While reading about another web nerd fight I found this very interesting snippit about psychopaths.
When a psychopath feels that his manipulations are not working, he will always always always as a last resort use the pity play. He will be very sad, disappointed in you, and claim to be unfairly treated. It is very predictable and yet I still find myself amazed when I see it pretty much every single time. If you push a psychopath who has done something incredibly wrong, and try go get him to admit to what he’s done, or just agree on what has happened at all, at some point the pity thing will come up. The psychopath uses his knowledge about what we have but he has not: a conscience. And this is used ruthlessly through the pity-play.
David Watanabe’s reply to the widespread criticism over his sneaky ads and affiliate links fits this description to a tee. Of course, he’s removed his post in which he used this pity play from his blog, but google’s cache comes to the rescue.
Nonetheless, I grit my teeth and try my best. But increasingly my good intentions and sacrifice are being met with cynicism and deliberate mean-spiritedness. Fundamentally I’m a nice person, quiet spoken and non-confrontational. Sacrificing six years of my life to enhance the lives of people whom I will never meet is not a self-serving action. But when I get threatened with harm and called an asshole by someone I have never met, when my ‘transgression’ was creating something unique and giving it away for free to everyone… well, my idealism about the Mac dies a little. If this is you, then I welcome you to leave. Your burden is not one I wish to bear.
Spooky huh?