A Touch of Evil

This is kind of interesting, a Columbia forensic psychologist coming up with a 22-point "Scale of Evil."

01 Those who kill in self-defense and who do not show psychopathic features; these cases do not involve murder.

IMPULSIVE MURDERERS

02 Jealous lovers who kill: These murderers, though egocentric or immature, are not psychopaths. This level on the scale includes crimes of passion.
03 Willing companions of killers: Killers on this level are usually impulse ridden, meaning they have a hard time controlling the kinds of violent thoughts that most people ignore.
04 Criminals who kill in self-defense, but are extremely provocative toward the victim.
05 Traumatized, desperate persons who kill: These murderers may be genuinely remorseful and they lack significant psychopathic traits.
06 Impetuous, hot-headed murderers, who don’t have marked psychopathic features.
07 Highly narcissistic, but not distinctly psychopathic persons, who kill “loved ones” out of jealousy.
08 Non-psychopathic persons with smoldering rage: These people kill when their rage is ignited.

SEMI-PSYCHOPATHS

09 Jealous lovers with marked psychopathic features.
10 Non-psychopathic killers who murder people who are “in the way”.
11 Psychopathic killers who murder people “in the way”.
12 Power-hungry psychopaths who kill when cornered.
13 Psychopathic murderers who kill out of rage.
14 Ruthlessly self-centered psychopathic schemers who kill to benefit themselves.
15 Psychopathic spree or multiple murderers.

PSYCHOPATHS

16 Psychopaths committing multiple vicious acts, which may also include murder.
17 Sexually perverse serial murderers: In males, rape is usually the primary motive and the victim is murdered to hide evidence.
18 Torturer-murderers: Murder is the primary motive and victims are killed after a torture that was not prolonged.
19 Psychopaths driven to terrorism, subjugation, intimidation and rape, but short of murder.
20 Torturer-murderers: Torture is the primary motive with these killers.
21 Psychopaths who do not kill their victims, but do subject them to extreme torture.
22 Psychopaths who inflict extreme torture on their victims and then murder them.

"Semi-psychopath" is an interesting term I hadn't really considered (just because in my view, if somebody's a psychopath [or psychopathic], they've pretty much crossed a line, there, where human behavior is concerned).

Also, the presence of torture on this list is interesting, given our legalistic sanctioning of it as "enhanced interrogation."

Jesus Christ!

What Would Jesus Wear? J. Crew, apparently. It's the Second Coming...of STYLE!

Good Fathers and Bad Dads

I'm not going to blog about my father, except to say that there is a world of difference between fathers and dads; any man can be a father, but not every man can be a dad, and he was never my dad. In my view, a dad is someone who loves you unconditionally and unreservedly, is kind, caring, honest, gentle, compassionate, empathic, emotionally accessible, and protective, and supports you emotionally and spiritually, encourages you and heartens you. Take away those things, and all you have is a father, not a dad. I know the difference, because he was the former, and not the latter. Ideally, a father is a dad, and that's what all fathers should aspire to; most think the one automatically gets them in the club, and that's why I think there are so many bad dads out there. I think mine wrestled with so much stuff coiled up inside him that he could never healthily relate to the world around him (which is likely why he had, what, four or five marriages under his belt?)

And the same dichotomy can be applied to mothers and moms, along similar lines. Parenthood is a challenging enterprise, when contrasted with simply having kids. Having kids is comparatively easy, and humans have been doing it for awhile, now. But raising them is the real challenge, and not everybody's cut out for it. I know my father certainly wasn't.

The one good thing I drew from my time with him as my "dad" was that it taught me across the board how NOT to be a dad -- I used him as a counter example, and have excelled at parenting by simply not being like him, or asking myself "What would HE have done? Okay, I won't do that." And it's worked out very well for me. My boys adore me, and I am there for them, whatever they need, and I hope that the good example I offer them as a dad will translate in their own successful lives, and on, and on, down the line, for their kids, and their kids' kids, and so on. In my view, life throws enough at you without having a bad parent in the mix to make things that much harder.

My father, 1933-2010. Onward and upward.