This article was originally published by Brandon Smith at Alt-Market.com
Have you ever met someone face-to-face that seemed relatively normal at first, but after a short time they began to reveal odd and disturbing character traits? They showed an inability to laugh at their own mistakes and only laughed at other people’s expense? They had an obsessive need to tear down the legitimate accomplishments of others to elevate themselves? They were robotic and overly predictable in their daily routines? They lacked remorse for any actions that harmed other people? They tended to exploit the people around them for entertainment or personal gain? They often bragged about how far they were willing to break moral boundaries to get what they wanted, as if this makes them superior to others with a conscience?
Well, you might have been dealing with a sociopath, or narcissistic sociopath.
It’s not uncommon to run into strange characters such as this in your daily life. They act a bit like aliens, or impostors trying to mimic human behavior but not doing a great job of it. They use various tricks often reserved for grifters and con-men in order to blend in with normal society. They’ll make grand promises of future gains and a better tomorrow to entice people to orbit them. They’ll make villains out of numerous neighbors around them to frighten the rest into joining their self-interested projects. And they are indulgent with their past, exaggerating or fabricating their own accomplishments, having no evidence to show to support their own claims and relying merely on image rather than proof to generate attention.
These creatures are like a cancer, or like parasites. They’ll feed off of anyone they can find that does not recognize them for what they are. When too many people start to figure out the con and expose them, they move on, to another town, another state, even another country to find a fresh pool of victims.
They tend to gravitate to certain professions and vocations. They like any environment where they can accumulate power and influence, or places where they can siphon people’s money or enthusiasm without being noticed. This includes politics, religious institutions, nonprofit organizations, law enforcement, or social causes and activist groups. Unfortunately, this includes causes like the liberty movement.
Around one out of every 10 people will have latent characteristics of sociopaths; meaning, they will sometimes take actions that match with sociopathic behavior, but they are otherwise normal in their day to day life. As long as the rule of law is in place, they will not act in a destructive manner. But, when your society begins to break down due to economic or political conditions, you will have a problem with them.
Around 1% to 5% percent of people are what some call “high level” or full-blown narcissistic sociopaths. These are the people that exhibit most or all of the characteristics, including a complete lack of empathy and a willingness to harm others for personal gain. The worst of the worst are those sociopaths that actually enjoy hurting others, even if there is nothing material to be gained. These are the sociopaths that become grand scale thieves and embezzlers, murderers, rapists and pedophiles.
Avoiding these monsters is of the utmost importance if you want to lead a happy life. This means kicking them out of your circle of friends, ending romantic relationships, quitting a job in which they are in a position of authority, or even ignoring a family member if they have such traits. But what about in a survival situation? Do these people have an advantage? Or, is there an advantage to emulating their behavior?
In my travels in the liberty movement I have run into quite a few high-level narcissistic sociopaths, many of whom are simply watching and waiting for a crisis event to unfold. They are attracted to the survival world for a number of reasons; some of them want to become like land barons or feudal lords ruling over others that toil away on their homesteads in the hopes of finding a safe place during a collapse. Some of them have delusions of grandeur in which they are lone wolves prowling the countryside taking whatever they please from weaker people and families. Some of them are just excited for the end of rule of law, because they are tired of hiding their own true natures and they think it will be an opportunity to act on their darker impulses.
One attitude very common with sociopaths is that they desperately want others to join them in their sociopathy. They want to convince others that to act without empathy and to ignore conscience is an absolute necessity for survival. They see themselves as the top of the food chain, and anyone with a conscience as prey. They want others to adopt the same viewpoint because deep down they know they are not really human, they are something rather “demonic.” They want to prove that everyone else is “just as bad as they are” given the right circumstances.
I have seen sociopathic encouragement within survival circles, and I have even seen it in the work of some survival writers. The solution is always the same with them — the only way to survive is to ignore moral boundaries and act like a monster. “The bad guys will be ruthless, and so must you be,” they often argue.
Much of popular media is saturated with this narrative as well. The hero almost always acts without conscience, he is barely a step above the villains. He has no foresight, he is reactionary, destructive, dangerous to others and has no thoughts of collateral damage. The only thing that sets him apart in these stories is that his goal is “more just” than the goal of the villains. Otherwise, their methods are basically the same. And we are meant to cheer for these characters. We are meant to adopt their ideology.
Generally, when sociopathic behavior is encouraged in the survival community it is predicated on a specific set of events and conditions, and these conditions are taken as inevitable instead of a matter of choice. For example, sociopathic survivalists will argue against the idea of building community BEFORE a collapse occurs, even though pre-built community would help greatly in mutual security, production of necessities, as well as mutual trust. Sociopaths will claim that most of your friends and neighbors are suspect, they are all a potential threat, and you should isolate yourself with as few people as possible to mitigate that threat.
Then, they argue that because you are more isolated you must be more ruthless and act without conscience in order to survive. You must be more like them. See how that works? It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Isolation in survival is pure stupidity and in the vast majority of cases will end in failure and death. While there are people out there who claim to have survived disasters using the lone wolf method or something similar, I find these to be poor examples of survival, rather than stories of triumph.
First and foremost, if someone was forced to use the lone wolf method of survival and act in monstrous ways to thrive, then it means they did not have the insight to see the disaster coming in the first place and prepare accordingly. They didn’t leave ground zero before the crisis, they stayed because they had no observational skills. They had no community because they never saw the danger ahead, or they didn’t see the advantage. Even then, they could have been organizers and tried to rebuild after the fact, but instead they stayed isolated and predatory because they felt it was easier.
This is not a person I’m going to take survival advice from.
Sociopaths don’t create, they destroy. And so, their solutions will always involve destruction. This makes them an undesirable presence in any environment. Beyond this, it is actually the sociopaths that tend to be singled out for removal from communities during crisis events. They are seen as a potential time bomb and are not wanted in most cases. To emulate a sociopath is to reduce your chances of survival, not increase them.
I’ll relate to you a true example of this…
Years ago, after I first came to Montana, I was introduced to an older survival couple seeking help. They appeared pleasant enough at first, and they had done much to prepare, including setting up a homestead with a small number of livestock. They asked for my help in finding a handful of people who would be interested in organizing a preparedness community based around their farm.
I was happy to help because connecting groups together locally is what I constantly promote in my own solutions-based essays. Sadly, with this particular group there was a major problem.
After connecting the couple with a half-dozen preppers, they seemed to go radio silent on the project. They kept stalling when I asked to attend one of their meetings. The people I had recommended were rather tight lipped but visibly unhappy about the arrangement. Finally, I was able to sit in on a group meeting and was astonished to find the farm owners treating the attendees like serfs.
They composed long lists of gear and goods that the group was supposed to purchase and leave on the property, essentially as payment to the couple for the “privilege” of staying there if and when a crisis took place. These goods did not belong to the individuals that purchased them, they belonged to “the group,” which meant they belonged to the couple. The gear list became more and more expensive and outrageous over time.
The male farm owner was often overheard discussing how “lucky” the group would be just to stay on his land, and that they had better work until their hands bled, otherwise they would be kicked out, which would be a death sentence. Keep in mind, the groups were made up of highly competent people with valuable skill sets, each of them with a solid work ethic, but still they were being treated as an ungrateful and lazy labor pool and a disaster had not even happened yet.
The couple were also overheard (by me) discussing what would be necessary in a survival environment, and what lines they would be willing to cross. This included taking the children of “enemies” hostage and possibly killing them.
So, you might be saying to yourself “Well isn’t this an example of how community building can be a bad thing…?” But I haven’t finished yet…
The homestead couple was clearly narcissistic and sociopathic. They had delusions of grandeur in which they believed that eventually the entire town would revolve around their little homemade fiefdom. They somehow thought that their farm made them extraordinarily valuable, and that this meant everyone else would have to work for them. Their knowledge base was passable, but they were hardly self-sufficient and lacked basic security know-how. Without the aid and skill sets of many others, they were doomed. Their farm would be taken, and they would probably be killed in a crisis event.
They had no clue what a true community was, let alone how to adapt to one. Each individual within the community is supposed to bring something to the table to advance the cause of surviving and thriving. Without the individuals and their skills, the group is nothing. Without the security and production ability of the group, the individual’s survival chances are slim.
Needless to say, the group quickly disbanded. The sociopathic homestead couple was shunned, and few were willing to associate with them let alone work with them. They are universally hated in the small town they reside; mention their names to random people there and most times they will roll their eyes and shake their heads. The couple had burned every bridge they had come across, as sociopaths usually do. Now, they have moved to a different homestead deeper in the mountains and are extremely isolated. But I can tell you that in the event of a collapse it is unlikely their presence will be tolerated, even way out there.
To be sure, there are times when violence is necessary, even preferable, in the face of evil people. I would never discount the need to respond to violence with violence. I’ve spent most of my 37 years of life training for the eventuality, and there have been times where I had to hurt someone else because it was the only way to stop them from doing something worse.
However, survival in itself is NOT an imperative. It is not the only goal. People who seek to survive without principles are not worthy of survival. They are not going to come out the other side of a disaster and build something better. Again, sociopaths do not know how to create, they only know how to destroy. There are those that think there are no moral lines when it comes to survival, and they believe in a scorched earth philosophy. They will try to get you to go along with this way of thinking, not because they care about what happens to you, but because they want to prove that you or anyone could be as evil as them given the right amount of pressure. The ability to step on the bodies of others (figuratively or literally) for short term gain does not offset the longer term consequences this behavior often reaps.
Empathy and conscience are survival advantages because they allow people to work together. Sociopathy in the end is not an advantage, but a detriment.
The idea that our actions will not come back to haunt us as long as we are living through a collapse is fantasy. Sociopaths will get their due karma, and it will likely be communities of people with conscience that will visit that karma upon them. Take this into serious account when considering a survival strategy. Remember, sociopaths tend to fail in life unless they can keep their proclivities hidden. It will not be any different during crisis. To be openly sociopathic would be a death sentence for many. Why adopt such a stupid tactic for survival?
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SOCIOPATHY IS A DISADVANTAGE BECAUSE THEY CANT GET ALONG AS PART OF A GROUP
MACHIAVELLIANISM IS A REQUIREMENT
Almost all politicians are sociopaths, actually psychopaths and they can get along fine when in the presence of other psychopaths.
The same can be said of any gang
Sociopaths get along in groups just fine, especially if they are in a group of sociopaths.
Birds of a feather go together, but the answer is it’s good for individual survival not group survival.
Everyone seems pretty normal until you get to know them.
You are here, because at some point your one or more of your ancestors made one or more harsh decisions, in order to survive. And you may be called to do the same, if you and yours are to survive.
Machiavelli knew what he was talking about, as did Sun Tzu…
” On a long enough time line the survival rate for everyone drops to zero”.
And that IS the bottom line, isn’t it ??? Those who seek to save their lives (at the expense of others) will likely lose theirs.
Survival is a BASIC instinct even for those of US rational enough to understand that HOW you live is more important than HOW LONG you live.
So go within. All of the answers to all of the questions you will ever have are within you. Indeed, so are all of the questions. Cultivate a personal relationship with your Creator and He will abide with you. He will answer you speedily in the day, and in THAT day, when you call.
By cultivating that relationship through the TIME you spend with Him, your insight into persons, places, things, situations, and events; both seen and unseen, will increase.
Perception is reality.
Can you see clearly now ??? All of the obstacles in your way ??? The man or woman who masters patience masters all things because he or she is at peace, content in witnessing, and participating in the unfolding of LIFE around and about US; knowing that Creation is under the control of the Creator.
Love mercy, do justly, and treat others as you would have them treat you. That is all that the Creator requires of US. Everything else has a way of falling into place. 🙂
In the absence of government the “Rule Of Law” regarding ownership of anything including home and land becomes precarious. Having a deed, from a government no longer in power, with no one to enforce it is as valuable as currency from a defeated country. Regarding sociopaths, they will eventually rise up after collapse / devastation to become the new leadership. They’re willing to lie, cheat, steal, manipulate and swindle which are very valuable in leaders. Most often evil rises filling the void in the wake of collapse as Stalin, Hitler, Mao are prime examples. Thomas Jeffersons will be in short supply.
“He who takes the tyrants head, becomes the tyrant in his stead.”
I sincerely doubt this.
I say this because sociopaths have one very nasty habit… they tend to piss people off relatively quickly. The only thing that keeps most of them alive today is the fact that killing them usually means a prison sentence. Most sociopaths tend to evoke a visceral hatred strong enough that serious thoughts of murder are not easily dismissed from the mind of the victim(s).
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m sure some of them will keep themselves in check just enough to avoid pissing off the wrong people, but I wouldn’t bet the farm on most of them being able to do it.
There’s also the fact that if you want to become top dog that way, you’re going to need physical strength, skill at combat, and a knack for getting other strong men to follow you.
I believe this is correct. They may achieve initial success but eventually somebody will get tired of their sh*t and cap them.
That perfectly describes the psycopath politicians, cops, rulers, and anyone who craves power. I have no desire whatsoever to have power over others and HATE people that want to have power over me. If someone or some group tried that shit on me during shtf they would be dispatched. The same feeling is shared by many of my friends and neighbors too. We will take care of eachother in a loose knit fashion not some paramilitary dictatorship. If I disagree with someone I can advise them and if I don’t like their direction I will simply move on. If they threaten me then they had better kill me because the genie will be out of the bottle.
Sounds like me. I don’t join groups. If I like you, I like you. I have a sixth-sense when it comes to people that want to control me. No fricking way! That one move will get someone booted from my life in 2 seconds. It’s a red flag I never ignore.
Some people feel at ease, around me, and try to give me their unwanted housepets, plants, antiques, and children.
Other people are somewhat afraid of me, want to use me for hazings, body modification, lynching, and weird sex stuff. If that doesn’t blow your mind — they get upset and confused, when you refuse to be mean.
While I have a book knowledge of voluntaryism, the non-aggression principle, and French Enlightenment, etc, etc, ad nauseam, none of these take into account the masochist, who has a psychological need to be dominated.
This is a form of comfort, for people to have a sense of conformity. It is a herd: Smith said, “Keep in mind, the groups were made up of highly competent people with valuable skill sets, each of them with a solid work ethic, but still they were being treated as an ungrateful and lazy labor pool and a disaster had not even happened yet.”
They get some kind of emotional gratification, from that cult dynamic.
SHTF is supposed to be practical and survival oriented. I have read about money, and talked about math and science.
But, people are primarily emotional.
I don’t believe that authoritarians have a monopoly on the truth, or control the laws of nature, per se. They will not create a useful outcome for their following, except the 99% like it better, that way — to have some bellwether ram or queen ant with the pheromones, some cardinal point of direction, or coattails to ride on. Decision making is terrifyingly-difficult, on type-B’s, and that’s what they’re paying for.
“Needless to say, the group quickly disbanded.” Acknowledged.
Then, there was an opening. This is like a low morale workplace, with a high rate of turnover. It runs on fresh meat and chickenhawks.
I knew a woman who liked being dominated, like roughly. I can only guess that she equated that somehow to a form of “love”. I could’nt understand it, or go there, and we parted ways. Yes, some people like being treated mean, really odd, it is…
Was she upset with you, when you refused?
I don’t know who you’re describing when you claim “people are primarily emotional.”
If that is someone’s primary focus after they become an adult it shows me one thing: that person is immature, unrealistic, and unable to deal with reality. Emotions are great for a three-year old. Or even a ten-year old. But when adults use emotions as their MO, I steer clear. That shows me they are mentally ill. Period.
Most people are mostly emotional.
Most people need the color of authority.
Most people put wants ahead of needs.
You have planned for all sorts of eventualities, here, all sorts of physical needs, but not for the emotional needs of the mob. Most people will only work a certain way. What if civilization has discovered that, already.
The example that Brandon gave is ironic to me because I have said on occasion that contrary to those who would shoot anyone trespassing onto their property looking for food, I would hire them as serfs to work for the food.
I don’t think there is anything sociopathic in being willing to be an authoritory figure. It simply shows a willingness to take responsibility. On the other hand, given a position of authority, one soon demonstrates his character or lack there of. People generally like to have some structure in their lives. Most people are followers. A good King is loved by his people, and even unto death will protect him.
In ancient times, a King or a great ruler was given authority because he demonstrated his greatness, courage, and intelligence; usually on the battlefield. If we had such leaders today we would not be in the mess we are in.
My ancestors were great and some of them were probably narcissistic sociopaths but, oh well, you can’t pick your ancestry.
_
Yup. Most people in the government are mentally ill and or sociopathic.
The government sociopaths mean a great deal of harm to our society. Most of them just happen to be nwo communists too. Only a psychpath and a sociopath would work to subvert the American people in order to force their new world order communism on us.
Never comply with any gun control folks and if you haven’t been working on caching weapons and ammunition away you need to do so ASAP.
Sounds like everyone I work with…maybe its me!
As a card carrying socialpath I find this article to be offensive to the socialpath community.
The term ‘Sociopath’ sounds like a synonym for those satanically imbued.
Satan is called lawless, and a sociopath would be someone against order.
Most people do not literally want to be a leader. Are they a leader.
I do not want to be a leader however, if need be I would accept the task. I could do a good job I believe but I would much rather just be my own leader. I am certainly not a very good follower.
I believe, you’re of the guilt prone variety — not the Wizard of Oz, issuing job appointments like some effendi.
More like “necessity prone”.
Sociopathy is about wants. It’s any whim you say.
You do realize you are starting to sound like one, right?
Correct.
Most people can’t give a simple order, in plain English, and be at peace with consequences.
As I have stated earlier, the person who knows how to fish has no *physical need for a sociopath.
The type-A is satisfying an emotional need for the masochist.
Most of civilization is courtsey-ing and fool’s errands, which serve no nameable survival need.
“Sociopath” is too mild a term.
One look at Washington DC should be enough to tell anyone that being Criminally Insane – yes, LITERALLY! – is Job Requiremnet #1 for High Office in the USSA
“They tend to gravitate to certain professions and vocations. They like any environment where they can accumulate power and influence, or places where they can siphon people’s money or enthusiasm without being noticed. This includes politics, religious institutions, nonprofit organizations, law enforcement, or social causes and activist groups.”
Sounds like the author is describing Democrats.
There are definitely plenty of sociopath Republicans. One of them just got buried this week, thank god.
The same thing occurred to me.
Sociopathy is genetic. Often, the mother or father have some form of a personality disorder. The sociopath is quite lazy and they like to spend other people’s money. The only good news is they are quite gullible so they are easily played.
Hillary Clinton and Obama are two examples of true narcissists. Disagree with them at any level and they will brand you as evil and destroy you.
Narcissists depend on lackeys who will be tolerated until they’re no longer useful and then discarded.
I worked with two true narcissists, one in the 70s and another in the 90s. Like the article says, they were totally convinced that only they knew what was true and had contempt for anyone who disagreed with them. Any attempt to reason with them was useless.
Yes, in a survival situation they must be dealt with.
BTW, both of these people lived horrible lives. They had no friends and were kicked out of every club or organization they joined. Neither one saw it as his fault – it was always everyone else’s fault. I could see the pain they were living in and I felt some pity for them, but not much. They caused a lot of pain to everyone around them and didn’t care.
Babysitting convos —
Kid: I want something.
Adult: How is it made?
Kid: I see something wrong.
Adult: You have just volunteered yourself. Here is everything you will need to make it right.
Adult: You already know everything there is about being a kid. This is adult stuff, now.
Kid: Really?
Adult: There are adults who can’t do these things. I want you to wonder what is wrong with them.
— If I cook or build something or bring it home, it is always used by a follower. Most people would rather be a kid, than the initiator. I would say the 99%
“The hero almost always acts without conscience, he is barely a step above the villains.”
There is no effective difference between executive function and what most people call a sociopath. If you are really able to busy yourself, independently, without structured time, or external validation, then, you will never go out looking for such a person as me.
I’ll give you 20 bux to rake my leaves!
If he is complaining about the leaves, you hand him the rake, and tell him where it goes. That’s how the rake works.
In other words, give a man a drink and he gets drunk for a day… Teach a man to make booze and he gets drunk for life?
Correct. The person who knows how to fish has no *physical need for a sociopath.
Look up sociopath and psychopath then compare it with nihilists. They often are dangerously close as some nihilists say that free will doesn’t exist and that they are biological robots and so not responsible for their actions. They are on the edge of the Abyss. Not only do they not care about their actions, and have no empathy, but they often feel they have no choice but are compelled by Nature. Sounds like demonic possession to me.
Boy I just got rid of 2 of them
Dropped them like a bad habit.
Boy I just said good-by to two of them.
Dropped them like a bad habit.
I heard the statistic that 1 in 10 people are alcoholics, but that in high management positions in corporate America you’ll find nearly 50% are alcoholics. It turns out that alcoholics become very good at manipulating people to enable their alcoholism, and American business wants people that can control others. They had to be functional alcoholics, who could regulate their drinking enough to appear to be in control.
I learned very quickly in business to avoid meeting with certain people right after lunch because that’s when the alcoholics really start drinking, and some became angry and belligerent. High enough on the food chain, and they could end your career on a whim.
If the SHTF, and the drug and alcohol supply is interrupted, it could be very dangerous as these people become desperate. The illegal drug trade is the only income source for some already violent sectors of our society. These people will suddenly not only not have drugs, but no money for food as well as the stores where they live will have empty shelves.
They will riot, and loot, and then form tribal raiding parties.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5Yj5v8_z5M
https://youtu.be/O5Yj5v8_z5M
https://news.yahoo.com/deepmind-apos-alphazero-now-showing-190000147.html
Alphazero is an AI that is developing intuition, but what it’s becoming is a perverse sociopath/psychopath artificial intelligence.
When it plays chess, it doesn’t care about the “cost” in pieces lost as long as it wins. This is unlike a human player that tries to preserve pieces which managing a checkmate endgame.
The same result was noted long ago in computer wargames involving nuclear weapons. The crude AI would readily use nukes as long as it won because it didn’t care what the collateral costs were. It wanted to “win”.
The great danger of sociopaths and psychopaths is that they feel no empathy. They are anti-altruists and couldn’t care less about suffering.
You see when you disbelieve in Yahweh or embrace Lucifer, either way, the first thing to go is good versus evil and right versus wrong. They have no internal moral compass and will do whatever is required to suit their endgame.
This is why community members rise up and topple tyrants out of self-preservation.
The human “player” does not try to preserve the pieces. He is interested in self-preservation, only — unless he is an especially belligerent monster.
hugger muggers fall into this class of people. Women who marry older men and then spend all their money and then move on to the next victim. They fake love and attention to rob lonely old men