Don’t ask, you wouldn’t believe me
According to psychiatric research, among the general population of the world, roughly 1.2% of are psychopaths. So it would seem, unless you don’t get out much, that you could be rubbing shoulders with one nearly any day of the week. But no worries though, “It could be worse… it could be raining.” (Marty Feldman, from “Young Frankenstein”)
In stark terms, more than one in a hundred seems pretty concerning, if not outright disconcerting. But not all psychopaths are the type who would stare into your bedroom window late one night. Hollywood may prefer those who kill and rape, but those people are but a small percentage among the cohort of psychopaths here in the US and around the world. They could just as easily be your neighbor, your manager, or someone you work with, or (probably) someone you voted for, or listen to on CNN—or even CBN. Yes, evidently psychopaths can be even be found in the high places of your church’s association or denomination.
There has actually been a study that identifies “the psychopath capital of the world.” Not too surprisingly that place is the nation’s capital itself, Washington, DC.
In his book, “The Psychopath Epidemic,” author, entrepreneur, and businessman Cameron Reilly identifies not only the character traits of psychopaths, but how everyone else, whether they realize it or not, actually enable them to flourish, at least for a season, either because we do not recognize them in time, if at all, or too many of us fear the consequences of resisting the psychopath or the culture that creates and nurtures him.
So then, what is a psychopath? He—more often than she— is someone displaying observable, but often ignored telltale signs.
“Having a close relationship with someone with dark tetrad personality traits—narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadism—is tough to say the least.”
“As well as being selfish, they appear to be devoid of empathy for anyone around them, including their closest family members.” (From sciencealert.com)
If this sounds like someone you know, don’t be so amazed. After all, one out of a hundred are pretty good odds in any situation.
Once we begin to view our leaders as potential psychopaths, it makes it easier to question their decisions. But there is then this complicating factor: most people are easy prey for propaganda. This is the favorite tool of psychopaths who acquire and maintain power and control. Propaganda is not really anything new.
[1718, “Committee of cardinals in charge of foreign missions of the Catholic Church,” short for Congregatio de Propaganda Fide “congregation for propagating the faith,” a committee of cardinals established 1622 by Gregory XV to supervise foreign missions. Hence, “Any movement or organization to propagate some practice or ideology” 1790]
In the modern political sense: “dissemination of information intended to promote a political point of view” dates from World War I, and was not originally pejorative—implying bias or to be deliberately misleading. But during the Second World War, propaganda became the de facto tool of Josef Goebbels—an extraordinary example of a psychopath—for keeping the German people opiated to the horrors Hitler visited upon them. (Extracted from Etymology Online Dictionary)
This then, leads us to an important key to understanding the increasing breakdown of our social and cultural construct. According to French philosopher and sociologist Jacques Ellul, Most people are easy prey for propaganda:
“Because of their firm but entirely erroneous conviction that it is composed only of lies and ‘tall stories’ and that, conversely, what is true cannot be propaganda. But modern propaganda has long disdained the ridiculous lies of past and outmoded forms of propaganda. It operates instead with many different kinds of truth—half truth, Limited truth, truth out of context.” (Emphasis added)
This is because we have been conditioned to believe what we believe and limit our options out of a reaction to information overload. It hampers our ability to make smart decisions even to the extent of life-saving. The Information Overload Research Group calls this “foxification” or “data smog.”
But we are not talking about spending too much time on the computer—although that is certainly a factor—we are talking about our slow and steady entrapment by the oligarchy—the plutocracy— found in every culture, every social group, in every part of this world. We become victims to deception. And in every culture in every part of the world, the choicest victim is a child—or any who think like a child. Although we may come to know God with childlike faith, maturing in faith is critical, and we must put our childhood behind us.
- When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put aside childish things. (1 Corinthians 13:11)
According to Reilly, (pictured)“Propaganda has become so ubiquitous, sophisticated, and disciplined during the late 20th and early 21st centuries, that someone coined new term for it: ‘propagenda.’ Propagenda is the act of creating an environment in which only a specific range of topics are allowed for discussion.” (“The Psychopath Epidemic” p120)
This of course explains why we are told every social ill and injustice is due to racism or homophobia.
We are preparing the formula for the disaster that is waiting for us. It requires an influx of psychopaths and an abundance of weak people willing to be governed. Most people are unconscious of it, but they are usually drawn to the politically powerful. Psychopaths are usually drawn to power without conscience. Combine that dynamic with rationalizing ignorance, and you will get the slow and steady, inevitable march to tyranny. It’s only a matter of time.
- But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase (Daniel 12:4).
One day the book of Daniel would be unsealed—and opened—for all the world to see. It means the eyes of men, women, and even children running back and forth from one Bible verse to another—one chapter to another, as they read the words of the Lord that had been sealed. This parallel verse that makes it clearer:
- For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him (2 Chronicles 16:9).
