Failed Conservative Values: Gordon Wright on Psychopaths and Fear

Written by: Edwin Rutsch on Jun 28, 2008 1:54 PM EDT

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  “It is a characteristic of all movements and crusades that the psychopathic element rises to the top”  Robert Lindner  

Gordon Wright values freedom but was raised by a conservative, autocratic, dictatorial and bully of a father. He feels conservatives fear life's changes and it's spontaneity. An example is how all of George Bush's public events are totally choreographed and controlled events.   He also thinks that the corporate conservatives value of heartlessness and unfettered self-interest, are the same values as a psychopaths. 
 

Failed Conservative Values: Gordon Wright on Psychopaths and Fear

Gordon:   I think real and true conservative values would probably involve conservation and conserving the best in tradition – you know, the best that is part of tradition.  And I think where conservatism in this country has virtually completely failed is that I think it got paranoid with some of the changes.  It got tied up with corporate values, and The Corporation – if you have seen the movie – the corporate values are the same values as a psychopath. 

So the people with money that have taken over the Republican Party, and now the insane lunatics that are called the neocons, are the example of that.  The trouble is that I hesitate to label these people conservatives.  They are reactionary corporatists.  They are psychopathic war criminals. 

Edwin:   What is the value of a psychopath?

Gordon:   The value of a psychopath is no values.  There is no heart to a corporation.  There is no heart to a psychopath.  He will get away with anything that he can get away with.  He will murder.  He will cheat.  He will steal.  He will lie – especially lie.

And so the kind of people that try to go up on the food chain, whether they might originally call themselves liberals or conservatives, sell out to these values, the values of a psychopath.  If you’re hungry for power, and you are willing to give up your essence, your soul.

Edwin:    How has that failed, being a psychopath?   What’s wrong with it?

Gordon:   Well, the earth is headed downhill.  Our economy is headed downhill.  Basically, what it is, is extreme egotism, when you lose the spiritual part of yourself.  A lot of spiritual people say there is a higher self and a lower self.  And the lower self – it’s nice to defend against poverty and a few basic things, but for the most part, if we are going to be real human beings, we can’t give up the higher part of ourselves.

And liberals and conservatives who still have a heart should get together and throw the criminals out of office.  They are complete, absolute, insane criminals

Progressive v Conservative Values: Gordon Wright - Freedom v Fear

Gordon: The most important personal value to me is freedom, and I think by that I mean spiritual freedom for each individual that also means that with deep understanding, that we are connecting with everybody else, that there is no such thing as absolute freedom, unless you have the values where you totally respect the freedom of every other individual.  Otherwise, the kind of freedom that we call  freedom, I don’t think is real freedom.

Edwin:  And how did you learn that?

Gordon:  I was raised by a very autocratic, dictatorial and bully of a father, who had his own positive merits, but he raised me – and I couldn’t fit in to believe these corporate values that every corporation was given total freedom to do anything they want, that the world would all work out, and that this was supposed to be in harmony with what Jesus taught.  And it never seemed to be in harmony.

I felt constricted or like put in a box.  He was from the old school – children should be seen and not heard, that sort of thing.  I felt like I wasn’t free to be me.  And I think this is a conservative value, that some people say is conservative.

The conservatives are afraid of life.  They are afraid of the spontaneity.  Like Bush at a press conference.  He doesn’t want anyone there to ask him a question that he is not ready for. 

They are afraid of the sex urge.  I think they are afraid of grass growing.  And so they need to control everything.  It’s absolutely insane, because life is nothing if not always growing, and there is an element of freedom in that life that it seems like the Western world, the corporate world, the world that deals with technology has tried to dumb-down freedom, has tried to dumb-down spontaneity.

Definition of Psychopath at personality disorders.com
The psychopath has antisocial traits coupled with and enhanced by callousness, ruthlessness, extreme lack of empathy, deficient impulse control, deceitfulness and sadism... Like narcissists, psychopaths lack empathy and regard other people as mere instruments of gratification and utility or as objects to be manipulated. Psychopaths and narcissists have no problem to grasp ideas and to formulate choices, needs, preferences, courses of action, and priorities. But they are shocked when other people do the very same.... Most people accept that others have rights and obligations. The psychopath rejects this quid pro quo. As far as he is concerned, only might is right. People have no rights and he, the psychopath, has no obligations that derive from the "social contract".

Psychopathy at Wikipedia
The psychopath is defined by a continual seeking of psychological gratification in criminal, sexual, or aggressive impulses and the inability to learn from past mistakes..... In other words, individuals with this disorder gain satisfaction through their aggressive, sexual and criminal impulses as well as lack a conscience. Psychopathy is frequently co-morbid with other psychological disorders (particularly narcissistic personality disorder).   It is estimated that approximately one percent of the general population are psychopaths. They are overrepresented in prison systems, politics, law enforcement agencies, law firms, and in the media.

Failed Conservative Values
Assist us  in systematically building the arguments and telling the stories that reveal how Conservative Values have Failed. Join in our effort to create a documentary and book on the subject by contributing  articles, posts, chapters for the book and video clips. Check our website for more information and a growing outline of tasks that need to be done on this project. 
 

See More Progressive Values Stories:

Edwin Rutsch
What Are Progressive Values? Documentary Project
http://ProgressiveSpirit.com 
and Study Group
 

Poll: What social or political movements would  psychopaths and narcissists, who don't value empathy, tend to join?
 

(   )  Progressive
(   )  Liberal
(   )  Libertarian
(   )  Conservative
(   )  All of the above
(   )  None of the above or other.
 

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