Disordered and Deceitful Psychopaths
There is no cure for psychopathy/sociopathy/cluster B personality disorders. There is no way to teach a psychopath to have compassion and empathy. Worse, being a sociopath isn't even a crime, in and of itself. There are plenty of personality disordered, high conflict people running around loose in our culture, and they destroy people's lives. Not all of them kill, not all of them are physically abusive, and not all of them commit such blatant crimes that they wind up in prison, but they all use and abuse others for their own personal gain.
Given that knowledge, is there any way we could co-exist with psychopaths peacefully? Could they be integrated into society in such a way that they could only be helpful? Here are a few ideas for how to neutralize them, in order to protect the innocent.
Option 1 - Banishment
Exile psychopaths. Give them their own remote territory to reside on, but make sure they have no way to leave this place. The vast majority of them are not the foaming-at-the-mouth, axe wielding maniacs that most of us think of when we hear the word psychopath. Many of them are CEOs, doctors, lawyers, politicians and, yes, even mental health professionals. Scary, no?
So, they would have their own community, they could set up their own government, and so on. We would drop in food and other supplies periodically, and they would have to learn to ration it all out. Of course, they wouldn't; it would be survival of the fittest, and this is all just for fun, so let's try not to overthink it.
This would be something like John Carpenter's Escape from New York. Only we wouldn't shoot them, if they tried to escape; we'd tranquilize them, and return them to their natural habitat. It's perfectly acceptable; that's what we do to bears when they wander into the suburbs.
Option 2 - Sedation
Leave them at large in the community, but they have to be on heavy tranquilizers. Friends and family members will be in charge of medicating them and then parking them in front of a television set. They may hang out with everyone else, but they'll be too loopy to use and abuse anyone. We're talking doped to the gills, all happy and drooling. There's no way they'll feel up to stealing Grandpa's social security check, gas-lighting their spouse, or manipulating Aunt Mildred into co-signing for a loan.
And, of course, if the family members feel squeamish about having to give injections to their crazy relative periodically, they could opt for a lobotomy. What? It's a permanent solution, and everyone is appeased. The family members get to keep their beloved sociopath around, and said sociopath will be unable to harm anyone. No more manipulation tactics, no more lying, no more keeping everyone on edge. Imagine it - the new and improved psychopath.
Option 3 - Sanitarium
Removal from the general public might be a better option, if the friends and relatives do not want to keep the disordered individual around. Or the family may not want the responsibility of caring for such an individual, maybe they just want to be able to visit him or her once in a while. In that case, the option of institutionalizing their favorite psycho might have a certain appeal.
Electroshock treatments will be administered only at the discretion of the family members. Otherwise, the psychopaths get locked in a padded room. They will be given some crayons and paper, and classical music will be piped in to keep their thoughts serene and pleasant.
Option 4 - Employment
Give them the jobs that no one else wants to do. This option gives them an enormous amount of freedom, so they would need to be branded in some way, to alert innocent folks of the danger. Perhaps tattoo SOCIOPATH across their foreheads. It has to be clearly visible if it's going to serve as a warning for people. Besides, these days, everyone seems to have a tattoo or 20. It's hardly inhumane. Or, perhaps we could come up with a standardized psycho hairstyle to identify them.
Some fitting careers for the sociopaths: garbage man, crash test dummy, lift pump remover, commercial dishwasher, butcher, bat guano collector, Port-O-Let cleaner, and roadkill remover are some of the most appropriate. The disordered who have already earned high level positions - doctors, lawyers, and other professionals, would have to do at least 50% pro-bono work. And if they ever get caught doing something illegal, they get busted down to the lower level employment options.
Keep Dreaming
Unfortunately, the chances of someday living in a world free of personality disordered individuals are slim to none. These creeps do not seem to be in any danger of extinction, and they are quite good at blending in. However, our society should give serious consideration to finding a way to identify and deal with psychopaths in such a way that they are not allowed to mess with the minds and emotions of regular folks.
Photo Credit: Flickr
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