The Psychopath Test

[The Brain]

Because he's a cynic.

I was going to say a "yes man" and "back stabber", but perhaps that's to militant.

Well, he comes across as someone who would prefer that his success comes at the expense of someone else, so he probably strongly agreed with that one, and can't comprehend anyone strongly disagreeing with it.

And as for the first one he mentioned, I strongly disagreed with it as much as a practical matter as anything else.  In my experience, telling people what they want to hear doesn't really get them to do what you want them to do, it just gives them an excuse to do what they really want to do anyway.  Of course, maybe that just means I'm bad at manipulating people.

I don't know whether I should respond as you seem to be an idiot, but let's try.

My point is that even if we are not by nature manipulative, every now and then we all do tell people what they want to hear to get what we want and this is pretty normal in human interaction (even if less than saintly) (every one who ever tried to talk their way out of a speeding ticket knows this) - so saying you strongly disagree with this one is either hypocritical or unaware. I went neutral on this one.

Similarly, with the success coming at the expense of others, most people would prefer that it doesn't - but a lot of our successes actually come at the expense of others (with the most obvious one being "being born in the West", which automatically gives us an advantage in life and it is clearly at the expense of others - i.e. people born in the Third World) and we are not always terribly upset or even aware of it - so saying you "strongly agree" that you are very upset every time your success comes at the expense of others is simply a lie. I said I agree - but not strongly agree.

I don't understand. The Third World would be better off without a West?

[DGuller]

My point is that even if we are not by nature manipulative, every now and then we all do tell people what they want to hear to get what we want and this is pretty normal in human interaction (even if less than saintly) (every one who ever tried to talk their way out of a speeding ticket knows this) - so saying you strongly disagree with this one is either hypocritical or unaware. I went neutral on this one.

Speak for yourself.  The only time I say to people what they want to hear is when I don't want to hurt them.  Out of empathy, not out of consideration of what I can get out of them in the future.

I find it hard to believe, especially as you do not come across as a particularly ethical individual.

Well, there's your problem.  if you have a hard time figuring out ethical people from unethical, then of course you are going to assume the worst in everyone.

[lustindarkness]

Which is more absurd, Jews or Lizards?

Jewish Lizards.

[Malthus]

Which is more absurd, Jews or Lizards?

Jewish Lizards.

Especially given that the only insect that is kosher is the locust. What would a Jewish Lizard eat? 

[dps]

Because he's a cynic.

I was going to say a "yes man" and "back stabber", but perhaps that's to militant.

Well, he comes across as someone who would prefer that his success comes at the expense of someone else, so he probably strongly agreed with that one, and can't comprehend anyone strongly disagreeing with it.

And as for the first one he mentioned, I strongly disagreed with it as much as a practical matter as anything else.  In my experience, telling people what they want to hear doesn't really get them to do what you want them to do, it just gives them an excuse to do what they really want to do anyway.  Of course, maybe that just means I'm bad at manipulating people.

I don't know whether I should respond as you seem to be an idiot, but let's try.

My point is that even if we are not by nature manipulative, every now and then we all do tell people what they want to hear to get what we want and this is pretty normal in human interaction (even if less than saintly) (every one who ever tried to talk their way out of a speeding ticket knows this) - so saying you strongly disagree with this one is either hypocritical or unaware. I went neutral on this one.

Similarly, with the success coming at the expense of others, most people would prefer that it doesn't - but a lot of our successes actually come at the expense of others (with the most obvious one being "being born in the West", which automatically gives us an advantage in life and it is clearly at the expense of others - i.e. people born in the Third World) and we are not always terribly upset or even aware of it - so saying you "strongly agree" that you are very upset every time your success comes at the expense of others is simply a lie. I said I agree - but not strongly agree.

How the hell is that even an example of my success coming at the expense of others?   It's not like Mono was born in HK and Tamas was born in Hungary because I was born in the US--they would have been born there even if I had never been born at all.  And my being born in the US didn't prevent them from being born here--it was the fact that their parents lived in HK and Hungary respectively.

[Grinning_Colossus]

I think Mart is saying that the West maintains a parasitic relationship with the 3rd World. Dependency theory.