Can Your Conscience Mislead You?

391 Words2 Pages
In the beloved classic Pinocchio, the puppet that wanted to become a real boy was devoid of one essential component, a conscience. Since he did not come equipped with one, a lovable, and sometimes irritable, companion named Jiminy Cricket enters the puppet world’s and takes the role as Pinocchio’s conscience. As Pinocchio’s constant companion, Jiminy is forever guiding the puppet on the “good” and the “bad” in the choices Pinocchio faces. Depending on Pinocchio’s response, the benefits and consequences that ensued in the story proved Jiminy’s judgments right, again and again. Like Jiminy Cricket, our conscience is always right and cannot mislead you. Parallel to Pinocchio, there are people who do not possess a conscience. Sociopaths are people who have a personality disorder that manifesting itself in extreme antisocial attitudes and behavior. Unable to feel shame, guilt or remorse, the chief symptom of this disorder is that the person possesses no conscience. Usually we assume sociopaths as cutthroat, cruel, and ruthless criminals, but in The Sociopath Next Door, Harvard psychologist, Martha Stout reveals that four percent of the population have this personality disorder; that is one in twenty-five everyday Americans. Someone you know might secretly be a sociopath. A respected teacher, a polite and helpful classmate, a trusted friend, or even a cherished family member could be a sociopath. Since there are people living without a moral compass this begs the question, how can a person be mislead by a conscience they do not have? Although there are people who lack a conscience, the majority of humanity has an active conscience working around the clock; moreover, some may think that our conscience is misleading us, but in reality we are ignoring the beneficial advice our conscience gives us. In Pinocchio, con artists Honest John and Gideon convince Pinocchio to

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