Matthew Stuckey here, and I wanted to make another video on the topic of traits of psychopaths.
And in the Psychopathy Checklist, there are 20 different characteristics, and the first
one that you usually see mentioned is a glibness or superficial charm.
This is a trait, characteristic, or attribute of psychopaths that they exhibit glibness
or superficial charm.
Now this is probably listed number one whenever you look at charts of traits of psychopaths
because it's probably the most important trait for a psychopath to be successful at whatever
they end up doing.
You say, what is glibness?
It's kind of not a really common word in our modern vernacular.
Glibness or superficial charm?
Well, a definition of superficial charm, psychopaths are often likable on the surface.
They're usually good conversationalists, and they share stories that make them look good.
They may be funny and charismatic as well.
But the thing about this is that when we're saying superficial, they're charming, but
it's fake.
It's shallow.
It's not real.
They're very smooth with their words.
They're people that exhibit a lot of charm and charisma, but it's not that they're just
outgoing and friendly people.
They're actually being fake.
And basically, a psychopath becomes the sort of person that you want them to be.
So if you're having a conversation with the psychopath, they will basically become the
person that you want them to be as opposed to the person that they actually are.
And so they're often going to come across as being very charming because they're exactly
like you want them to be, but it's actually fake.
It's not real.
The Bible says in 2 Peter 2 verse 18, for when they speak great swelling words of vanity,
so it's vain, it's fake, it's not real, they allure through the lust of the flesh.
And so it talks about alluring through the lust of the flesh.
Swelling words of vanity, basically they pump you full of pride.
And so one of the big things they do is flattery.
That's a word that pops up a lot, and that's kind of underneath this sort of umbrella of
superficial charm or one reason that they appear to be charming.
They will often use flattery.
And basically, they take advantage of the lust of the flesh.
Obviously, we're all sinful, and they become the person that we want them to be.
And even if it's fake, we end up usually liking these people.
And so some examples of common psychopaths that exhibited this were Ted Bundy.
He was known as the most charming serial killer in American history.
He's been referred to as the all-American serial killer.
And he would smile in court and everything, and many women fell in love with him and everything
like that.
And Ted Bundy, though, also talked about before he died that guilt was just a social construct
that was basically invented or used as a means to control us.
And so he was saying he had no guilt, he had no remorse, and yet he denied being guilty
of murder for a while.
And people fell for him, lawyers that he had fell in love with him and everything like
that.
And so Ted Bundy was just very charming.
He exhibited glibness or superficial charm.
Another example was John Wayne Gacy.
John Wayne Gacy killed a lot of young boys and a lot of males, but he actually had police
show up at his house many times because neighbors heard screams from his house, because he actually
hid them actually inside, I believe it was in the attic of his house, in an area in his
house.
And so neighbors actually showed up because they heard screams, but every time they came,
he was able to charm his way out of it, nothing ended up happening, and he got away with it,
even though they were called many different times.
And so you can see how superficial charm is such an important characteristic for them
because they can charm their way out of any situation.
Jeffrey Dahmer, he went to the store or something like that in the middle of one of the people
that he was torturing, he was gonna end up killing.
And this boy who was 14 years old ends up escaping, and then all of a sudden on the
street as he comes back, there's three women that are there, and the cops show up and everything
like that.
And these three women are saying that this kid's life is in danger, and this is a bad
person and everything like that, Jeffrey Dahmer, and then Jeffrey Dahmer was able to charm
his way out of the situation.
Now, the 14-year-old had already been kind of operated on by Jeffrey Dahmer, so he basically
was sort of out of it, and he wasn't drunk, but that was what Jeffrey Dahmer basically
said that this was his homosexual partner that was just kind of drunk.
But in reality, you know, he had been drilled into his head, Jeffrey Dahmer drilled into
his head, so he was like out of it, and the three women were frantic and trying to help
out this kid, and then Jeffrey Dahmer was able to charm his way out of the situation,
the police left, and then he ended up murdering that 14-year-old boy later that night.
The police actually ended up getting in major trouble for this, and I think originally they
got fired, but they ended up asking for their jobs back, they were able to get their jobs
back.
But basically they showed up, and he was able to charm his way out of the situation.
Neighbors will often say about serial killers that they were the nicest people in their
neighborhood, they never suspected anything.
But see, what takes place is that people, when they first meet psychopaths, they usually
really like them, because they're very, very charming, they're very charismatic, they're
very good at what they do, they have a lot of experience of being these basically professional
actors, and they become the person that you want them to be.
Even people that are, you know, study serial killers and psychopaths in prison and do interviews,
they'll talk about finding them very likable people within five or ten minutes, and finding
themselves enjoying talking to that person, even though that person is actually a really
evil person, because that person is becoming the person that they want them to be.
So what will take place is most people will not see any problems with psychopaths, but
eventually you might start to notice some things that don't add up, because they're
basically playing a role, and it's a different role depending on who they're talking to,
and so you'll start to see things that are lies and things that don't really add up.
They seem like they're really nice, but then there's this one area, and it just doesn't
match.
Or sometimes people can see through that facade of that superficial charm, and then they can
start to question it.
But see, the problem is that once you start to question it, it doesn't mean that other
people will question it.
And so basically, whenever they study psychopaths that are in the workplace, what they'll find
is that when they first start working there, everybody likes them.
And then after a year or so, there are several people that don't like that person.
They start to see problems, but everybody else thinks that person's the greatest person
in the world and will come to the defense of them.
So basically, if you notice the problems, you're gonna really dislike this person.
If you don't notice the problems, you're gonna think they're the greatest person.
And it's this charm that gets them to build friendships where they're basically using
people as friends, but they have built an alliance of people that really like them.
And it's their way of actually talking their way out of any situation because they're just
very charming, very charismatic.
One of the great examples I've seen before is Bill Clinton.
I remember watching Bill Clinton in a presidential debate, and I've enjoyed watching presidential
debates even after, you know, years after the event actually took place.
And this woman asked this question, and Bill Clinton kind of gets up out of his seat and
starts walking to the woman, starts talking to her and everything.
Very charming, very charismatic, very good speaker.
Now I personally don't believe in anything that Bill Clinton says.
I think he's a phony, he's pro-abortion, pro-LGBT.
Obviously, he doesn't have the same beliefs when it comes to the Bible and things like
that.
But as a folk, I found myself wanting to believe him because he was just so good.
And what that is is that superficial charm, that charisma, and psychopaths are usually
very good at this because they have years of experience actually practicing it.
In the Bible, you see characters like Haman who rise up in the kingdom, you know, very
quickly and you say, what is it?
Is it because Haman was just such a good worker?
Actually, when you read the book of Esther, he doesn't really do a whole lot of work,
but he's just very charming and he basically paints himself in a way that makes him look
good to a Hasawaris and it makes him very successful.
The Bible speaks about false prophets using smooth words.
You look at people like Joel Osteen and he says the words that people want to hear.
He's not honest about what he believes.
He's not honest about what the Bible says.
He just becomes the person that people want him to be and what's the result?
He's got one of the biggest mega churches in the world.
When you're a false prophet and your goal is just to please the people, this is what
you do.
Many psychopaths oftentimes will actually become pastors and leaders of churches because
that is an avenue where they can get a big following.
They basically just say the words people want to hear and they basically make people feel
very good about themselves even if they're not making any changes in their lives.
Basically, when we're talking about glibness or superficial charm, this is a trait that
psychopaths exhibit.
Now, I do want you to understand there's nothing wrong with being friendly and outgoing.
I think it's good to be friendly to people when they visit church and everything.
Some people are better at that than other people.
Some people you meet and you find yourself really liking them because they're just very
friendly and very nice.
That doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with that, but the key is that you're not
being fake.
The thing about glibness or superficial charm is they're just very fake people.
Instead of becoming themselves and being who they actually are, they just become the person
that you want them to be.
That is a bad characteristic.
We as Bible-believing Christians should just be who we are, not to be dishonest about ourselves,
not to be misleading, but just be who we are.
If anybody ever gets caught and turns out to be a psychopath, I want you to realize
a good defense is not, oh, they're just too friendly to be a bad person because that is
one of their main characteristics of coming across very charismatic and very charming,
but the key is it's not real.
It's actually superficial.
It's actually fake.
Anyways, thank you and God bless.