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In Reply to: Maria falls for Jethro posted by Observer on October 30, 2003 at 20:04:47:
It's precisely this type of behavior that makes me think Karen Zerby should be held responsible for her choices. Yes, she may have been deeply insecure, love hungry, vulnerable, deceived & seduced, etc., etc. Yet she immediately went for a position of power when she had the opportunity.
Furthermore, she doesn't appear to have ever given much consideration to who might get hurt as a consequence of her choices. Lack of empathy is at the core of character pathology (aka, psychopathy or sociopathy). Some argue that empathy is what raises humanity from its baser, bestial insincts.
The lack of capacity for empathy is what prevents Karen from understanding the harm she has caused or the full extent of her criminal behavior. From what I've read in her response to Ed Priebe, I think she intuitively senses that there's something wrong with her psyche--she seemed a bit bothered that someone saw a "footprint" on her back...like she's been trod upon--so she has a vague sense of her own victimization by Berg, but apparently no sense whatsoever of herself as victimizer. Which is why, imo, she put so much energy into discounting the claim that she's a control freak.
I would also agree with the observation that Karen is like a cartoon character--very one dimensional. One of her defenders has said, What you see is what you get. She really does believe her own BS, which is astonishing. It suggests she truly lacks the necessary faculties for critical thinking.
