Stop Trying To Handle Psychopaths: Consider This Instead
The other day I went to treat myself to a massage. Nothing was out of the ordinary. Except for this time my masseur triggered me to talk about what motivations drive people to certain outcomes. To be better or worse human beings, or neither of the two. He pushed me to think about handling psychopaths.
The point he made is that it doesn’t truly matter what your motivations are as long as the final results imply goodness. He furthered his statement by asserting that it isn’t important if the individual is “afraid of God or man, inasmuch as he behaves properly.”
Now, I wouldn’t be the person that I am if I didn’t contest that. So, I inquired: “Doesn’t that mean that the person’s intentions aren’t honest since they do good simply because they’re afraid of punishment from God or another individual?”
Without even blinking ― although I couldn’t tell because I was facing the floor (that’s what you do when you take a massage) ― he insisted: “It doesn’t matter.”
But does it really? There is only one way to respond to this: Fuck yes, it matters.
This is where I put my atheist hat on and try to talk reason into people. “Not this time, Stefan,” I told myself vehemently. So I continued the conversation in my head.
Don’t lose your mind, yet
If somebody isn’t raping and killing people in the streets just because they think they will be punished by some divine power or somebody else, doesn’t that make them muthafreaking psychopaths, sociopaths, or some other paths?
Isn’t that the most diabolic thing ever? Like, the most demented story Edgar Allan Poe ever penned?
Since I became a dad in May 2020, I started contemplating this stuff intensely.
Does it matter if my son believes that he will be punished for doing something wicked, instead of teaching him that he should do upright things in life only because it feels nice and you should be inherently good for the sake of being inherently good?
This is the clearest, most pure opinion I have ever had in my life so far. Nothing is as unclouded and as intelligible as this single sentence.
Some far away civilization is now reading this. They are having a laugh because we still haven’t figured out what it means to be decent at ground level. Yes, humanity is seriously fucked.
We’ve been around for around 250,000 years and we are still unsure of whether we should do the right thing just because it is the right freaking thing.
If there’s any upside to this deranged view of the world, then it is this: It’s good for people to believe they will be punished by God or somebody else for performing a misdeed.
Okay, lose it now, psychopaths
I remember when I used to believe in God or had too great a fear of human authority. It was unimaginably difficult to do anything that wasn’t just a result of that fear. Now, I do good merely for the sheer knowledge that it will lead to a better quality of life for someone else. And that’s enough.
Still, there’s a selfish note to all this: I sometimes do good because I know it will positively backfire but I still do it because it’s the fair thing to do in the first place. It’s one of the most powerful feelings in the world. Far more satisfying than doing it out of fear, as is often the case with psychopaths.
Until people collectively reach a wholesome state of mind, it’s good that the majority still believe in celestial beings and be shit scared of human authority. Then, we won’t nosedive into anarchy.
As much as I am positive that society would be far better off if we were all atheists, I’m not ready to go all the way and neither should you.
Some things aren’t worth it, or in the words of my masseur: “It doesn’t really matter.”
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