The A.P.A.'s sociopath/psychopath checklist applied to Scott Walker

It has taken me a long time to research and compose this particular entry.  And what I am about to write is probably more important and pertinent to what Wisconsin is going through than anything I have documented previously on this site.  If the information I am about to relate would have been known to me some 300 or so days ago, I never would have considered engaging in a life or death hunger strike to attempt to influence the Walker regime.  I can not even begin to imagine how different my life would be at this point.  

The creation of this posting has been worked into my schedule around participating in and organizing rallies and protests, providing security for people at the capital against neo-con goons, lots of work on the two rounds of recall election's so far as well as acquiring documents and advance copies of legislation from GOP sources revealing their oppressive agenda, media relations and so on  . . .

The purpose of this posting is to demonstrate who and what Scott Walker is and how he fits completely the diagnosis and the profile of a sociopath.  A sociopath/psychopath by definition represents 3 to 4% of the population.  They are recognized by the behavioral patterns that they demonstrate.  These behaviors are created by a lack of “conscience” or in other words, they are almost completely incapable of acting outside of their own interests, desires and greed.  This is because psychopaths quite literally do not experience emotion the same way the rest of us do.

Love, joy, regret and the whole wide range of emotion that most of us feel, are not available to them.  Now recognized as a genetic trait, psychopathy is a result of nature and not nurture, as was once formerly believed.  Sociopaths/psychopaths may have spouses, children and may even own pets.  They have no love for these people (or creatures), they exist only to further an agenda.  They only value them as “window dressing” they do not love them; they do not care about them.  They cannot because inherently, essentially, they have no capacity for love or concern.  They have no ability to feel guilt or shame.  Regardless of whatever they do, however how much damage they do or how bad they hurt others, it simply does not matter to them.  They are free to do anything they want with very little concern at all toward the outcome, except in regard to achieving what they want.  

Now it is important to note that sociopaths and psychopaths like Scott Walker, understand the difference between good and evil, between right and wrong, they definitely understand the difference between legal and illegal.  They are wholly responsible for their actions – they are not suffering from a condition which causes delusions or hallucinations.  They are not schizophrenic and they do "hear voices".  As a matter of fact intensive studies have shown that they do not suffer from their condition at all, they actually enjoy it and find it to be a valuable tool to use against others.

I would like to state before I go on any further that I am not a psychologist, nor am I a psychiatrist.  I did however work in conjunction with professionals in those fields in producing this post.  This posting is intended to explain the basics of the mechanisms that allow Scott Walker and other sociopaths to do what they do.  I hope by posting this to increase overall awareness of what we are dealing with here in Wisconsin.  And also, to induce discussion among other professionals in the fields of mental health that will help to allow future generations from allowing psychopathic/sociopathic people from coming into positions of power where they always wreak great havoc, and cause immense suffering unto others.

Sociopaths/psychopaths have a recognized psychological condition.  It is not a recognized mental illness.  There are key differences between the two.  Sociopaths are capable of telling right from wrong, are capable of controlling their behavior for the most part, to varying degrees, however they are compelled to put their own interests first.    They have a horrific freedom most of us could never imagine, would never even want to imagine.  They can lie, cheat, steal and they can even rape and burn, wound, torture and kill without batting an eye, without a twinge of remorse.  This is not to say they are ‘raving-lunatics’ nor are they “mad dogs’.  They are sane people with the ability to act without conscience, with no concern for the welfare of others.  They do have the ability to control their behavior and have some understanding of the need to self-regulate at least to the point of not running blatantly afoul of the law.  They do not enjoy being imprisoned as it inhibits their ability for self-gratification. 

It is important to note here that a sociopath/psychopath and a psychotic are two completely different people.  The two conditions have almost nothing of significance with each other, even though the names of the conditions are so similar that the average citizen would use them interchangeably.  To draw a simple comparison of the difference between a psychopath (remorseless yet legally sane i.e., can tell right from wrong) and a psychotic (remorseless and legally insane i.e., incapable of telling right from wrong) I would like to reference a movie that that most of us have seen and would remember.   

The movie “The Silence if the Lambs” gives us quite literally a side by side comparison of a psychotic and a psychopath.   In the movie Jodie Foster’s character (Clarisse Starling) a FBI agent, is escorted down the dark hallway of a maximum security jail for the criminally insane.  At the end of the hallway are two cells side by side.  On the one side is a character named Miggs on the other Lector

The character of Hannibal  Lector is very bright and creative; he is polite and well-spoken and has earned advanced degrees in medical science.  The warden relates a story to Agent Starling about how Lector once while in medical care grabbed a nurse and (cannibal instinct) ate her tongue, holding her down as she struggled.  His blood pressure hardly rose at all while committing this act; only enough to show a difference between resting and minimal psychical exertion.  He committed a violent act without feeling or emotion thus no real change in biometric readings.  Almost as if you or I saw an ant crawling on our sleeve and we brushed it away without thinking.  The Hannibal Lector character is a representation of a sociopath/psychopath.

In the cell next to Hannibal Lector is a character named Miggs.  Miggs is highly excitable.  He speaks and acts almost without thought.  He has little or no ability to control his behavior and acts completely and immediately upon whatever impulses he may have at the moment.  The character of Miggs is representational of a psychotic.

To a sociopath like Scott Walker, there is little difference between an insect and a human being.  The primary difference is that the sociopath has more to gain from a human.  To the sociopathic, a person is a source of money by way of fraud or theft, a source of sexual gratification through deceit, coercion or rape.  No all sociopaths/psychopaths are so violent; likewise not all have the same desires or objectives.  Some sociopaths are content to never work or do anything meaningful for their existence.  Their behavior manifests through deceit and playing on the emotions of others.  They can con their way into being supported financially by others.  Although they don’t have emotions like you or I, they recognize that we have emotions and they learn to manipulate them.  They can play off of our pity for them as well as misdirect our anger against them when they cause us harm.  The sociopath recognizes and understands that emotions exist in others but they view it as a contemptible weakness.  It is sign of the sociopaths inherent sense of superiority which reinforces their perceived right to do anything they want.  Sociopaths always think very highly of themselves.

Not all sociopaths desire the exact same things.  They have diverse comforts and desires as do all people.  Some use deceit to acquire wealth and power, others are content to deceive their way into being supported in a comfortable yet minimal existence, free of labor while quietly holding contempt for those who support them.  So your 'lazy' cousin who is in their mid-thirties and has never held a job, who lays around smoking pot and playing video games could be a psychopath.  Others crave sexual gratification and/or dominance and will achieve it through any means they can think of. 

Some sociopaths are not interested in acquiring other peoples’ wealth or property.  They have no desire to claim another’s emotional or sexual innocence.  In short they may not have much interest at all in the everyday trappings of wealth and power.  Some desire fame and glory, respect and adoration.  They want the loyalty of those around them.  In other words, they covet not physical/monetary gains but rather mental/emotional gains.  These are referred to as “covetous psychopaths” and they achieve these ends through taking things away from others.

 An example of this comes from a study in Dr. Martha Stout’s “The Psychopath Next Door” in which a covetous sociopath/psychopath with a Bachelor’s degree in psychology but no Ph.D. cons her way using sex into an unearned doctor's position at a psychiatric hospital.  Basically sleeping her way to the top, or at least as far as she can go considering her lack of credentials.  Jealous of the admiration and professional respect enjoyed by a colleague (a real doctor) she torments that Doctor’s patients, reversing their mental health advances, destroying their lives and their families lives as well, in order to diminish the standing of her colleague.   Then she proceeds through deception and manipulation to cast her superior in a less than desirable light.

I believe Scott Walker is a covetous sociopath/psychopath.  The state of Wisconsin is filled with loving families, mutual respect, honesty, decency and until recently honest and transparent government and all of these are things totally alien to a sociopathic person like Walker.  Knowing he is capable of feeling no happiness from love, kinship, neighborliness, knowing he can never enjoy the warmth and happiness we all share in a Packer’s Super Bowl victory, he plans to strip us all of our happiness and that which sustains it.  Namely our prosperity and the peace which comes from it.  The highly divisive nature of current Wisconsin society, the contempt between peoples which are a result of Walker's "divide and conquer" techniques are completely indicative of a sociopaths engineering.  But enough of my thoughts, what does the Psychopath Checklist say and how does it qualify Walker as a psychopath.  

The “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders” (DSM IV) is published by the American Psychiatric Association and it defines Anti-social Personality Disorder such as sociopathic behavior, by the following personality and socially deviant behaviors:

Lack of guilt – can’t /won’t admit mistakes  Scott Walker has never even came close to admitting to an error, no matter        how small or insignificant.  Even when it may have been to his advantage to do so.  The television commercials he is running right now attest to this.  Also the fact that he is quite literally going to be killing and hurting people by destroying or restricting their access to health care, is of no concern to him except for the fact that he will profit from it.  The same with allowing massive scale destruction of the environment which will result in future health concerns for tens of thousands.

Repeats behaviors –  As Milwaukee County Executive he nearly bankrupted that city and pushed the cities debt into the future for generations to come through bad management and manipulation.  Now he is doing the same thing on a state wide scale as governor, basically using his prior experience in Milwaukee as a template even though he knows it doesn't work.  Even the republican party of Milwaukee has come out and stated that.  Also in college he was removed from student body elections for cheating and fraud.  In Milwaukee he cheated and used fraud while in office.  He continues to do so now even though he is the target of the largest federal John Doe investigation in state history.

Lack of Emotion –   The governors sleepy eyed stare has never altered in the slightest.  Has anyone ever seem him show any sign of emotion whatsoever?  No it has not and will not happen, he is incapable of it.  Even when he was once confronted with protesters hurling questions in his face and a few even hurling insults at him, it just does not register with him.

Self-serving reasoning –   Scott Walker financially destroyed Milwaukee County because he was paid to do so by corporate influences outside of Wisconsin.  He is repeating the same behavior again now as governor.  As long as he profits from it, in the long run, is the only thing that matters to him.  The suffering of others doesn't even begin to be acknowledged in his thoughts.  And throughout all of this his reasoning remains the same, the story never changes.  He always repeats over and over "I am providing strong leadership"  Why are you destroying health care Mr. Walker?  "Because I am providing strong leadership"  Why did you lie during your campaign about collective bargaining rights?  "Because I was providing strong leadership"  Why are you disenfranchising voters, especially students, minorities and the poor and working class?  "Because I am providing strong leadership"  The song remains the same.

Walker is quite literally destroying Wisconsin yet claims he is providing strong leadership – it always comes back to himself.  The spiral reasoning that lies at the heart of all sociopathic orpsychopathic actions.  The need to serve oneself and nothing or no-one else.  That is the alpha and the omega of the sociopathic/psychopathic case study.

Also as a reader and commenter reminded me, and in response to which I am adding this section of the posting, is the sociopaths need to seek revenge on any and all who dare doubt them or stand in their way.  We have seen this with Walker who was going to not attack the police and firefighters unions with his ACT10 legislation.  Until those unions spoke out against Walker's plans and then he attacked those unions along with all the others.  When Mr. LaFollette the Secretary of State for Wisconsin delayed signing off on ACT10 until others had a chance to challenge it through legal options, Walker got rid of LaFollette's staff and funding for the office of Secretary of State.  Walker even removed a college student from the possibility of achieving a scholarship when that student's name was found on the list of recall signers.

It is amazing the amount of damage and division caused in Wisconsin in just one year by Scott Walker.  Most people when warned that it would happen refused to believe it, now they do.  They don't want to think that things can be that bad.  Not in America, folks are willing to believe that Mohammar Ghaddafy and Kim Jong IL were political leaders who were insane and preyed upon their people.  But folks didn't want to think it could happen here.  The truth is sociopaths and psychopaths are everywhere in the world and they are seen in every race and in every nation, they are of both genders and all sexes.

The loftier the personal goals and the desire for gain, the more the psychopath will cloak themselves in normality.  People are all to willing to believe that a guy in jeans and a black leather jacket is willing to rob them, but not a guy in a suit.  Sociopaths use those perceptions against us and all to often, it works all to well.  Sociopaths while being monstrously inhuman and inhumane, have the ability to all too easily HIDE IN PLAIN SIGHT.

Don't let Scott Walker and other sociopaths and psychopaths like him deceive you with a custom suit and power tie.  Don't be deceived by the shiny new black Chevy Suburban with tinted windows.  Don't let the magnificence of the governors mansion and our state capitol building loll you into being deceived, a monster lurks the halls of both places.

The United States military, as well as most world military's, take great care to look for and identify the psychopathic/sociopathic, and others who can cause great and irreparable damage to those institutions.  Likewise I hope to see government, at least at the state and federal level in America, do the same thing.  I hope you will research this on your own and talk about it with others.  Hopefully a greater understanding of the threat that these people represent will come to light to prevent future catastrophes like the one occurring in Wisconsin now, from happening again.  Hopefully better studied and more learned people than I will pick this up and run with it after I post this.

UPDATED 11-2013  http://www.forwardprogressives.com/the-conservative-march-toward-a-society-of-sociopaths/ I came across this today in November of 2013 and added it for obvious reasons.  This posting now continues as originally written.


Back when I was slowly dying in the capitol from malnutrition during my hunger strike, I imagined that Walker was either hoping I would just give up and go away, or that he never even knew that I was there.  Many members of the GOP used to intentionally walk by me and attempt to torture me by carrying open containers of hot food.  A couple of them would just stop and look at me, some smiling some confused perhaps.  One person whom I didn't know at the time used to observe me once or twice daily, occasionally taking pictures of me with his camera phone.  Only later did I learn that this person was a mid-level staffer for Scott Walker.  Apparently he was documenting my slow death to report to Walker, who I imagined must have felt God-like knowing that he held (indirectly) the power of life and slow death over a human being.

But enough of the painful memories as I will begin to wrap this long posting up.  I wish I could thank by name the doctors and researchers who helped me compile and put this post together.  For reasons that I am sure most folks could understand, they are afraid to be named at this time.  Scott Walker has millions upon millions of dollars in corporate money at his disposal.  He has created the Emergency Management Bureau in the state which monitors people who he views as a threat to his regime.

 People have been removed from their positions because of him and nearly bankrupted. There have been hundreds and hundreds of arrests and detainment's in Madison without charges.  University professors are especially vulnerable as they are state employee's and susceptible to the whims of our sociopathic governor.  Walker has destroyed the office of The Secretary of State of Wisconsin out of personal spite.  Imagine what he could do to someone who was not a politically powerful and well known public figure.

The following were also very useful research materials:

the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders    (DSM-III)

and (DSM-IIIR) as well as (DSM-IV)

Dr. Martha Stout, ph.d. through her book 'The Sociopath Next Door'

Dr. Robert D. Hare ph.d. through his book 'Without Conscience'

Both book are worth investigating as they are both written by highly respected researchers in their fields.  Dr. Hare is the creator of the 'psycopath check list' which is a tool used by law enforcement agencies around the world in identifying and diagnosing psychopaths.  It should be noted here that Dr. Stout is a Doctor of Sociology, and as such in her profession, refers to people such as Scott Walker as 'sociopath's' or as being 'sociopathic' instead of a 'psychopath' or 'psychopathic' The terms are often used interchangeably in the common vernacular and  as both science's agree on the definition of the subject, the primary variance being that they approach the subject matter from different viewpoints.

I hope I have not terrified you, my readers, with all this discussion of sociopaths and psychopaths and the wake of destruction they leave behind them.  I merely wish to show you the true face of the evil before us.  We need to know are enemy to effectively combat our enemy.  Keep up the good fight and solidarity forever my sisters and brothers.

On Wisconsin!    FORWARD!!!!

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