“Sociopathic societies”
September 5, 2019
from Ken Zimmerman
Greed is a personality
disorder. While it is sometimes correct that without greed humans would still
be living in caves, it is also correct that left unchecked, the insatiable
desire for more and better material things can be destructive. These are the warning
signs of uncontrolled greed.
The first sign of the greed
syndrome is overly self-centered behavior. Greedy people are always saying “me,
me, me” with very little regard for the needs and feelings of others. Envy and
greed are like twins. While greed is a strong desire for more and more
possessions (such as wealth and power), envy goes one step further as a strong
desire by greedy people for the possessions of others.
Greedy people lack empathy.
Caring—being concerned about the feelings of others—is not part of their way of
life. As such, they have little qualms about causing pain to others. Their
inability to empathize, their lack of genuine interest in the ideas and
feelings of others, and their unwillingness to take personal responsibility for
their behavior and actions makes interaction with them very difficult.
Greedy people are never
satisfied. They look at the world as a zero-sum game. Instead of thinking that
everyone would benefit as the pie gets larger, they view the pie as a constant
and want the largest piece. They truly believe that they deserve more, even if
it comes at someone else’s expense.
Greedy people are experts in
manipulation. They are skilled in taking credit for work done by others. When
the occasion requires, they can be charming, but their main scheme is to have
people around them who feed their ego.
Greedy people are always in
the short run; they are focused on gratifying their immediate needs and leave
it to others to cope with the consequences. To illustrate, as leaders of
corporations, they are more interested in getting their bonuses, instead of making
investments for future innovation, or to share whatever benefits accrued with
their employees.
In the pursuit of their
material needs, they know no limits. Greedy people are not good at maintaining
boundaries. They will compromise moral values and ethics to achieve their
goals. They look for loopholes or clever ways to outsmart the rules and
regulations that have been put into place to moderate this kind of behavior.
A society where such actions
and beliefs are common is sociopathic. Americans might not recognize the term
“sociopathic society,” but today they are staring it in the face. After every
mass shooting, every cut in vital services, every sabotage of democracy, people
were afraid, rightly, for their children and themselves. Our current crisis involves
far more than military-style gun massacres and an armed, angry population. It
reflects an economy, politics, and culture that are a fertile foundation for a
sociopathic society. It’s my view that the United States, with a long history
of sociopathic institutions and practices, is now evolving toward a full-blown
sociopathic society.
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