Discussion post week 6

Psychopaths

The defining characteristics of psychopathic behavior suggest that the person displaying this type of action is well aware of what is happening. Mental illness is a broad term that suggests that there is something inherently wrong with the physical parts of the body or brain that is the cause of abnormal behavior. Psychopaths are not ill and this general condition should not be placed in a system that relies so much on normalcy.

Normalcy is the fulcrum on which this argument rests. Psychopaths, by definition, enjoy being abnormal while trying to charm others into believing that this abnormalcy is enjoyable. Associating mental illness with simply being abnormal does not seem or appear to be a wise decision.

Throughout history, normal behavior has turned out to be very dangerous and threatening. In this sense, psychopaths, by definition are heroes in many instances. During the time of slavery in America, Harriet Tubman and her conducting an underground railroad to free slaves would be classified as psychopathic behavior in many circles. Tubman was repeatedly breaking social norms of her day while repeatedly resisting the law and other social forces that did not encourage this behavior. Using today's definitions of a psychopath, Harriet Tubman certainly would fall under this classification.

Mental illness may or may not exist in the way that most think. The impossibility of entering into anyone's mindset is nearly impossible due to the restrictions that language imposes on expression. Words and their meanings are not normalized in any great fashion. Terms like "good" and "bad" are completely irrelevant in large societies and have very little general meaning. For some, like plantation owners and those who benefited from this practice, slavery was very "good." For others, like the slaves themselves, slavery could be considered "bad." To complicate things more and further diminish the utility of applying the term mentally ill to abnormal behavior, some slaves would consider slavery to be "good" as well. There are no clear cut answers in this argument as relativity must be applied in order to understand and classify these conditions.

The need to document and classify such behavior as obsessive can lead to misdiagnosis and unlawful prosecution. The human condition itself is very psychopathic if one is to equivocate this word with an affinity for the abnormal. Human and natural evolution itself displays psychopathic behavior by demanding and requiring a break from the norm and a transcendence to the new. Crawford (2012) suggested that psycopaths have value in our society. She claimed " Not all psychopaths are violent, he says, and some of them are just the sort of people society can count on in a crisis." Lewis (2013) agreed that there are benefits to psycopathy. She revealed that "findings show that people who have psychopathic traits are flexible in their ability to cooperate with others."