Let’s now consider the dominant culture in relation to the characteristics of sociopaths as listed in section F60.2 of The ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders, published by the World Health Organization, Geneva, 1992:Ī) callous unconcern for the feelings of others. The general public hasn’t been educated to see beyond the social stereotypes to understand that psychopaths can be entrepreneurs, politicians, CEOs and other successful individuals who may never see the inside of a prison.” They can be the president, a boss, a neighbor. Hare also says, “Too many people hold the idea that psychopaths are essentially killers or convicts. They promised they would take our land, and they took it.” They lack empathy and a sense of responsibility, and they manipulate, lie and con others with no regard for anyone’s feelings.” I’m reminded of something Red Cloud said: “They made us many promises, more than I can remember. Without remorse, psychopaths charm and exploit others for their own gain. Robert Hare, an expert on sociopaths, states that “among the most devastating features of psychopathy are a callous disregard for the rights of others and a propensity for predatory and violent behaviors. Um, how sensitive are members of this culture, on the whole, to the needs of native forests (98 percent gone), native grasslands (99 percent gone), ocean life (90 percent of the large fish gone)? How sensitive is this culture to indigenous land claims? How clearly are members of this culture able to anticipate the consequences of destroying forests, grasslands, oceans, or denying indigenous land claims? With sea level already rising and glaciers already disappearing, how capable are this culture’s decision makers of anticipating the consequences of global warming?ĭr. The psychopathic individual is characterized by absence of the guilt feelings and anxiety that normally accompany an antisocial act.” The New Columbia Encyclopedia states that a sociopath can be defined as one who willfully does harm without remorse: “Such individuals are impulsive, insensitive to others’ needs, and unable to anticipate the consequences of their behavior, to follow long-term goals, or to tolerate frustration. And it is a central defining characteristic of sociopathology.
Blindness to suffering is one of this culture’s central defining characteristics. How deeply do most members of this culture mourn passenger pigeons? Salmon? Oceans? This culture as a whole, and most of its members, gives no more consideration to the victims of this way of life than David Parker Ray gave to his victims. When the profiler said this, my first thought was passenger pigeons.
And that was how Ray perceived – or rather didn’t perceive – his victims: simply as something to use and throw away. In the documentary, an FBI profiler compared Ray’s attitudes toward his victims to those most people have toward tissues: Once you use them, are you concerned about what happens to them? Of course not, she said. He turned an entire tractor-trailer into a well-stocked torture chamber, where he videotaped what he did to them. He kidnapped women and held them as rape slaves. Everything and everyone must be sacrificed to economic production, to economic growth, to the continuation of this culture.Ī few months ago I was watching a documentary on David Parker Ray, a serial killer from Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, who is suspected of killing up to sixty women. If people develop new ways to live on their land more sustainably, and those in power decide that land is needed for roads and shopping malls and parking lots, those in power will seize that land. Why is this important? Because those in power destroy sustainable communities – and not just sustainable indigenous communities. It’s that no one, and I mean no one, ever mentions psychopathology.
It’s not the inevitable talk about farmers (re)discovering organic farming about plastic forks made from cornstarch about solar photovoltaics about relocalizing about the joys of simple living about grieving the murder of the planet about “changing our stories” and most especially about maintaining a positive attitude that gets me down. I DON’T KNOW about you, but whenever I attend some “green” conference, I know I’m supposed to leave feeling inspired and energized, but instead I feel heartbroken, discouraged, defeated, and lied to.
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