• kemsat@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    I wouldn’t say they are part of the social contract in the first place. I don’t think they are like a regular person who gets naughty feelings when they do something bad, like running a red light at a dead intersection at 3:00 am. They just don’t think like regular people at all, so to place the same motives onto them as normal people is kind of missing the point. They don’t even see the social contract, and don’t have awareness that they are violating it.

    • MataVatnik@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      In a lot of interviews with these people they mention about how others are ‘weak’ or ‘bound by social rules’ or something along those lines, and flaunting these taboos is what make them feel special or ‘superior’ because their minds are free. It’s always some variation of that. They know the social contract is there and they actively violate it. I’ve met plenty of people in real life that think like this (criminals), they think people are suckers, fools, or sheep and they deserve to be exploited.

      • kemsat@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Right, to them there is no social contract. They recognize us normal people have & adhere to a social contract, but for them the social contract is like God to an atheist. Nonexistent, fabricated, an illusion, a delusion, etc.

      • intensely_human@lemm.ee
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        9 months ago

        I was friends with a psychopath for a long time (ended the friendship when I finally admitted to myself what he was).

        This definitely matches how he saw himself. Big time self identity as having transcended the social contract. But also, not in any way ignorant of the social contract. Understands it better than most people actually, made a serious study of history, philosophy, and sociology when he was still struggling with his own psychopathy.

        He tried really hard to find a reason to be good.

        A friend of his died in suspicious circumstances, and it matched an “idle thought”/what-if scenario he used to talk to me about. I suspect he killed that guy, and my gut tells me he hasn’t stopped.