The psychopath as superficially normal. The Eichmann syndrome where a mass murderer passes psychological testing with a sterling recommendation of a clinically normal individual who loves his family and is kind to pets. Hannah Arendt claimed his crime was thoughtlessness. An inability to think. One could also add a truckload of narcissism on steroids that broke through the rather flimsy defenses of repression and disavowal. As Anders Breivik’s psychological test results have surfaced, more questions have arisen over what constitutes the essential elements of a nutjob driven to kill like Call of Duty. Evidently, there is something perversely nihilistic here mixed with an unfathomable form of messianism that blends non-normative Judeo-Christian beliefs; the raw violence of gnostic Yahweh out for a wanton blast of destruction, with some sense of misplaced sainthood. All of this is not intrinsic to Masonic belief, and given his low rank in the order and the apparent legitimacy of the Lodge, it would be difficult to single out Masonry as the culprit. …
You don’t have to be American to act like Patrick Bateman. “I remember we were at a party, and he told me he had had his nose and chin operated on by a plastic surgeon in America. It was a bit weird, but he was hanging around at that time with a group of people obsessed by their bodies.” This is what a former schoolfriend of Anders Behring Breivik, the Norway Killer, told journalist Robert Mendick from the Telegraph. While there’s nothing fictional about the Norway Killer’s crimes, and his actions should not be trivialized, Mendick’s interviews with the psychopath’s old friends and neighbors paint him as a meticulously groomed, sociopathic wasp, which, ever since Bret Easton Ellis’s “American Psycho” came to the big screen in 2000, brings to mind the archetypical serial killer Patrick Bateman….
Read More:http://www.thelocal.se/38796/20120130/ ---“It was bloody unpleasant,” author Dag Öhrlund told the Aftonbladet newspaper. At the time of the incident, Öhrlund was posing on the streets of central Stockholm for pictures that were to be used on the cover of his new book entitled “Till minne av Charlie” ('In memory of Charlie'). In an effort to make the images more dramatic, Öhrlund was holding a replica of the Swedish police's former service weapon, a Walther pistol. But the site of Öhrlund brandishing the weapon prompted Swedish police to approach the photo shoot with their own pistols drawn. “They forced me and my friend to the ground. We had to lie there 20 minutes with handcuffs while police stomped on my injured back with their boots,” Öhrlund told the newspaper. Both Öhrlund and the photographer were placed under arrest and forced to spend four hours in a holding cell at a Stockholm police station.---
There are a number of graffiti art posters in Breivik’s apartment. From what we see, there is no sense of culture, artistic sensibility or whiff of the sublime. Its hard to make out what the posters are, but they appear fairly banal and ordinary which is part of the overall portrait. If he had not achieved such notoriety, he would be an average generic Joe without the talent or eccentricities, quirks of character inherent to those individuals who receive attention naturally. Maybe his whole persona was simply a pose, a gesture. A form without content designed to self-destruct and collapse on impact.
…The most obvious comparison between Breivik and Bateman, besides their uncontrollable desire to hurt innocent people, must be their obsessive vanity. Aside from reports of a nose job, Breivik’s 1,516-page manifesto also mentioned his steroid use and workout routine and detailed changes in his weight and appearance. It also included a list of his favorite things, including his Breitling watch (at least $4,000), his iPod, “a certain men’s cologne” and Lacoste clothing, which he’s showcased in all press photos with a popped color or a red-on-red sweater combo.Mendick reports that Breivik actually refuses to wear anything other than a red Lacoste shirt for public appearances to the court or police station….
Read More:http://racismdaily.com/2012/01/27/update-swedish-artist-avoids-jail-for-negro-slave-taunt/ ---Park created and distributed posters with a picture of Jallow Momodou of the National Afro-Swedish Association (Afrosvenskarnas riksförbund) superimposed on the image of a naked man in chains. "Our negro slave has run away," read the text on the posters. The controversial artist singled out Momodou for having reported a "jungle party" thrown by the Halland Nation student group during which three people with blackened faces and ropes around their necks were led into the party by a "slave trader" and later sold. Park's posters were distributed around Lund and also included Momodou's name and contact details. Momodou claimed the posters were racist and offensive, while Park argued that the purpose of the posters was to highlight the issue of free speech. "I want to make fun of the fact that people get upset about something like this," he told the Lund University's student newspaper, Lundagård, in April.---
…Also in line with Bateman, a rapist who often forgot his friends’ names, Breivik’s history reveals disregard for others and enjoyment in their pain. One of his old neighbors told the Telegraph he “took great pleasure in killing ants,” and old acquaintances report that when he was a graffiti artist in his youth he used to rat on his friends to the police. Part of what was so compelling about “American Psycho” was that on the surface Bateman was living a fantasy life—wealth, good looks and cleanliness are usually enviable qualities, not attributes of evil. It’s also part of what’s so astoundingly creepy about the Norway Killer….
Read More: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/discussions/what-makes-a-psychopath/article1770811/ Breivik's room.---Stephen Porter, a psychologist at the Centre for the Advancement of Psychological Science and Law at the University of British Columbia, argues that, in fact, the ability to feel no emotion, makes psychopaths more able to react rationally, and has no impact on their ability to understand right from wrong. “They are every bit as rational as any human being, if not more so, because they don't have the noise of human emotion,” says Dr. Porter. In his research, he has studied psychopaths in Canadian prisons, analyzing their crimes. He found that while psychopaths committed thefts and assaults without much premeditation, they were far less likely to kill in passion. Their murders were almost always carefully planned and executed. He describes them as “selective impulsive,” that is, they carefully weigh the costs and benefits of their deeds – the likelihood of being caught, the steeper punishment of life in prison for murder if they are careless. He points as well to research that has shown they are more than twice as likely to be granted parole. “They can put on Academy Award-winning performances for the parole board,” he says. And for juries.---
There’s no solid consensus on why psychopaths are psychopaths, although Jon Ronson’s The Psychopath Test gives a fascinating look at the Robert Hare Psychopathy Test which can be used to diagnose psychopaths. Obsessively shallow behavior and WASPiness usually don’t usually equate to psychopathic killer—nothing really does, other than psychopathic killing sprees. Read More:
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