“A Guy With No Scruples” Rule

"Rule number one in politics," society, and life.

Icons Sherlock Holmes and Batman detecting. - DC Comics

As a lifelong fan of great fictional detectives and superheroes such as Sherlock Holmes and Batman, I recognized early on that one of my main fascinations was how they could analyze the data and psychologically profile criminals and supervillains.

I was always paid close attention to how even these idealized detectives could logically and specifically brake down why psychological trauma and/or brain issues created new villains with paranoid, selfish, cruel, and seemingly “evil” minds.

Unfortunately, these stories also tricked me into believing that most psychopaths were serial killers. However, once my error was discovered, this illusion answered part of why there are so many global knowledge gaps in understanding the very predictable behaviors of these pathological narcissists in our midst.

One answer to humanity’s blind spot on malignant forms of narcissists is that entertainment tricks us into thinking psychopaths are a rare exception because serial killers are a rare exception. However, the truth is that there are so many narcissists, sociopaths, and psychopaths that one becoming a serial killer is the rare exception.

By the numbers

What a shock it was to discover that one or more out of every hundred people you meet has a psychopath’s brain. That tells us that only a very tiny fraction of the minimum 3.42 million psychopaths in America and the 82 million around the world are serial killers.

Of course, those totals do not include the other variants at the top of the narcissism spectrum. Those add up to even more millions, if not a billion plus, additional pathological narcissists.

These are the people who have been turned into virtual psychopaths (aka sociopaths and malignant narcissists) via trauma, falsely perceived trauma, or groomed victimization that justifies their abuse of others.

Trauma is the point

Essentially, trauma being a key factor in unhealthy narcissism tells us that the more of it that exists in a region, country, or the world, the more toxic predators are being created there.

Ergo, reducing trauma is a foundational key to containing and reducing the toxic end of the narcissism spectrum both locally and globally.

While “The cruelty is the point” is a catchy phrase, it is not really the point at all. It is far more accurate to say that “The trauma is the point” because toxic predators create and cause it by their very nature, which in turn creates more of them, making it a self-replicating system. This is why when we think an evil is dead, trauma or a manipulated version of it almost always brings the darkness back.

Newer detective story lessons

In the process of studying the narcissism spectrum, I found a new appreciation for my great detective stories once I realized that most bad guys, supervillains, and their henchmen were narcissists, sociopaths, and psychopaths. Thankfully, embracing this reality has consistently translated into helping me learn about new concepts and finding missed angles worthy of CNI exploration.

Please don’t misunderstand. While there are exceptions, most entertainment uses narcissist psychology incorrectly due to oversimplification, common misconceptions, or the need to fit the story, so if you like to learn from these shows too, be sure to confirm what you think you know before using it.

What was old is new again

In the most recent example, I was watching a Canadian/American version of a Danish show that aired between 2011-2014 called The Killing. I had seen a few seasons of the original Danish version, so while I knew it was dark, I also remembered that there were more thought-provoking psychological and political aspects than the triggering title implies.

In the first main storyline, a city councilman who cares about the people is running against a corrupt big-business mayor. With one of the councilman’s campaign cars being connected to a murder, dirty tricks and the inner workings of the political race are deeply woven into the fabric of the story.

As the campaign and investigation are coming down to the end, the councilman’s psychopathic yet loyal campaign manager ironically says of the mayor’s dirty tricks,

“Rule number one in politics: never run against a guy with no scruples.” - Forbrydelsen / The Killing - November 2011

Mind-blown

My girls Starfire and Raven getting their minds blown.

Imagine if those without scruples were kept from “public service” because, by definition, they are psychologically incapable of ever serving the public interest over their own.

This simple yet evergreen piece of political wisdom warned us that ethical people are at a fundamental disadvantage when facing off against someone without scruples. This is obviously because they are willing to do anything to win, no matter who or what gets hurt.

Indeed, this rule clearly points out that there are certain political and societal advantages to doing whatever it takes without conscience against one’s philosophical enemies. For malignant narcissists, their enemies are everyone who wants to live and think in honest and honorable pro-human terms, because those beliefs are in total conflict with every malignant narcissists’ “me, myself, and I” belief system.

Take heart, we do not have to sink to their level, but we do need to fight their disordered 🔥 with wise, strategic, and creative 🔥 to survive and move forward in any kind of positive way.

Ancient Wisdom

While the specific scruples quote appears original to the show, similar sentiments about the nature of power and ethics in politics, business, and life have existed for centuries via Machiavelli, if not millennia via Sun Tzu’s The Art of War.

No doubt that since the primal dawn of humans, decent people have been trying to understand how to counter the fundamental disadvantages they have faced when dealing with an unscrupulous opponent willing to say and do anything to win. How tragic it is that after so many millennia, humanity is still struggling to achieve that existential level of enlightenment.

Missed opportunities

If only empowered politicos and wealthy donors watched The Killing, had the foresight to recognize that we needed more solutional countermoves against the unscrupulous in politics, and then funded think tanks like CNI to develop countermeasures and find solutions, we would be in far less trouble than we are now. Narcissist psychology has consistently had the answers, folks. It just needs more resources.

Fortunately, the tide of reality finally seems to be turning our way, but clearly our political and societal systems are still highly vulnerable to men and women without scruples. This is because most decent folks who have not experienced narcissistic abuse personally just don’t see it. Naturally, a fundamental mission of CNI is to provide new vectors that help more people see it.

This need is especially crucial when predatory politicians are backed by millionaires and billionaires who also have no scruples or interests in anyone’s rights or power but their own.

Bottom line: This timely warning about facing off against “a guy with no scruples” relayed some CNI analysis on the subject could be useful, such as covering what happens and what it means when someone doesn’t have the psychological fortitude or willpower to make honor, ethics, or morality core parts of their personality.

Who lacks scruples?

Collins dictionary

As someone with a fairly large vocabulary, it is both amusing and disconcerting to find out a word you thought you knew well is not exactly what you thought it was.

As previously noted, my ultimate experience of this imposter syndrome happened in the late 2000s when I fully delved into the definitions of “narcissist” and “psychopath,” because that is when I learned that almost everything I thought I knew about these terms was wrong, superficial, or a half-truth at best.

For my entire adult life, when someone had “scruples,” that meant they had honorable ethics and a consistent sense of right and wrong. Thankfully, my definition was mostly correct, but there was still quite a useful surprise.

The twist

In hindsight, I never considered that scruples were a function of will and willpower. In my oversimplified definition, people were either ethical and had scruples, or they did not. Force of will never entered the picture.

Of course, once you think about it, it makes perfect sense that it takes will and willpower to maintain a code of honor when they are met with unscrupulous temptation.

On the bright side, there were positives to not knowing that scruples were connected to one’s willpower, or in the case of narcissists, a lack thereof.

As a new discovery, a few new CNI neural pathways were created, philosophical questions were raised, and new vectors of approach were there to explore regarding the role of will and willpower when trying to understand, define, and counter unhealthy forms of narcissism.

As those aware of malignant narcissists, sociopaths, and psychopaths know, virtually by definition, these are people without scruples. That is what makes the definition of “scruple” so interesting. It infers that they lack scruples because they lack the will or willpower to have any. 🤔

What a coincidence that other words associated with people who lack scruples are all basically tells, predictable behaviors, and symptoms of those higher up on the dark side of the narcissism spectrum.

Examples include:

Cheaters

Con artists

Corrupt

Criminal nature

Deceivers

Dishonest

Exploiters

Fraudsters

Immoral

Lacking morality altogether

Liars for personal gain

Not concerned about right or wrong

Psychopathic

Sociopathic

Unethical

Unprincipled

Wicked, cruel, and/or villainous

In Part II out shortly, we will further explore “a guy with no scruples” advantages, disadvantages, tactics, a related flaw in politics, a powerful countermove that will trigger narcissists, an inspired key insight, a rare exception, and a key strategic note.

Note: Part II of What Is Really Wrong With trump will still be out soon. It contains a great deal of nuance that could be easily misconstrued, so wise to take a bit more time.