If its considered psychopathic to enjoy the suffering of others ...

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Xavderion wrote:

That's not psychopathic.

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鬼殺し wrote:

And yes, people turn malicious online. Zero repercussion, and usually little to gain being polite or friendly.

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鬼殺し wrote:

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kolyaboo wrote:

A REAL psychopath is someone that doesn't believe other people are "real" like they are. They don't feel sorry for them, anymore than I would for a fictional character. The term psychopath has been abused WAY too much.

Spectacularly oversimplified. Ironically your last sentence is why.

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鬼殺し wrote:

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Upandatem wrote:

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鬼殺し wrote:

And yes, people turn malicious online. Zero repercussion, and usually little to gain being polite or friendly.

Additionally, I think, the limited format of communications, void of otherwise present social cues simply gives the empathic centre of the brain a lot less to work with.

It's concievably easier, at least if your sensitivity is shit, to be nasty to a block of text wich cannot respond to you with body language, facial expressions, tone of voice etc.

Very true. Unless you allow this to be real, which a lot of us first gen net users did. That gave some of us a whole different sort of power. I do not doubt I behaved psychopathically once I realised how seriously some people treated the net and how easily I could manipulate that.

But then it started to bounce back and that was a blessing in disguise. That stopped me dead in my tracks. I mean, I was only late teens at this point so the revelation that I was affecting real lives half a world away was...strangely therapeutic. Growing pains, I guess.

And that was all text on a screen, until it wasn't.

I remember the first time someone I knew only from a chatroom died. God, did I ever torment that woman. She gave back, but never at the same level. Chatrooms were just frenemy playgrounds, really. Anyway, turns out she actually was quite obese. Dead at 39. Heart failure. She loved horses, according to the obit.

Hard to go back to "just words on a screen" from that. Whoever is reading this has feelings. I might not always be nice on here. Sometimes I'm really mean. But contrary to what diablofdb once said, I do not lack empathy. Not in real life, not on here.

I remember what I was like when I did. It was all so sickeningly easy.

If we accept that psychopathy is a real thing, a mixture of nature and nurture, I'd say that the internet as a social space attracts those whose nature leans towards psychopathy and nurtures those qualities. Those urges we have to shut someone down on here. The whole I'd punch you irl if I could sentiment. These are the urges real psychopaths fight every day. Or don't fight, as the case may be.

From what I've read, and I'm far from done, the only way to integrate a full blown psychopath into society is to teach them that resisting those urges will be more rewarding in the long run. Some, maybe many, learn this for themselves as they grow.

And that's why it's so god-damn hard to spot a real one.

But we've all met one. For sure. Especially as kids.