Sharifah Zohra Jabeen: a disturbed character

[foofighter]

I hope you'll find this one interesting :)

_http://www.loyarburok.com/2013/01/28/disturbed-character-listen-listen-listen/

The disturbed character behind ‘Listen, Listen, Listen’
By Rickard Öberg
From Loyar Burok
January 28, 2013

Many of you have by now probably seen or heard about the YouTube video ‘Listen, Listen, Listen‘(_http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2msHJupzGao), wherein a student at a University Utara Malaysia forum was verbally abused by the moderator Sharifah Zohra Jabeen, president of SW1M (Suara Wanita 1 Malaysia). Almost all the responses I have seen so far have rightfully expressed (1) disgust at her behaviour towards the student Bawani; and (2) perplexity as to how someone can act so blatantly abusive and think nothing of it. So, what was it about this that triggered off everyone’s conscience and bullshit detectors? Is there something we can learn here that can be applied equally in other situations? As it turns out, there is.

When I first watched the video, I noticed that Sharifah used a number of manipulative tactics and behaviours typical of so-called ‘covert-aggressive personalities’ (the extreme version of which is known as psychopathy) that Dr. George K. Simon has written about in his seminal book on the topic ‘Character Disturbance‘. This differs from overt-aggressive behaviour in the sense that, instead of using obvious physical violence, the main method for domination and manipulation is a series of verbal and emotional manipulation tactics used extensively by Sharifah in her abrupt and bizarre interruption of Bawani’s commentary.

If this UUM episode was bad, her press statement commenting on the responses to this matter (which is viewable on YouTube, _http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABdhev1hmmI ) is - from a pathological behaviour point of view – possibly even worse. You see, once the mask of civility drops, people demonstrating covert-aggressiveness tend to go all out in their abuse and Sharifah is no exception.

The book Character Disturbance describes 25 different manipulative tactics that a covert-aggressive person will use, and to give you some idea of what they mean, here is a part of the transcript from Sharifah’s press statement annotated with these behaviours:

Dear Malaysians, I appeal to you: listen, listen, and listen [False concessioning]. Let me explain [Playing the Servant]. Please listen and rationalize [Rationalisation]. First and foremost, I forgive the young girl in the video for whatever she said and did before, during and after the forum [Blaming the Victim]. This kind of forgiveness [Seduction] are [sic] also extended to those who have jumped into the bandwaggon [Posturing] and hold [sic] harsh words towards me without checking their grounds and getting their facts right [Guilt-tripping]. This issue was creatively spin [sic] to gather emotional support for an opposition lead [sic] divers[Diversion, Lying, Hypervigilance]. As such, I do not wish to further pounce on this for the sake of our non-governmental organisation, SW1M, in short ‘Suara Wanita 1 Malaysia’ [Playing the Servant].

In my experience, it is not uncommon at all that pathological individuals like this exhibit such manipulative tactics in every sentence they utter, when their abuse has been caught and they begin to fight to win. They will try every trick in the book to regain position, evade responsibility and make the other party look bad. Sharifah does all she can to shame Bawani with all the cultural hooks and references to her education and whatnot, when in reality it is her own behaviour that is shameful and vile.

For a full description of the above behaviours, please read the book Character Disturbance, but here is the outline of one of the most common tactics used by covert-aggressives, i.e Guilt-tripping:

Because the conscientiousness of neurotics predisposes them to easy feelings of guilt, this is another favorite tactic of disturbed characters. In fact, it’s a telltale technique with respect to identifying a person as a disturbed character or a neurotic (as is the shaming tactic). Try to shame or lay guilt upon a disordered character, and you’ll find out very quickly how futile such an endeavor is. But convince a neurotic that they’ve committted the unpardonable sin and they’ll back up, second-guess, or back down every time. The most disordered characters know well how effective shame and guilt are as manipulation tools. They know how, in stark contrast to themselves, neurotic individuals possess these qualities in abundance and regard these attributes as weaknesses that make neurotics easy to manipulate and control.

As this seemed to be a textbook case of covert-aggressive behaviour, I asked Dr. Simon about his views on the matter in order to get a professional opinion regarding her behaviour. This is what he had to say:

The moderator’s responses, during the live debate and in her subsequent television appearance (as also captured in the transcript), reflect mounds of covert-aggression and tactics of impression-management and manipulation.
For one, she feigns graciousness by ‘forgiving’ the other woman when there is clearly nothing to forgive. Such a tactic helps her seize what appears to be the moral high ground while she really seeks the dominant position and wants to both punish the other woman and pummel her social image.
The moderator is acutely aware during the discussion of the sentiments common in the audience – especially those women trained from early on to embrace submissive roles, to march in lockstep without questions to their masters, and to look with disdain upon those who act ‘uppity’ in their manner, daring to assert themselves or to put themselves on an equal footing with, or question those who would be their masters. So, she unnecessarily but purposefully repeats herself many times when she senses the audience is allying with her. This is especially true with her frequent urges to “listen, listen, listen” when the other person is clearly not interrupting or behaving in any kind of disrespectful or combative manner.

While Sharifah’s manipulative behaviour during the forum and subsequent press statement is quite alarming, it is important to remember that it is only a problem if people listening to it believe what she says. Just like the Wizard of Oz requires that his booming voice is heard with fear in heart, so too do disturbed characters rely on the rest of us taking them seriously in the first place. And this brings us to the real problem in this affair. Dr. Simon explained further:

But the real tragedy in the whole scenario, as I see it, is in the response of the people there. There’s so much blindness to the nature of the covert attack, such tacit endorsement of the ‘justifications’ given for the attack, and so much acquiescence to years of indoctrination and programming that it’s truly frightening. It’s exactly how all of these repressive regimes come to power and retain it so long. And the ONLY reason they ever lose it is because their quest for power and dominance is so unrelenting, that they simply can’t stop themselves until they’ve so quashed those under their domination and gone to such extremes to flex their power over them that even the most well-trained and resigned ‘sheep’ simply can’t take it anymore. So, the real tragedy for me is that it always seems to have to come to that before those in certain cultures wake up.
From a psychological perspective, it’s important to remember that character pathology is not the same as mental pathology. And, as I say in my books, power itself is not a corrupting agent of otherwise decent characters. Power-oriented, dominance-seeking characters crave power, and when they secure it, they inevitably abuse it. The ‘mental’ pathology in some cultures has to do with the distorted manner in which they’ve been trained to think. This comes from years of socio-cultural-political indoctrination and religious ideology. And, as cognitive-behavioral science has proven, how we think about things translates into how we behave toward one another. But it’s really hard to change mindsets when to do so, you’d have to go against years of indoctrination coming from so many sources. That’s why it’s so easy to cast anyone who questions the dominant order as some sort of lunatic fringe person or defective character.
If people ever learned about the true nature of humankind’s natural aggressive and dominance-seeking tendencies and the myriad of ways in which these tendencies are expressed, their eyes would not only open about the character of their oppressors but also about all the cultural institutions that pave the way for oppression to deeply root itself. Hearts and minds have to change at more basic levels first, through open and honest debate about core values and the true character of the dominant institutions.

That students at a university are so unable to see through her blatant nonsense, and instead applaud her victimisation of another, is troubling indeed. After all, aren’t students supposed to be the ones that stand up to injustice and unfairness? Another psychology researcher, Professor Bob Altemeyer, who is the world’s foremost authority on authoritarianism (pun intended), writes in his book The Authoritarians about this:

Authoritarian followers want to belong, and being part of their in-group means a lot to them. Loyalty to that group ranks among the highest virtues, and members of the group who question its leaders or beliefs can quickly be seen as traitors. Can you also sense from these items the energy, the commitment, the submission, and the zeal that authoritarian followers are ready to give to their in-groups, and the satisfaction they would get from being a part of a vast, powerful movement in which everyone thought the same way? The common metaphor for authoritarian followers is a herd of sheep, but it may be more accurate to think of them as a column of army ants on the march.

For this reason, it is so important that we all learn to see through manipulative tactics and behaviour, and that we recognise the signs of authoritarianism and its followers. We need to regain sanity into the discussions, and communicate with those who do not try to manipulate us with every word.

If there are any animals that should be remembered from this, it is that wolves in sheep’s clothing can command an army of ants, but only if their fake notions of ‘respect’ and normal human conduct are not exposed. Learning about character disturbance is the much-needed antidote to manipulative tactics, one that allows us to peek behind the curtain and see that the manipulator is just a fake.

 

[Laura]

Re: The disturbed character behind "Listen, Listen, Listen"

Good job. Obviously the incident, location and players are little known to most readers and only of particular interest to Malaysians, but the pattern is the same everywhere.

Interestingly, the whole thing reminds me of the approach of one of our former mods who wrote extensive "apologia" for his pathological behavior. I wrote about it here: http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,30190.msg392656.html#msg392656

This is the one and I'll highlight the points of correspondence that struck me:

In the case of one of the above mentioned individuals, an incident occurred which became the focal point for a whole fantastic, pejorative analysis of another person. The incident was described by each of the two individuals in very, very different ways and the pathological individual went to the most extreme ends to try to persuade that he, and he alone, actually knew and saw what happened - writing literally dozens of pages around the topic. What he did NOT know was that there was an unseen witness to the incident who happened to be looking out a window at the moment and heard the exchange which, for all time, damned his version of the story. This was one small thing, but a HUGE insight into the mind of this person. Then, a second piece of the puzzle fell into place: a story that he had told someone else was related and it was clear that it was a complete fabrication. What was worse was that it was designed to HURT the one he told it to. The utter and absolute meanness of it was jaw-dropping.

Now, keep in mind that the person I am talking about has a whole external facade of being a really "nice" guy and full of depth and learning and understanding and pleading for us to be "nicer" to people because, obviously, we are on the wrong track, have been influenced by the devil, or whatever. And I'm supposed to accept the judgment of someone who cannot accurately describe a simple, real life incident, who lies about it (probably believing his own lies), who makes it a platform to denigrate and degrade another person? Further, I should believe the assessment of a person who can tell a lie with the obvious, deliberate intent to hurt someone who cares for him?

A true, covert aggressive, character disturbed individual.

 

[foofighter]

Re: The disturbed character behind "Listen, Listen, Listen"

Good job. Obviously the incident, location and players are little known to most readers and only of particular interest to Malaysians, but the pattern is the same everywhere.

Yup, agreed. Maybe moving it to a non-SOTT board is a good idea, like maybe the "Psychology and cognitive science" one? For members of the forum it is valuable I think, from a pattern point of view.

 

[Laura]

Re: The disturbed character behind "Listen, Listen, Listen"

Yes, it's not really an article for SOTT, but definitely an example for discussion in psychopathology. Sure you don't want the person's full name in the subject field for google to find?

 

[foofighter]

Re: The disturbed character behind "Listen, Listen, Listen"

Yes, it's not really an article for SOTT, but definitely an example for discussion in psychopathology. Sure you don't want the person's full name in the subject field for google to find?

You're absolutely right. Thanks! :)

 

[Carl]

Re: The disturbed character behind "Listen, Listen, Listen"

I'm not too sure of the background on all this, but I admire the courage of that young woman speaking out amongst a hostile, authoritarian audience. The way the moderator responded was like something out of a story, with the 'royal' posturing and well practiced manner of public speaking giving false weight to the BS she was talking. The audience just laps it up. Sad, but not unexpected.

How to compete with people like this is twisting my brain, they are just so good at leading the sheep. I guess the only thing a normal person can do is get the truth out there as clearly as possible and hope that there are a few thinking individuals that can understand the message without fancy rhetoric.

Good work getting Dr Simon to comment on this, his comments were very insightful. I imagine he understands the same interplay between spellbinders and authoritarians in our own society, though he doesn't speak it outright.

 

[foofighter]

Re: The disturbed character behind "Listen, Listen, Listen"

How to compete with people like this is twisting my brain, they are just so good at leading the sheep. I guess the only thing a normal person can do is get the truth out there as clearly as possible and hope that there are a few thinking individuals that can understand the message without fancy rhetoric.

Quite a number of highly regarded commentators have read the article, and are following the references outlined. If they can read, understand, and apply it, that could change the situation substantially. Time will tell.

Good work getting Dr Simon to comment on this, his comments were very insightful. I imagine he understands the same interplay between spellbinders and authoritarians in our own society, though he doesn't speak it outright.

Simon's assistance was great! I know he works with Hare, but not sure if there is cross-disciplinary collaboration with e.g. Zimbardo and Altemeyer. That would be very interesting.

For now Character Disturbance is my new favourite book for introducing people to these topics, as it covers both the character disturbance issue and also the other side, e.g. neurotic patterns. Very useful.