Kevin Pezzi, MD

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“To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.”

— Elbert Hubbard, American editor, publisher, and writer (1856–1915)

Trivia: He and his wife, Alice Moore Hubbard, the noted feminist and writer, died aboard the RMS Lusitania, which was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine on May 7, 1915, when they were heading to Europe to cover the war and interview Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany.

If you disagree with something I wrote, feel free to challenge it. Some of my viewpoints are the antithesis (exact opposite) of what they once were. That isn't flip-flopping; that is changing opinions with scant evidence to support them into convictions with a firmer foundation of facts.

My political philosophy is an amalgamation of libertarian, conservative, and liberal principles. My opinions have changed so significantly that my conservative friends might be horrified by how I strongly believe that liberals are correct on certain issues. I've previously written about some of them, but to make this more fun, I will present others as challenges in which I offer $100,000 to the first person who can refute the logic I used in forming that opinion. Please note that due to my limited time and difficulty using my hands after I broke my neck, I cannot quickly update my previously published opinions. However, now that I am balancing the promptings of head and heart, I strongly disagree with many opinions I expressed in my writings.

I like finding people who make me think, not necessarily those who agree with me. Genius Robert Heinlein said, “I never learned from a man who agreed with me.” If you can educate me, I'm all ears.

“Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions.”
— Albert Einstein

“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.”
— Albert Einstein

“The ultimate ignorance is the rejection of something you know nothing about and refuse to investigate.”
— Dr. Wayne Dyer

“If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking.”
— General George Patton

“Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.”
— Oliver Wendell Holmes

“A lot of people risk their lives in a brief act of heroism, which is kind of cool, but Jill has what I call slow heroism. She is risking her professional life on something that her own calculations show may not work for a thousand years—may not ever. So I like to support people that are risking their lives.”
— ex-Microsoft billionaire brainiac Nathan Myhrvold speaking about Jill Tarter, who inspired the character played by Jodie Foster in the movie Contact. It takes a brilliant person to see that others who go against the grain of conventional wisdom may be sages although lesser minds often ridicule their ideas.

“I am not young enough to know everything.”
— Oscar Wilde

“You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.”
— Winston Churchill

“Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish.”
— Euripides, Greek tragic dramatist (484 BC - 406 BC)

“It is socially unacceptable to be right too early.”
— Robert Heinlein

“I'd rather stand alone on the truth than with millions on a lie.”

“The most distinctive mark of a cultured mind is the ability to take another's point of view; to put one's self in another's place, and see life and its problems from a point of view different from one's own. To be willing to test a new idea; to be able to live on the edge of difference in all matters intellectually; to examine without heat the burning question of the day; to have imaginative sympathy, openness and flexibility of mind, steadiness and poise of feeling, cool calmness of judgment, is to have culture.”
— Arthur H. R. Fairchild

“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”
— Theodore Roosevelt

“It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.”
— Abraham Lincoln

This reminds me of something stressed by one of my psychology professors, who said that society imposes rigid boundaries for what behavior is acceptable, and applies tremendous pressure trying to force people to conform to the behavioral expectations. Some of the most brilliant and productive outside-the-box thinkers led unconventional lives. One of the side effects of forcing people to think inside the box is that by lopping off outside-the-box behavior, potentially great outside-the-box ideas are lost, too.

“We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it.”
— Edward R. Murrow, American journalist (1908-1965)

“You will not do incredible things without an incredible dream.”
— John Eliot

NOTE: Several family members were brutally slaughtered recently, so I will take a break from writing. Their deaths erased my affinity for writing about politics or the economy, thus I'll later limit myself to health and brainpower in addition to completing my book on rapidly overcoming racism and bigotry. BTW, the two men who murdered my father are still on the lam; I am offering up to $100,000 for information leading to their arrest and conviction.

How to spot a sociopath, from prominent politicians to Joran van der Sloot

Joran van der Sloot, the prime suspect in the mysterious disappearance of Natalee Holloway, was later sought by police after a Peruvian woman was found dead in a Lima hotel. As a doctor, when I think of van der Sloot, one word pops into my mind: SOCIOPATH! Everyone who dates should possess at least a rudimentary understanding of psychiatry so he or she can recognize manifestations of mental illness in others. The prevalence of sociopathy is about 1 to 3% in the general population and probably much higher amongst very successful politicians. Voters are often suckers for the charm that sociopaths typically exude.

Here's your chance to play doctor. I'll give you a lesson in how to spot a sociopath. After reading it, ask yourself what prominent political figures fit this picture.

Sociopaths are good observers who keenly recognize what others expect in terms of behavior, so they are skilled at blending in and often go undetected, enabling them to wreak havoc on others. Sociopaths exhibit red flags, but people tend to ignore them. In fact, their charm often makes people eager to rush to their defense when they are exposed. Nonprofessionals are often swayed by the words, and blind to the deeds, of sociopaths.

Laymen (nonprofessionals) often think of sociopaths as being violent serial killers, but few are. About 1% to 4% of the population is sociopathic—so common that you likely know at least one. People tend to assume that all others think and feel like they do. Sociopaths exploit this assumption to victimize the trusting masses. Their ruthlessness, absence of a conscience, and charisma can make them spectacularly successful, especially in fields such as law, politics, and business. By magnifying their attributes and being blind to their shortcomings, sociopaths think they are God's gift to the universe.

Sociopaths are motivated by an extreme desire to win at whatever game they are playing. If they are in business, they are more concerned with crushing the competition than with rising to the top by making superb products.

The term psychopath is often used interchangeably with sociopath, but many professionals prefer to use sociopath (or antisocial personality disorder) because laymen often confuse psychopaths with people who are psychotic or “psycho.” People who manifest signs of psychosis frequently stand out like a sore thumb; even children can often instantly recognize that they are “nuts.” In contrast, sociopaths have a deceptively normal veneer. Signs of their mental aberrancy are evident and often alarming to trained professionals, but those signs can be magnetic honey to laymen—even intelligent ones, like Katie Couric. She can rub shoulders with sociopathic politicians and be duped like a naïve schoolgirl, oblivious to their mental pathology. Laymen are often unable to spot sociopaths, or are very slow in doing so, even when the sociopath's wake of destruction is glaringly obvious. Normal nonprofessionals tend to explain behavior by using their behavioral frame of reference, which—being normal—is wholly inadequate for understanding what makes sociopaths tick.

Just as all people with depression are not equally depressed, all sociopaths are not equally aberrant.

Many sociopaths possess an almost supernatural ability to enchant people. They're sick, but mesmerizing. Sociopaths are skilled manipulators. Like actors, they can often convincingly mimic emotions they don't feel. I could program a robot to laugh, cry, and say, “I love you,” but it wouldn't feel any associated emotions. Over time, the disconnect between what sociopaths say and do becomes increasingly apparent.

The prevalence of sociopathy is substantially higher in current and past world leaders. Given that most citizens are not medical doctors or psychologists, and given that laymen are notoriously poor at detecting sociopathy, it is not surprising that most people fail to recognize how mentally ill their leaders are, and how the poor decisions they make are often traceable to psychopathology. In the past century alone, sociopathic world leaders have killed well over 100 million people, made billions miserable, and wasted many trillions of dollars fighting needless wars. Yet we put up with them!

High schools are incredibly remiss for not making psychology a core requirement. Virtually everyone who doesn't know psychology is penalized at least once—often, multiple times—by their ignorance of that subject. The prevalence of mental illness (not just sociopathy) is so high that almost everyone will encounter one or more mentally ill people while dating or in marriage, business, their family, or neighborhood. If you can't identify (diagnose) the particular form of mental illness, you are likely to fall victim to it.

Should you confront a sociopath regarding their aberrancy?

Only if you want to waste your time and raise your blood pressure. Sociopaths are often so narcissistic that they think they're wonderful—no, make that WONDERFUL! They are less cognizant of their lack of a conscience than I am cognizant of what it feels like to touch the cervix I never had. Sociopaths are blind to their character flaws. In their minds, there is nothing wrong with them. If you don't wholeheartedly agree, you are the problem—in their minds.

There is no effective cure or even treatment for sociopaths. The best solution is to get them out of your life pronto.

POP QUIZ: Name at least two prominent politicians who exhibit multiple signs of sociopathy. Just as in other diseases, all of the possible symptoms and signs of sociopathy are not necessary to make its diagnosis. However, the presence of a few such characteristics is not diagnostic of sociopathy. For example, one can be exciting, dynamic, captivating, self-centered, overly confident, and even slick yet not be a sociopath. It's the pattern and the degree to which these signs are present, especially when coupled with the primary defect in sociopathy: lack of a conscience. If you truly care about others and genuinely feel bad when you hurt someone, you're not a sociopath no matter how behaviorally flamboyant and arrogant you are.

Notes:

• I'll later discuss: (1) how one of my classmates was murdered by her sociopathic husband, who pointed a shotgun at her beautiful face and pulled the trigger; (2) a friend married to a rich man who claims he will kill her if she ever leaves him.
• In the past three days, I saw two documentaries of missing persons whose parents, friends, and significant others had no clue they were mentally ill, in each case manifesting obvious signs of paranoid schizophrenia. I've seen countless other cases in which people did not recognize that a loved one needed help.

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