[Paracelsus]

The hamster wheels are still spinning hard:

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/...7316543644

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I think we’re wondering about whether we can feel sorry for Belle not so much because she conned vulnerable people — after all, that’s unfortunately not so uncommon is it? — but because we can identify with what she’s done.

Yes, just the other day I made a hundred grand off telling people utter bullshit about the power of Frenzal Rhomb to bring you into unity with God. Can totally identify with her.

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I think we’re wondering if we deserve compassion for our own lies. Do we even know why we tell the lies we do? The ones we tell in order to get hired or laid

Whatwhatwaaaaaat? Men aren't allowed to lie to get laid!

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...the ones we tell on Facebook, in photos, when we call in sick. The ones we tell our partners, our children, our parents, our friends. All the lies we tell in order to gain advantage and to protect ourselves from shame, punishment or loss.

Note the rephrasing of language: that lying is about "protecting" yourself from shame, punishment, or loss. It isn't. Every single one of these lies is avoiding shame, punishment, or loss, which are all richly deserved if you lie about them.

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Belle Gibson deserves our compassion whether or not she meets the criteria for a diagnosable mental illness. Offering that compassion doesn’t mean absolving her of the responsibility of defrauding and betraying thousands of vulnerable people.

Well, actually it does: because the moment you feel compassion for someone who's done irreparable harm, you're inclined to go easier on her. Which is what she's doing.

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She deserves our compassion because the life she built was not a life you would wish on your worst enemy. The more we lie the worse we feel about ourselves.

The phrase is "hoist by your own petard." And I see precious little indication she was feeling anything bad about herself before she got caught out. Sociopaths don't, in any real sense, have feelings -- and therefore no compunctions about lying.

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And the worse we feel about ourselves, the more we lie. And lies of course leave us alone and apart, as Belle Gibson no doubt is at this very moment. How sad is that?

I'd say it's about as sad as Lance Armstrong's present, but richly deserved, position as a pariah in sport if not in society generally -- and where were the fawning female masses offering sympathy for him when he confessed?

This, of course, coming from a counsellor/psychotherapist, a.k.a. the one person on the planet paid to rationalise your shit behaviour more than your lawyer will.

That said, it's institutional too. Cosmopolitan awarded her the "Fun Fearless Female" Award of 2011 (user-voted) but have said they won't be taking the prize back because, get this, "They're about supporting women through triumph or adversity."