THE FUSE

Popular culture exploits a loose notion of psychopaths as remorseless thugs with intent to harm the rest of us. It’s difficult to get past this, but most so-called psychopaths have never been formally diagnosed and probably wouldn’t meet the criteria. The word has become a lazy way to label those we dislike. It’s almost meaningless, but for one thing: It has a uniformly pejorative force. They are the ultimate bad guys. This filters into the collective mindsets of juries that make life-changing decisions.