Do Sociopaths Make Better Republicans?

a reply to: FauxMulder

a reply to: dfnj2015

Well, as a veteran, I can only say that you nailed it. You are spot on. We are all sociopaths. I can't tell you how many lives and souls I have destroyed simply because I never counted because I don't care. I am glad you have finally outed all of us who were in the military. It's good to be out in the open.

originally posted by: smurfy

originally posted by: dfnj2015
"Do Sociopaths Make Better Soldiers?"
"I remember seeing the fear in people's eyes, and knowing that I could operate with a clearer head because it was absent in me," he writes in an email.

Do you remember The My Lai massacre?

500 villagers killed by a US unit, with women being raped and others tortured, garroted and children shot.
It ended only after Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson, an Army helicopter pilot on a reconnaissance mission, landed his aircraft between the soldiers and the retreating villagers and threatened that his men would open fire on the soldiers if they continued their attacks. I don't think he had much praise from the military, and it was covered up by senior officers, and ignore by Nixon. but by the year was out it became public. out of a hundred men, 14 were charged, but only one was convicted for life, later commuted to ten years. Another soldier, Ron Ridenhour not connected to the killings heard about it, and frustrated with his military and the US President went to the press, and that's how it got out.
The very brave Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson when back home received death threats.

None of the soldiers who attacked the villagers had been shot at by them.
So 500 innocent people dead, one person did some time, who was in fact shown some 'empathy' with the reduced sentence.
Make some sense out of that.

Bear in mind, this occurred during a war when most were drafted for 12 months, there was an epidemic of hard drug use, and there was very little legitimate screening to weed out those not fit for duty. We have had an all volunteer force since the early 70's, and over time the screening has become more stringent (though some that shouldn't still get through). There are true psychopaths in every segment of society...I'm willing to bet even some that post on these boards might fit that diagnosis, and I'm not writing that to be funny.

no Democrats have profited from capitalism

Of course they have, but they usually don't let it make them heartless, selfish and cruel like Republicans do. Democrats value quality of life for citizens and Republicans don't give a damn about quality of life, only quantity (of dumb, gullible consumers and voters).

I mean just look at these soldiers with their lack of emotion and empathy.

Disgusting right? Sociopaths.

a reply to: DBCowboy

You sarcasopath you.

a reply to: CB328

As an independent looking at both sides from the outside... I completely disagree.

What you describe exists equally in both parties. Go to many places in the south and you'll see an incredible sense of community. Many republicans are Christians and give money to the church which helps domestically and abroad.

Just because Republicans believe that the government shouldn't provide everything for citizens doesn't make them heartless. The government is bloated and wastes money like the plague, why put them in charge of more programs to bleed money.

What you just said was bigoted and showed no empathy. Plenty of Republicans are generous on their own accord. Many of them have a strong moral sense and strong family fiber. Many Democrats are the same. The difference is they believe different ways to the same solution. Both parties are more similar than different, often times just different approaches to the same problem.

But thinking you're superior for party affiliation is no different than religious superiority.

And this is why humans can't progress, they are unwilling to be open minded or empathetic to those who think differently.

originally posted by: dfnj2015

originally posted by: CriticalStinker
a reply to: dfnj2015

I guess when you are that far to the right everyone else is a left wing extremist.

You're doing the same thing with this thread.

I have many liberal friends, true liberals. And they don't act like they are high and mighty, they understand other viewpoints create balance.

No two people are the same, and what you're eluding to is people must have psychological disorders if they don't think the way you do.

Yet the Democrats participate in the oligarchy as much as Republicans, you still blanket all Democrats as Supreme empathizers.

I don't disagree with anything you are saying in this response.

However, with military training you are conditioned to be cut off from your emotions. I don't see how any soldier would be capable of killing the enemy if they had a bleeding heart. I think there maybe something to what I am suggesting even if it isn't a perfect blanket statement. I have heard countless callous comments from right wingers that make me think they have no empathy bone in their body. I was just thinking maybe it was because they are ex-military. Maybe I'm wrong and it's something else.

Complete and utter horse crap.

We are not "conditioned to be cut off from our emotions"

Seriously, where do you people get this crap from?

If that were true, we would not be able to function as a team. Ever.

We would not be able to take care of each other in a combat or dangerous situation. We would not be able to save each other's lives when in those situations. And we train and train and train for those situations.

We also provide humanitarian aid to a LOT of people all around the world, and reporting when there are bad things going on. If we were trained to not give a crap about those things, we would not be able to do it.

If we were made to not have emotions over things, there is NO WAY we could function in society outside of the military. No way for us to have families and no way for us to take care of and love our kids.

You're REALLY showing your ignorance here, and how easy it is for you to fall for some horse crap that some other idiot have written.

You want to know what we were trained to do? We were trained to do the job. Get the job done. To take care of each other and work as a finely tuned unit. To pay attention (great attention) to detail (because it will always be one of the things that will save your life).

"trained to be cut off from our emotions"......UTTER HORSE CRAP.

a reply to: eriktheawful

a reply to: dfnj2015

If you are trained to be able to kill somebody in combat, don't you think a soldier might have a particular political philosophy when it comes to caring for the "enemy" ?

The biggest display of empathy I've ever seen in my life is a Vietnam pow returning to Vietnam to meet one of the soldiers who tortured him. They shared pictures, stories, and tears.

These soldiers know the other side is fighting for similar reasons but different beliefs.

You can share stories of soldiers saying or doing bad things and someone could counter every one of those stories with displays of love and empathy.

Remember in the great War when Germans and Americans shared Christmas together?

You picked one quote and one story to support your claim. And your claim was one of the most disgusting things I've seen on this forum. I don't hold that against you, I just hope if you truly believe you and the Democrats are empathetic towards humans you don't pick and choose who that is extended to.

originally posted by: dfnj2015
a reply to: smurfy

I am willing to admit I am completely wrong. I've worked with two ex-military guys. They were equal to the best people I have ever worked with. They had an abundance of integrity and loyalty. They really got the job done.

However, I've seen many ex-military types of many blogs, like Alex Jones news stories for example, who make the most callous comments. Now maybe in real life people behave different when they do not have the anonymity you have on the internet.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe my OP is completely wrong. Part of why I started the thread was just intellectual curiosity if my hunch were correct. Again, maybe my anecdotal way of looking at it s completely wrong. As they say, correlation does not always prove causation.

I understand the way you are coming from, but my purpose is to put out how some people behave in a gross manner, and how often the big cheeses in military make impossible standards and know it, and allow their people a big license, because they know if they didn't they would have an army of madmen and women. A British soldier executed a wounded terrorist, ended up being sentenced, because the event was recorded while he actually talked about breaking the Geneva convention, now he is free after a relatively short time. A jewish soldier did the same and it was recorded, and got a very short sentence. Same for another American soldier.
Thing is, this is going on all the time, if it is witnessed, there will be some come uppence, if it is not, there likely won't. Those 500 people may just as well have never been heard of had it not been for the helicopter pilot.
Just as the Baghdad video, an act of gross indifference, may never have been heard of if not for Manning.

originally posted by: CriticalStinker
a reply to: angeldoll

I think the lack of empathy from the OP skated over the fact many young men and women join because of socioeconomic factors.

Exactly!

There is a certain honor for those of us who grew up poor or not so wealthy and instead of signing up for welfare decided to join the military, see the world, and grow the hell up, versus those so entitled that we see today who take out a loan for college, take up a useless major, learn how to protest and then do nothing but complain about how unfair it is they have to pay back their loan??????

I was in the military for 28 years and I find myself caring little about the OP, so I guess they are right...

originally posted by: Xtrozero
I was in the military for 28 years and I find myself caring little about the OP, so I guess they are right...

Haha I said I'm sure there would be vets who read this and be unphased. Vets fought for freedom of speech even if it was not so bright.

Many of the politicians on both sides, and many of the high ranking people in our country are sociopaths. We send them to DC to get them out of our towns.

Closed for staff review......

This is NOT the Mud Pit!!!

Reaffirming Our Desire For Productive Political Debate (REVISED)