Study: Wealthy Stockbrokers More Dangerous Than Psychopaths
The
findings are a reminder of why now -- more than ever -- we must refuse
to succumb to political apathy and laissez-faire demagoguery.
October
6, 2011, Like most people living through this jarring age of economic
turbulence and political dysfunction, you can probably recall a moment
in the last few months when you thought to yourself that our lawmakers
and corporate leaders are all crazy. And not just run-of-the-mill crazy,
a la George Costanza's parents, but the kind of crazy that makes films
like "Silence of the Lambs" and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" so
frightening.
The good news for you is that you aren't insane for
thinking this. The bad news for all of us, though, is that according to
two new scientific analyses, you are more correct in your assessment
than you may know.
The first revelation came from Dr. Nassir
Ghaemi of Tufts University. In his recent book, "A First-Rate Madness,"
he went beyond merely restating the old adage that anyone crazy enough
to run for public office probably shouldn't occupy that office. Instead,
the book sheds light on what Ghaemi calls an "inverse law of sanity,"
whereby tumultuous times like these actually reward and promote
political figures who are "mentally abnormal (or) even ill."
Now
comes a new study from Switzerland's University of St. Gallen showing
that the most successful of the global financial elite probably pose
more of a menace to society than known psychopaths.
As the
website Newser reported, the researchers "pitted a group of stockbrokers
against a group of actual psychopaths in various computer simulations
and intelligence tests and found that the money men were significantly
more reckless, competitive, and manipulative." Even more striking, the
researchers note that achieving overall success was less important to
the stock speculators than the sadistic drive "to damage their
opponents."
The findings build on similar research in the recent
past. In 1996, investigators at Glasgow Caledonian University discovered
connections between psychopathy and successful financial speculation,
concluding that "with the right parenting, (psychopaths) can become
successful stockbrokers instead of serial killers." Likewise, in 2004,
researchers at the University of British Columbia reacted to similar
findings and created a test to help firms detect "corporate psychopaths"
within their ranks. That same year, the award winning-documentary "The
Corporation" used World Health Organization metrics to show that if
companies really are "people," as our Supreme Court insists, then many
of them are mentally ill.
Obviously, these results reflect the
not-so-surprising fact that the extreme nature of the modern political
process and of today's casino economy inherently self-select for certain
kinds of traits. And no doubt, wholly changing that dynamic may be
impossible or undesirable -- or both.
However, the findings are a
reminder of why now -- more than ever -- we must refuse to succumb to
political apathy and laissez-faire demagoguery. Indeed, it’s time to
redouble our commitment to strengthening checks on political and
corporate power because that power is often being wielded by the most
unstable among us.
So what does that mean in practice? It means
that when we see a wild-eyed White House ignore the constitution and
claim the despotic right to assassinate American citizens without
criminal charge, we demand that Congress stop the madness -- rather than
quietly acquiesce. It means that when we see a spontaneous grassroots
movement physically occupy Lower Manhattan and challenge banks' deranged
rapaciousness, we applaud the effort as long overdue -- rather than
scoff at it as unrealistic. It means, in short, that we refuse to stay
silent in the face of insanity.
And frankly, if we have
scientific proof that the inmates are running the Wall Street and
Washington asylums, this is the least we should do -- and we really
should do a whole lot more.
reference : http://www.alternet.org/teaparty/152639/study%3A_wealthy_stockbrokers_more_dangerous_than_psychopaths/?page=1
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