How Paul Ryan fits the A.P.A.’s “Psychopathic Checklist” and the danger represented to America.

The purpose of this posting is to demonstrate who and what Paul Ryan is and how he fits completely, the diagnosis and the profile of a “psychopath”.   Psychopaths (also known as sociopaths, if the diagnosis comes from a sociologist as opposed to a psychiatrist/psychologist) represent 3% to 4% of the general population.  They are recognized by the behavioral patterns that they demonstrate.  These behaviors are created by a lack of “conscience” or in other words a lack of concern about right and wrong, good and evil.  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 and emotional responses, the same way the rest of us do.  

Love, joy, regret, sorrow 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 believed.  Psychopaths may have spouses, children and they may even own pets.  They have no love for these people or their own pets, they are nearly the same to a psychopath, 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.  They have ego, tremendous ego, but no pride because they cannot feel shame.  That is how Paul Ryan can request stimulus money, and then deny it with no concern whatsoever for being called out on it. 

Now it is important to note that psychopaths 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 the same as a schizophrenic.  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.  Psychopaths consider themselves to be completely superior to those who are not psychopathic.

I would like to state before I go on any further that I am not a psychologist/psychiatrist nor am I a sociologist.  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 Paul Ryan and other psychopaths 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 amongst other professionals in the fields of mental health that will help to allow future generations from allowing psychopathic people from coming into positions of power where they always wreak great havoc, and cause immense suffering unto others.

Diagnosing a psychopathic personality type is akin to proving a criminal guilty in court.  The criminal defendant will or most likely may, profess their innocence with great zeal.  Proving the case against the defendant is similar to diagnosing the psychopath, their actions which makes them a psychopathic type must be proven as they will not readily confess voluntarily on their own.  Another way of saying it would be that their "actions speak louder than words" and it is their behavour which marks them as what they are.  The words they use are chosen only to confuse and blind you to their true nature.

Psychopathy is a recognized psychological condition.  It is not a recognized mental illness.  Psychopaths are capable of telling right from wrong, are capable of controlling their behavior in small amounts, 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 to seek self-gratification.

It is important to note here that a 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 is Hannibal Lector.

  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. 

To a psychopath there is little difference between an insect and a human being.  The primary difference is that a psychopath has more to gain from a human.  To the psychopath a person is a source of money by way of fraud or theft, a source of sexual gratification through deceit, coercion or rape.  Not all psychopaths are so violent; likewise not all have the same desires or objectives.  Some psychopaths 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 psychopath recognizes and understands that emotions exist in others but they view it as a contemptible weakness.  It is sign of the psychopaths inherent sense of superiority which reinforces their perceived right to do anything they want.  That is how Paul Ryan can try to spread austerity and suffering to his constituents, while simultaneously professing himself as a Christian and a charitable person working for the common good.

Not all psychopaths desire the same things.  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.  Mostly they crave and cherish power in whatever form they can achieve it, over other people.

Some psychopaths 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 psychopath with a Bachelor’s degree in psychology but no Ph.D. cons her way using her sexuality, into an unearned Doctor's position at a psychiatric hospital.  Jealous of the admiration and professional respect enjoyed by a colleague (a real doctor) she torments that Doctor’s patients, destroying their lives and their families in order to diminish the standing of her colleague who is at a loss as to why her patients are suddenly seeing their conditions worsen.   Then she proceeds through deception and manipulation to cast her superior in a less than desirable light.

I believe Scott Walker is a covetous 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 psychopathic person like Paul Ryan.  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 of our happiness and all that sustains it. Particularly he has gained the political strength to potentially destroy the economy and the prosperity which it gives us.  But enough of my thoughts, what does the Psychopath Checklist say and how does it qualify Paul Ryan as a psychopath?

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

Lack of guilt – can’t /won’t admit mistakes,  Paul Ryan has never even came close to admitting to an error, no matter how small or insignificant.  Even though it may have been to his advantage to do so.  The television commercials he is running right now attest to this.  His blatant and unrepentant duplicity over his stimulus funding request attest to this as well.  Also the fact that he is quite literally going to be killing and hurting people by destroying or restricting their access to health care and by impoverishing them is of no concern to him except for the fact that he will profit from it, both through sense of power and financial gain

Lack of Emotion –   The Congressman’s sleepy eyed stare has never altered in the slightest.  Has anyone ever seen him show any sign of emotion whatsoever? He has reacted to affronts to his ego, but not shown true emotion.   No it has not and will not happen, he is incapable of it.  Even when confronted with people critically questioning him or hurling insults at him, it just does not register with him.  He can though, take delight in his power to hurt people, as with the disabled senior citizen he had arrested recently for criticizing him.

Self-serving reasoning –   Paul Ryan is very intellectually aware that former President Bush destroyed the economy, him and the corporate imperialists he gave free reign to.  And yet with a straight face he will speak all day long on how repeating that performance will somehow improve the economy.  Every time there is a new tax cut, new loopholes for the ultra-rich and it fails to create jobs, he will just say that repeating the process one more time, and them again, and them again, will create prosperity.  He knows it doesn’t work, he knows he benefits from it with kickbacks and insider trading deals, and so he can lie through his teeth as often as he feels he needs to, to achieve the benefits for himself that he desires.   

The same with acting against the doctrine of his Catholic faith, even with all the Catholics Bishops (with the exception of the possibly psychopathic Bishop Morlino, who may be a psychopathic personality type himself)  and nuns, layity and even his own familie’s priest telling him he is betraying his faith, he can happily keep working towards the same ends.  He will tell you with a smile that he is completely in line with the teachings of his church contrary to all the evidence against him.  He could, and someday possibly might, slap the Pope in the face and still tell you he is a respectful and dutiful member of the congregation, adhering to its every teaching.  His behavior towards Sister Simone and the Nuns on the Bus tour, amongst other Catholic groups opposed to him, is plain evidence of this.

It is amazing the amount of damage and division caused in Wisconsin by Paul Ryan.  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 psychopaths are everywhere in the world and they are seen in every race and in every nation, they are of both gender's.

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.  Psychopaths use those perceptions against us and all too often, it works all too well.  Psychopaths while being monstrously inhuman and inhumane, have the ability to all too easily HIDE IN PLAIN SIGHT.

The United States military, as well as most world military's,  take great care to look for and identify psychopaths 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.

Back when I was slowly dying in the capitol from malnutrition during my hunger strike, I imagined that Governor Scott Walker (himself a psychopathic personality type as well) 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.

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.  Paul Ryan and his cohort Scott Walker, have millions upon millions of dollars in corporate money at their disposal, as well as resources beyond that to quash those who oppose them.  People have been removed from their positions because of him and nearly bankrupted. There have been dozens 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 psychopathic and fraudulently elected leaders.  Walker has dissolved 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.

In summary, judge Paul Ryan not by his speech and double-talk, but rather by his willingness and even outright desire to harm countless others as a stepping stone to achieving his own ends.  That is society's greatest tool to use to defend itself against a psychopaths inherently destructive behaviour.  Judge him by what he does on the campaign trail, as well as by his voting record.  Doing that, the behaviour patterns that he exhibits will quickly reveal his true nature.

Am I the only one discussing the mental state of Paul Ryan and others like him within the GOTea apparatus?  No of course not: http://www.forwardprogressives.com/the-conservative-march-toward-a-society-of-sociopaths/

I hope that this posting has proven somewhat enlightening to you readers.  Hopefully you will think, discuss, and research this further on your own.  Perhaps seek out some professional opinions on this matter, and most importantly, consider what we have to lose if a person such as Paul Ryan were to be allowed the power of federal office.  Until next time, solidarity forever.

The following were 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 'psycopathic 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 Paul Ryan as 'sociopath's' or as being 'sociopathic' instead of a 'psychopath' or 'psychopathic' The terms are interchangeable as both science's agree on the definition of the subject, the only variance being that they approach the subject matter from different viewpoints.

http://www.salon.com/2014/05/03/diagnosing_paul_ryans_psychopathy_arrogant_manipulative_deceitful_remorseless/

I hope I have not terrified you, my readers, with all this discussion of 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 are combating it, and we are winning.  Keep up the good fight and solidarity forever my sisters and brothers.

On Wisconsin!    FORWARD!!!!