Kathleen Miles Blog: Christopher Dorner Not A Sociopath, Experts Say

Here's a cool network chart on the Victim Mentality. Not sure if I agree, or even understand it, but I appreciate the effort. It reminds me of a mind map.

by Kathleen Miles, Huffingtonpost blog

Christopher Dorner, the fugitive ex-Los Angeles cop who declared "war" on the LAPD, is not a sociopath, some psychologists say.

Dorner's spree of violence, which appears to have ended Tuesday with the discovery of a charred body after a shootout and fire at a Big Bear Lake cabin, may seem consistent with the definition of a sociopath -- a person who lacks a sense of moral responsibility or social conscience. He was accused of killing a retired captain's daughter and her fiance in Irvine, Calif., and shooting multiple cops in Riverside and Big Bear, killing two.

Dorner had written in his manifesto that he was motivated by a sense of right and wrong -- exactly what a sociopath lacks. The ex-cop wrote that his murderous spree was a "last resort" to expose corruption and racism within the LAPD and to restore his name after that corruption led to his firing in 2008.

Thousands of online fans had come to see Dorner as their "Dark Knight" fighting evil -- although many disavowed murder as a means to that end.

"While this man's actions are unthinkable and inexcusable, he does not fit the profile of a sociopath, who lacks the capacity for empathy and has no respect for social morals and norms," said Elizabeth Waterman, a psychologist in Newport Beach, Calif. "Dorner showed that he did care for the welfare of others, and, as a police officer, worked to protect the rights of others on a daily basis.

"In fact, his recent actions were his very misguided and desperate attempts to stand up for what is right and fight for justice," Waterman said. "I think Mr. Dorner's actions reflected a deep level of desperation to right a wrong and shed light on a justice system that has many, many flaws."

Dorner's empathetic beliefs went beyond victims of police brutality and corruption. According to his manifesto, his empathy led him to fervently defend the rights of gays and lesbians and to stand up against anti-Semitism, psychologist Izzy Kalman pointed out in Psychology Today.

Sociopathy, an antisocial personality disorder, is marked by being manipulative or exploitative of others. Those traits don't align with Dorner's rigid view and moral standards.

So what went wrong?

Dorner did not know how to cope in a world where right sometimes does not prevail over wrong. "He's a child," said Bob Tur, a private investigator who has found over 20 fugitives. "Children see things like right and wrong in black and white. But as life beats you down, you live in gray areas. You realize that fairness is an abstract thought."

Kalman said this rigid view of a world where right is always supposed to prevail leads to a victimization mentality. Most violence -- by criminals and by countries headed to war -- is committed not by people who feel like bullies, but by those who feel like victims, Kalman said.

"We all become sociopathic when we feel victimized," Kalman said. "Our conscience gets flushed down the drain. We feel like we are the good guys, the innocent victims, and they are the bad guys, the bullies -- and bullies, as we have been taught, are not to be tolerated."

So, Kalman said, "We pick up guns and tell our bullies, 'Hasta la vista, baby!'"

Kalman's solution is to stop "teaching children … that we are entitled to a life in which no one disrespects us … that our emotional pain is other people’s fault."

Other experts hypothesized that Dorner may have lost his ability to live in an unjust world because of post-traumatic stress disorder. Although he was not a combat soldier, Dorner served in the Navy in the Middle East and claimed in his manifesto that he suffered traumatic head injuries during his service.

Kathy Platoni, a psychologist for the U.S. Army Reserve, said Dorner does not fit the description of a person with an antisocial personality disorder. Though there "may be a connection between diminished self-control and increased aggression in those diagnosed with PTSD, … it rarely leads to violence, especially of this magnitude," she said.

Dorner may have suffered from manifested rage resulting from depression or "maladaptive behaviors" because he "perceives the world around [him] and everyone in it as the problem," Dr. Platoni said. "There is certainly a paranoid flavor to his manifesto and his behavior patterns," she added.

Others said Dorner's violence resulted neither from his mental state nor his view of the world. And that includes Dorner himself, who wrote in his manifesto that he began suffering from "severe depression" in late 2008 as a result of being relieved of duty as an LAPD officer.

"The poor and downtrodden, who have suffered unending, unspeakable abuse, … their internal lives are saturated in rage and a sense of utter helplessness," said Erika Sloane, a psychologist in Los Angeles. "I do not see this as a reflection of individual failings or 'mental illness.' I see the rage as a response to our increasingly corrupt, unjust, unresponsive culture."

Anna Marie Quindlen is the American author, journalist, and opinion columnist whose New York Times column, Public and Private, won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1992. She began her journalism career in 1974 as a reporter for the New York Post. Between 1977 and 1994 she held several posts at The New York Times.

Icons From the Age of Anxiety: Record Producer Phil Spector

One of the most disturbing freefalls from celebrated wunderkind to profoundly disturbed adult, rivaling those of chess champion Bobby Fischer, filmaker Howard Hughes, and pop star Michael Jackson, is that of Phil Spector (b. 1940), the originator of the Wall of Sound production technique (a dense, layered effect that reproduced well on AM radio and jukeboxes).

Spector was a pioneer of the 1960s girl-group sound and produced over 25 Top 40 hits in 1960–1965. Some of his famous girl groups are The Ronettes and The Crystals. After this initial success, Spector later worked with artists including Ike and Tina Turner, John Lennon, George Harrison, and the Ramones with similar acclaim. He produced The Beatles' Academy Award winning album Let It Be, and the Grammy Award–winning Concert for Bangladesh by former Beatle George Harrison.

In 1989, Spector was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a non-performer. The 1965 song "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin,'" produced and co-written by Spector for The Righteous Brothers, is listed by BMI as the song with the most US airplay in the 20th century.

Philles Records:

In late 1961, Spector formed a new record company with Lester Sill, who by this time had ended a business partnership with Lee Hazlewood. Philles Records combined the names of its two founders. Through Hill and Range Publishers, Spector found three groups he wanted to produce: the Ducanes, the Creations, and The Crystals.

Tom Wolfe, author of "The Pump-House Gang," the famous piece in which he predicted the death of surf culture in 1965, had earlier written a profile of Phil Spector. “The First Tycoon of Teen,” was Tom Wolfe’s 1964 profile of pop wunderkind Phil Spector -- “the first millionaire businessman to rise up out of the teen-age netherworld.” At 23, Spector had already produced “Zip-a-dee-doo-dah,” “He’s a Rebel,” “Be My Baby,” “Da Do Ron Ron,” “Then He Kissed Me,” “Uptown,” and “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin.” “I get a little angry when people say it's bad music,” Spector tells Wolfe. “It has limited chord changes, and people are always saying the words are banal and why doesn't anybody write lyrics like Cole Porter anymore, but we don’t have presidents like Lincoln anymore either.”

By 1967 Spector had lost his enthusiasm for his Philles label and the recording industry. Already something of a recluse, he withdrew temporarily from the public eye, marrying Veronica "Ronnie" Bennett, lead singer of the Ronettes, in 1968. Spector emerged briefly for a cameo as a drug dealer in the film Easy Rider, in 1969. (He had also, in 1967, appeared as himself in an episode of I Dream of Jeannie.)

In 1970, Allen Klein, manager of the Beatles, brought Spector to England. While producing John Lennon's hit solo single "Instant Karma!", which went to #3, Spector was invited by Lennon and George Harrison to take on the task of turning the Beatles' abandoned "Get Back" recording sessions into a usable album. Spector went to work using many of his production techniques, making significant changes to the arrangements and sound of some songs. The resulting album, Let It Be, was a massive commercial success and topped the US and UK charts. The album also yielded three #1 singles: "Get Back", "The Long and Winding Road" and "Let It Be". His overdubbing of "The Long and Winding Road" infuriated its composer, Paul McCartney, especially since the work was allegedly completed without his knowledge and without any opportunity for him to assess the results. In 2003, McCartney spearheaded the release of Let It Be... Naked, which stripped the songs of Spector's input.

Many producers have tried to emulate the Wall of Sound, and Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys—a fellow adherent of mono recording—considered Spector his main competition as a studio artist, going so far as to name the acclaimed Pet Sounds album using Spector's initials. Bruce Springsteen emulated the Wall of Sound technique in his recording of "Born to Run".

As the 1970s progressed, Spector became increasingly reclusive. The most probable and significant reason for his withdrawal, recently revealed by biographer Dave Thompson, was that in 1974 Spector was seriously injured when he was thrown through the windshield of his car in a crash in Hollywood. According to a contemporary report published in the New Musical Express, Spector was almost killed, and it was only because the attending police officer detected a faint pulse that Spector was not declared dead at the scene. He was admitted to the UCLA Medical Center on the night of March 31, 1974, suffering serious head injuries which necessitated several hours of surgery with over 300 stitches to his face and more than 400 to the back of his head. His head injuries, Thompson suggests, were the reason that Spector began his habit of wearing outlandish wigs in later years.

The 1974 accident took place shortly after Spector had established the Warner-Spector label with Warner Bros. Records, which undertook new recordings with Dion, Cher, Harry Nilsson and others, as well as several reissues. A similar relationship with Britain's Polydor Records led to the formation of the Phil Spector International label in 1975.

On February 3, 2003, actress Lana Clarkson was found dead, killed by a firearm, in Spector's mansion in Alhambra, California. Spector stated that Clarkson's death was an "accidental suicide" and that she "kissed the gun." The emergency call from Spector's home, made by Spector's driver Adriano de Souza, quotes Spector as saying, "I think I've killed someone." According to some women who were said to have met Spector, there would come a point when they wanted to leave Spector's home, whereupon he would hold them at gunpoint.

First trial:

Spector remained free on $1 million bail while awaiting trial. The trial began on March 19, 2007. Presiding judge Larry Paul Fidler allowed the trial to be televised. At the start of the trial, the defense's forensic expert Henry Lee was accused of hiding crucial evidence which the District Attorney's office claimed could prove Spector's guilt. On September 26, 2007, Judge Fidler declared a mistrial because of a hung jury (10 to 2 for conviction).

Second trial:

The case went to the jury on March 26, 2009, and nineteen days later, on April 13, the jury returned a guilty verdict  of second-degree murder. In addition, he was found guilty of using a firearm in the commission of a crime. Spector was immediately taken into custody and was formally sentenced on May 29, 2009, to 19 years to life in the California state prison system.

Discography

Albums:

1959: The Teddy Bears Sing – The Teddy Bears
1963: A Christmas Gift for You from Philles Records – Various Artists
1963: Twist Uptown – The Crystals
1963: He's A Rebel – The Crystals
1963: Zip-A Dee-Doo-Dah - Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans
1964: Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica – The Ronettes
1965: Ronettes – The Ronettes
1966: River Deep - Mountain High – Ike and Tina Turner
1969: Love Is All We Have to Give - Sonny Charles and the Checkmates, Ltd.
1970: Let It Be – The Beatles
1970: All Things Must Pass (co-producer) – George Harrison
1970: Plastic Ono Band (co-producer) – John Lennon and The Plastic Ono Band
1971: Imagine (co-producer) – John Lennon and The Plastic Ono Band with the Flux Fiddlers
1971: The Concert for Bangladesh (co-producer) – George Harrison and friends
1972: Some Time in New York City (co-producer) – John Lennon and Yoko Ono     with Elephant's Memory plus Invisible Strings
1975: Rock N' Roll (co-producer) – John Lennon
1975: Born To Be With You – Dion
1977: Death of a Ladies' Man – Leonard Cohen
1980: End of the Century – Ramones
1981: Season of Glass (co-producer) – Yoko Ono
1986: Menlove Ave. (co-producer) – John Lennon
1991: Back to Mono (1958-1969) (box set compilation) – Various Artists
2003: Silence Is Easy (co-producer) – Starsailor
Singles:

"To Know Him Is to Love Him" – The Teddy Bears (12/01/58, #1)
"Corrina, Corrina" – Ray Peterson (1/09/61, #9)
"Pretty Little Angel Eyes" – Curtis Lee (8/07/61, #7)
"Every Breath I Take" – Gene Pitney (9/11/61, #42)
"I Love How You Love Me" – The Paris Sisters (10/30/61, #5)
"Under the Moon of Love" – Curtis Lee (11/27/61, #46)
"There's No Other (Like My Baby)" – The Crystals (1/22/62, #20)
"I Could Have Loved You So Well" – Ray Peterson (1/27/62, #57)
"Uptown" – The Crystals (3/03/62, #13)
"He Knows I Love Him Too Much" – The Paris Sisters (3/10/62, #34)
"Let Me Be the One" – The Paris Sisters (5/26/62, #87)
"Second Hand Love" – Connie Francis (6/09/62, #7)
"He's A Rebel" – The Crystals (11/03/62, #1)
"Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" – Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans (1/12/63, #8)
"He's Sure the Boy I Love" – The Crystals (1/19/63, #11)
"Puddin N’ Tain (Ask Me Again, I’ll Tell You the Same)" – The Alley Cats (2/16/63, #43)
"Why Do Lovers Break Each Other’s Hearts" – Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans (3/30/63, #38)
"(Today I Met) The Boy I’m Gonna Marry" – Darlene Love (5/11/63, #39)
"Da Doo Ron Ron (When He Walked Me Home)" – The Crystals (6/08/63, #3)
"Not Too Young to Get Married" – Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans (7/13/63, #63)
"Then He Kissed Me" – The Crystals (8/17/63, #6)
"Wait ’Til My Bobby Gets Home" – Darlene Love (9/07/63, #26)
"Be My Baby" – The Ronettes (10/12/63, #2)
"A Fine Fine Boy" – Darlene Love (11/23/63, #53)
"Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)" – Darlene Love
"Baby, I Love You" – The Ronettes (2/01/64, #24)
"(The Best Part of) Breakin' Up" – The Ronettes (5/16/64, #39)
"Do I Love You?" – The Ronettes (8/01/64, #34)
"Walking In the Rain" – The Ronettes (12/05/64, #23)
"You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" – The Righteous Brothers (2/06/65 #1, UK #1)
"Just Once in My Life" – The Righteous Brothers (5/15/65, #9)
"Unchained Melody" – The Righteous Brothers (8/28/65, #4)
"Ebb Tide" – The Righteous Brothers (1/08/66, #5)
"River Deep - Mountain High" – Ike and Tina Turner (6/18/66, #88 UK #3)
"Love Is All I Have to Give" – The Checkmates, Ltd. (5/03/69, #65)
"Black Pearl" – The Checkmates, Ltd. (7/05/69, #13)
"Proud Mary" – The Checkmates, Ltd. (11/01/69, #69)
"Instant Karma (We All Shine On)" – John Lennon (3/28/70, #3)
"The Long and Winding Road"/"For You Blue" – The Beatles (6/13/70, #1)
"My Sweet Lord" – George Harrison (12/26/70, #1)
"What Is Life" – George Harrison (3/27/71, #10)
"Power To The People" – John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (5/15/71, #11)
"Try Some, Buy Some" – Ronnie Spector (5/22/71, #77)
"Bangla-Desh" – George Harrison (9/11/71, #23)
"Imagine" – John Lennon (11/13/71, #3)
"Rock 'n' Roll High School" – Ramones (8/04/79, UK #67)
"Baby, I Love You" – Ramones (2/04/80, UK #8)
"Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?" – Ramones (5/16/80, #54)
"Unchained Melody – The Righteous Brothers (10/20/90 Reissue, #13)
"Silence Is Easy" – Starsailor (01/09/03, UK #8)
[
Movies:

Easy Rider (The Connection)

Television:

I Dream of Jeannie (Himself)