Psychopathy for Beginners

Just finished an engaging piece about psychopathy in the November 10, 2008, issue of The New Yorker. First, a word about the word "psychopathy" itself. As I was reading the article, "Suffering Souls," by John Seabrook, I more or less assumed that the word was pronounced with the accent on -path, but also wondered it might not be true, because, after all, we don't put the accent on -log in psychology. Sure enough, Merriam-Webster, with its pronunciation thingy-doodle audio device, informs us that the accent is on the -op. But I digress. The article explores how neuroscientists, especally Dr. Kent Kiehl, are studying the functional MRIs of prison inmates, to see if their brains function differently than the brain of, um, normal people. It all provokes fascinating and provocative questions about good, evil, justice, and salami-on-rye sandwiches. Sorry, I digress again. Uh-oh. A diagnostic checklist used to evaluate for psychopathy, the PCL-R, measures, among other things, poor impulse control (not mind-wanderingness, not exactly sort of). We are let off the hook, a bit, with this: "If a biological basis for psychopathy could be establshed and pharmacological treatments developed, the idea that many people have at least a little of the psychopath in them could well become acepted." Relax, will you? This is not making a pitch for the acceptance of antisocial behavior. I'm merely saying how intriguing it is to ponder how the brain works and how we move within very lmited realms, it seems. (On a similar note, NPR today had a bit about brain scans and what they reveal about our shopping and other choices. Buyology. Neuromarketing. Martin Lindstrom. Whew, I love "Mad Men, " but times have changed since Don Draper and his team at Sterling Cooper left the building.)

Seabrook's Q. and A. is here.

Olympian Lethargy

In Greek mythology, isn't Lethe the river in Hades that evokes forgetfulness, hence our word lethargy?

To answer my own question: yes.

Is it anywhere near Mount Olympus?

To answer my own question (redux): you decide.

This is my roundabout way of declaring that I have watched zero seconds of the Beijing Olympics.

And I'm not sure why that is so.

It's been that way for several Olympics for me, so it isn't anything in particular related to this year's extravaganza.

Strange, because as kids my brother Jack and I would reenact our own Olympic events with great fervor, winter or summer, using a stopwatch I still possess. We'd mimic the Olympic theme and perform copycat events in the snow or high-jump or run.

Maybe it's commercialism, unwillingness to invest the time or emotion, lack of interest in the chauvinism. Something. I don't know. I'm just not sure.

I do, however, rather enjoy reading about the dramas, the events, the backstories, so to speak.

What happened to me?

I'm more interested in my new favorites TV series, "Mad Men," on tonight.

Appropriately enough, the same time slot, 10 to 11 p.m., formerly occupied by "The Sopranos."