…And Our Rulers Smile
Shyamon Jayasinghe
“..that one may smile and smile and be a villain.” –Hamlet, Act I, Scene 1
Paul Babiak and Robert D Hare published a book titled, ”Snakes in Suites- When psychopaths go to work.”
Take a look at our ruling political elite in Sri Lanka from the very top
man, right through the hierarchy of tail-wagging, incompetent
Ministers, to the lowest Pradeshiya Sabha ranks. Look at the
para-political levels ,namely the myriad hangers-on- of this mainstream
elite: servile lowly monks who confer exalted religious titles on
corrupt leaders; opportunistic Public Servants willing to concoct bogus
statistics to boost the government; media personal who are recipients of
royal patronage; the kind of artist that announces that Mahinda
Rajapakse belongs to the lineage of the Buddha; the kind of artist who
sings the anthem for the rowdy and beefy monk brigade that is going
round the country attacking churches, mosques, meat stalls in the name
of the Great Compassionate One or even the simple naïve men and women
who go to Lanka and return with stories of “great improvement” or
“miracles,” as the ancient Arab traders did.
In repose, all these guys smile, and smile and even hug. The biggest of all smiles come from the highpoint of power.
Why do they smile while rot goes on under their watch? It is not as
mysterious a question as the Mona Lisa smile. Babiak & Hare have
done an exhaustive study of psychopaths. “Callous and manipulative,
adept at conning people a psychopath relies on superficial charm, makes
great first impressions….they never feel bad about anything they do that
is shameless.”
To say that you can spot a law-abiding psychopath is an oxymoron (ie
something weirdly self-contradictory). Psychopaths are by definition
masters of emotional disguise. If there were an Olympics for impression
management our psychopathic leaders would be exultant medalists. Sri
Lanka’s ruling politicos have proved themselves to be deceitful and
shameless and masters of lying and subterfuge. At the same time, our
general public including some formally educated types have proved to be
gullible, naïve peasants.
