David Miliband: Regrets, he’s had a few. But then again…
Are sociopaths over-represented amongst our elected representatives, do you think? Or do the numbers of the coldly misanthropic in their ranks reflect the numbers that walk amongst us mere proles? It’s a worrying thought either way.
I’m fascinated by political attempts at ‘I feel your pain’. Look at Foreign Secretary David Miliband’s reaction to the Law Lords’ ruling that the Chagos Islanders are to be finally denied hope of going home…
It is appropriate on this day that I should repeat the government’s regret at the way the resettlement of the Chagossians was carried out.
What does that actually mean? Can such an entity as a government ‘regret’? Or do they have someone doing the regretting for them? Who in the Foreign Office is the designated regretter?
I suppose it all depends what you mean by ‘regret’. I imagine the way the Foreign Secretary defines it differs somewhat from the way you or I do. It’s the same when Gordon Brown says he ‘mourns’ British soldiers dying in the desert. Do you really ‘mourn’, Gordon? Do you actually ‘regret’, David? I’ll bet that your truly honest response behind your closed office door to the Law Lord’s decision was a huge sigh of relief.
We all have a complicity in this deception, this debasement, if we’re honest. We demand emotional intelligence, however fake. We live in emotionally incontinent times, if not exactly emotionally honest times. ‘How are you today?’ is the bedrock of small talk although most of us usually express no more dissatisfaction with life than ‘oh, not so bad’. Imagine the look on your questioner’s face if you told him or her how you were really feeling.
So, I suppose, Brown and Miliband’s expressions of grief and regret are an extension of that cultural tic of small talk. It’s actually very British. They have to fill the space, the embarrassing silence. We want them to and demand it of them. Say anything, even if you don’t and couldn’t possibly mean it. They take it a little further than an ‘oh, not so bad’ but not much more.
These utterances don’t stand up to the slightest scrutiny (not least when you see what else this government gets up to – is the treatment of asylum seekers at Yarl’s Wood, for example, a matter for ‘regret’). And, really, they don’t have to in an age of short attention where easy, cheap gestures dress as altruism. You have to consider who these expressions of sadness are designed to comfort. Do sociopaths long for comfort?
Posted on October 24th, 2008 at 10:13am under Uncategorized
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• 6 Comments |
Not all ‘regrets’ are moral – doubtless Peter Sutcliffe regrets getting caught.
Similarly, I imagine Miliband regrets the fact that a previous government’s actions created an awkward situation for him, in which he has a choice between doing something obviously outrageous, or pissing off the Americans…
Taking your initial question at face value, yes I do think so, and for very good reasons. The skills demanded for success in contemporary British politics, superficial charm, manipulation, egocentricity, willingness to abandon principle, etc. map very well onto most definitions of sociopathic behaviour, and the rewards of political success, fawning attention, immunity from repercussions for all but the most extreme misconduct, and substantial remuneration would be very attractive to a sociopathic personality.
In the past, there were various factors whih insured against sociopathic dominance: parties had more or less consistent principles and programmes; politicians were expected to have shown evidence of ability in some other sphere; journalists held them to account. None of these any longer apply.
I would guess that any politician emerging with ministerial rank these days is more likely to be at least somewhat sociopathic than not.
[...] the pick of the bunch must be Justin’s post at Chicken Yofhurt; I suppose it all depends what you mean by ‘regret’. I imagine the way the Foreign Secretary [...]
[...] the pick of the bunch must be Justin’s post at Chicken Yofhurt; I suppose it all depends what you mean by ‘regret’. I imagine the way the Foreign Secretary [...]
If they did regret it they wouldn’t have gone to the House of Lords to get it overturned. “Actions speak louder than words”.
Are sociopaths over-represented amongst our elected representatives, do you think?
Sociopaths and sick people. look at all the leaders who have had physical illnesses in office.