Auburn Calloway's Letter to President Obama / FedEx 705

Maximillian_Jenius said:
Created!

In the video if you watched it, they mention rather briefly without going into details of Mr. Calloway's harsh childhood. I would guess without a doubt that the harsh living conditions of his childhood. Coupled with all the secondary aspects of living in that environment. But more especially learning how to survive it is, the genesis of his psychopathy.
Click to expand...

I saw a very interesting documentary on some troubled children once. 10-12 yr olds from difficult up bringings and family issues. They were going through a special program for crimes they committed. What struck me was one particular kid who seemed to be the brightest of the group. Not only was he comprehending the material, but also helping other kids who were having trouble learning. He seemed like a exceptional kid who could turn it all around and have a bright future. It wasn't until he finally had a moment in a interview where he suddenly changed his demeanor and said, "I know what I have to do so I can get through this program and get out of here... but I also know what I am... and once I'm out I'll go right back to being that person".

His case worker warned how he basically manipulates everyone including his own mother. It wasn't until later that you learn the nature of the crimes these children committed, and just how sick they are.

Very interesting and disturbing at the same time.
 
Louie1975 said:
Psychology researchers generally believe that psychopaths tends to be born — it’s likely a genetic predisposition — while sociopaths tend to be made by their environment. (Which is not to say that psychopaths may not also suffer from some sort of childhoodtrauma.) Psychopathy might be related to physiological brain differences. Research has shown psychopaths have underdeveloped components of the brain commonly thought to be responsible for emotion regulation and impulse control.

-Psychcentral.com

Of course there are probably lots of people who exhibit traits of Anti-Social Personality Disorder who really didn't have tramautic childhoods. An interesting topic for sure.
Click to expand...

It's really like Right Twix vs. Left Twix.

It really comes down to the difference between a psychopath and a sociopath. And their basically the same. I know several educated professionals that believe what you say above and can argue and defend that. I also know several learned professionals that said what I previously said and can also argue and defend it too. Which way is right, I honestly don't know. From what I've seen working with actual convicted violent psychopaths/sociopaths in the State mental health hospital system, all cases had childhood trauma.

I do definitely love a very spirited debate on psychopath vs sociopath. Or Born vs created at either school or work. Each time however I come out of the discussion having really enjoyed it, but the bar never really moves more on one side.
 
Cherokee_Cruiser said:
I disagree. I don't think he was mentally ill. He knew what he was doing and that it was wrong, but he didn't care.
Click to expand...

I.E. mental illness.

Take this example of a patient profile serving natural life at the State Hospital. He is a violent murderer, having three confirmed kills.

He was born and raised in the ghetto. Son of prostitute, drug addicted mother. Who knows who his dad was, due to the moms profession. The good bet is on his mom's pimp. The person in question also has two younger sisters. Mom was never home, and if she was she was passed out on Coke or heroin. Or she was "working" and having multiple guys come in and out all night. He grew up in squalid conditions, rats, roaches et al. There was never any food in the house, and the power in the place was off, far more than it was ever on. Being the older brother at eight years old (maybe even younger) he took it upon himself to be the sole provider for himself, his mom and his sisters.

At eight he didn't have much skills. So he started shoplifting, he was good at it. As he grew up, he branched out to burglary. Home invasions, car jacking, dope boy anything that brought in money to put food on the table for him, his mom and his two sisters. His rationale growing up was. "It's you or me. An I'll be damn if it's ever me first." His crimes were innocent in the beginning, were all about survival, but quickly escalated. As a result he grew up having no empathy for others, either when he stole, or even killed. He didn't care about anyone but himself and his family, they were all that mattered to him. He maybe has a 5th grade education, but he is VERY bright. Don't ever under estimate him. He picks up things VERY fast, VERY adaptable, probably a necessary skill from where he was raised. Learn from your mistakes, don't repeat them. Learn quick and survive, learn slow and die. He was a product of his environment, this is what at eight years old he realized he had to do if he and his family were going to survive. Because no one else was going to keep them alive, but him. This is all he knew, what he saw everyday. How to get over on people, to get what you want/need, and how to survive above all else at any cost.

He is a sociopath/psychopath. Which is a personality disorder, which is a psychiatric condition.

I.E. Mental illness.
 
Maximillian_Jenius said:
It's really like Right Twix vs. Left Twix.

It really comes down to the difference between a psychopath and a sociopath. And their basically the same. I know several educated professionals that believe what you say above and can argue and defend that. I also know several learned professionals that said what I previously said and can also argue and defend it too. Which way is right, I honestly don't know. From what I've seen working with actual convicted violent psychopaths/sociopaths in the State mental health hospital system, all cases had childhood trauma.

I do definitely love a very spirited debate on psychopath vs sociopath. Or Born vs created at either school or work. Each time however I come out of the discussion having really enjoyed it, but the bar never really moves more on one side.
Click to expand...

Good points. Keep in mind there are sociopaths who do NOT wind up in prison or mental health institutions. If lack of conscience and impulsiveness are symptoms I've seen this in acquaintances. I had a friend(Phd in Psychology) tell me he believed one of our past presidents was a sociopath. He said at certain degrees of sociopath it was an advantage in high levels of politics and business. I tend to agree.
 
Louie1975 said:
Good points. Keep in mind there are sociopaths who do NOT wind up in prison or mental health institutions. If lack of conscience and impulsiveness are symptoms I've seen this in acquaintances. I had a friend(Phd in Psychology) tell me he believed one of our past presidents was a sociopath. He said at certain degrees of sociopath it was an advantage in high levels of politics and business. I tend to agree.
Click to expand...

I have heard lots of Wall St brokers/investor types test high on the sociopath scale
 
Maximillian_Jenius said:
I.E. mental illness.

Take this example of a patient profile serving natural life at the State Hospital. He is a violent murderer, having three confirmed kills.

He was born and raised in the ghetto. Son of prostitute, drug addicted mother. Who knows who his dad was, due to the moms profession. The good bet is on his mom's pimp. The person in question also has two younger sisters. Mom was never home, and if she was she was passed out on Coke or heroin. Or she was "working" and having multiple guys come in and out all night. He grew up in squalid conditions, rats, roaches et al. There was never any food in the house, and the power in the place was off, far more than it was ever on. Being the older brother at eight years old (maybe even younger) he took it upon himself to be the sole provider for himself, his mom and his sisters.

At eight he didn't have much skills. So he started shoplifting, he was good at it. As he grew up, he branched out to burglary. Home invasions, car jacking, dope boy anything that brought in money to put food on the table for him, his mom and his two sisters. His rationale growing up was. "It's you or me. An I'll be damn if it's ever me first." His crimes were innocent in the beginning, were all about survival, but quickly escalated. As a result he grew up having no empathy for others, either when he stole, or even killed. He didn't care about anyone but himself and his family, they were all that mattered to him. He maybe has a 5th grade education, but he is VERY bright. Don't ever under estimate him. He picks up things VERY fast, VERY adaptable, probably a necessary skill from where he was raised. Learn from your mistakes, don't repeat them. Learn quick and survive, learn slow and die. He was a product of his environment, this is what at eight years old he realized he had to do if he and his family were going to survive. Because no one else was going to keep them alive, but him. This is all he knew, what he saw everyday. How to get over on people, to get what you want/need, and how to survive above all else at any cost.

He is a sociopath/psychopath. Which is a personality disorder, which is a psychiatric condition.

I.E. Mental illness.
Click to expand...


Ok that's entirely different though. Watching that documentary, it seemed like Calloway was concerned about being fired from Fedex from having falsified records and would then worry about how he would provide money for his family wife/kids. It's not like he grew up without a conscience. He made it into the military as a naval aviator and that's not easy to do. Obviously got paid and probably lived comfortably on base/off base housing.
 
Cherokee_Cruiser said:
And I'm curious, does anyone actually know what he falisified that Fedex was going to call him in and fire for? As a Navy pilot just how much falsifying can you really do? I can't imagine this guy pencil whipping left and right to get a job at Fedex. It's Fedex - they love military pilots. Does anyone actually know more about the facts on what he really did wrong as far as his flight hours/background goes?
Click to expand...

Curious about this too.

The service record that I've seen was fairly detailed about what aircraft were flown, position on aircraft and time spent in assignments. I can't imagine that leaves much room to fudge the numbers. Unless he was gambling they weren't going to verify what he claimed on his resume.
 
Navy logbooks used to all be hand-written, so there weren't handy digital printout summaries of flight times back then.

There is also supposedly an issue where he had been hired and subsequently fired by Flying Tigers prior to his employment by FedEx, and he failed to disclose that.
 
What is interesting also is that Calloway re-set/tripped the circuit breaker for the CVR before the flight crew were settled in and the FE found it tripped again while he was doing his preflight checks. This was all before Calloway finally took a seat near the galley and he had boarded the plane before the rest of the flight crew had.

His wife had divorced him, he was convinced that FedEx was prejudiced against him because he was black and that was why they had assigned him to be an FE and they had just put him on notice that he had to attend a hearing one day after this fated flight because they had discovered irregularities in the reporting of his flight hours. The rumor is that they had also discovered his firing at Gulf. He had never revealed this to FedEx and he probably suspected that they had discovered this. When the FBI searched his apartment, they found his will lying on his bed and two notes describing his weapons, the crew of flight 705 and some other details and a huge insurance policy that he had just taken out on himself.

The "story" is that while flying for Gulf Air, he was hired by Flying Tigers but never quit his job at Gulf and tried to keep both jobs going. Gulf Air canned him when this was discovered. I can't speak to his time in the Navy, as I have no real info about that.
 
Last edited:
Louie1975 said:
Good points. Keep in mind there are sociopaths who do NOT wind up in prison or mental health institutions. If lack of conscience and impulsiveness are symptoms I've seen this in acquaintances. I had a friend(Phd in Psychology) tell me he believed one of our past presidents was a sociopath. He said at certain degrees of sociopath it was an advantage in high levels of politics and business. I tend to agree.
Click to expand...

Yep, not all sociopaths are deranged killers. I'm sure that we all have at least one close friend relative in our life that is a sociopath. The Sociopath Next Door is a great read.
 
Cherokee_Cruiser said:
Ok that's entirely different though. Watching that documentary, it seemed like Calloway was concerned about being fired from Fedex from having falsified records and would then worry about how he would provide money for his family wife/kids. It's not like he grew up without a conscience. He made it into the military as a naval aviator and that's not easy to do. Obviously got paid and probably lived comfortably on base/off base housing.
Click to expand...

So you don't think that his per-meditated plan to kill three people and maybe countless people on the ground isn't a pretty clear cut example of sociopathy/psychopathy?

I don't know Calloway's history. But it seems that like the example provided of one of my patients, he had a very similar view. An "us or them" form of absolute or black & white thinking. The ends always justify the means. This kind of thinking is very common in sociopaths.

Lastly some, but not all sociopaths/psychopaths have a very high IQ. That can easily explain away his graduation from Stanford University, and him becoming a naval aviator. But it's not his intellect that is in question, it his deranged black and white thinking, and his callous respect for life and his lack of empathy. That led him down this path so easily.
 
NovemberEcho said:
I have heard lots of Wall St brokers/investor types test high on the sociopath scale
Click to expand...

Sociopaths/Psychopaths are very narcissistic in nature as a means to cover up their gaping low self-esteem and insecurities. It is what drives them to be the very best and want succeed at any and all cost. No matter the risk. They want to be the best, that Alpha male, and looked up to and given overwhelming praise. Because they find pride in their titles, accomplishment, riches, success. Praise, recognition et al. from others and not form within. They're very charismatic, and as a result of wanting to always be the best and the smartest it makes them great leaders. But really they''re only ever out for themselves, because they're incapable of caring for others.

It's all Id, ego and super ego. They wear many mask to prevent themselves and other from seeing the real truth about themselves. Kind of like when our president holds a news conference to argue about attendance numbers at the inauguration. Sociopaths always have to be the brightest and the best, they always have to win. Losing or having incredibly lower attendance numbers at an inauguration vs. the outgoing president is an attack on their ego. Their assumed worth.

And like I said. They're all ego.
 
I have heard that if one wets the bed too long and is cruel to animals it's an extreme likelihood of issues to come. If you toss in piromania it's the trifecta.
 
Maximillian_Jenius said:
So you don't think that his per-meditated plan to kill three people and maybe countless people on the ground isn't a pretty clear cut example of sociopathy/psychopathy?

I don't know Calloway's history. But it seems that like the example provided of one of my patients, he had a very similar view. An "us or them" form of absolute or black & white thinking. The ends always justify the means. This kind of thinking is very common in sociopaths.

Lastly some, but not all sociopaths/psychopaths have a very high IQ. That can easily explain away his graduation from Stanford University, and him becoming a naval aviator. But it's not his intellect that is in question, it his deranged black and white thinking, and his callous respect for life and his lack of empathy. That led him down this path so easily.
Click to expand...

By that argument, isn't anyone who kills 3+ people a sociopath or a psychopath? Or just insane?
 
Maximilian, where do you weigh in on schizophrenics ?

Emotionally, I identify as Empath. I have some theories I'm working on.
 
SKYROCK said:
No info, just, what do you think about schizophrenia? born or created? What is the psychogenesis?
Click to expand...

Schizophrenia is most definitely genetic, like bipolar it is a biochemical disorder related to either low or high releases of the neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin. Most individuals with schizophrenia or bipolar generally have their first psychotic break from reality anywhere from age 16-22, but up to the age of 25 is not too uncommon.

Now a new form more popular of schizophrenia that we're seeing all the time is drug induced schizophrenia/bi-polar or psychotic disorder. From meth use, LSD or any other forms of psychedelics. But more especially from the new class of designer drugs, such as Spice or Bath Salts, or whatever new iteration that comes out.

I work weekends at the county Psychiatric Intensive care unit and the associated court ordered in-patient facility. We're typically hit pretty hard with new admissions coming in with cases drug induced schizophrenia/bi-polar or psychotic disorder for 72 hour observation. In most cases it's only a temporary affliction and after several days with medication we can see a return to competency, usually with only minor lasting impairments, or none at all depending on any number of factors. I don't know what happens after discharge. But we also sadly do see some lasting permanent mental paralysis as a result. Lots of times the cases coming in are from young college age kids, that went to a party to unwind, and are now paranoid, violent, delusional and talking to/seeing unseen others.

We just got an 19 yr old admitted two weeks ago who in a throes of a psychotic delusion killed a passerbyer with a rock, because he thought that he was defending himself from a walking dead invasion. Stupid kid did something at an ASU party, and now after he is stabilized and leaves our facility, if he can ever be fully stabilized will either be going to jail, or the state hospital system for life or who knows how long. All he does now on the unit is sit and stare out in space for hours drooling or talking to himself. Or stare at himself in the mirror endlessly, or try to fight his reflection in the mirror. Or pace back and forth and talk and laugh to himself inappropriately with a strange affect and a creepy glare like he's seeing right through you, with a huge inappropriate smile. Sad.

I wonder if @MQAAord has seen an sharp uptick in drug related schizophrenia cases on her runs. Or if @MikeD who's wife's paramedic outfit probably... definitely transfers/drops off a lot of patients at our facility has ever remarked about an increase in such cases.
 
Last edited:
+ 1 regarding spice induced schizophrenia. We agree. I am convinced that clandestine research is taking place with synthetic marijuana.

I smoked some cannabis a few times in college and ate a whole lot of popcorn once but I wasn't seeing dead people and visions in the clouds. I qualify for a card but, I believe people using cannabis for medical reasons should grow their own cannabis from unmolested seeds.

I disagree with you 100% that schizophrenia is genetic. In my view its trauma induced. Extreme stress and trauma combined with just the right psychoactive are triggering schizophrenia IMHO.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top