuine psychopaths fueled by hate and misanthropy and should be treated as such. Society has been purely positive for humanity and has only gotten better throughout human history. Are there pitfalls? Yeah of course. But it’s such an easier life for most people than having to survive outside of it. And people need to realize this.
I finished reading American Psycho about 1 month ago and after a soul purifying binge of watching original pokemon, I am ready to dive into something just as bizarre, if anybody catches my drift.
Just take a moment to appreciate the collective insanity of this sub. None of us are normal and none of us can ever leave. Praise be Intern-kun.
EDIT: I’m aware that there’s been an earthquake and I legitimately do hope that everyone affected is okay. Obviously safety takes precedent over the trailer, I’m just having a bit of fun here.
EDIT 2: I’m not surprised that I woke up and there’s still no trailer. I am surprised, however, that I woke up and found that the mods haven’t stickied an official “freak out about the lack of trailer here” megathread.
Let me explain.
Aproximately 1/100 people in the general population are psychopaths. Among CEO's, the number is 1/5. The explanation for this tends to be that psychopaths really really want to have power and control, and since they lack guilt or remorse, they are willing to go to lengths normal people aren't in order to get it. So, everything equal, such people tend to rise to the top.
Presumably - and this is just speculation - there is probably also a overrepresentation of psychopaths in politics for the same reasons (power, control etc.). However, in capitalist society, there are other avenues available for people who really really really like power. I.e. the business world. In a socialist society, it seems plausible that the psychopath would rather strive for a political career, since this is the best way of dominating people. This, it would lead to a much higher proportion of psychopaths in politics compared to today.
If this is the case, I can imagine this leading to some very frightening scenarios, where many people will see the state as the ultimate tool for exercising power over others. I mean, wouldn't it be better if Stalin had merely been a CEO in a liberal capitalist democracy?
How would we limit the potential damage brought on by psychopaths in a socialist society?
edit: so this is basically a different take on the whole human nature criticism of socialism, and whether socialism is doomed to turn into something really bad because bad people will tend to rise to the top in such a society
When I saw this film, I was absolutely blown away by how incredible it was. It wasn't just a great film though, it was a perfect cult film. Practically everyone who has reviewed this film has said that it is good, but you never hear of it anymore. It's basically a Tarantino film, but not completely. It has such memorable moments like the shootout, and quotable lines "You can't let the animals die in a movie... only the women." / "You didn't bring a gun to the final shoot-out?" / "Put your hands up!" - "No.", great characters like Billy and Hans, accompanied by great performances from Sam Rockwell, Christopher Walken, Colin Farrell and Woody Harrelson. The premise might sound so-so - A writer who is trying to write a screenplay, gets caught in a war between psychopaths over a stolen dog - but I can assure you, the experience of watching it is incredible. There's so much that can be analysed and discussed about this film, but one of the best things is how the films story happens to correlate with the screenplay Marty is trying to write, as well as other things such as how films are made, studio influences, typical film stories etc. It is incredible. There's so much more to this that ticks the boxes for it to be a cult film, because that's what it should be. But it's not. How does a film this good but of cult quality, not happen to be a cult film? Please let me know your thoughts on this and on the film, maybe I'm wrong and i just don't know it.
https://preview.redd.it/68opjihs3ie21.jpg?width=1500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7c59e9fd8191dc380193460e12dabfa507d4fede
It's one of the most famous episodes of The Simpsons: the town comes into some money, and smooth-talking con artist Lyle Lanley convinces the townspeople to build a monorail - with disastrous results.
It's generally assumed that Lanley is just in it for the money, but I think he had much darker intentions.
If it was just about the money, he could have taken it and run off without spending anything on the monorail. But in the episode, he actually does build a large elevated track around Springfield and supplies the monorail cars. Maybe they were shoddily constructed, and it's revealed that the cars came from a mid-sixties World's Fair, but even with corners cut everywhere it still wouldn't have been cheap.
A key plot point comes when Marge discovers Lanley's personal journal, in which he's drawn himself holding bags of money and fleeing to Tahiti while people are shown screaming and dying on a flaming monorail. One potential victim is even drawn literally burning to death.
And then, when Marge visits some other towns where Lanley built monorails, they look like the largely depopulated aftermath of war zones - as though they were not just ripped off but actually suffered large catastrophes or terror attacks.
Most con artists have a sociopathic streak and are indifferent to whether their victims are harmed. But Lyle Lanley went the extra mile and spent much of the money he could have kept for himself on a monorail which he expected to kill its passengers.
Lanley wasn't just in it for the loot: he literally wanted to watch the world burn.
