The Roob .
B. L. Gary,
2017.06.14
A Roob is a “know-nothing” who talks like a
“know-it-all.” He’ll Google something, and then talk like an
expert on the subject. When a true expert says something
that the Roob doesn’t like, the Roob talks louder. The
saying “Those who know aren’t talking, and those who are
talking don’t know” is a reference to Roobs versus true
experts. The Roob recognizes opportunities to advance
himself, even at the expense of others who may be more
deserving. In this regard, the Roob is a “sociopath-lite.” I
suspect that Roobs admire sociopaths.
Maybe the term "sociopath" should be defined.
Sociopathy and psychopathology are confused in the
literature, and the two are often equated. The accepted way
for establishing a person's psychopathology is to score them
on the Hare Psychopathology Checklist, consisting of
40-questions (as illustrated in Fig. 1). Any score of 30 or
above constitutes assigning the person to the category of
"psychopath." Approximately 4% of Americans qualify as
psychopaths.
Descriptions of sociopathy resemble that for
psychopathology, though the sociopath is usually viewed as
having less severe symptoms (i.e., less prone to murder). A
major study conducted at the request of the U. S.
Congress (about 10 years ago) assessed the incidence of a
disorder very much resembling sociopathy, but going by the
awkward name of "Borderline Personality Disorder," or BPD.
Recognition of BPD had grown during the preceding several
decades, and there was an obvious association between
criminality and BPD (as well as the obvious one with
psychopathology). The study found that 6% of Americans were
in the BPD category. I am familiar with one person diagnosed
twice as being BPD, and her score on the Hare
Psychopathology Checklist was ~22. I informally think of BPD
as scoring in the range 15 to 29, and in my writings I often
equate BPD with sociopathy.
I therefore claim that 10% of the population is
either sociopathic or psychopathic! For brevity I will also
use the terminology that 10% of the population are
sociopaths, given the looseness with which the term
sociopath is used. What percentage of the American
population are Roobs? Great question. If I had to guess I'd
place the number somewhere near 38%.
It's difficult to predict what might happen to a
society that has a growing number of psychopaths, sociopaths
and Roobs - I haven't even mentioned the fact that half of
Americans have below average IQ, and half of Americans are
too apathetic to vote. If I'm correct in my assertion the
two main categories of undesirables (sociopaths and
psychopaths) has increased in incidence since pre-historic
times, from 1 or 2 % to the present 10%, and if that
incidence is still increasing, then what are the prospects
for civilization surviving the infection of this social
cancer? The Roobs are enablers, and their numbers are also
increasing. I have succumbed to pessimism about the future
of America, and humanity.
Any academic interest in the slow growth of
recognition of Roobs in recent civilizations could read the
following sequence of books: Revolt
of the Masses, Jose Ortega y Gassett (1930), The
Great Roob Revolution, Roger Price and Genetic
Enslavement (Chapter 26), Bruce Gary (2014).
For other internet discussions of the threat
posed by sociopaths I provide links below. Also, consider
reading the book The
Death of Expertise by Tom Nichols (2017).
Figure
1. Hare Psychopathology Checklist.
Related
Links
Roobification of America
(more about Gasset, Price and my follow-up)
Holocene Experiment
(understanding Global Terrorism)
Fragility of Democracy
(earlier version of this essay)
References
Roobs in Trumpistan! ("Carnival
in Rome," a painting by Johannes Lingelbach, c1650, depicting
"fools" mocking the elite and
celebrating vulgarity, as only the hoi poloi know
how.)
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