Demonocracy.

I usually think of psychopaths as people one doesn’t want to meet in an alley on a dark night but apparently I’m looking in the wrong place. I’m far more likely to find psychopaths in the well-lit offices of government, advertising, finance and the media according to a Saturday morning Radio 4 psychologist. I rushed to Wikipedia and sure enough the traits of this condition are glaringly obvious in these professions when you begin to look. It seems that where some are driven to the bottom of society by it others are elevated to the top. “Consummate liars…. a willingness to say anything to anyone without concern for accuracy or truth….see other people as objects for their personal gratification….possess a general lack of empathy….dominant and confident with great charm and an ability to manipulate others…. have ambitious goals in life….excessive need for excitement and stimulation….seek quick satisfaction and thrills….have extremely inflated self-esteem….notorious for their hair-trigger tempers…. have a total lack of remorse for the abuses they commit.” Think Pears Morgan, Clinton, Blair and Murdock etc. The more I read these traits the more I realised our public school system is a perfect training ground for socially acceptable psychopaths. Elitism, rugby, fagging, debating and jolly property-smashing japes couldn’t be a better designed education for our psychopathic elite. With their strangle hold on high places the results become obvious: Erratic poor governance and a tendency to percolate the individualistic and lack of empathy traits of their condition throughout our society. Luckily though the day to day grass roots of it, far away from the disruptive influence of psychopaths, is alive and well, with the vast majority honest, hard working and a pleasure to be with.