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Sunday, December 28, 2014

Sociopath alert: Al Sharpton

Al Sharpton has led a life characterized by shamelessness, hypocrisy, dishonesty, and self-promotion. He doesn't even seem to make an effort to hide these traits, which makes him something of a rarity among sociopaths.

Sharpton first gained national attention with the Tawana Brawley "rape" case. Since then he has managed to insert himself into practically every major racial flareup in the country.

His history of race-baiting is generally well known, so there's no need to go into detail about all the incidents he has involved himself in: the Jena Six, the Trayvon Martin case, the Michael Brown case, and so on.

People have often ended up dying after Sharpton has inflamed passions, as happened in the Freddie's Fashion Mart fire, the Crown Heights riots, and the Ismaiiyl Brinsley killings. Sharpton has always  subsequently distanced himself from the killers. But in all of these cases he did his best to stir up resentment, whether or not it was justified.

Sharpton's credibility and point of view might best be summed up by this quote, from 1994: "White folks was in caves while we was building empires.... We taught philosophy and astrology and mathematics before Socrates and them Greek homos ever got around to it."

Sharpton and his for-profit corporations currently owe the IRS a total of $4.5 million in back taxes; he has been taking his time about paying the money back. On two separate occasions when the IRS was supposed to collect documentation from him, those documents were destroyed by suspicious fires.

Sharpton has never been able to fully account for how contributions to his National Action Network have been spent, either.

In any case, his hypocrisy in all of these instances has been amply documented elsewhere. What's far more interesting are the things that get much less publicity: his being an FBI informant, his early years as James Brown's manager, his even earlier years as a child preacher, and his family background.

Sharpton was born on October 3, 1954. He graduated from high school in 1972, and attended Brooklyn College for two years, dropping out in 1975.

In 1972, he became the national youth director for Shirley Chisholm's Presidential campaign. It's hard not to wonder what sort of 17-year-old has the nerve to apply for that job? What kind of fast talking and self-promotion did that entail?

Between 1973 and 1980, Sharpton served as singer James Brown's tour manager. He was still a teen-ager when he got that position as well. What kind of teen-ager thinks he's qualified to serve in that capacity, and actually manages to finagle that job? What kind of nerve and fast talking did that entail?

The fact is, no teenager really has either the knowledge or experience to take on these jobs. In order to get them, a teenager would have to pretty much dissemble about his qualifications. So not only did Sharpton exhibit tremendous nerve to get hired, he must have been something of a con artist as well.

And if you scratch a con artist, you'll almost always find a sociopath.

Even more revealing is Sharpton's history as an informant for the US government, though much of the information on a topic like this by its nature tends to remain shrouded in secrecy.

According to a 1988 NY Times report:

The Rev. Al Sharpton, a Brooklyn minister who has organized civil disobedience demonstrations and has frequently criticized the city's predominantly white political leadership, assisted law-enforcement officials in at least one recent criminal investigation of black community groups, Government sources said.

He also allowed investigators to wiretap a telephone in his home, the sources said.

But Mr. Sharpton disputed much of an account published yesterday in New York Newsday that said he had cooperated in several Federal investigations….

''I think the idea of this setup is either killing me or scaring me into running out of town,'' the 33-year Pentecostal minister said on a program on radio station WLIB. ''But I won't back down. When God made me, he forgot to put reverse in my transmission.''

As a young man, Sharpton managed to insinuate himself into the inner circles of Shirley Chisholm, James Brown, Don King, Adam Clayton Powell Jr., and Jesse Jackson. If he did want to further himself by informing on prominent blacks, he had plenty of opportunity.

Disloyalty, of course, is another hallmark of sociopathy.

Note Sharpton's own words: [God] "forgot to put reverse in my transmission." In other words, there is no room in his personality for qualms, shame, acknowledgment of error, or apologies.

But how did he become this way?

Sharpton evidently preached his first sermon at age four, and was ordained as a Pentecostal minister at age nine. (Smell a stage parent?) If you're preaching at an age when you're not old enough for kindergarten, what sort of narcissism does that encourage?

When Sharpton was nine, his father left his mother to have a relationship with Sharpton's 18-year-old half-sister (they had a baby together). What standard of loyalty must that have instilled in the young Sharpton? What level of ill will must that have fomented in that household?

It seems to have set a precedent in Sharpton's life which he has repeated over and over again, instigating discord wherever he goes.

One side note: Both of the two (white) sociopaths I knew best had a habit of over enunciating each of their words, as if every single thing that came out of their mouths deserved special emphasis. It's a weird sociopathic tic, reflective of feelings of self righteousness, narcissism, and a bullying nature. Think of the way Sharpton often bellows, not only overemphasizing every word, but sometimes even every syllable. It's the same tic.

Easy verdict: Sharpton is a sociopath. 

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is a good post.

- Susan

John Craig said...

Thank you Susan.

Anonymous said...

He talks the same way as Bill Cosby.

I can't listen to the guy.

Andrew

John Craig said...

Andrew --
I disagree, think they have different intonations entirely. Cosby sounds self-indulgent, but he doesn't bellow the way Sharpton does.

Glen Filthie said...

But...but...he's not even a good con man John. I can see how others like, say Bill and Hill Clinton do it - they are nice folks as long as you don't look at their politics and business dealings too closely. They are well spoken and cultured and can make you laugh and let your guard down. But this guy makes the skin crawl and race has nothing to do with it.

If you ask me that man is the product and spokesman for a group of people that are every bit as stupid and sleazy as he is. Guys like him don't speak for the negro - they speak for the nigger, if you get what I'm trying to say. I think if a responsible black man arose in that crowd and tried to inspire serious hope and change - he would get torn to shreds by the very people he was trying to help. I personally am fed up with the black man and his victim politics. I will treat him with respect if and when he goes about actually earning it.

John Craig said...

Glen --
You're trying to turn this post into a racial/political thing and that wasn't my intent. Regardless of what you think about group differences in IQ or criminality (and I am as aware of those differences as anybody), you alway have to judge people as individuals. Especially when you're trying to figure out if someone is a sociopath or not. Sharpton's scams are all tied in to race and politics, but that's not what makes him a sociopath. It's his shamelessness, his dishonesty, his disloyalty, etc. It just so happens that his politics are the opposite of mine, but that has nothing to do with character.

I'm mostly conservative, but that doesn't mean that I won't call Newt Gingrich or Joe Arpaio a sociopath, even if I generally agree with their politics. character isn't determined by political stance, but it can be discerned through HOW people use their stances, especially i they use them for self-promotion and personal gain, like Sharpton.

John Craig said...

Glen --
PS -- Please stop using the n-word, or I'll stop posting your comments. I'm in trouble enough for talking honestly about race and IQ, etc, without people pointing out that people on my site use the n-word. There's no point to it, it adds nothing to the discussion, and in fact once you use it, it means people who are sitting on the fence about various issues will stop listening to you.

Glen Filthie said...

Sorry John. Your blog, your rules. This shall be my last visit as you seem to take offense to valid points that counter your own. Please do not put words into the mouths of your detractors - it makes you look uneducated and unprincipled.

You seem to attribute Sharpton's success to some kind of skill at the con and an utter lack of conscience. The old adage is that people WANT to be conned; and it is my position that Sharpton is not particularly good at it.

In fact, Sharpton's loathesome qualities you mention - the shamelessness, the dishonesty, the disloyalty - are qualities shared by an entire demographic of the people that he represents. That is why their communities and failures are what they are. Liberals have troubles associating actions with consequences and causes with affects. I am disappointed to see the same disability in you to be honest. I would have thought you were smarter than that.

As for terminology...I will speak as I choose, thank you very much. I live in the real world where you have to call a spade a spade even if it offends some urban twit who has never had to live with 'people of colour' in close proximity. Fact is - the only way out of this mess is to shout down those politically correct idiots and do what needs to be done.

I'll leave you with the last word, John. Unfortunately you seem to be another intellectual poseur that is actually more politically correct and less objective and intelligent than he would care to admit.

Steven said...

"In fact, Sharpton's loathesome qualities you mention - the shamelessness, the dishonesty, the disloyalty - are qualities shared by an entire demographic of the people that he represents."

His contention is that an entire demographic- all or most black people (?)- are disloyal, dishonest and shameless?? Saying that an entire race of people are disloyal and dishonest is nonsense. Does he really believe this? Has he known many black people personally?

Anonymous said...

I've been on the receiving end of a narcissistic bellow, it's almost like a wounded animal?

Andrew

John Craig said...

Andrew --
That's a good description.

Anonymous said...

Someone I have thought of being a sociopath for a while is (Sir) Bob Geldof (covert sociopath)

He has has 3 people closely connected to him commit suicide.

This must be a almost unheard of?

I believe public-ally successful sociopaths are not all obvious fraudsters and murders.

Andrew

John Craig said...

Andrew --
I know very little about Geldof, so can't say. But to your larger point, yes, a lot of them aren't visible to the naked eye, so to speak. Many have reputations as pillars of the community, and some even have reputations for kind-heartedness.

Anonymous said...

His ex, ex's husband and daughter committed suicide yet he is still banging on about world hunger, selling a reissued world peace album or some shit.

Hope he gets a really painful cancer.

Andrew

John Craig said...

Andrew --
Just read the Wiki bio of Geldof. He sounds as if he could be a candidate. His mother died when he was quite young, which must have left him feeling abandoned. And the constant posturing in a very public way about various causes is typical of sociopaths. But neither of those things is proof of sociopathy, and I'd have to know more about his personal life to have a better feel for him. The suicides don't reflect well, either, but I don't know what happened there, there were undoubtedly other issues involved other than just him.