70 lines
3.6 KiB
Plaintext
70 lines
3.6 KiB
Plaintext
SUBJECT: SPEISER ON SOCIOPATHS FILE: UFO1514
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Message #5032 - INFO.PARANET
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Date : 23-Jun-92 9:39
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From : Jim Speiser
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To : All
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Subject : Sociopaths
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Replies : -> #5041
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Last night NBC aired the second part of a mini-series, "Love, Lies, and
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Murder". While it was typically shallow and not very well done, it was
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interesting in that it focused on a personality type that seems to be
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prevalent in Ufology: the sociopath. These people are such masterful
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manipulators that they can appear quite sane and sober on the outside, while
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on the inside, they are busy justifying to themselves all manner of aberrant
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behavior, including murder. Once satisfied that they are ultimately "in the
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right", they can then lie to others with such sincerity and appeal that it is
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well-nigh impossible for the layman, and I submit for most shrinks, to pierce
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the veil of deception. This is why the question that is often asked about UFO
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witnesses, "Why would he lie?" is moot, and why so many cases that rested on
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the "rock-solid" testimony of witnesses have later unraveled. So many of us
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base our belief in the existence of UFOs on the steady, unwavering, and
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apparently very sincere testimony of first-hand witnesses who seemingly have
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no motive to lie....and I'll venture that not a few of us here can remember
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being burned by such reliance.
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I remember a conversation I once had with Tracy Torme in which we were
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discussing a famous case (which shall remain nameless). He had interviewed the
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principal witness, and he told me, "Jim, if this guy's lying, he deserves an
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Oscar." Tracy, being Hollywood-centric, felt that that meant something. I
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replied, "Tracy, not ALL the great actors are in Hollywood...or Washington,
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for that matter!"
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But one point brought out by the mini-series that went beyond the mere
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character makeup of a sociopath was the effect of such a deviant personality
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on those closest to him, his family members. Such a person can manipulate the
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lives and actions and indeed, the very thoughts and mental framework of those
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around him to the point where his family members get a completely skewed
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vision of reality...they are, for all intents and purposes, brainwashed. Once
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this has happened, it is then possible not only for him to rationalize his
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actions, but to get them to rationalize them in the same way.
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Again, relating this to ufology, there is a well-known case thought to be a
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hoax, where many individuals, myself included, have asked themselves, OK, I
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can see where an aberrant personality would try to pull off such a hoax, but
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how does he get his family members to go along with it? Aren't they close
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enough to him to see that he is aberrant? The answer, of course, as driven
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home by "Love, Lies and Murder", is that it is by virtue of their very
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closeness to the situation that they are UNable to exercise their individual
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better judgement, and instead allow their reasoning faculties to be co-opted
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by the sociopath. It is the very fact that they are within his sphere of
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influence, within his environment, that makes them most subject to his
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manipulations, and hence their judgement and actions are to be trusted no more
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than his own.
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There are probably quite a few of you out there who are looking at your screen
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right now, going, "ah-DUUUUH!!! Where have YOU been?" Hey, I didn't take no
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psych courses. Pardon me for getting my education from NBC...:-)
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Jim
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--- QuickBBS 2.75
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* Origin: ParaNet Zeta-Reticuli 1:114/37.0 (FIDO) (9:1010/100)
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* THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo *
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