The Null Device
2003/4/8
The Empress Hotel (whose live gigs have recently been partly shut down by noise complaints from yuppies) has set up a web page about the situation. This includes a petition you can fill out and send in (Victorian residents only) to put some pressure on the government to institute fairer licensing laws.
Is George W. Bush a psychopath? This piece examines the evidence, comparing the clinical definition of the psychopathic personality syndrome to an article profiling Bush and other media. (And then, of course, are those stories of him blowing up frogs as a small child, and taunting death-row inmates as Governor of Texas.)
Of course, this isn't a valid clinical test, but it suggests that he may be one. Which makes one wonder what proportion of politicians are psychopaths (a useful mutation for that line of work).
Hare puts the average North American incidence of psychopathy at 1 per cent of the population, but the damage they inflict on society is out of all proportion to their numbers, not least because they gravitate to high-profile professions that offer the promise of control over others, such as law, politics, business management ... and journalism.
(via Charlie's Diary)
Blogs can save lives. For example, feedback from helpful readers can tell you if the amazingly cool new girlfriend you just posted about is, in fact, a sociopathic compulsive liar with a long history of screwing people over.
Then Whistleblower followed with a series of identity theft stories. New Girl would steal online photos of various gothgirls and claim to be them in various chat rooms, chatting up gothguys and in some cases convincing them to fly up to meet her. One poor guy came incredibly close to doing so until the person whom she was posing as managed to warn him.
("Gothgirls"? "Gothguys"? Here's clue #1...)
[someone else] then told me about how she and New Girl met, at rehab meetings. Rehab?! And later, since New Girl had no place to stay, she let her stay on her couch. They grew closer and became lovers. Lovers?! And then came the story about how New Girl tried to hide her pregnancy. Pregnancy?!
(via bOING bOING)