An Ally Against Empire: Thomas Sheridan-The Psychopath as a Metaphor for Empire

During my time in graduate school, I encountered the writings and videos of a man by the name of Thomas Sheridan. His biography, and how he came to be one of the leading experts outside of the psychology profession about psychopathology and psychopaths, can be had at both of the above-linked places so I shan't repeat it here. That he has such expertise, and that he's used it to publish a pair of books (Puzzling People: Labyrinth of the Psychopath and Defeated Demons (A third, The Anvil of the Psyche, is now up at Lulu.)) is remarkable. The impact his writing and speaking had to date, while outside the notice of those slaved to the mainstream media, is significant; changes in the products and actors of the Establishment culture of late can be tracked to his work.

That said, the reason that I bring him and his work to your attention is that I think that the Psychopath and Empire are nothing more than an expression of the same toxic idea on different scales. It's known now that psychopaths concentrate themselves into hierarchies of all sorts, especially at the top of these structures, and them impose their psychosis upon the organizational culture. This is why corporations and governments can be accurately portrayed as psychopaths; they are run by such individuals, and through their control corrupt the culture such that everyone has to become proto-psychopathic if they want to stay in the organization above the foundational-cum-cannon fodder entry-level positions (nevermind advancing through it). It also explains that metaphor I used last week of infection (albeit with difficulty, which is why I also like John Nash's "archon" concept as a complimentary metaphor) for the known pattern of Empire shedding one form and taking over the form of that which destroyed its predecessor.

I encourage you to follow the links above to Sheridan's radio show, videos on YouTube, blog and books on the subject of psychopaths and psychopathy. For the most part, I concur with his reasoning and--for all but a very, very few--with his recommendation for how to deal with them once you detect them: Total Shunning. Break contact, cut them out of all parts of your life, let everyone else know that you're doing this and never contact them again under any circumstances- walk away from Omelas and take that forsaken child with you. As it is with individual psychopaths, so it is with Empire: break away, cut all ties, let your people know, never deal with Empire again and walk away from Omelas w/ said child.

Thomas Sheridan is an Ally Against Empire. Help him help the rest of us make Empire fall.