May 24, 2011
The Psychopath Test
It is an awful lot harder, Tony told me, to convince people you’re sane than it is to convince them you’re crazy.
After the conference, though, Hare seemed introspective. He said, almost to himself, “I shouldn’t have done my research just in prisons. I should have spent some time inside the Stock Exchange as well.”
“Serial killers ruin families,” shrugged Hare. “Corporate and political and religious psychopaths ruin economies. They ruin societies.”
A few quotes from a chapter of Jon Ronson’s new book on psychopaths, The Robert Hare Checklist, and the mental health of CEOs and traders on Wall Street.
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P. S. I heard a radio interview with Ronson a while back. Young Tony’s predicament sounded like one of Alfred Hitchcock’s worst nightmares.
I try to write about my time in the Alabama mental institution. When I volunteered there, of course. I manage a bit. Then the patients end up bleeding from the past into the present. So I have to put it away.
I still have Joyce’s drawings from when she was in solitary, being protected from suicide. Strangely, they’ve helped me out of some dark times.