The Mask Of Sanity by Harvey Cleckley

Author:Harvey Cleckley
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2011-05-08T23:12:25.451427+00:00

CATALOGING THE MATERIAL 235

A serious and regrettable confusion, I believe, is likely to come from opinions quoted by this author that seem very plainly to advocate that the psychopath be admired, chosen as a leader, or at least as a model for other men. Referring to one of these opinions, the author says, "The menacing psychopath is embraced. Incredibly …

it seems at first shock … we are urged to turn into an 'antithetical' version of the outlaw and find our way to his radical vision of the universe."118

Some of the people quoted or cited by the author of the Playboy article (and the subsequent book) seem to be spokesmen for, or prominent figures in, the recent movement of rebellion often referred to as the counterculture. In this movement we find zealots who embrace hallucinatory confusion under the influence of potentially brain-damaging psychedelic drugs and aggressively proclaim it as religious experience.

Here, too, we find the antihero, often a figure flaunting treason and dishonor along with his unkempt beard, barefootedness, and defiantly frayed blue jeans. In this so-called counterculture the antihero was not only welcomed but by some virtually enshrined. It has been fashionable also in this movement to degrade the high passion and glory of sexual love to a significance not far from that of a belch. Perhaps, in this general and heedless effort to reverse the basic values, almost anything traditionally regarded as undesirable, or despicable, might be automatically stamped with the sign of approval.

After many quotations from people who may be reflecting elements of this movement, the author, himself, encourages us to "ask … if the psychopath's time has come, if there may be a worldwide need for him." He goes on to say, "Could the coming of the psychopath be a natural and inevitable result of our drastically deteriorating environment (which helps fling him up) as well as one answer to it and, who knows, a potential remedy for such deterioration?" 118

Other opinions expressed by the author include these: "Although originally founded upon an antisocial condition, it [psychopathy] offers exciting new alternatives to the way we have lived until now … the distinction blurs hopelessly between present day psychopathic patterns as observed in prisons, institutions and clinics, and equivalent behavior, which may often be put to use in good causes outside of these places... would it be best," he asks, "to teach our children the psychopathic style in order that they may survive?" He speaks of "Brilliant individuals among us that are basing their own lives on the psychopathic model" and, referring to them, he cites the opinion that, "What was formerly diagnosed mental illness has turned into the new spirit of the age." He seems quite serious in repeatedly asking if we should imitate the psychopath, if we should

"yield to insanity accepted as normal? Cultivate one's own latent psychopathy, perhaps trying to adapt it to good ends?" He also says, "Conceivably the times ate railing for an idealized version of the psychopath as savior."118

Other quotations are given

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