I agree with you here:

“Spitzer is still a smart man. If he can keep his personal morality in check – hopefully he can go on to do great work for the people here in New York State.”

Absolutely. Let’s hope he chooses well.

In my volunteer work with abuse victims now I will safely say that Narcissism and Sociopathy fall on a spectrum with degrees or ‘colors’ of that Cluster B behavior on a spectrum. The majority of these people blend right in.

Yes Jill it is organic, I believe. It is also a choice. They are driven to do evil but some of them do CHOOSE not to stop themselves. This is why anger management doesn’t work and sex addiction counseling is problematic at best.

Here’s the blog of a net-friend who writes on Narcissism. Its part of my bi-weekly read.

Spitzer is still a smart man. If he can keep his personal morality in check – hopefully he can go on to do great work for the people here in New York State.

I think I’d say that I believe that much like other mental health afflictions, some are organic, some not. But you definitely demonstrate more knowledge on this topic. I appreciate the input.

I think the notion of the overweening sense of entitlement is a very key issue and crosses other behaviors if not explaining many of them. Bush, for instance, never had to really work for anything in his life and was constantly rescued from failure. He simply believes in the grand scheme of life, G-d has anointed him to be who he is and therefore lacks empathy (a key trait) for others.

I have found an outstanding site for looking into the issues of infidelity and sociopathy and I’m sure you will all find it fascinating reading:

http://www.lovefraud.com/

Make sure you check out the blog on the site. First person stories really drive the point home about sociopaths and how they destroy people in and out of relationships.

Also, a great book on the subject of sociopaths at work which I was unable to put down – Snakes in Suits by Paul Babiak and Robert D. Hare, available in trade paperback from Amazon and other places.

I would almost guarantee the only thing Spitzer’s sorry about? Is getting caught.

I am so disappointed in Spitzer. He was the first politician I actively campaigned for in many years but no can see a sociopath. They run companies, countries, etc. There are more & more of them out there.

We are becoming a ponerized society who wants to forgive & forget – and we give these people the ‘benefit of the doubt’ because we just can’t BELIEVE There are people who that cold and simply can’t feel. Sexual narcissists? the closest they get to feelings of any kind is an orgasm. And there’s no fixing them either.

There’s a very good book out now about the ponerization effect in politics. here (warning- the editors & author are somewhat anti-israel and allow that to color otherwise sound research. If you can ignore that and focus in on the study of the preponderence of evil in our society and how prevalent and even covert it is…)

‘Nuff said. I don’t want to sound like a complete wackjob. Point is Spitzer and guys like Larry Craig & David Vitter (and Bush) – they don’t choose this. They can’t help it. They have a deep seated sense of entitlement and can’t really grasp that its wrong or even grasp any reality other than the one in their heads – other than to provide the proper rhetoric for all of us to think they are sentient.

I agree this isn’t a victimless crime, at least in the moral sense.

I’m sure there is a small percentage of women (and men) who prostitute themselves for the alleged thrill of it all, but that percentage must be quite small.

I guess it’s fair to see that we’re all additcted to something — chocolate, music, reality tv, working to get Democrats elected to office, etc.

Of course, the underlying issue under the underlying issue is: why are so many people involved in or developing behaviors that comport with definitions of addiction?

THAT, to me, is the truly worrisome issue here.