The secret
As I redid the above icon to extend Polistra's prison sentence into May, I got thinking about psychopaths and governors and mayors.

The basic fact about a psychopath is that he must IMPOSE HIS WILL at all times. Obedience is never enough. After you obey, he has to change the rules and make you obey again, then change the rules again and make you obey again.

And that's the key.

I remembered my first cellmate in April 1969. He was a small-scale psychopath, not qualified to be a governor or president, but he showed the same basic characteristic. He needed to WIN every single interaction, and then change the rules to WIN again, then change the rules to WIN again.

I had no hope of conquering him, but I figured out how to bore him. I obeyed beyond his wishes each time, never protesting or complaining. Each time he got tired of imposing and punching and raping. He got bored. This happened every evening, so it was a bit wearisome and bruising for me, but the alternative was death. I preferred life.

Soon I found out about Beasley's Real Estate Service and quickly spent the necessary cartons of Kools to get moved into a better cell. The first move wasn't much better, but a few more cartons got me into a safe cell with some upper-middle-class junkies from Shaker Heights.

Watching Mayor Woodward dealing with Holocauster Inslee, I can see the same tactic. Woodward constantly emphasizes Calm, Cautious, Courteous. The local police are Calm, Cautious, Courteous. They have authority to arrest everyone who isn't exactly 2.000000 meters apart, but they don't.

Result: No rebellion, no public disobedience. Everyone gets unemployed and isolated and raped and bruised, but nobody gets slaughtered. Governor gets bored, focuses elsewhere on the counties where sheriffs are publicly disobeying.

Woodward has figured out the secret.

= = = = =

Later: A new development. The county commission, acting officially as a commission, has sent a letter to Inslee requesting immediate reopening. The letter follows the same pattern, giving total credit to Inslee for our success in "flattening the curve", and begging him to respect his own accomplishments. Remains to be seen if this is obeisant enough. I'm betting against it but hoping I'm wrong..... Needless to say, I was right. Nothing happened.

And also later and unsurprisingly, it turned out I was foolishly optimistic about Woodward. She is an enthusiastic participant, not a reluctant passive resister. Still, the general rule about psychopaths is valid.

Labels: Jail mode, Patient people

  ¶ 1:36 PM