A slowdown in posting January 29, 2008

My posting is going to be a bit slower/haphazard for a while. Real life, wouldn’t you know.
I will still regularly be considering submissions, though – please send.
I don’t want to lose my wonderful reader-commentators, but I do understand the vastness of the web-world – there’s a lot of good stuff out there.
If you register via [...]

Motives of the revolutionary and the Quisling January 23, 2008

An individual with a schizoid tendency may be actuated in substituting hating for loving—curiously enough one an immoral, and the other a moral motive; and incidentally these would appear to be specially powerful motives in the case of the revolutionary and the Quisling. The immoral motive is determined by the consideration that, since the joy [...]

The apparent spontaneity of the pick-up artist January 20, 2008

Perhaps he should be called ‘the pick-up technician’ in recognition of the mental knots he ties both himself and the other in:

There are three traits a successful indirect opener should possess: It should appear spontaneous, be motivated by curiosity, and be interesting to most people.
The method: Left over right and under…
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Neil Strauss (2007) Rules [...]

Fighting words January 19, 2008

Barbara at Abuse sanctuary provides a list of ‘Verbal manipulations’ and how to deal with them. Here is one:
#4 Picking a Fight – The Confrontational Choice of Words
“Why do you always…” “Do you expect me to…” “I can’t believe you would…” “I thought we were going to…” “Why should I have to…” “I’ve been [...]

No such thing as a lie January 17, 2008

In Hitchcock’s film North by northwest the character played by Cary Grant wants to hire a taxi (for a two block trip to a business meeting in a hotel bar). He pushes his secretary, Maggie, ahead of him in the way of a man about to enter a cab. What follows is a masterpiece of [...]

Digging oneself a deeper hole January 15, 2008

Swivelchair from Neurological Correlates is interested in the link between Parkinson’s disease and Machiavellianism. Below he describes a woman with Parkinson’s who is “a complete liar, and I would say psychopath”:
In order to make sure she was invited places, she would tempt people with false information, and ingratiate herself.
Here’s one example: she told a bunch [...]

Is Jack Bauer a sociopath? January 13, 2008

Well, the term sociopath is no longer used by polite psychiatrists, so let’s make do with Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD). Matt Hunt at How stuff works asks: ‘Is Batman a sociopath?’ and uses the DSM-IV criteria for APD to come up with his answer. No, Batman is not a socioopath.
How about Jack Bauer, of the [...]

Top-spin January 12, 2008

Perhaps it’s unfair to rip a guy on the way out, but this from President Bush is a classic:

“I think we were welcomed. But it was not a peaceful welcome.”
Appellation: Greetings, mofo!

Jesuitical January 11, 2008

Cullen Murphy captures the meaning of ‘Jesuitical‘ (not to be confused with Jesuit):
Very early, owing in part to English Protestant propagandists, the word “Jesuitical” came to characterize a form of argument designed less to seek the truth than to make a case, a form of argument that was aggressive and clever but perhaps not always [...]

From the first O.J. trial January 9, 2008

Prior to the verdict in the murder trial of O.J. Simpson, James Ellroy – see here, here, and here – wrote a piece trying to get into the minds of the characters:
Some months ago, the Simpson defense team assumed O.J.’s perspective and realized that their client was flubbing his performance as an innocent man unjustly [...]

For the theologically-inclined January 8, 2008

In ‘The Seat of Sin, the Heart‘ Greg Herrick elaborates on the writings of the English theologian, John Owen (1616-1683):
The more men sin, the more they are inclined to sin. It is from the deceitfulness of this law of sin, whereof we shall speak afterward at large, that men persuade themselves that by this or [...]

A Freudian weapon January 8, 2008

Rebecca West on Kafka:
His benevolence was impersonal; it flowed out to people in whose idiosyncracies he was not interested. This is exactly the sort of kindness which is to be expected from the born bureaucrat. But in his closer relationships he might even be called insensitive. When he was well on in his thirties, he [...]

It’s not me it’s you January 7, 2008

Barbara at Abuse sanctuary has an article – originally published here – on a technique favoured by the narcissist and the psychopath (N/P): ‘Projection: A glimpse into hell’.
Has your abuser ever accused you of the most vile, cruel lies?Accused you of being crazy? Twisted everything you say into something grotesque? Most of us have experienced [...]

Wouldn’t want to be this guy’s cat – or wife January 6, 2008

***The link to Letters home to you in the previous post was broken (now fixed). Apologies it Ian. Readers’ do give this site a visit – Ian is a most entertaining writer.***
“No matter what you do,” than man without qualities thought with a shrug, “within this mare’s nest of forces at work, it [...]

Winging it January 5, 2008

Ian from Letters home to you provides the following:
I’ve been happily married for more than a decade. About three years ago, I met this woman at a gathering of fellow expatriates in the city I live who slowly revealed herself to be a real narcissist – textbook case. She instantly paid [...]

Blinking with feigned surprise January 4, 2008

Notifying his readers about this new blog (thank you, sir), Postcards from the id goes on to suggest how the forensic psychologist like himself might put these kinds of examples to work:
First, periodically reminding oneself that client’s who are attempting to avoid accountability will say almost anything is a good way to avoid being taken [...]

Wheels within psychopathic wheels January 3, 2008

In 1978 high school teacher Richard Lindwall was convicted of the kidnap, sexual assault, and murder of a seventeen year old hitchhiker, Jefferson Wesley. Years later his former student Robert Kurson interviews Lindwall in prison:
Mr. Lindwall asks if I remember his trial. I tell him that I’d read the papers and, like everyone else, admired [...]

8 ways to make a non-apology January 2, 2008

Hat tip to Barbara at Barbara’s Tchatzkahs who alerts us to the article How NOT to Apologize when you have Seriously Fucked Up by Annesthesia over at heartless bitches. In summary:
1.) Apologize in email.
2.) Make sure the “confession”, er, apology comes MONTHS or years after the incident.
3.) Use generic sweeping statements, so that [...]

Don’t de-spam this January 1, 2008

My spam catcher asks me whether I want to delete the following message or de-spam it:
I can not agree with you in 100% regarding some thoughts, but you got good point of view
Thinking it’s a reader’s comment I visit the site only to find this!
Lesbians Girls Lesbians Teen Lesbians
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Moral: A perv in friend’s clothing.