The Psychopath I Know
One of my dear friends, Alex, is a predicted psychopath. He is fourth generation at Harvard, and that alone tells me that he probably has the Warrior Gene is his DNA. He has a squash court in his name, and always says that, "squash is fun because you get to hit things in a fast way."
Alex is a skinny, white boy but somehow he always has a girlfriend. Why does he always have a girlfriend? He is a charming boy - always seducing the ladies. He is one to put his arm around your shoulder and always keep eye contact.
Among other very messed up things, Alex has said that, "A good way to make money would be to drive around a town in a school bus, kidnap children, and then sell them back to their parents." Or that, "parents who don't want their kids can send them to school in MY school bus, then I can 'deal with' them." One time, Alex got into an argument with out English teacher arguing that, "Female skin is just more attractive than male skin, and that boys should cover up." (Not a joke, that is actually an argument that he tried to win.)
When I asked Alex what he wants to do when he grows up, he said "I want to own Wall Street." He is going to Harvard and majoring in Finance, a seemingly terrible four years - right? He is excited about college because he'll be able to rub his degree in people's faces one day.
When I asked Alex to help me in math class, he required that I call him Math God.
He's for sure a psychopath.
PS - I got his permission to write this.
This is a really interesting example of a psychopath. I think it is really interesting how you point out his superficial charm since that is one of the main traits of a psychopath. It is intriguing how he wanted you to refer to him as a "Math God" and said, "I want to own Wall Street". This displays that he has a grandiose sense of self. This seems like a strong example of a psychopath.
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you were able to tell a story in a way, of someone in such a concise way. This description of Alex shows us how people can have the psychopath characteristics or actually be one but still be able to function in society as a regular person. Only a deep analysis of Alex could reveal his Psychopathic tendencies which you explained. The characteristic that you described that convinced me that he had Psychopathic traits was his ambitions to "own wall street", basically describing the controlling manipulative aspect of Psychopaths.
ReplyDeleteThis is so interesting! I think it is really fascinating how you noticed the traits of a psychopath that we talked about in class in your friend. When he said that he wants parents who don't want their kids to send them to school in his bus, this sounds very threatening and ominous to me. I think that when someone wants to harm others like this, it constitutes a discussion about whether or not they actually mean what they say. If they don't, then that is freedom of speech, but it is technically hate speech, which is protected under the constitution, as long as it doesn't directly pose a threat. However, if the person actually does mean what they say, that they will actually harm someone, that is beyond the freedom of speech boundary. Therefore, they could get prosecuted. This all ties back to your friend because if he actually was going to do something bad to the children, he could get prosecuted if he carried it out.
ReplyDeleteI think it would be super interesting to have a conversation with Alex just to understand how he thinks and pick his brain a little bit. It seems as though he should maybe talk to a psychiatrist or therapist to get some help especially when the thoughts become more on the violent side. But overall he seems like a very drive guy (he made it to Harvard to I am guessing he is very smart) and I am also wondering if maybe his psychopathic tendencies help him when it comes to school.
ReplyDeleteI found this post really interesting. As we learned in class, psychopaths are quite common, meaning that all of us probably know one or two of them in our life. It also begs the question, should we be worried about these kinds of people? Should we disassociate ourselves with them because they are dangerous. or associate ourselves with them because they might be rich and siccesful one day. I found it very interesting how this psychopath in your life behaves, and how you were able to recognize that.
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