Chapter 77.6: Why Did the New York Times Interview the Guy From Most Evil?

As a regular reader of the New York Times and an occasional viewer of television shows about cruel and unusual punishers, I immediately noticed a similarity between the man in a photo that accompanied a story about therapists to the megawealthy in today's Times.

The article discusses the unique needs of megawealthy patients in therapy, the challenges for psychiatrists and psychotherapists to treat them properly, and how the therapeutic needs of the megawealthy are changing.

But what the article didn't go into much detail about was why it was interviewing Dr. Michael Stone, who is a forensic psychiatrist who researches and categorizes the acts of killers, and is the main interviewer in Most Evil, which uses his taxonomy of evil -- detailing from those who kill in self-defense to serial psychpathic torturers who kill with torture as the primary motive. Also barely mentioned is the connection between the New York Times and the Investigation Discovery channel -- part of Discovery Networks.

I don't mean to suggest that anything illegal or unethical is going on; I don't think the people at the Discovery Network have any influence over the news room of America's most important daily newspaper. But Stone's place in the article is intriguing, to say the least.

In the article, Dr. Stone -- who is not the most frequently quoted interview subject, but is not exactly filler, either -- talks about the narcissism of the megawealthy patients. This seems in keeping with his study of murderers and psychopaths, but it seems like there should be more explanation for the lay audience why Dr. Stone is being interviewed at all. They interviewed more than a dozen therapists for the article. Why was Stone so prominent? He's described as "a psychiatrist affiliated with Columbia" and after the second jump it notes that he "is also known as a forensic psychiatrist and is the host of a show on the Investigation Discovery network."

I'd love to learn whether there are significant psychosocial similarities between the super rich and the super-psychotic. The article doesn't delve into this at all. And in the first few dozen comments that appeared, none of the published comments noted Stone's affiliation with Most Evil. Am I the only person who finds this intriguing?

If anyone could recommend some books for me to read about the possible connection between these seeming extremes of personality types (this is one area where I'd prefer nonfiction over fiction), please share them. This is fascinating.