Robert Burns wrote the poem about a field mouse whose house is ploughed under despite the attempt to find the best and most secure site. John Steinbeck, an amazing author, borrowed this line for his novella, Of Mice and Men. The work always struck me with a sense of the way of physical lifeblood. There is a theme of hope and yet futility in the negativity of some aspects of mankind's community. Steinbeck's writing shows vulgarity of language, but it is a play on the ugliness of some levels of living. The plot deals with two migrant workers as they move from place to place seeking work. One is mentally challenged and the other, an intelligent man, is his aid and protector. With a purpose, this man finds direction. The burly mentally handicapped man is a danger because he does not comprehend his own strength. It's not a happy read. But, Steinbeck wrote in a journal:
"In every bit of honest writing in the world there is a base theme. Try to understand men, if you understand each other you will be kind to each other. Knowing a man well never leads to hate and nearly always leads to love. There are shorter means, many of them. There is writing promoting social change, writing punishing injustice, writing in celebration of heroism, but always that base theme. Try to understand each other." (Wikipedia)
A brief time ago a development came into my awareness regarding a set of written attacks on an author- acquaintance of mine, Thomas Sheridan. Finding his Puzzling People, the Labyrinth of the Psychopath following my marriage to a man I believe to be a psychopath, at least residing somewhere on the continuum from narcissism to psychopathy, aided me in my uphill trek of recovery. The author of the opposing camp, Laura Knight-Jadczyk holds the reins of Sott.net, a fascinating site of "what if's." I have a fondness for the channeled entity, Seth from Jane Roberts' books and have delved into ideas outside the norm myself but labeling a competitor a psychopath and using posts of followers against the individual feels more than an advertising edge for sales of an upcoming publication. The idea that any publicity is good PR doesn't ring true.
This strikes home to me as an infringement of not only the control of ideas, but the very core of thought processes. In my time with an individual whose entire clan lived on shifting sands of constantly changing reality, the mix with my own belief systems almost sank me in a bog of uncertainty. I was not blessed by other-worldly beings who guided me - to my knowledge. My path took me through introspection of my own being and concepts of an All-That-Is along with ideas of creating my life and world. And I could not balance the fog of this clan's insanity with my sense of self-imposed "imprisonment" - as I struggled to keep the marriage. There needed to exist a bizarre juggling act to accept the "Twilight Zone" effects with the potential goodness I had assigned my spouse and his family. In the process, I found myself drowning in the ideology that had no sequence of cause and effect linked with compassion and empathy.
So, even in my days of now living quietly (Sandra L. Brown), I have to look toward the oddball romantic in "The Man of La Mancha" as he undertakes battles to express his ideals and identity. Sheridan has closed his facebook pages and blog sites as he embarks on new trails of exploration, but the awareness that one with a large congregation of followers can denigrate and label any as "psychopathic" without personal knowledge, is a cheap and damaging way to use Dr. Robert Hare's checklist. Jon Ronson in his book, The Psychopath Test, comes to a similar conclusion as he humorously, but with a nod to humanity's need to categorize, can find himself "seeing psychopaths everywhere."
The containment of thought processes entails more than freedom of speech. It tends to direct the ability to look from a broader vantage point. Loyalty to people with whom we have found affinity must not deter individual pathways of search, experimental testing of the waters, and personal growth. Personal ethics still exist. Steinbeck's observation that we must try to understand each other carries the flag of decency and compassion. Let's not leave those traits at the door.
A section from Dr. Kevin Barret, a columnist I stumbled upon, in one of his articles sums this quite well. He cites Simon Baron-Cohen – an expert in brain pathology, especially the types of brain malfunction linked to psychopathy and other empathy-deficit-disorders. Writing about the film, "Borat," it "shows how dangerous it can be if small un-empathic acts go unnoticed."
