Re: Class without a bell for dismissal

Daniel -- thanks for resending that to me privately. I read that post
but didn't follow the links. This quotation was interesting:

> *What's become of conscience?*
>
> Again, as Cleckley says, these people are around and do rise. Women
> are attracted to them. I mean, this is a defect, but women are
> attracted to them because they are so confident. They really don't
> give a fuck what happens--not even to themselves. But this is a
> serious defect and, no, we haven't been invaded and conquered by
> Martians. We have been conquered by psychopathic personalities who are
> attractive.
>

I think what Cleckly/Vonnegut describes are "psychopathic personalities"
do exist, are dangerous, and are not simply aligned with those whom
Vonnegut considers to be political opponents. That statement didn't
bother me.

I'm surprised more women, though, didn't speak up about what he said
about _them_. There's a difference between being attracted to a "bad
boy" and being attracted to a psychopathic personality. Women who
indulge in the former are just passing through a stage of adolescence
(which can last well into their 30s, I know, but doesn't always).
Attraction to the latter is a form of psychopathology in itself, which
Vonnegut seems to ascribe to all or most women, or the "typical" woman.
PPs are very much self absorbed, and to be attracted to that type of
person for any length of time is usually an indication of self
absorption, or a complete lack of self respect. Once you've been
through one or two of these the charm wears thin pretty quickly, and you
realize they're full of it from the start.

I really didn't see much class exhibited by the person in the interview,
in any sense of the word. He did exhibit humane tendencies in politics,
but these are just as likely to be stupid as thoughtful, and I didn't
get enough from the interview to tell which category Vonnegut fell in to.

Jim

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Received on Thu Jul 10 10:36:47 2003