Noblesse the Sleaze

Trump is enormous; this is true, in all ways of the word, but certainly in terms of an enormous lack of empathy for others. But America is (and always has) selected for and advanced those with sociopathic traits. A touch of sociopathy seems to be an affliction ideally suited to a nation that covets individual success over the benefits of the whole. A nation with a staggering homeless population and epidemic medical bill-induced bankruptcies would not be considered a success when viewed in its entirety, but the nation is quite adept at turning out billionaires, so there’s that.

It’s a delicate dance, too much sociopathy and you’re shooting up a school, but just the right amount and you’re leading a tech or pharmaceutical company. You’ll be giving shareholder reports because you are only indebted to them, not humanity and wow-the productivity and labor costs are totally under control. It’s like people are trapped as workers or something! Yea us! So this smattering of sociopathy—well it is kind of like how one copy of the sickle cell trait gives a resistance to malaria, but carrying both give you that life shortening and horrible malady. A little sociopathy is just what America likes. That’s the sweet spot.

It is difficult for the super wealthy, what with energy efficient light bulbs making a husky man look orange. There’s so much the wealthy must go through—they need that sociopathy to push through any disruption in the natural selfishness that makes this industrial world tick. There’s always someone out there trying to disrupt this order of things. The homeless even create so much blight and general eye-sore-edness that the EPA might need to be called in on them (according to Trump). It’s disgusting to have the aesthetics ruined so much by this group’s stubborn refusal to just go away and die. “Old Man Trump” by Woody Guthrie is a mournful song, reminding us how difficult it must have been for Trump’s father “Old Man” to keep the unsightly minorities out of his buildings. How his son “Orange Man” Trump must suffer at the responsibility of keeping the homeless out of sight on the left coast. He’s been dipping his toes in the water of full-on concentration camps (first I came for the migrants, etc.) so he may have a final solution to the problem and everything can look shinier, brighter, and more like a stunning gold sharpie crossed out all the offending sites.

Even the purveyors of religion do well with a bit of sociopathy in the US. It helps Falwell Jr. when he is contemplating things like….hmm, do I use these funds from widows and orphans to help places obtain clean water or do I advance the hot pool boy some cash and do some sweet real estate deals? Obviously pool boy cash, but it’s still enough to distract you so that you accidentally text photos of your wife in a French maid costume to your sham university staff and “accidentally” brag about your penis and its goings on. It’s all very holy. Just ask Rasputin or or Rasmussen (who can do a poll for you on 27 likely voters 78 and above on a rotary line…they will tell you—BIDEN rocks, Corn Pop sucks!). But they can also can tell you that this is all holy, and totally normal. Don’t let those mirror neurons in your brain try to confuse you with the natural tendency to feel empathy for others; you’ll never succeed with that damn noise.

So these gods of note that a Falwell Jr. pitches—they do resemble those who created them (except maybe Ganesha—or I am completely wanting to meet that person). Current Jesus and his dad are pretty judgmental and seem to be okay with kids in cages (or Betsy DeVos Linked Privatized Love Homes for the Newly Parent-Separated Kids. BDLPLHFTNPSK™, AKA No Fucking Bears Here Villa ).  Anyway, I guess a little sociopathy in your created gods is useful. You just come up with the worldview that suits you and work backwards and make sure the deity and dogma align. Oh yeah, we don’t need to help the poor—we just need to be on uterus patrol and make a lot of money.

Sociopathy. Hey, it’s working for Brett Kavanaugh, the worst character out of all the 80’s movies. He might just be the worst villain from all of the 80’s, and that includes the defective O-ring. Anyway, Brett wanted to be the Prom King, but he attacked Molly Ringwald because she was a poor. That didn’t cause him any roadblocks, but he had 60,000 -200,000 in credit card debt that he had racked up when he had to pay for his friend’s dad’s wrecked Ferrari. It’s all okay now, it was paid off by magic, but he had tried to erase miles on the Ferrari by putting it in reverse after a day of mischief. Comedy gold ensued, but it almost wrecked his chance at a spot on the high court. Now it’s all magnificent, and his wife looks scared shitless when she stands next to him during swearing in events and just in general, whenever she has to stand by him. “Don’t you………forget about me.” “I like beer.”

I’m not sure how this story will end. I guess with a bad Simple Minds song and a loud crash maybe? The sociopathy is certainly on steroids at this time, so it would do you well to remember: keep working on that just right pinch of sociopathy if you want to succeed in today’s America.

Kathleen Wallace writes out of the US Midwest. Her writing is collected on her Substack page.