It is unfortunate that psychopathy carries such a deep stigma.  To speak openly of the condition and our experiences is to risk the loss of any place we hold in society.  Our jobs, our companions, our friends, and our social status would most likely be discarded if we were found out.  It forces us into the shadows and further increases the stigma.  Society would rather silence us and cut out our tongues than let us speak openly.

I will be the first to admit that we have the ability to do actions that society would find unacceptable from any individual.  We can lie, we can steal, we commit crimes of intent, and so on.  However, all of these are generalities.  Any individual of any segment of humanity could do such.  I’ve written many times that the individual should be judged off of her actions and not her potential.  All of this said, I cannot logically reason the silencing tactics by society toward any group, including psychopaths.  Humans want to think in terms of ‘like’ and ‘unlike’.  Yes, we are vastly different than the majority of humans.  Should we still not have a seat at the table, though?

If a rational discourse were to be had and logic reasoned that we should be stripped of our place in society, that is one thing.  However, that discourse never gets a chance to happen.  The news on our televisions condemns and exaggerates the actions of those who commit crime – although they justify it by throwing in the word ‘alleged’ whenever justice has not had a chance to run its course.  The movies we watch are certain to work the word ‘psychopath’ into the script whenever a killing spree is being depicted.  At no point in the “conversation” is a sensible representation of the typical psychopath depicted.  By pumping up the rhetoric that lumps all psychopaths into one group of deranged criminals, there is no chance for our voice to be heard; the tone has been set by those different than us.

However, society’s hatred of the psychopath is most exemplified by their active silencing of us.  We are held indefinitely in prisons and mental institutions and we are attacked with illogical arguments by those convinced that we are the harbingers of evil.  We are not given a chance to speak openly and we are left as disembodied voices emanating from the shadows.  To my psychopathic brother or sister, you know this all too well.  To the vengeful non-psychopath, at least let me speak before cutting out my tongue.