<p>Good question. See, I believe every person has a right to an attorney to make sure they are treated fairly under the law-in a way which is consistent with the truth-so that justice is served for all involved. But many lawyers instead perceive that “it’s my job to get them off.” So they DO knowingly work to ensure that a murderer or other horrible criminal is acquitted and faces absolutely no consequences. And so you might wonder what kind of person could sleep at night knowing that he is happily sending a murderer right back to the streets to potentially do more of the same. </p>
<p>That is not the same as a defense lawyer who believes strongly in the innocence of his client, or one who works diligently to make sure his guilty client does not receive an unfair sentence, etc.</p>
<p>I think all meter maids, or as they prefer to be called… “parking enforcement officers”… are psychopaths. A uniform + chalk stick + citation pad = look out!</p>
<p>I have worked for or with numerous psychopaths. They destroy people. Yet they can be very successful, so they continue to be employed and highly valued. </p>
<p>Another reason I’d like to become a dog walker or a nanny in my next job.</p>
<p>Yes, and it’s often people who recognized who (or what) they are and have called them on it…that is NOT allowed, and those people will pay.</p>
<p>Very, very scary really. Unless you are in a high position of power, your chances of winning against these types is really small, because they have NO CONSCIENCE.</p>
<p>No conscience, and no scruples. They must win at all costs. My work history is much spottier than I would like because whenever I bump into one of these people, I wind up leaving. I find it’s necessary to get away from these people to protect myself. They don’t just want to be on top; they want to be on top and ruin you in the process.</p>
<p>"…It’s often people who recognized who (or what) they are and have called them on it… That is NOT allowed, and those people will pay." Nrdsb4</p>
<p>^^ That! </p>
<p>My personal sociopath next door finally moved, and not a moment too soon. The only punishments I received from him were two slashed tires and an attempt to smear my reputation. Scary, scary guy. Very charming, wonderful salesman, would help anyone in need, but don’t ever cross him. Violent, self destructive, and completely unable to see that his own behavior is in any way related to his problems. I crossed him by being a loyal friend to his (now ex) wife when she left him, and not going along with his narrative of what happened.</p>
<p>He left the neighborhood after declaring bankruptcy, having his home foreclosed on and serving a short stint in jail for a third DWI. Now on supervised probation, unemployed, living with his elderly mother, one son refuses to speak to him, the other is beginning to pull away. Does not yet admit that he has a drinking problem, and still blames his ex for everything that has gone wrong. (Ex got a lot of therapy, is remarried to a wonderful guy, and has blocked him from her phones, which was a key moment of freedom.)</p>
<p>When you look at many of the psychopaths in history who have managed to become leaders or very powerful in some way, you find that they often come to a very bad end. Good people finally just get fed up and turn on them en masse…and it’s not pretty.</p>
<p>I was recently reading an article about one such sociopath named Irma Grese who was so horrible, she found herself tried for war crimes and publicly executed at the tender age of 21. It’s just amazing how absolutely evil some people can be.</p>
<p>I am looking forward to the day the many psychopaths from my former work places get their just rewards. Unfortunately, they don’t always. I wish they did, but it doesn’t seem that way.</p>
<p>Yeah, your garden variety “just destroy the average person’s life” kind of sociopath may very well slip through life unaccountable.</p>
<p>You have to hope for some kind of cosmic karma or something.</p>
<p>What I do know is that not having the capacity to truly feel love would be an empty life no matter how many times one “wins” at the game. They may experience satisfaction with these contests, but it seems to me that not being able to feel a true, selfless love and the feelings which come with receiving the same would not be a life I’d particularly want to live.</p>
<p>I believe that the author of this article meant to use the word sociopath instead of psycopath. Perhaps I am just imagining a difference, but, from what I understand, a psycopath is someone whose actions are driven entirely by impulse and delusion, whereas a sociopath is simply a person incapable of feeling empathy and emotion.
If we take this article to mean sociopath, the list seems more believable. I’m not sure that these professions necessarily attract sociopaths, but rather, these people develop sociopathic tendencies as a result of their profession.
Take a surgeon for example. We would expect that a young surgeon would be devastated over losing a patient. A more experienced surgeon, however, would be more accustomed to death and injury.
Also, we can expect that anyone involved in the justice system, i.e. police officers and lawyers, would become cold and misanthropic after dealing with the worst members of society, especially after seeing many criminals escape punishment.
I imagine that soldiers should be included on the list but perhaps they were left out for political reasons.
The data for civil servants is probably skewed by the string of mass murdering postal workers in the
Can’t really think of a reason why chefs would be on this list.</p>
<p>Being able to separate emotions from one’s medical practice is not the same thing as being a sociopath. Many non sociopath surgeons have learned to distance themselves emotionally from their patients, but go home to people they love dearly, exhibit healthy ability to empathize, and have a strong conscience. Oncologists experience a higher percentage of patient deaths than surgeons, but you do not see them on that list.</p>
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<p>No, there are more (as in additional) sinister qualities of a sociopath than those. I don’t know if you read post 29, but it also includes a link which discusses some scholars’ opinions of the differences between a sociopath and a psychopath.</p>
<p>I completely agree. It’s satisfying when someone who was a workplace psychopath gets his/her just rewards when I’m still around to see it. It’s frustrating when, because of their craziness, I’ve left the organization, yet they stay and even thrive. I hope there is some giant cosmic retribution – yet I fear that’s not the case.</p>
<p>There’s one particular individual I’m thinking of. Knowing that he’s with his third or fourth wife is somewhat satisfying, but he continues to earn big bucks, bully other people to tears or quitting, and have a extremely successful public persona – even his own webpage.</p>
<p>I’ll just have to wait for the universe to take care of him, I guess. Unless I can find out where he lives?? :rolleyes:</p>
<p>Finally, China apparently has been experimenting with elections at the village level. I heard the results are not very encouraging because the criminal elements are the ones who are victorious. So the Chinese have to do the undemocratic thing - kicking them out of office, by force if necessary.</p>
<p>My career is on the list and in many years, I’ve only had two psychopath bosses and one psychopath colleague. Frequent encounters with sociopaths, though.</p>
<p>My career is not on the list, but in my 43 years of working, I’ve worked for or with about 15 psychopaths. Or sociopaths. You know – crazy people.</p>
<p>ETA: And it would have been more, but in the last five years, I’ve started to listen to my gut and have walked away from a few situations before they offered and I accepted a job.</p>
<p>I haven’t worked with any sociopaths that I know for sure of (one is a maybe), but I sure have worked with a lot of passive aggressives, and they are really annoying.</p>
<p>Sociopaths are certainly people you want to have minimal contact with, but for me the next worse thing would be having to deal with a borderline personality disorder. We have one in our family, and if my circumstances ever change where I do not HAVE to be exposed to this person, I will no longer do so-ever again.</p>
<p>An oncologist losing a patient hardly compares to a surgeon losing a patient. While a surgeon will literally see people die in front of him or her, an oncologist will not (barring some emotional attachment developed by the oncologist to his or her patient that might lead him or her to visit the patient as a friend would).
Furthermore, a surgeon deals with patients who are utterly terrified and sometimes unwilling. This coupled with the fact that they themselves are causing pain and bodily harm to their patients is more emotionally taxing than the work of other doctors.
The only fair comparison that I see to a surgeon might be a dentist, and we know that dentists have a very high suicide rate so we can assume that they are under similar psychological stress.
I will concede that sociopaths do exhibit a number of sinister traits (sinister in the eyes of a normal person), though I believe that they all stem from a lack of empathy and that this deficiency is the single quality that most aptly characterizes their condition; narcissism, superficial charm, manipulative behaviour, and remorselessness being prime examples of this.</p>
<p>I work with surgeons in the OR. The ones who are real jerks come into it as jerks. I’ve seen them as residents too, not just as seasoned and hardened individuals. I am not buying that the job of being a surgeon creates sociopaths or sociopathic behavior in someone who had no previous tendancies. You don’t turn into a sociopath as an adult.</p>