To: Bill Ulrich who wrote (25248 ) 10/26/2000 8:20:03 PM From: zonkie Read Replies (1) | Respond to What do you think someone who would write someone like that would read?This book is interesting mainly in that it shows the psycopathic mind's justifying that all they've done wrong is not their fault. It's the system's fault, Man! Blah, blah, blah. This book probably never would have seen print if introduction-writer Norman Mailer hadn't supported it. Norman Mailer famously stabbed his own wife badly enough to hospitalize her (but she didn't press charges). I wonder if Mailer's excusing Abbott's behavior was an indirect way of excusing his own behavior? So Abbot stabbed a waiter and ended up back in prison. As an example of his lack of a conscience, consider what he said on "Current Affair" when asked if he felt remorse: "I don't think that's the proper word. Remorse implies that I did something wrong. IF I'm the one who stabbed him, it was an accident." He "justified" murdering the waiter/actor by saying "He had no future as an actor--chances are he would have gone into another line of work." Abbot had told the victim's wife in court that her husband's life was "not worth a dime." If you do read this book and somehow find yourself sympathizing with Abbot, I implore you to read WITHOUT CONSCIENCE, THE DISTURBING WORLD OF PSYCHOPATH'S AMONG US by Robert D. Hare (where I got the above quotes of Abbott's). It will reveal to you what psychopaths like Abbott are really like. It may even help you escape, unscathed, psychopaths you run into in the future. (Psychopaths number 2%-3%of the population, so chances are you will run into one sometime.)Murder and Intellectuals, September 18, 2000 amazon.com
