There's a name for bennett's affliction.

http://katiesmith.wordpress.com/2009/09/14/pathological-schadenfreude/#comments

schadenfreude


\SHOD-n-froy-duh\ , noun:
1.
A malicious satisfaction obtained from the misfortunes of others




Brain-scanning studies show that schadenfreude is correlated with envy. Strong feelings of envy activated physical pain nodes in the brain’s dorsal anterior cingulate cortex; the brain’s reward centers (e.g. the ventral striatum) were activated by news that the people envied had suffered misfortune. The magnitude of the brain’s schadenfreude response could even be predicted from the strength of the previous envy response.

Disgraced cop to be key speaker at Madeleine McCann conference
Sep 13 2009 by Vicky Farncombe, Sunday Mercury
THE disgraced cop who led the search for missing Madeleine McCann before pointing the finger at her parents is to be the key speaker at a Midland conference about her disappearance.
Chief Inspector Gonçalo Amaral was booted off the case after blasting the British police’s handling of the inquiry.
But he made a reported £1 million from a book claiming Maddie was dead, and that Kate and Gerry McCann had concealed her body.
Last week a Portuguese judge banned Maddie: The Truth About The Lie from bookshelves because of its unfounded allegations. The fallen cop also faces a lawsuit from the McCanns.
But the Sunday Mercury can reveal that Amaral will not be silenced.
He has agreed to give the keynote speech at a conference organised by the Madeleine McCann Foundation, a group also claiming that the Rothley, Leicestershire girl’s death was covered up.
As many as 150 people are expected to attend the conference in Castle Donington, just 16 miles from Maddy’s home.
Organisers are refusing to divulge the exact whereabouts of the venue until three days before it begins.
Last night they said it was for “confirmed McCann-sceptics who do not believe that Madeleine McCann was abducted”.
Secretary Anthony Bennett said: “We have a venue for the conference, booked and arranged.

I spent most of yesterday trying to absorb the sheer sadism of this new stunt by Mr Bennett: To hold a ‘hatefest’ within miles of the home of Madeleine McCann has to be one of the most malicious, premeditated acts I have ever come across. It seems Mr Bennett and his acolytes derive so much pleasure from inflicting pain on the McCanns and their children that there is simply no satiating their appetite. There seems to be no line that they will not cross, such is their need for schadenfreude. And to announce his latest venture to the press in the same week where his partner in this bizarre folie a deux has been banned from even talking about the case, is simply beyond comprehension. To announce it to the press at all is mind-blowing; who in their right mind would boast about doing something so dark and shameful?
Contemplating this weekend’s events had brought to mind a man I knew who suffered from Narcissistic Personality Disorder: This man, John, once invited the local press to interview him about a new business venture he was launching. When the photographer arrived at the new office, John demanded that the man remove his shoes as a sign of respect. When the photographer politely refused John launched into his ‘do you know who I am’ speech, which had become his standard response to any sign of disrespect. Needless to say the photographer left rather quickly.
John believed he was above the law despite the several jail sentences that followed his increasingly violent need for attention and notoriety. He believed he was entitled to special treatment and had a divine mission. He was a pathological liar, and would relentlessly ‘educate’ those around him on their numerous failings. He would be nice to someone whom he believed could of use to him, and then turn on them violently when they had served their purpose. Everything he did was with one aim in mind – becoming famous. He was pathologically addicted to becoming famous:

The image that the narcissist projects is hurled back at him, reflected by those exposed to his celebrity or fame. This way he feels alive, his very existence is affirmed and he acquires a sensation of clear boundaries (where the narcissist ends and the world begins).
There is a set of narcissistic behaviours typical to the pursuit of celebrity. There is almost nothing that the narcissist refrains from doing, almost no borders that he hesitates to cross to achieve renown. To him, there is no such thing as “bad publicity” – what matters is to be in the public eye.
Because the narcissist equally enjoys all types of attention and likes as much to be feared as to be loved, for instance – he doesn’t mind if what is published about him is wrong (”as long as they spell my name correctly”). The narcissist’s only bad emotional stretches are during periods of lack of attention, publicity, or exposure.
The narcissist then feels empty, hollowed out, negligible, humiliated, wrathful, discriminated against, deprived, neglected, treated unjustly and so on. At first, he tries to obtain attention from ever narrowing groups of reference (”supply scale down”). But the feeling that he is compromising gnaws at his anyhow fragile self-esteem.
Sooner or later, the spring bursts. The narcissist plots, contrives, plans, conspires, thinks, analyses, synthesises and does whatever else is necessary to regain the lost exposure in the public eye. The more he fails to secure the attention of the target group (always the largest) – the more daring, eccentric and outlandish he becomes. Firm decision to become known is transformed into resolute action and then to a panicky pattern of attention seeking behaviours.
The narcissist is not really interested in publicity per se. Narcissists are misleading. The narcissist appears to love himself – and, really, he abhors himself. Similarly, he appears to be interested in becoming a celebrity – and, in reality, he is concerned with the REACTIONS to his fame: people watch him, notice him, talk about him, debate his actions – therefore he exists.
The narcissist goes around “hunting and collecting” the way the expressions on people’s faces change when they notice him. He places himself at the centre of attention, or even as a figure of controversy. He constantly and recurrently pesters those nearest and dearest to him in a bid to reassure himself that he is not losing his fame, his magic touch, the attention of his social milieu.
Truly, the narcissist is not choosy. If he can become famous as a writer – he writes, if as a businessman – he conducts business. He switches from one field to the other with ease and without remorse because in all of them he is present without conviction, bar the conviction that he must (and deserves to) get famous.
He grades activities, hobbies and people not according to the pleasure that they give him – but according to their utility: can they or can’t they make him known and, if so, to what extent. The narcissist is one-track minded (not to say obsessive). His is a world of black (being unknown and deprived of attention) and white (being famous and celebrated).
http://samvak.tripod.com/faq19.html

From Avenue Q the Musical: (offensive)

GARY COLEMAN:
Right now you are down and out and feeling really crappy

NICKY:
I'll say.

GARY COLEMAN:
And when I see how sad you are
It sort of makes me...
Happy!

NICKY:
Happy?!

GARY COLEMAN:
Sorry, Nicky, human nature-
Nothing I can do!
It's...
Schadenfreude!
Making me feel glad that I'm not you.

NICKY:
Well that's not very nice, Gary!

GARY COLEMAN:
I didn't say it was nice! But everybody does it!

D'ja ever clap when a waitress falls and drops a tray of glasses?

NICKY:
Yeah...

GARY COLEMAN:
And ain't it fun to watch figure skaters falling on their asses?

NICKY:
Sure!

GARY COLEMAN:
And don'tcha feel all warm and cozy,
Watching people out in the rain!

NICKY:
You bet!

GARY COLEMAN:
That's...

GARY AND NICKY:
Schadenfreude!

GARY COLEMAN:
People taking pleasure in your pain!

NICKY:
Oh, Schadenfreude, huh?
What's that, some kinda Nazi word?

GARY COLEMAN:
Yup! It's German for "happiness at the misfortune of others!"

NICKY:
"Happiness at the misfortune of others." That is German!

Watching a vegetarian being told she just ate chicken

GARY COLEMAN:
Or watching a frat boy realize just what he put his dick in!

NICKY:
Being on the elevator when somebody shouts "Hold the door!"

GARY AND NICKY:
"No!!!"
Schadenfreude!

GARY COLEMAN:
"Fuck you lady, that's what stairs are for!"

NICKY:
Ooh, how about...
Straight-A students getting Bs?

GARY COLEMAN:
Exes getting STDs!

NICKY:
Waking doormen from their naps!

GARY COLEMAN:
Watching tourists reading maps!

NICKY:
Football players getting tackled!

GARY COLEMAN:
CEOs getting shackled!

NICKY:
Watching actors never reach

GARY AND NICKY:
The ending of their oscar speech!
Schadenfreude!
Schadenfreude!
Schadenfreude!
Schadenfreude!

GARY COLEMAN:
The world needs people like you and me who've been knocked around by fate.
'Cause when people see us, they don't want to be us, and that makes them feel great.

NICKY:
Sure!
We provide a vital service to society!

GARY AND NICKY:
You and me!
Schadenfreude!
Making the world a better place...
Making the world a better place...
Making the world a better place...
To be!

GARY COLEMAN:
S-C-H-A-D-E-N-F-R-E-U-D-E!

God Bless you Katie! (I have one of these in my family, know ALL about it.) Does it remind you of anyone else, someone who started WW2 perhaps?

The worst thing about these people is that you cannot simply ignore them or the trouble they cause. All the perceived professional advice if you come into close contact with one is to get the hell out of their radar a.s.a.p.

When such an individual as TB is allowed to get away with what he is doing Legally (and I am truly mad about the lack of police action so far) then God help us. It will go on and on.

Ridicule infuriates and excites him in equal parts. But it will never stop him.

PS Should this thread be in the Members Lounge?

PS I say the above because from personal experience I know that the one thing which drives this NPD type to distraction, which really gets through to them, is to be ignored. It is fine and inevitable to wish to discuss him or to ridicule his actions or to quote his letters, but not so that HE is able to read it. Not knowing WHAT or even IF people are talking about him - drives this type of personality to become pathological.

Driving an NPD to psychotic behaviour will never alter their basic personality disorder. It may make them more paranoid and go beyond the bounds of rationality. Kind of like what happens when he shoots off his own feet. But as Rosie has said and the McCanns too, don´t give him the "oxygen of publicity". Unless it is unavoidable and necessary, as in perhaps, organising a surprise counter protest of support for K&G at this famed international conference, if it ever comes to fruition with Goncalo or his doomed wife attending - which I also now seriously doubt.

What do others feel about such a tactic?

I think the right tactic is to ignore Bennett (just as you and Rosie are suggesting.) However, saying that, I don't think the police or the legal system should ignore him - there has to be a way (LEGALLY) to stop his continuous attack on Kate and Gerry as well as the stalking and the harrassment.