IT IS OFTEN said, accurately, that we are ruled by professional psychopaths, people who glory in lying and manipulating on an inconceivable scale. Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Anthony Fauci are just a few of many psychopaths that have sat in the government. They have no conscience and no remorse about their lies. They are much more dangerous than serial killers.

But as society degenerates on an inner level, we are more and more likely to encounter psychopaths in our personal lives. Family breakdown, atheism, militant political ideologies and a highly competitive spirit create manipulative personalities and an unleashed thirst for power and control over others.

Tactics used by egotistical or “narcissistic” personalities are discussed here. Despite the psychological jargon, trendy wording and approval of family destruction in this piece (and the immodest image), it accurately describes some common strategies. One tactic is “name-calling:”

Narcissists preemptively blow anything they perceive as a threat to their superiority out of proportion. In their world, only they can ever be right and anyone who dares to say otherwise creates a narcissistic injury that results in narcissistic rage. As Mark Goulston, M.D. asserts, narcissistic rage does not result from low self-esteem but rather a high sense of entitlement and false sense of superiority.

The lowest of the low resort to narcissistic rage in the form of name-calling when they can’t think of a better way to manipulate your opinion or micromanage your emotions. Name-calling is a quick and easy way to put you down, degrade you and insult your intelligence, appearance or behavior while invalidating your right to be a separate person with a right to his or her perspective.

Name-calling can also be used to criticize your beliefs, opinions and insights. A well-researched perspective or informed opinion suddenly becomes “silly” or “idiotic” in the hands of a malignant narcissist or sociopath who feels threatened by it and cannot make a respectful, convincing rebuttal. Rather than target your argument, they target you as a person and seek to undermine your credibility and intelligence in any way they possibly can. It’s important to end any interaction that consists of name-calling and communicate that you won’t tolerate it. Don’t internalize it: realize that they are resorting to name-calling because they are deficient in higher level methods.

Arm yourself against aggressive manipulation, which is so often covert in nature. Understand the psychopath. He will use your conscience — the very thing he lacks — against you.

These tactics are as old as humankind. Psychopathy is not new. The best defense is spiritual:

Six things there are, which the Lord hateth, and the seventh his soul detesteth: Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that deviseth wicked plots, feet that are swift to run into mischief,  A deceitful witness that uttereth lies, and him that soweth discord among brethren. My son, keep the commandments of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother.

Bind them in thy heart continually, and put them about thy neck. When thou walkest, let them go with thee: when thou sleepest, let them keep thee; and when thou awakest, talk with them. Because the commandment is a lamp, and the law a light, and reproofs of instruction are the way of life Proverbs 6:16-22

Finally, we should earnestly pray for skilled manipulators and offer our sufferings to God in reparation for our own sins and those of others. Father, forgive them. They know not what they do.

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