Bad Seed
Social deviants come from every strata of society, from every society in the world. They are not, as many would prefer to believe, the result of poverty and privation, of parental neglect and a miserable inheritance of physical and psychological need. Sociopaths and psychopaths, while not exactly prevalent in any given society, do have their presence.There are various gradations of social dysfunction, and they manifest themselves in children's behaviour as schoolyard bullies, then later as vituperative, maladjusted adults who somehow manage to learn how to manipulate people to their advantage. Many appear on the surface to be decent and kind and they influence those around them to believe they are normal, well-adjusted people like themselves.
But many sociopaths live double lives. They learn at a very early age that the social compact while anathema to themselves since they feel little regard for others, has great meaning to their society, and they become capable of miming good behaviour, permitting their deviant side to erupt from time to time, but covertly.
Examples abound, from a Canadian Commander of the country's chief military base who has been revealed as a sexual predator and a murderer, while enjoying a sterling reputation as a brilliant man with great potential to become one of the elite leaders of his country's military. He sits now in prison, awaiting a future trial date, but the evidence that has been amassed leaves little question as to his guilt.
In California there is a man who describes his childhood as memorable in that his mother and stepfather were loving and strict. Which did nothing to halt his speedy trajectory into petty crime. Car theft, receiving stolen property, drug possession, robbery, attempted robbery and parole violation left him, still a teen, with a computer printout of his criminal history that was truly memorable. He was one of those 'three strikes' felons.
In Alabama, a highly educated woman who achieved academic status as a biochemistry professor murdered three of her colleagues, wounded three others in a display of pique that she had not been given tenure. Her psychosis did not suddenly occur; she was the child of a high-achiever who happened to sit on the police board of their city, and when she murdered her brother it was passed off as an unfortunate accident.
In London, England, yet again one of the over 6,000 members of the House of Saud, a Saudi Arabian princeling, has been arrested for the strangulation death of his servant whom he had a week earlier brutally beaten where they were staying at a five-star hotel. A distant relative of King Abdullah, he has no diplomatic immunity.
Although the post-mortem clearly indicates that the victim died of neck and head injuries, Saudi security stated unequivocally that the death was caused by something entirely other; an injury sustained as a result of a street mugging. "In fact the injury was very serious and he died later of an internal head injury."
Clearly his defenders have no need of a post mortem.
Labels: Human Fallibility, Human Relations, Human Rights
posted by Pieface @ Friday, February 19, 2010
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