Conscience

"About one in twenty-five individuals are sociopathic, meaning, essentially that they do not have a conscience. It is not that this group fails to grasp the difference between good and bad; it is that the distinction fails to limit their behavior. The intellectual difference between right and wrong does not bring on the emotional sirens and flashing blue lights, or the fear of God, that it does for the rest of us. Without the slightest blip of guilt or remorse, one in twenty-five people can do anything at all."

"Conscience propels us outward in the direction of other people, toward conscious action both minor and great. Attachment-based  conscience causes the teenage mother to buy the little jar of creamed peas instead of her favorite fingernail polish. Conscience protects the privileges of intimacy, makes friends keep their promises, prevents the angered spouse from striking back. It induces the exhausted doctor to pick up the phone for his frightened patient at three in the morning. It blows whistles against institutions when lives are endangered. It takes to the street to protest a war. Conscience is what makes the human rights worker risk her very life. When it is combined with surpassing moral courage, it is Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi."

"In small and large ways, genuine conscience changes the world. Rooted in emotional connectedness, it teaches peace and opposes hatred and saves children. It keeps marriages together and cleans up rivers and feeds dogs and gives gentle replies. It makes individual lives better and increases human dignity overall. [...] The problem [...] is that not everybody has it. In fact, 4 percent of all people do not have it."

Martha Stout, Ph.D.: The Sociopath Next Door

I'm reading this light little book by clinical psychologist Martha Stout, in which she discusses the typical traits of sociopathy and provides a guide to identifying individuals without a conscience. Sociopathy or antisocial personality disorder is a mental health condition that often goes undetected in ordinary people. Contrary to popular belief, sociopathy doesn't necessarily entail aggression and blood lust and while sociopathic murderers are the most notorious monsters, statistics shows that most sociopaths are not violent criminals. In fact, most sociopaths blend into society and quietly wreak havoc as backstabbing coworkers, mean teachers, cruel caregivers, abusive spouses, corrupt politicians, or ruthless businessman. They manipulate, exploit, and violate the rights of others without feeling any guilt or remorse about it. If Dr. Stout's statistics are right, and 4 percent of the population is sociopathic, than it is more common than anorexia, schizophrenia and colon cancer. Of course, the fabric of the human psyche is intricate and one doesn't have to be conscienceless to do unscrupulous or cruel things, it is enough to view someone as an "other", for example, who falls outside of our moral universe where our moral rules don't apply. However, while reading Dr. Stout's book, I couldn't help but think about all the utterly corrupt, soul-less, unscrupulous going-ons in politics and economics and I found myself stop asking the question "How can these people sleep at night?"