03-25-2017, 04:23 PM
(03-25-2017, 01:51 PM)disasterzone Wrote: I think different things cause sociopathy in different generations. For some reason with Boomers the more upper class they are the more sociopathic they are but with Xers it's the opposite with the poorer Xers having more sociopathic traits. With Millennials the bullied outcasts or people on the fringes seem to become more sociopathic such as Adam Lanza or Elliot Rodger. Why do you think there's such a difference between which parts of each generation become sociopathic? In Boomers permissiveness and good times produce it but in Xers poverty and neglect produce it and in Millennials bullying, being different, being outcast, and alienation produce it. Or in contrast being very popular and well-liked. Social capital is important to Millennials so lack of social capital can drive someone off the edge and too much social capital can create a monster.
There are exceptions. Among Boomers, Ted Bundy was a moral cripple; Aileen Wuornos had a very rough life. On the other side, it is amazing that the Manson cult and the Symbionese Liberation Army infamous for kidnapping Patty hearts came from comparatively privileged backgrounds.
A Boomer who has had any semblance of a rough time gets stepped on but does not become a sociopath. He often goes nowhere in life. He may have expected better, but at least he knows right from wrong. X may have learned later than Boomers that life is nothing more than wealth and power, and never had any good expectations in life. So if everything works against an X youth, then what can he do? Imitate the successful that he sees -- the brutes. If he can't be the polished, sophisticated sociopath that he sees among middle-class or upper-class Boomers, then maybe polish and sophistication are suspect anyway. Life is about sex, indulgence, maybe getting high, and keeping an impressive image. On the other side, X who really are good expect gritty survival and may turn to entrepreneurial activities that do much more good than treating people badly in bureaucratic organizations.
I'm old enough to remember GIs as managers and workers... and the successful among them looked out for their subordinates. Such is the antithesis of the sociopathic boss or manager that I began to see and loathe among Boomers a few years older than I am. I do not remember them as youth.
Bullying is horrible. I do not tolerate it. So I was a target of bullies myself (that goes with Asperger's) -- guess how I act as an adult. Being an outsider can push one over the edge if one has other problems, like a shaky home life, severe poverty, or being a pariah.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
