Letters to the Editor
Published Letters: 233 Editor's Choice: 14
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Scientific analysis
[Read the article: Tucker, Jonah, Elizabeth and Jillian]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]of this phenomenon (the RWA mindset) is somewhat hard to come by. I think there are two reasons: 1) The study of group behavior has been subservient/beholden to social science, as opposed to hard science and 2) the data quickly crosses over from the social science field into other diverse and "un-scientific" fields (e.g. religion, good vs. evil, etc.), so that researchers quickly find themselves in a swamp/forest of linguistic or taxonomical dysfunction (the metaphor of the tower of Babel applies).
From what I have read on the subject I find that there are scientific/psychological basis for this disorder (i.e. Psychpathy), but that these scientists, by-in-large, are afraid (reluctance would be to soft a word) to draw quantifying sets/lines around such vast numbers of people. After all, when the historical data (we have some from the Soviets and some from the Nazis) is matched up, the implications, mathematically, become quite startling--Biblical. Best I can tell, as a species, we have not really advanced very much in terms of the study of and categorization of our OWN behavior, in groups, from the Paleolithic era. Scientific study has advanced quite swimmingly, but when it comes to human behavior and outcomes in group/societal settings, we are still in the dark ages, if that.
As a Computer Scientist I find RWA behavior to line up on a dipole consisting of "enlightened self-interest," where the ideals of public discourse and individual liberties in service of the greater good are cherished and self-evident, to the "hive-mind" on the other pole, where the collective acts as an insect colony, marching in lock-step to the commands of the bug. The RWA's have television to command them, and the laws of mathematics, when combined with commercial interests, drive that message always to the lowest possible (read: insect) level.
As an educator, I get to witness everyday, in quite stark terms, the absolute and opposite outcomes and choices these divergent minds set into motion. As an aside, our society currently vilifies one over the other--I leave it to you to guess which.
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Paul
[Read the article: Tucker, Jonah, Elizabeth and Jillian]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]thank you for the reponse. As to the charge of ignorance--guilty as charged.
I will save those references and pursue them, :)
I guess a more detailed explanation of what I was getting at isn't the normal definition of Psychopath (serial killers, etc.) but the group dynamics of Psychopathy. Within a given population, with a certain number/distribution of Psychopaths, what is the liklihood of a Psychopathic individual becomming the leader of that group, and what are the charateristic behaviors/qualities of such a group? Add in variables like hours of television viewing, poverty, religion, etc. Take the templates or models developed, and project them onto historical data to determine how they line up with other measures (e.g. wars lost, wars won, millions killed, etc.).
That sort of thing. I would imagine then that RWA traits would show up in such a model...
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I went down this road...
[Read the article: My wife was having an emotional affair for years behind my back]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I was 3/4 healed from a fairly simple divorce, riding my bike a lot and taking care of myself. I responded to her personal, and we met for lunch. I enjoyed her company a great deal, and she made it clear she was interested in seeing me again, and that she was single and un-attached. Yeah, mostly.
Three months go by and the relationship is going great. We have mutual fiends, and her mostly-grown kids and I get along great. I loved her, and was truly happy with her and her family, but funny things start happening.
Like ten days before we were to spend a week together she calls and cancels, then disappears for that week.
Or, my favorite, the phone rings early on a Sunday morning, and I'm in bed with her. She answers--it's a man's voice--and she replies "no, just here by myself..." to a question. Not wanting to make a lier out of her, I left.
Two hours later she calls and asks why I left...I chuckled and told her.
A few weeks later I found pictures of her and the other guy together during the mystery week. It was funny because it didn’t really make me upset or angry, since I had already figured it out. I took them to her and asked her what they were, and she lied, saying they were from a few years back. I showed her the date on the back, grabbed my things, and left. Didn't call, quit it cold turkey and never heard a peep from her. It hurt like hell, but I was done with that crap. I eventually moved.
Two years later she calls and asks me to move back. Go figure.
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Any straight male
[Read the article: The artful seducer]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]who takes any of this seriously is either pathetic or needs to wean off mommies tit like yesterday. Just reading this makes me want to punch mystery-boy in the face, knee his groin and light his clothes on fire. Peacock that, girly man. Does your make-up smear?
Pathetic loser defenders of this twerp are even worse. Go get a life.
Bravo-Zulu Tracy--you rock!
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A day that will live in infamy
[Read the article: Rolling over, again]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I never would have thought they would top Hiroshima, but they did. Sort of an atomic-bomb in reverse, only the fallout will be worse.
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you missed the real story
[Read the article: Fatal enhancement]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I would love to see a study of women in comitted relationships who undergo breast "enhancement." A therapist friend has informed me that in his clinical experience, 90% of such relationships are over within a year of the surgery.
Anecdotally, of the couples I've known who have had this happen, 100% of them were divorced (or worse) within 3 years. I should also note that in each of these cases the male was against the procedure--not in a controlling or manipulative way, but in a "you are beautiful the way you are and I love you...if you feel you need this for yourself go ahead..." kind of way.
Any thoughts?