The only way to know that there is a wolf in disguise among your sheep is to look for the paw prints. The classic, successful psychopath is not nearly as restrained as I am. Once again, lest the reader misunderstand, I am no saint, but I am certainly not the sinner I was in the past. I’ve heard countless accounts from neurotypical readers where they associated with possible psychopaths, let them in close, and then were surprised when the flock was dead. At the risk of stirring paranoia, I wish to warn the reader: many psychopaths that are not incarcerated are on the lookout for new prey. This can take the form of your wallet, your livelihood, or even your emotions. They wear the clothing of sheep to get close to the shepherd.
Psychopaths may make up 1% of less of the population and antisocial individuals less than 4%, but the destruction they cause is certainly disproportionate to their limited numbers. Often the damage is not realized until it is too late for our prey. We may be merely filling an evolutionary niche, but our prey certainly does not see it that way.
The reader may ask “how can we tell if we’ve a psychopath in the midst?” Look for those that are close to you. Look for those that are distant from you. Look for the curious. Look for the disinterested. Look for the shy and look for the egomaniac. The truth is, depending on the strategy being used, we could look like anyone.
Just as the shepherd is unaware of a wolf in the midst until the sheep start going missing, most neurotypicals are not going to find out that there is an antisocial in the midst until their own sheep go missing. This is why I champion restraint for the antisocial. As clever as we may be, it is nearly impossible to not leave a blood trail. So now I turn the question toward my antisocial and psychopathic readers, how do you pose as a sheep without being found out?
Act close to others. Act distant from others. Act curious. Act disinterested. Act shy or even egomaniacal if you’d like. The truth is that sheep come in all shapes and sizes. There is no catch all to passing. The greatest advantage that we have is that the neurotypical is typically not paranoid and looking for wolves. As long as you don’t make too big of a mess, you can be anyone you want and take anything that you want.
The shepherd won’t know there is a wolf in the midst until he sees the paw prints. Good for the antisocial or psychopath and bad for the neurotypical, this is the reality. However, that leaves quite the choice for the antisocial individual. Either his feet must perfectly match that of the sheep or he must make sure that the shepherd can’t count. Ultimately, this is a decision we must all make as antisocials. My days of stealing sheep are done, what about you?
I think you said it pretty well. When making a move on someone you have to tailor it to your specific situation, and fine tune it as you go along. But, generally speaking, I like to make myself stand out as a kind hearted person who would move mountains for my “friends”. I don’t like playing the sheep though. What better way to keep the flock in check than to be the shepherd? Nobody suspects that the person they look to for advice and moral support is actually a psychopath, and honestly the irony is too amusing for me to pass up. That being said, most neurotypicals or, as I like to call them, normals would not react kindly to finding out that such a close and trusted friend is actually a psychopath regardless of whether I wronged them or not. For the most part, we’re the modern day equivalent of the boogeyman, so many wouldn’t even give us a chance. Not that I can really blame people for that though.
-A
I generally sheep it up until I get tired of doing what the sheep do, and then there’s just a pile of wool and hooves left.
Or, in a non-overextended-metaphor way, I tend to burn bridges quite a lot.
Meh. The resources required to actively track those with psychopathy or other forms of ASPD would be way too costly. The current estimated human population is around 7,257,515,000 people. Going from the conservative estimate that 1.00% of the population is a psychopath, that leaves just 72,575,150 people to identify and track. The raw data and man hours required to even attempt such a feat would carry a price tag so astronomically out of proportion to the potential gain. Especially when you take into account that there is already a place where dangerous psychopaths are stored though. Jail. They are removed from the general population along with other dangerous/undesirable groups by law enforcement officers. Though I will admit that the idea that I’m being actively hunted down would make things WAY more interesting, at least to me. As far as the harsher sentences, well I think it’s not unfair to say that letting a remorseless psychopath who has already committed a serious crime back into the world any sooner then you have to is a terrible idea.
-A