Sociopaths aren't inherently bad, they're inherently detached from some instinctual behaviors that most other life displays in social situations.
The reason Sociopath has become a negative word in recent years is because of the damage that people who carry the label that have done to society as a whole (capitalism, exploitation, economic greed).
Personally I despise that kind of thinking, but you have to recognize sociopathic behavior is simply another way of approaching life that manifests itself in humans.

I think it is funny how my own empathy caused me to write this in defense of Stu.

- In Merkel's defence, she's never been elected for her track record of empathy.

- Your gulag is the envy of the "civilized" world. Out of sight, out of mind. Quite frankly, between letting people rot on godforsaken islands and marauding bands of Nazis setting their shelters on fire, I think our two nations got the entire spectrum of despicable behaviour covered.

- 14k on airfares per person, almost 5k for ground transport -- just what did they travel in? Then again, that picture looks like she's desperatly trying to fit in with the blue blooded elites.

- I don't get Abbott. Steven Harper neither, for that matter. How can a reasonable people float this kind of person to the top? There are plenty of loonies around, but always with a solid base of loonies behind them (eg Berlusconi or Cameron). But not Abbott & Harper...

Actually, the study specifically mentioned you. It is self-serving, but indeed your kind can practice something that looks like empathy.

Empathy is never a choice. The only choice made with empathy is for the chosen few of us that don't have it but fake it to fit in or make our lives better. We're called sociopaths.

Depression and self-harm are not part of the autistic spectrum; they are consequential symptoms that result from the reality of having to live in a world that is not tolerant of people who are "wired differently".

If you spent your entire life feeling that you were messed up compared to everyone else and confused as to why other people didn't understand you then you'd be depressed and hate yourself too. I know this only too well - I live with these symptoms every day. I don't harm myself any more but the desire to punish myself because my self-esteem is non-existent is still very much there.

I understand your concern that autism is becoming some sort of designer diagnosis, but the reality is that most people can relate to one of the many facets of autism and can feel empathy towards those who experience many of the facets. Therefore it is easy for people to feel that they have a touch of autism, and in reality they just might. It's not that uncommon.

It is more than just a condition to be misunderstood.

Pardon my cynicism, I love dogs and I donate to many dog training programs like this. But having said that, this looks like it was done for the camera, instead of the camera just being at the right place at the right time, which bugs me.

It also bugs me that "Aspergers" is stamped all over every other story you read now. Now Jerry Seinfeld and David Byrne and apparently half the offspring of half of my coworkers have a "touch of Aspergers" or are on the "autism spectrum". It's like a freaking designer diagnosis now.

And there's no shortage of news stories about someone who was the victim of road-rage or excessive police force who "suffered from Aspergers" and probably didn't understand the situation. Apparently calling them an "honor student" doesn't generate enough pathos anymore.

I'm sure I'll be misunderstood but I have nothing but empathy for this person in the video and all those that GENUINELY suffer from this.

Do you even know what a sociopath is?


noun, Psychiatry.
1.
a person with a psychopathic personality whose behavior is antisocial, often criminal, and who lacks a sense of moral responsibility or social conscience.

You causally mock the death & suffering of basically anyone who isn't a LEO on this site daily.

As the progressive treehugger hippie I am..

Why wouldn't I want you to learn some empathy and compassion?

The best way to gain understanding is thru share experience.

This was his comment about the video.

“Who are the officers?”
Officer Aymee Race (badge #6856), she works for the Utah Transit Authority Police Department. Name and badge number are given in the video because it's in the public interest. The officers in the video are public servants acting unlawfully.

“You brought it on yourself! You wouldn’t have been given a ticket if you would have just politely complied!”
I knew that if I stood up for my rights they were going to give me a ticket (or worse), but $50 is a small price to pay for my dignity. “The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppose.” –Fredrick Douglas

“You set up the video! You went there to harass the cops!”
No. I didn’t. This is my only youtube video, and frankly I wish it had never happened.

“You should never insult police officers! You’re only going to make them mad and get it worse!”
You’re the problem with America. Bootlicking cowards like you make me sick. You all deserve the government you have.

“You should never give an officer your I.D.! “
Utah is one of the few states with a show me your papers law. I had a busy schedule that day and I couldn't afford to be arrested. But thanks for the amateur legal advice.

“You’re grammar is horrible and discredits your point!”
I’m not very computer savvy so I had a cheap Bangladeshi freelancer edit the video through skype. I didn't even take the time to review his work. I didn't notice it had posted and gone viral until months later.

“Did you sign the ticket?”
Yes, with the words “by coercion” written next to my signature. Like I said, $50 is nothing, and I had very important things to do that day, I couldn’t afford to be arrested.

“Is the UTA private property or public property? Why are police working security?”
Both unfortunately. The UTA is a great example of crony-capitalism. It’s a tax payer subsidized private company.

A note from the owner of this channel:

Since this video first went viral I have received many death threats and I’m sure the officers involved have received death threats. I was once a very outspoken anarcho-capitalist, but as time has passed my political views have matured. All I want now is to tend to my business and live my life. All the anti-police violence is not conducive to freedom. Things are getting bad. And it’s only going to get worse. A lot worse. I want nothing to do with it. When the shit hits the fan I'll be watching the U.S. government and the revolutionaries have at it from my laptop on the beach in Tahiti. I'm not going to support changing an evil system for a slightly less evil one (or a worse one). A real revolution is a philosophical one, once a revolution becomes violent it is already lost. And frankly the human race has let me down. I know now that human beings are just not ready for peace. What are human beings fit for other than being ruled? It is what it is. I’m now a social darwinist, I'll support whoever benefits my business and my family. ..and political instability is not beneficial to either one. Anarcho-Capitalists like to compare livestock to people and say that animals (humans) would be able to live free without the farmer (ruling class). Well, I disagree; some species of animals are so stupid, so domesticated, that they would starve without the farmer. And I think that is the case with 99% of the human species. Human beings need government, and they usually get the government they deserve. Don’t get me wrong, I do have empathy for the people being oppressed, but I now understand the ruling class, I see were they’re coming from. Again, I want nothing to do with politics. I’m not a social activist. All I care about is my business and my family. So please leave me alone.

You can't understand why he feels that way?

You take umbrage to peoples perception of police officers, yes? You think it's grossly unfair that people classify all of you by the actions of the notable few?

Well here's a little news flash. You get to take off your uniform at the end of the shift. You can go to a restaurant or a shopping center and be perfectly fine with no one sitting around thinking you're a fascist police state tool because of what you wear rather than who you are.

The guy in the video? He doesn't get to take off his skin. He doesn't get to stop being viewed with suspicion, doesn't stop getting harassed by idiots who don't care for the truth and are purely in it to pick on people and raise revenue. He lives with people making assumptions about him 24/7 because of who he is, not because of what he does.

Dig deep down and find that empathy that seems to be lurking in there somewhere. Assuming your one of the good guys (and apologies but your posting history doesn't really support that), don't you feel a deep abiding embarrassment when you see these yahoos make every cop look worse because of their actions?

Yes, it's not fair that people will ascribe the actions of a few bad eggs to an entire population. Not fair for anyone that is victimised by it.

See, here's the difference between you and me: you need to be told but I have to know.
While you march wherever you religious leader tells you to ("Looking at those horrible gays! And pay no attention to the man behind the curtain or what he does with the altarboy."), I just ask myself how I'd feel if somebody treated me like I treat others. It's call empathy.
Of course you don't need that, you have somebody to tell you when it's ok to stone someone to death or how to treat your slaves. I actually have to think about that, consider my actions and try to understand how their consequences affect others. Sometimes I even have to be reminded I am an asshole and have to deal with the fallout of making the wrong choices but you don't have to fear that. You have a book that is several hundert years old written by various people who lived at a time where a Walkman would've been considered witchcraft. And since it has been translated and edited a couple of times, it got only better, especially in the expanded universe fan-fiction edition that you consider canon today. How dare those heathens to question you?
It must be great if everything is so clear cut, so black (phew, nearly typed a nasty word...) and white. I actually have to fear backlash if I mistreat the human beings around me. You on the other hand only have to fear that a man (of course, a man), who really, really loves you, condemns you to eternal torture because you kissed a boy and liked it.
You and your damned, old book. Your standard of morality is no better than that of the Quran.
I have to know I did the right thing, you just need to be told you did good. That's the difference between our morality. That's the difference between relying on your faith or relying on your humanity. That's why I refuse to tell a gay kid it's broken and needs fixing or strapping a bomb to my chest, because that shit is wrong and I just know it. No matter what somebody like you tells me.
Get the fuck out with your claims of morality and go clean your temple from the child molesters.

Ok, first things first. If you quote me and you decide to mark pieces of what I wrote somehow, don't do it out of fucking context. The part you turned into bold lettering is only a part of a sentence and does not communicatre the actual meaning of what I wrote at all.
I know you're not a troll but what you did there is suspiciously close to trolling. I know you're better than this. However, that is not ok. I do take issue with that especially because I know you and I are not on opposing teams here. You're not one the racist trolls here, neither am I, you know who I mean without using names.

Second, read my statement carefully. It's pretty much akin to the concept of the self-fullfilling prophecy. The statement I made validifies itself be me stating it.
Here's what I said phrased differently:
White people are better at being racist than everybody else because we don't suffer its consequences. White privilege, lack of empathy and inability to consider another point of view on the issue allows us to disregard the impact of it. That means we can be more clueless and uncaring in our behaviour as we don't feel the historical gravity, more or less immediate consequences or emotional toll of it as long as we can surpress whatever empathy for other humans we have.
Let me re-quote myself without your bullshit bold lettering:
'If there's one thing where white people are far more superiour than anybody else, it's having a feeling of superiority.'
Read that again!
And again!
You call that gloating? Really? A guy saying 'look at me, I'm best at being a shitty person!' is gloating in your opinion?
By stating this, I prove myself to be true, I validify my point by mentioning it. My point is not a good thing. Being arrogant is not a good thing.

Third, I get you are angry. You're a black guy living in the US, right? You should be pissed. There is this stereotype of the 'angry black man'. I never thought about it until Obama became President and political realities cause him to be wary of it.
If you are not white and a US citizen you have every right in the world to be pissed. Racism exists everywhere but one country where it still remains a huge, huge, superfuckinghuge problem is yours.
Pretty much everything encompassing domestic issues in the US has a racial component. My own country has serious problems with racism. Go, ask as german dude with turkish roots about his expirience. Every 'Achmed' has a story about it. Racism is like herpes, even if you don't have it, you're always at risk to be affected anyways.
Don't be mad at me, you're barking up the wrong tree . I may be an insesitive asshole and I won't deny the benefits of being white myself but I'm simply not your problem. People who want to keep you down because they don't like your pigmentation are.

OK, here's a thing: colored people suck at racism.
There, I said it. I'm not even trolling here. Honestly, as wrong as racism is, white people are just better at it. Just take racial slurs, there are no good ones for white people. Cracker? Seriously? They're fucking delicious. Put cream cheese on me and I get even better.
Wanna be specific and call me a Kraut. I love Sauerkraut.
I'm a fat guy, you can not offend me by giving me food related names. Try harder next time. Actually, can anyone do better than this?
Even the argument about theme parties is crap, we're better at this than colored people are. The RNC, Nuremberg Rallies or even random Ku Klux Klan gatherings are far more offensive than anything black people could do. We, white people, out-racist (yes, that's a word now) everybody else without even trying. If there's one thing where white people are far more superiour than anybody else, it's having a feeling of superiority.
I'm not a racist, I believe we're all equally cruel, stupid and worthless. Humans aren't worth the flesh they're printed on. However, from time to time, you'll find out that there are some things a certain group of people is statistically better than others. Sometimes it's in the genes, sometimes it's in the culture but one thing I'm sure of, the actual worth of a human being is decided by its actions.
The truly interesting question is, why are white people so willing and able to take action against reason and empathy and favour fear and ignorance? The actual issue here is not the racism itself, it's the question why it comes so easily and thoughtlessly. Without effort.

Soooo lame. Who came up with that idiotic rule. Sounds like some stupid cult shit or religion. The backbone of any thing good in the universe imo should be based on love, empathy and the ability to forgive. Call me disappointed.

So, This is really hard to vote for.

This video is heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time.

It's a social experiment, but it's more than that. We know people are basically decent people. It was hard to watch, emotionally, because you feel for the guy, no one should have to receive this type of message, and no one should have to translate it to him.

But in fact, no one did send it, and he already knows what it says which makes me feel manipulated. Of course this made me emotionally upset for the situation. These types of videos are becoming more popular, where a guided scenario is set up, to induce the outcome that is wanted. Essentially this was an empathy test.

This setting was essentially sterile and set face to face with no outside obstacles - the outcomes were practically predetermined.

What if the readers were a group of strangers? What if it was outside in an open environment? What would the creators have done if the reaction was, in fact, not a positive outcome?

So many questions on how this was created and presented....
Thoughts?

Yahweh has NEVER given evidence of his existence. No more so than any other god anyhow. They all answer prayer equally and randomly well. They all claim to have made the universe/world, they all claim to be the true one... Near death experiences differ by culture expectations of that culture and don't all conform to the supposed Christian expectation... he has done nothing to make himself stand out from the rest of the gods that Christians dismiss. Heck, I've never seen a Frost Giant or evidence they ever existed, so clearly Odin has one up on Yahweh.

In the 4,000 years or so from Adam and Eve's time in the Garden to Jesus, Yahweh couldn't or wouldn't make himself known to the other races. He didn't reveal himself to those in Africa, Asia, the Americas or Europe, just to one tiny specific group of people in the Middle East. If couldn't then he's not the omnipotent, omnipresent god he claims, if he wouldn't that makes him a racist ass not worthy of following by picking one people to be his chosen people.

The only reason Europe became Christian was forced conversion when the Christian armies of Rome forced them to, which setup a tradition of most Europeans and later Americans being born into a faith. Were the exact same people born in Saudi Arabia they "would know that they know" that Islam is the true religion, or same in India but applying to Hinduism.

And saying that atheists have had supernatural experiences and can change to theism when talking about it, ignores the whole point of the video, especially the part when he talks about the linked Darren Brown video, which demonstrates that it is easy to make a spiritual experience happen that has no basis on any real god.

By way of example: I used to be a heavy evangelical Christian, I watched TBN and Fox News religiously (pun intended, see this old post of mine here on the sift from an old account that I couldn't recover http://videosift.com/usercomments/Charon... heck see my Revelations from the Word posts on my blog, http://www.brianathomas.com/archives/category/religion/revelations-from-the-word/ or more embarrassing my older political posts http://www.brianathomas.com/archives/category/politics/ which while progressive now, go to page 4 or so around June 2008 and back and you see a Libertarian and further back Republican with some crazy anti-vaccine paranoia , climate change denialism, science denaillism and other things I'm deeply ashamed of now)... I've had deep and meaningful spiritual experiences with god. After Republicans ruined Christianity for me (as the Republican party is clearly 100% against every teaching of Jesus... and yeah we can tick that off as being humans, but god does nothing to correct them, he may have spoke to my heart or whatever one wants to say to have more empathy, but over half the Christians in this nation still vote for a party 100% devoid of the teachings of the Jesus of the Bible while claiming to do it for Christian reasons) and I eventually lost faith (while Republicans are the reason I initially lost faith, they aren't the reason I stayed away, god is a dick is why I stayed away). After I lost faith in the Christian god, I gave paganism a try, and I've had just a meaningful spiritual experiences while worshiping at a Druid rite as I have at any Christian church. This is why people pick a religion, first by accident of birth (most people are Christian in the US because their parents were, and back to Europe where going back further they were forced to convert by invading Christian armies), second by choosing one that connects more personally with them... for many they see the hypocrisy of Christianity (and its general lack of empathy) but do connect with some form of paganism, and pagans generally have a patron god they serve above most others, and that god is the one they have a deep connection to, the same deep connection that Christians claim to have with Jesus/Yahweh... One doesn't drive a plane into a building killing 3,000 plus people without a deep and meaningful relationship with their god, and to dismiss t hat relationship as being deceived is naive and demonstrates a lack of empathy.

Now, I will allow the possibility that god does exist, but not in the form Christians propose, but perhaps closer to what the US Founding Fathers believed, but perhaps expanded a bit with more modern knowledge. A Deist like view. That this god somehow this god, created the energy and set into motion the laws of this physical universe that spun out from the big bang, but he's had nothing to do with anything since then. Perhaps all religions actually worship the same god but with their own culture's expectations and interpretations. However this would mean that all religions and lack there of are equally valid, which most faiths (aside from most modern paganism) doesn't allow for as their claim rests on being the true one.

I've rambled on far too long already so I'll leave it at that.