nuzen wrote: ↑Wed Feb 13, 2019 11:41 pm

siliconlife wrote: ↑Sat Feb 09, 2019 1:18 pm

fax wrote: ↑Sat Feb 09, 2019 12:34 pm

siliconlife wrote: ↑Sat Feb 09, 2019 11:12 am Since this isn't a panel of psychologists, I think a good definition for "psychopath" for this particular thread could be

Someone who starts threads but is too paranoid to answer questions yet compulsively upvotes everything said.

LOL. Can I have another upvote please, OP?

Yes, ok, there's your up vote. Think what you wish about it. I automatically up vote here, as I do on other social media, as a way of saying "Thank you for commenting, I read your post and appreciate that you replied."

violet wrote: ↑Tue Feb 12, 2019 11:01 am I also question how to get through life when I know it is meaningless, but I am the opposite of a psychopath/sociopath/scammer

alvin.dark wrote: ↑Tue Feb 12, 2019 10:41 am For serial murderers and violent people I am not sure how to identify them. I get worried when I meet people who have violent imagery in their conversations for no reason. When a person is overly secretive and never talks about their work, I wonder why. From what I have read, have your guard up around people that have excessive charm and are immediately likable. While they may be perfectly good people, charm and likability are also weapons of dangerous people. These are characteristics that dangerous people work hard to cultivate and the rest of us usually don't have the time for.

The killer I knew, was scary. He was volatile and violent. It seemed like he could attack anyone at anytime. It was easy to detect him because he wanted everyone to be afraid of him. Some other dangerous guys also seem to want me to know how dangerous they are.

For a scammer I think detection is different (although the killer was also a scammer): I tried to learn the tricks of an apparently non-violent scammer by asking him to use his methods to try to scam me (I knew he was a scammer because he loved to tell about his scamming victories.)

He had so many tricks that I doubt I could ever learn enough to detect all of them in a real situation. It was good to know how he thought, but I concluded that we can not outwit a scammer who puts enough effort into finding our weak points, and then using them to scam or coerce us.

(Some dirty tricks are just too dirty to defend against. It's like avoiding an accident. Sometimes you can't. We have to hope for a certain amount of luck in life.)

However, I noticed that when he started pushing me to do something I would not normally do, my emotions went up and down in a way that was different than normal for me. He triggered feelings of greed, jealousy, etc. While I can't know all his tricks, I can be aware of when my emotions are changing in ways that are not normal for me.

By getting me into a state of intense greed, jealousy, etc., I am more likely to make a bad decision. So, I try to detect danger by being aware of unusual emotional patterns in myself. Something is going on, and it is being caused by this guy. Why?

The scammer's ability to create these emotions serves a second purpose for him: If he can get me to be so greedy, jealous, vengeful, etc. that I do something wrong, then he can rationalize scamming me because my bad behavior proves that I am a bad person and I deserve to be hurt. So he can pre-rationalize his crime against me.

I am not sure if this guy has a conscience, but he does need a rationalization to do bad things. I know that he wants to appear as a good person and to avoid embarrassment.

He is a nihilist. He has no purpose or meaning in life. For him, it seemed like people were to be manipulated and hurt for fun. This "game" is the only relationship he could have with the world ... maybe because he is not capable of empathy.

Again, he is initially likable, charming and fun.

He formed his own value system which goes against the values of what we are taught or are that we are born with (such as a sense of fair play). He does not respect people who worked hard to get what they have. He respects people who got a lot without doing much work. So he built his value system to justify his life. This value system makes his life heroic and makes it easier for him to commit his crimes.

As a result. he says his one of his biggest concerns is: How am I going to get through the next 30 years when I know that life is meaningless? How am I going to get through the next day?

What is left to do for him? Even sensual pleasures eventually lose their meaning when there is no purpose to life. And, tormenting people is not as much fun as it used to be.

It is exhausting for me to talk to him because I constantly had to have my defenses up ... not so much for the danger of scams, but for the unrelenting passive-aggressive attacks which gratify him. After a two hour conversation, it takes me a day to recover. Since he can't scam me, he can at least get the gratification of these attacks.

In the end, I avoid him (and possible danger) because it is too damaging to spend time with him (for me anyway). But for a while I learned a lot from him and it was interesting.

He is likable and does have friends. But, his long term friends are other scammers that he works with ... and those being scammed ... who can sometimes be the other scammers he works with.

newkidontheblock wrote: ↑Thu Feb 14, 2019 4:44 am

SaigonBilly wrote:I think a lot are Disabled US Veterans with PTSD.
For the simple fact is that they have a monthly compensation from the military for having been injured while in the line of duty.

As opposed to what?

That America should give them nothing while injured protecting our freedoms?

PTSD is caused by the military giving them compensation?

So if soldiers are injured, the government should just kick them out into the street and thus solve the PTSD problem?

I don’t get it.

StroppyChops wrote: ↑Tue Feb 12, 2019 7:44 pm

clutchcargo wrote: ↑Sat Feb 09, 2019 7:54 am OP- what is your understanding of a 'psychopath'?

Coz googling the meaning of it gives a number of different interpretations/definitions ranging from mild to serious..

I'm wondering if the OP actually means sociopath.

nuzen wrote: ↑Thu Feb 14, 2019 7:56 am

StroppyChops wrote: ↑Tue Feb 12, 2019 7:44 pm

clutchcargo wrote: ↑Sat Feb 09, 2019 7:54 am OP- what is your understanding of a 'psychopath'?

Coz googling the meaning of it gives a number of different interpretations/definitions ranging from mild to serious..

I'm wondering if the OP actually means sociopath.

No, I'm the OP, and I meant Psychopath, as in Expats who threaten me, wanting to kill me, or have me dead. In all my years before, I never met such naked evil intent.