The Big Problem: We Sort the Psychopaths to the Top

You are not hallucinating all of this. I know it feels that way sometimes.

Stepping back to think broadly about this moment in history reveals a set of plot points that would be rejected in the room if you pitched it to a junior agent in Hollywood.

The confluence of existential catastrophes we face with a resurgence of evil not seen in 100 years leaves us at a historical inflection point. But I think we sometimes miss a key structural problem that has gotten us here.

Under-regulated capitalism has allowed a strain of raging psychopathy to take control of key sectors of our way of life, including business and politics.

At the root of this dynamic is the fact that our system rewards people who don’t care about others because they have an array of options that people with empathy don’t have. It’s hard to be competitive when your competition is willing to do shit you would never be willing to do. So the people who are willing usually win. This applies equally to business and politics.

In this way, we sort all the high-functioning sociopaths and psychopaths to the top of the pyramid — and reward them lavishly for it. And once they get there, those people want to surround themselves with people who have no interest in empathy either. So they replace anyone who won’t behave like a sociopath with someone who will.

That’s how you get Elon Musk, Peter Thiel and the entire Republican Party.

Now is the part it gets weird.

Since the goal of these psychopaths is to make people behave in ways that are counter to their own interests — so they can steal our money for themselves — they have now devised systems to turn “normies” into psychopaths.

Large swaths of our digital and media existence have been captured by psychopaths who intentionally created platforms and methodologies for brainwashing people into their own empathy-free worldview.

Look around. Social media and disinformation has converted a large percentage of our citizens into people who do not give a shit about anyone but themselves and their cult leaders. The sinking feeling we all have is driven in large part by the fact that we see our loved ones behaving in ways that seem sadistic and alien. We see the cruelty and the chaos and the hate and it feels wrong.

It is wrong. At least a third of the country has joined a fascist death cult. The world is, in fact, going crazy. You, dear reader, are not.

We have given the keys to our future to psychopathic white men who have proven that they want nothing but our destruction so they can pick up the pieces for themselves. Worse, those same people have not only sold their own souls, they are trying to sell us to our enemies.

Vladimir Putin, a psychopathic sadist with KGB training, is the perfect ally in their project. They are not scared of Putin. They want him to ruin the world. They want World War III. They want the fucking End Times.

Because they believe it benefits them. And that’s all that matters.

The fact is that psychopathy, cruelty and chaos is not what the vast majority of humanity wants. Most of us want to raise our kids in a world that cares about human beings, that cares about equality, that wants to move towards peace, not violence.

The key thing we have to address is the control that psychopaths have over the information we bathe people in — until we do that, we will continue to lose people to this indoctrination system. Rupert Murdoch, the Kochs, the Mercers, Thiel, Musk, Zuckerberg, etc. are intentionally creating hundreds of millions more of themselves.

These men do not deserve our trust. They do not deserve anything but a prison cell. They have intentionally poisoned us. Think tobacco industry but 100 times larger.

In short, psychopathic criminals are running, and ruining, the world. We should probably put an end to that practice real quick. 🏴‍☠️