The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
The Forum - On Line Opinion's article discussion area



Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Main Articles General

Sign In      Register

The Forum > Article Comments > How common are corporate psychopaths in politics? > Comments

How common are corporate psychopaths in politics? : Comments

By Chris Golis, published 17/10/2013

The extent to which psychopaths are prevalent in the community is difficult to estimate – typical figures are 1% of the general population, 25% of the prison population and 3.5% of the business world.

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. All
Hard to disagree. I met a few while teaching at university. I remember one bloke who had a pathological hatred of women yet he was made a professor.

One small thing with this article is that the writer has called certain persons psychopaths. They may well be but that really requires some serious medical backup and professional expertise. Naming and publishing such an accusation can also be problematic. The sting is in the imputation.
Posted by Malcolm 'Paddy' King, Thursday, 17 October 2013 8:01:17 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Well, given they are moths to the flame of power, corporate psychopaths in politics may be far more common than we think, or would allow ourselves to believe!
Lack of empathy was all that allowed the worst excesses of the third Reich.
Blame shifting, [I was just following orders,] all that was needed to justify it. [And the easiest and first thing to go for a young soldier, thrown into battle at the deep end, is the moral compass!]
But they can and do return to normal, when returned to normal civilian life. Not so the psychopath, who generally enjoys the conflict and the sense of power it confers.
I've maintained for many years we need our intending leaders, to face an in-depth psychological profiling.
The military, the police/law enforcement, public servants, doctors lawyers, teachers, judges, prison officers, corporate leaders etc/etc.
I'd sooner they were left with no other option than criminality and a life eventually lived entirely behind bars, given, they would do less harm.
I mean was Hitler a psychopath, were his henchmen?
And how many millions were killed when he and his inner cabal (politicians) took the world to war?
Was Stalin a psychopath?
He arguably presided over the death of more Russians than died in the second world war!
Was Nixon, who saw more young American lives wasted in Vietnam, than those lost in the entire second world war!?
Do the criminally insane hide by molding their behavior on social norms or how it looks to others?
Do they have tin ears, always know better, and invariably compound problems with entirely irrational decisions?
I for one would not be very surprised if there were more corporate psychopaths in politics, than is the norm in everyday society!
Rhrosty.
Posted by Rhrosty, Thursday, 17 October 2013 11:16:46 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
"The extent to which psychopaths are prevalent in the community is difficult to estimate – typical figures are 1% of the general population, 25% of the prison population and 3.5% of the business world."

Chris, you name three apparent psychopath pollies. What is your gut feel for the percentage of current federal pollies that could be so described?
Posted by Raycom, Thursday, 17 October 2013 11:24:48 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Glad none said Rudd was a Psychopath, a terrible slur. Narcissist is the correct term. Gillard a bad case of "Peter Principal" and Latham just a simple, if violent, fruitcake.
Posted by McCackie, Thursday, 17 October 2013 12:29:24 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Your all human/psychopaths:)....just deal with it:)...and Paddy on his hate roll, well:)...So what did you get your PHD in?

Planet3
Posted by PLANET3, Thursday, 17 October 2013 1:10:34 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Rhrosty,
No Adolf Hitler wasn't a psychopath, neither were Stalin or Churchill, it's a big mistake to attribute the maelstrom of WW2 to "lack of empathy", the bogus psychological profile given to the OSS in WW2 is the primary source for all the stories of Hitler's psychopathy and it's long been discredited.
Hitler could make detailed plans and follow them through to completion, he could learn from his mistakes, he was known to be polite,honest and loyal, he wasn't reckless, promiscuous or impulsive and he wasn't self aggrandising or vain though he did like to point out to his generals and subordinates when he was right and they were wrong.
The epithet psychopath is often thrown at Churchill too, after all people wonder how could anyone possessing any empathy order the firebombing of German cities and the resulting slaughter of civilians?
The National Socialists weren't motivated by "hatred" and the allies didn't start the war in the name of "human rights", you have to look deeper than that, WW2 reveals nothing about psychopathy.
A far more interesting case of the corporate (in this case military) psychopath might be Colonel Russell Williams, he's the real thing as opposed to a folk devil like "Hollywood Hitler":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XwynxJxp8M
Posted by Jay Of Melbourne, Thursday, 17 October 2013 1:47:15 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Was this an essay about psychopathology or just an excuse for a psychoanalytic beat-up of left-of-centre politics? With the exception of Peter Slipper (a Liberal defector), all the examples offered are Labor or Democrat. Are we to assume conservative politics doesn't attract psychopaths?

More importantly, for an essay on 'corporate' psychopaths, why didn't the author include any? There are plenty of howling corporate examples on offer, many of whom are household names and control much of our society and our lives. Yet, unlike psychopathic politicians, we don't have the luxury of being able to vote them out of their jobs.

Considering it's the conservative side of politics that promotes, worships and facilitates the corporate privatisation of just about every aspect of existence, it's somewhat surprising that the author appears to be blind to any psychopathological connection between the two.
Posted by Killarney, Thursday, 17 October 2013 2:04:54 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Dr Gary Kohls gives us an even greater insight into this dark side of human nature. http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-us-corporation-as-psychopath/5345811

Many people argue about the degree or the % that exists in our society but given enough power this evil side of humanity surfaces way too often.
Posted by Arjay, Friday, 18 October 2013 5:49:05 AM
Find out more about this user Visit this user's webpage Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Interesting that all three cases are on the so called "left" of politics. Hmmm! But now corporate sponsored Tony (with his Tax Office logo) is in charge we wont even know if there are any on his side of the table. Plenty of head kickers there though.
Posted by Stevenroger, Friday, 18 October 2013 7:10:29 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
I agree with the point that's been made already that the article does itself no favours by citing only the left of politics and Slipper who moved sided with the left. It always tends to raise my suspicions when articles, public notices and the like appear to be pushing a secondary message. I don't think that either the left or right of politics hold a monopoly on wrongdoing.

A couple of other points pop out for me.
- I have the impression that many who would fit the criteria listed early in the article manage to operate mostly within the law or limit their law breaking to a level which is unlikely to bring major consequences. Many may be very skilled at using weakness in the law to harm others. At what point would such individuals ever be professionally diagnosed as a psychopath? How many functional psychopaths would permit themselves to be in a position where that diagnosis could be completed by a professional?
- In a similar vein I'm wondering how a professional dealing with an individual who may be getting some mental health treatment would gain access to the necessary information to be able to make the diagnosis except in the most extreme cases. An individual I'm thinking of has routinely dealt with mental health professionals over the years but I'm wondering how those professionals would get the background to identify a number of those behaviours. When they start asking the hard questions how do they keep the patient long enough to get to a diagnosis without the patient moving onto someone they are more comfortable with?

R0bert
Posted by R0bert, Friday, 18 October 2013 11:15:18 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
@ Rhrosty I would put the percentage of those people with high Hustler component as around 15%. The majority of these people would have above average Normal. So the Hustler acts as a positive force.

@ the rest of the comments

The key sentence in this article is "There is support in psychology for psychopathy as a dimensional continuum of personality. In this way, we can better understand that certain personality traits, as extreme manifestations, might be understood as clinical disorders, but in other cases, and in the absence of all the traits, may well be identified with organisational leadership qualities."

There are two factors here. One is the position on the Psychopathic or Hustler Dimension the other is on the Normal or level of self control.

Take for example Andrew Peacock. He definitely has some Hustler in him but also a pretty high level of Normal or Self Control.

May I also note Slipper was only an independent in the final year of his Parliamentary career. For the period to 1984 to 2010 he was either a National or Liberal.

If you are going have three political examples and any more would be otiose, you would have a 2:1 split in one direction or the other. Also I would suggest that neither Howard nor Costello had much Hustler in their personality.
Posted by EQ, Friday, 18 October 2013 3:29:29 PM
Find out more about this user Visit this user's webpage Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
http://psychology.about.com/library/quiz/bl_psychologist_quiz.htm

http://psychology.about.com/od/historyofpsychology/tp/ten-influential-psychologists.htm

http://psychology.about.com/od/womeninpsychology/Women_in_Psychology.htm

Try link 1......Human nature really is a odd thought considering we are analysing ourselves in the past tense.( punt intended ) While outside the box thinking is not everyone's cup of tea, the future of ourselves may not be such comforting horizons.

An experiment was done, with putting two rats in an equal dimensional box and the other with ten rats.......lets call them politicians for now:) and the problems not for-seen, can be greatly related to their currant situation.

Planet3
Posted by PLANET3, Thursday, 31 October 2013 5:39:22 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. All

About Us :: Search :: Discuss :: Feedback :: Legals :: Privacy