# Am I sociopathic? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 14, 2002, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-sociopathic/118901 "2002-07-14T07:54:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Squish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Squish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squish)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2002, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-sociopathic/118901/1 "2002-07-14T07:54:55Z")
\*\*(Mods, if this should go in Cafe Society instead, please move it. Thank you.) The situation is this: there are real people, historical people, and fictional characters for whom my heart just breaks. OTOH, there are real people who, frankly, I wouldn’t care a fig about if I just saw them run down by a Humvee. Not real people who I know and don’t like, but just Jane Schmoe crossing against the light or whatever. I can feel a vague sympathy for their family, but I can’t feel that saddened or otherwise affected by their death. This occurred to me while re-watching a favorite episode of LEXX, **Wake the Dead** , in which a former assassin who is also a heroic figure, goes psycho and whacks five innocent teenagers. The episode is intended to be comedic, a satiric look at teen slasher movies, but while I’m sitting there laughing, it occurs to me that _innocent people are being casually murdered_\*–and I’m laughing about it. :eek: Yeah, I know it’s fiction, I know the storytellers’ intent is for the viewer to be on the side of the assassin, but still… Does anyone else have these qualms? ---
**Author:** ![Squish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Squish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squish)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2002, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-sociopathic/118901/2 "2002-07-14T07:57:19Z")
Ack. Sorry about the screwed-up coding. My meds are making me somewhat more stoned-feeling than usual tonight. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2002, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-sociopathic/118901/3 "2002-07-14T08:21:49Z")
I’m no shrink by any means, but I’d think the very fact that you have these qualms means you’re not sociopathic. Sociopaths, as I understand it, don’t recognize that some things are right and others are wrong. They realize that some stuff will get them into trouble, so they have to be sneaky about it, but the concept of wrong has no real meaning to them, and they generally have no empathy whatsoever. You don’t seem like the most empathetic person in the world, but you do seem to have a grasp on right and wrong, so I think you’re probably all right. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2002, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-sociopathic/118901/4 "2002-07-14T18:06:01Z")
Not sociopathic; maybe just psychopathic (kidding! just kidding! put that knife down…) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2002, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-sociopathic/118901/5 "2002-07-14T18:39:00Z")
Well, I can’t say I’d care if YOU died. ---
**Author:** ![Squish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Squish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squish)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2002, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-sociopathic/118901/6 "2002-07-14T18:57:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by featherlou \* > \*\*Not sociopathic; maybe just psychopathic (kidding! just kidding! put that knife down…) \*\* Uh… which one, the 6" dagger, the 11" pugio, or were you referring to the Mainz-pattern gladius? Okay. \ Is that better? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Squish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Squish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squish)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2002, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-sociopathic/118901/7 "2002-07-14T19:03:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bryan Ekers \* > \*\*Well, I can’t say I’d care if YOU died. \*\* I think that’s part of what I was trying to get at. People I know, I care about intensely; people I don’t know… well, gee, it’s too bad. That’s about it. (Unless of course it’s some really aggregious crime, the [Sylvia Likens murder](http://www.crimelibrary.com/classics4/likens/), for example.) But another part of it–the part that disturbs me–is the TV episode I referred to above, slasher/horror movies, many action films, and the like. ---
**Author:** ![lel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8797f3/32.png) [@lel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lel)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2002, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-sociopathic/118901/8 "2002-07-14T19:13:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Squish \* > \*\*\*\*(Mods, if this should go in Cafe Society instead, please move it. Thank you.) > > The situation is this: there are real people, historical people, and fictional characters for whom my heart just breaks. OTOH, there are real people who, frankly, I wouldn’t care a fig about if I just saw them run down by a Humvee. Not real people who I know and don’t like, but just Jane Schmoe crossing against the light or whatever. > \*\* Well, I’ll try to remember not to cross streets in your vicinity anytime soon… ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2002, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-sociopathic/118901/9 "2002-07-14T19:15:35Z")
Magic 8 Ball says NO. ---
**Author:** ![p\_cific\_812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@p\_cific\_812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/p_cific_812)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2002, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-sociopathic/118901/10 "2002-07-14T20:07:34Z")
I enjoy violent media as much as the next guy/girl. I also understand that it is wrong to kill innocent teenagers or most other people for that matter. I don’t really know why I don’t cringe or comtemplate the morality of people dying everytime death is presented to me-- be it a fictional TV/video game death, or an actual death reported on the news. I guess I’m just used to the notion of people dying. I need a personal connection to the deceased before I really _feel_ anything. Maybe I’m a sociopath too, but you don’t sound like one to me. ---
**Author:** ![Squish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Squish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squish)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2002, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-sociopathic/118901/11 "2002-07-14T20:09:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lel \* > \*\*Well, I’ll try to remember not to cross streets in your vicinity anytime soon… \*\* :rolleyes: C’mon, now, I didn’t say _I_\* wanted to hurt anyone! ---
**Author:** ![p\_cific\_812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@p\_cific\_812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/p_cific_812)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2002, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-sociopathic/118901/12 "2002-07-14T20:14:57Z")
OK, you’re out of control with that coding now… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Squish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Squish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squish)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2002, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-sociopathic/118901/13 "2002-07-14T20:46:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by p@cific@812 \* > \*\*OK, you’re out of control with that coding now… 😃 \*\* \ ---
**Author:** ![Hamish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Hamish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamish)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2002, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-sociopathic/118901/14 "2002-07-15T06:02:05Z")
I wouldn’t worry about it. As **CrazyCatLady** pointed out, you would not have started this thread if you were a genuine sociopath. I am not a psychiatrist, either, but I’ve had the misfortune of knowing three people across my life who were almost definitely genuine sociopathes. For such people, all other human beings – including family and “friends” – are objects to be manipulated and discarded as convenient. They can fake intimacy and closeness to other human beings, often very well, but the disguise drops the moment it becomes a burden. All human beings go through a natural, ethical development. All children, when very young, are sociopathes. People first develop empathy towards those they’re close to, then those like them. The better we fight our own ignorance, the more our understanding of the world grows, the more our compassion and empathy grows. At the highest levels of understanding, you could empathisize with a complete stranger on the other side of the world. You’ve simply realized you are not at that level. It doesn’t mean you’re the other extreme, either. ---
**Author:** ![Fred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/db5fbb/32.png) [@Fred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fred)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2002, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-sociopathic/118901/15 "2002-07-15T06:18:30Z")
Now, hold on… most of these “innocent” teenagers are hardly innocent at all! Everyone in those movies is always necking, having sex, drinking or doing drugs… no wonder they come a bad end! ---
**Author:** ![Squish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Squish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squish)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2002, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-sociopathic/118901/16 "2002-07-15T07:18:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hamish \* > **I wouldn’t worry about it. As CrazyCatLady pointed out, you would not have started this thread if you were a genuine sociopath.** And I forgot to thank her for it, which I do now. 🙂 > [@](#): > > \*\*At the highest levels of understanding, you could empathisize with a complete stranger on the other side of the world. > > You’ve simply realized you are not at that level. It doesn’t mean you’re the other extreme, either. \*\* In many cases, I _do_ empathize with complete strangers, across the world and across the years. In many cases, I do not. So I guess that just makes me “weirdly socialized”? In this particular incident–laughing at an episode where people are getting murdered, and enjoying the murderer–I suppose the fact that it was satire, and was intended to be comedic, should reassure me. And yes, **g.s.r.d.** , they _were_ necking, drinking, doing drugs! Not only that, they talked back to their elders! Why, you’re right–they deserved to be whacked off by a dead ex-assassin gone psycho! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Dragonblink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Dragonblink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragonblink)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2002, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-sociopathic/118901/17 "2002-07-15T08:06:40Z")
That Kai’s one sexy mofo, ain’t he? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2002, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-sociopathic/118901/18 "2002-07-15T14:10:04Z")
I’m pretty confidant that you know that Lexx is a show for entertainment. (yes death can be entertaining and funny) You know that those actors are not really being killed. You also knew that it was a parody of other films. So you should not be upset over their deaths. Not being too upset over the death of strangers is pretty normal. Otherwise we would all be in mourning every day of our lives. If someone really got run over right in front of you and you just stepped over her crumpled body on your way to Starbucks to get a frappachino then you may have some issues. ---
**Author:** ![Squish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Squish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squish)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2002, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-sociopathic/118901/19 "2002-07-15T18:01:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dragonblink \* > \*\*That Kai’s one sexy mofo, ain’t he? 😃 \*\* From bun and braid down to brace and boots! > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Zebra_ > **I’m pretty confidant that you know that Lexx is a show for entertainment. (yes death can be entertaining and funny) You know that those actors are not really being killed. You also knew that it was a parody of other films. So you should not be upset over their deaths.** I guess as long as we ('cause I’m sure I’m not the only one) don’t let it spill over the line from fiction to reality, we’re okay. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Drastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Drastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drastic)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2002, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-sociopathic/118901/20 "2002-07-15T18:39:25Z")
> [@](#): > > I am not a psychiatrist, either, but I’ve had the misfortune of knowing three people across my life who were almost definitely genuine sociopathes. For such people, all other human beings – including family and “friends” – are objects to be manipulated and discarded as convenient. They can fake intimacy and closeness to other human beings, often very well, but the disguise drops the moment it becomes a burden. I’d say that description is spot-on. I’ve only known one, myself, and that’s a counting contest I’m very happy to lose. For sociopaths, other people aren’t even _there_, in a very important way. I think that’s one of the saddest and most terrifying malfunctions of human development that can happen. Enjoying violent media has nothing to do with that, but comes from a healthy bloody-mindedness. 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-sociopathic/118901.md?page=2)