Sociopathy? Objectivism? Membership correlation?

[Boyish-Tigerlilly]

I have been observing for a while now the ethical philosophy of Objectivism, and it seems to me like a lot of teenagers are really into it. That and sociopaths.

If you compare the list of traits, they often have a lot in common with Objectivists. For example, on another forum, there's a character called Freedom For All, and I thought he was trolling at first, but he really isn't. He seems:

1. Immune to any form of ethical reasoning except whatever benefits him
2. Only responsive to something being either good or bad for him
3. Lacking genuine sympathy or empathy for others (Totally disregards the suffering or pain of others as important, unless it affects him)
4. Lacking any feeling of moral or ethical obligation or duty toward anyone else. Scoffs at the idea.
5. Unable to learn from experience (the same thing happening to him would be irrelevant--that is, he wouldn't universalize his own feelings)

6. Manipulative
7. To revel in the suffering of others (because they deserve it for being poor (insert deprived individual here).

Sometimes, I can't tell the differences between a sociopath and an Objectivist. It seems almost the perfect cover. I wonder if there is some correlation between sociopaths and Objectivism. Seems like the perfect guise for sociopathic mentalities.

[Rye]

I've used the same point when arguing with Randroids. If the system's ethics allow for sociopathic people (even if they're not that numerous), then it can hardly be considered an ethical system.

[Frank Hipper]

There used to be a band that must have had Ayn Rand in mind when they picked a name:

Me First And The Gimme-Gimmes.

[SeeingRed]

It's just a form of rationalization, just like we see in so many other areas, to make something that is really quite undesirable seem scientific and logical or desirable in some other way.

Thus, "unequal opportunity" becomes "affirmative action", "illogic" becomes "faith", and "sociopathy" becomes "objectivism".