As soon as I find out that someone is psychopathic, I question their motivation for whatever they’re doing. Because (right?) I’m pretty sure I know what their motivation is NOT: the common good. It’s something to benefit themselves, which may or may not APPEAR TO line up with the common good at any given time. Do psychopaths raised in nurturing homes truly have their traits “offset”, or are they just more skilled at blending in and more subtle in the kinds of power/control/etc they’re pursuing? They might be less likely to be PHYSICALLY violent or to be involved in crime (that they get caught for), but that doesn’t mean they’re not hurting individuals or society in some way in pursuit of their own ends.

The cynic/conspiracy theorist in me thinks that these people see which way the wind is blowing on some level, in that society is catching on to them, and they want to glorify/normalize psychopathic traits to forestall a “witch hunt” kind of mentality, stay in power, and keep people admiring them. Or maybe they’re just capitalizing on the interest in psychopathy to advance themselves. Anyway, though, I’m not buying the “wisdom of psychopaths” idea AT ALL. There’s nothing glorious about psychopathy. I’ll take a leader with a conscience ANY DAY. Having a conscience absolutely does not preclude someone from staying calm under pressure, etc, etc – all the things they think are so great about psychopaths. Maybe if psychopaths weren’t in charge we wouldn’t get into such tight spots anyway, seriously.