Actually, he does not, not 100%. It’s extremely agreed upon that Sangwoo most likely has psychopathy tendencies/is psychopathic, or as in this article, a “Secondary psychopath,” because it appears this disorder is a product of his environment than genetically. The article states,
“In the early 1800s, doctors who worked with mental patients began to notice that some of their patients who appeared outwardly normal had what they termed a “moral depravity” or “moral insanity,” in that they seemed to possess no sense of ethics or of the rights of other people.”
Sangwoo honest to God does not know that many of his actions are extremely manipulative or “bad,” because to him, other people do not posses rights nor does he have the same ethics as we “normal,” people do.
Is this excusing his behavior? No, I would never say mental illness excuses any behavior or action– but this type of severe disorder can keep a person from having a choice in feeling exactly what is wrong and bad, they do not feel like we do– they may understand in a very… primitive, if not in a bare-bones kind of way, but that does not mean they truly understand the full extent of their actions and behavior towards others.
In this article, which you may find interesting, gives us this.
Psychopathic researchers found that psychopaths often have these common traits:
Lack of empathy, guilt, conscience or remorse
Shallow experiences of feelings or emotions
Impulsivity and a weak ability to defer gratification and control behavior
Superficial charm and glibness
Irresponsibility and a failure to accept responsibility for their actions
A grandiose sense of their own worth
“… They are very difficult to have relationships with because they lack social kindness and empathy. Researchers believe that psychopathy has roots in early childhood…”
And from this article again,
“According to Cleckley psychopaths show unreliability, while the PCL mentions “irresponsibility” and the PPI describes psychopaths as showing “blame externalization,” i.e. they blame others for events that are actually their fault …”
You’re right, Sangwoo does not care– and that’s because he can’t. He can’t feel a thing that Bum does, or others for that matter. People with Sangwoo’s condition, especially since Sociopathic disorder is very much so supported on environment and genetics, does not really have much of a choice to not ignore moral rules because he does not have them to begin with. He was cheated out of that– and the only way Sangwoo could possibly begin to comprehend moral rules and how they actually affect others truly is by extensive treatment, but considering how old Sangwoo is, he may be stuck as a “true psychopath.”
This does not make anything he does right, at all, but you need to understand your moral knowledge and understand will not fit Sangwoo’s, and the fact you understand them does not mean Sangwoo is choosing to ignore them, it’s the fact he has no choice but to because they mean nothing to him because he can’t relate nor understand them like we do.
Bum actually does have a much wider option to choice than Sangwoo does– Sangwoo is completely gone, he does not have bouts of sanity like Bum does. This doesn’t mean Bum is an idiot for making bad decisions despite knowing the right decision to make– of course his mental illness also plays a role in bad decisions because he wants love (although his version of love is sick and unhealthy since that’s all he really knows and he’s desperate), and we know Bum is more sane than Sangwoo in making morally right decisions, because Bum attempted to escape and he did not want to murder that Gay man from the bar.
Sangwoo may have been acting out this way because it reminded him of his mother’s helplessness of being raped and abused by his father and Bum reminds him heavily of his mother, and he hate’s feeling weak so these feelings would have made his temper flare and those with psychopathic disorder have very, very low patience when it comes to their emotions and being angered– and the fact Sangwoo does not understand Bum’s emotions or true feelings and intention there because Sangwoo literally cannot understand.
Of course Sangwoo is acting out– and to us it is very manipulative, but this isn’t the same as when Sangwoo didn’t get the exact reaction he wanted after Bum murdered Jieun– no!
Sangwoo is actually upset, but only because he was angered due to the fact of course he’s disappointed Bum did not stab his uncle, but that Bum allowed himself to be taken advantage of like a weakling– like his mother, and did nothing, as if he had no choice– which to Sangwoo is a lie because to him a choice is to murder those who push you down– yet both his mother and Bum did not take that choice and thus lost.
Both Bum and him don’t know how to handle emotions, but Sangwoo is literally probably worse at this because if he is a psychopath than he has a way harder time understanding emotions and even dealing with his own when he has them. You don’t know if Sangwoo is reacting this way to be manipulative specifically and on purpose because Sangwoo’s thinking, moral-decision making and understanding of others around him are totally off compared to your’s or mine.
No one is saying Sangwoo is not held accountable for his actions, or that they are excusable.
Sangwoo is a sick, sick man, and instead of intense punishments for what he’s done– which I don’t really disagree with, but will say harsh punishments do nothing to psychopaths except make them worse– Sangwoo need’s literally psychological care and treatment, intensive treatment, for him to maybe start to understand what he’s done or how his thinking is and was is completely wrong and very bad, to others and to the society which he thrives in.
Bum is also sick, very sick, and in need of treatment too– but he is more aware, this has been proven in earlier chapters that he can be self aware, and until we see from Sangwoo’s perspective, I cannot guarantee Sangwoo also has moments of self awareness comparable to Bum’s.
Google is good, researching is actually fun, and the mentally ill should not have their terrible behaviors and actions excused but they also need to be understood and properly taken care of with special treatment and extensive care.
@yoonicidal Hope I didn’t make things worse.
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